The History of Renko: Book 2 Voyager (Avatar, BoyxBoy)

Chapter 23: In the Shadows

Below the sprawling city of Ba Seng Sei lay the crystal catacombs of Old Ba Seng Sei. Ancient stone dwellings that once served as houses for the city's elites lay mostly crumbled and empty as green glowing crystals cast an eerie glow. Curiously, in the middle of the city square where a fountain once stood lay a sophisticated compound. A short round building acted as a central spoke with round tubular buildings sticking out like a wheel. The whole set up looked fit for a moon colony.

A tall, red-headed, and pale man stood outside the round central building smoking a cigarette. The green glow of the crystals gave him the look of a demon. Ippei stepped up to speak with him.

"Dr. Fogwai," he began.

"Fo is fine," Fogwai continued smoking his cigarette. "Doctor was who I was in the past. Before my enlightenment."

"Enlightenment," Ippei repeated.

"Yes," Fogwai finished his cigarette and dropped it on the ground. "I assume the other members of your team are too afraid to speak to me."

"Their fear is irrelevant. What matters is your lab is complete as are your test subjects. And, since the era of Avatar Aang, the catacombs have been sealed. No one will find us here."

"Their fear is not irrelevant," Fogwai turned to Ippei. He grinned a wicked smile. "Don't underestimate the power of fear."

Ippei just nodded his head and turned to enter into the compound. He realized that he had gripped several of the knives he carried on his person. As he let go, his hands were shaking. His heart was racing and sweat was on his brow. He caught his reflection in the window. Icy blue eyes met his and fear was in them.

At the same time above ground, Renko was looking at his own reflection. The sun had set hours ago. His own gray eyes looked back at him. Instead of fear, his eyes reflected concern. His dark eyebrows were drawn together. Standing in the front foyer of his grandmother's house, he stood looking out the window next to the front door. The nights had grown increasingly cooler leaving a thin sheet of ice on the glass of the window. A bowl of rice was left on a table by the door. It was untouched. A creaking from up above startled him.

"Still not back?" Pāru walked down the stairs still wearing her wingsuit.

"Nope," Renko said. "Ahmad still hasn't come back."

"What?" Tiulo poked his head from the second landing behind Parū. He looked as if something had woken him from a deep sleep. The G7 summit was beginning tomorrow and Ridhya had recommended they all got a good night's rest.

"Ahmad didn't come back."

"Really? We should go look for him," Tiulo said in a drowsy tone of voice.

"I agree," Pāru said. "We could even ask your dad to use the Secret Service to help."

"I don't think my dad should know," Renko said slowly. "If Ahmad didn't come back, something is wrong. I think we should be discreet."

Then, a sound from outside surprised them. Two dark figures appeared to glide down from the sky and landed on the road in front of the house. One of them looked up and signaled to whatever entity dropped them from the sky. The two of them appeared to talk to each other for a minute before one of them pointed to the house Renko was standing in. They turned and the two dark figures began approaching.

Renko and the others were instantly alert. Renko lit a fire dagger from his fist, Pāru, and Tiulo both got into fighting stances. They slowly made their way down the stairs and behind Renko. As the two dark figures drew closer, Renko thought they looked familiar. However, before he could get a good look at them, Pāru blew the door open with a massive gust of air. Tiulo leaped forward with a frozen ice spear narrowly missing one of the two figures. In response, the dark figure threw a glowing hot ball of fire at Tiulo. Had Renko not stepped in to block it, Tiulo would have lost his eyebrows.

"Stop!" Renko nearly shouted. He looked into the eyes of the blue-eyed prince who was standing in front of him. "Kuzo."

"Renko," in the dark Kuzo really hoped no one could see the tears that were welling in his eyes.

"Ahem," the second dark figure spoke up.

"Koa!" Renko said. "You came too."

"We broke a couple of international laws to get here," Koa shrugged. "But your prince just had to come."

"Wait, what?" Pāru walked out of the now broken door. She shivered in the chill.

"I am Prince Kuzo of the Fire Nation," Kuzo held his hand out to shake. He spotted her tattoos on her forehead and hands. "I take it your Renko's air bending teacher?"

"I'm more like his tutor," she shook his hand.

"And Tiulo," he looked at him a little sheepishly. "I'm sorry I almost burned off your face,"

"Don't worry about it!" Tiulo leaned forward to give him a hug. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," Kuzo turned to look at Renko. He had to tilt his head up a little to look him the eye.

"Kuzo," Renko stepped forward to give him a hug but stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Our friend is missing. He went out this morning and hasn't come back."

"Well, we should go find him," Kuzo said firmly. "Where should we start looking?"

Renko gave him a big hug.

"We should start with the outer wall. That was where he went on a recon mission," Renko said.

"The outer wall?" Koa said. "That'll take hours."

"Not if we search from the skies," Renko replied. "Ahmad's sky bison is here in the city too. We can take her."

"And we can split up," Kuzo added. He pointed up to the object floating above them. "Half of us can take the hot air balloon."

Renko wanted to pull him in for a kiss. Once again, Kuzo had his back.

"We should probably do something about this door first," Tiulo pointed to the broken door laying on the ground.

"Oh..." Renko said. "Let's fix the door and then start looking."