Chapter 9 Sorcery

Katara POV

Word had spread quickly of Jin's mysterious disappearance last night. Such a thing hasn't happen in Redwood in nearly two decades, so it was of everyone's interest. Unfortunately the rumor mill had been running rampant. Some say that Jin had simply ran away, others that her parents had killed her and stashed her body in the woods. Sokka was convinced that the werewolves that were now a presence in the town had something to do with it. It would have made sense if I didn't know who one of the werewolves were. It could be all an act, he could be playing you. It wouldn't be the first time a boy did. I thought to myself.

Normally on Saturdays Sokka and I would head over to the lake to practice our powers, well we know now it's magic, but since the mysterious kidnapping we decided not to push our luck. I was thankful our house was near the center of the town, because if the rumors were true then Jin was literally kidnapped from her second story room. Instead Sokka went over to Suki's house so that they could 'study'. For my sanity's sake I'll just believe my brother, I'm not even gonna go down that train of thought. So I had the house all to myself today. It was nice, I did some of my homework in the living room then just lounged around in the backyard. As a sign that summer was now officially over, clouds kept rolling over town. They weren't the clouds that look like it would rain but just give a smattering of goose bumps to a person's skin.

As one o'clock rolled around, the time Aang and I agreed to meet, I grabbed a light sweater and the rest of my homework; two birds with one stone kind of thing. The trip to the library was only a ten minute walk from my house. The reason why I chose the library instead of the forest were a few things. It was neutral territory for the both of us. It was in public, but was private enough so that neither of us would have to worry about the other attacking and being overheard by passing ears. And until I know that I can trust him fully I won't let him come near my house again.

The library wasn't a large building, but was large enough to have a section where no one goes; IRS tax books. I found a nice corner that had a stand table with a lamp and two armchairs that were dull red in color. The air itself smelled a little dusty. I wonder how often this area gets cleaned. Right when I brought out my textbook for US History, Ms. Kwan wanted us to write our own notes for a section in a chapter, Aang walked around the high bookcase. It was weird seeing such a stern face on him, when usually there was a goofy smile and his eyes alight. He sat down noiselessly in the other old armchair and faced me with a closed off face. "So you figured it out." Aang said after a moment or two of uncomfortable silence.

"And you know about me and Sokka."

"Great so we all know, why am I here?" Aang asked shortly

What the hell? Anger burned in my chest. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know I was going to be such an inconvenience for you, if it's too much trouble for you, you can go! You don't have to act like such a dick!" I hissed out.

"Don't make me out to be the bad guy. You, and I'm assuming your brother, know that we're werewolves. And my pack knows that you and Sokka are Aquamancers, we see you as a threat and you see us as a threat. Please explain to me the confusion in all of this." he whispered shouted back.

"I'm trying to decide if you and your family are a threat to my hometown. You guys move here and not two weeks later does a girl from school goes missing."

"And you think you can take on a werewolf like me, alone?" he sounded so smug about it. Ugh I suddenly wanted to knock him down a notch or hundred.

"Yes I know I can." I said confidentially, never mind that when he's shifted he roughly the size of horses if not a little bigger.

"Right, well now that I know that you and your brother are not a threat to by pack I think I'll leave." Aang stood up and his height nearly intimidated me, nearly.

"And how am I suppose to know that you and the others aren't the ones responsible for Jin's disappearance?"

"Either take my word for it or don't." Aang left me staring incredulously at his retreating form. That little...ugh the damn guy was right. And now I feel like meeting Aang was a waste of time on my part since I still can't know for sure that they are the ones responsible for Jin's disappearance!

Sokka and I cannot even take on a werewolf let alone a pack of them. We have no training, and though a letter from my dead Mom suggested we get in contact with an uncle of ours we don't have any numbers, addresses, or even emails! When Dad cut ties off with Mom's family he did a thorough job, how unfortunate. There wasn't a trace of where Uncle Kuruk might live at the present moment. So if it ever came down to a fight it wouldn't be in our favor. Perhaps there might be an alternative in the spell book. I haven't had the chance to look since Sokka has it. Hopefully he found something that could help us with our particular situation. I mean there had to have been a way to study magic if one or both parents didn't have magical abilities.

That afternoon Sokka and I were in my room, Gran-Gran had stopped by to check on us from across the town since Dad and Uncle Bato were busy at the station. We had the spell book open before us and so far nothing we found could help us find a way to learn magic from something other than a book. Though we did learn some other interesting facts.

"All these years of not being properly trained and our magic didn't destabilize and destroyed us. What luck."

"Oh c'mon it's just some magic water." I scoffed

Sokka looked incredulous at me. "Katara this isn't a game. I don't think magic is about chanting funny words or seeing unicorns or leprechauns. Just like everything else, there's a light and dark side to magic and if we are not careful it can destroy us. We have to be cautious on who we pick to train us." There really wasn't anything I could say to that, though to others Sokka may seem just an average student that talks nothing but meat, Suki, and sarcastic remarks (all of which are true) he was also very intelligent, and always took a logical approach to situations that required it. Like now for instance. Of course I would never say that to my brother, the last thing anyone needs is for Sokka to overinflate his ego so much he floats off into space.

"Well it doesn't help us any. We still don't know if we could find another sorcerer to train us or something. It's not like there's a phone book of Aquamancers we can look up!"

"Will you keep it down, we don't want Gran-Gran to come barging in and seeing the spell book." Sokka hissed "I rather not be responsible for her heart attack thank you very much. Maybe there is something like a phone book in here. I've learned that this book is like the internet almost. Besides giving lessons on spells and aquamancy, it shows information on anything dealing with the magical world. Did you know that the reason why the Bermuda Triangle is so chaotic is because there is an island that holds magical prisoners?" he told me excitingly. It was like watching a five year old eager to share his newfound knowledge.

"Sokka..."

"Right sorry." he grinned sheepishly "Maybe we can see if there's a map for any magical towns hidden." As though the book could hear, its pages started turning at a furious pace to where we could feel a small breeze. Sokka appeared to be used to this as he wasn't surprised like I was. I could feel my jaw slack and eyes widen as the pages in the book finally rested on a map of the United States. There were black dots of the major cities of our country and in other colors that were represented on a rainbow. Red dots were vampire settlements, orange shapeshifters, and yellow were sorcerers. There were many other colors that it was a little overwhelming to see how much was actually hidden from the human eye.

"Look there's one between Salem and Portland." Sokka pointed out. The yellow dot was called Suirauqa.

"Oh that's so simple, how are we suppose to get there hmm?" I asked. "Last I check you don't have a car and Dad is so gonna let us take a random road trip 'cause he's just that laid back."

"Well if you read the book instead of snapping a sarcastic remark you would see that we have to say the name backwards Katara." Sokka said condescendingly. The two of us stared at one another in shock. Our roles were reversed as usually he was the sarcastic, glass is half empty kind of guy, and I would point out the obvious solution. "Promise to forget that this ever happen and move on?"

"Agreed."

"So tomorrow is Sunday, Dad will most likely be at the station, if not I'll make up some lie since you suck and we should bring some money. Just in case this place has a monetary system." Always thinks of everything.

"I'm grounded remember?" I deadpanned

"Then we'll tell him we're going to the library. He'll believe me more than you right now." he finished with a smug grin.

"Shut up Sokka!" We heard the soft footsteps of our grandmother as she walked up the stairs. I quickly agreed and hid the magical book underneath my bed. Just in time too.

My door opened and Gran-Gran poked her head in, looking around suspiciously before resting her wizened eyes on us. "Dinner is ready children, wash up." she said in a no nonsense tone before heading back down to the kitchen.

"That was too close." I breathed in relief. "So tomorrow what time?"

"Noon. Now let's go before Gran-Gran calls us again." We rushed out of my room and down the stairs where we were quickly reprimanded for running down the stairs and not washing our hands.