This one chapter a week thing is working out great for me,(Except my sleep schedule keeps making my chapters late and I am working on that I promise) though I expect you all are anxious to find out what happens next to our heroes. Lets find out…

Chapter 25

A Chilling Return

The past few days had been nice and quiet. L. E. trained us in her different ways, Lamara with mind games, the others with the training course, and me with magic. We all had improved greatly over the days of training.

It was about midday and we were all relaxing. L. E. and Dhanu were examining the pieces of Roja's ropes I cut. They were trying to replicate the rubbery substance. Lamara was working on some problems that L. E. had given her. Moji and Shan were sitting by the campsite, Shan was eating and Moji was reading maps. Koluk was still going through the obstacle course; he refused to give up until he could do it perfectly.

I was in my circle of death. I looked at the rock dummy pointing a fake wand at me. I took a deep breath.

"Expelliarmus!" I cried.

The twig twitched a little. I took a deep breath and tried again. The twig moved more but not with enough force to be shot from the grip of the dummy. I closed my eyes and focused on the strange new energy that I could feel. I broke through the barrier and let it flow through me. I raised my wand, opened my eyes and said:

"Expelliarmus!" the twig flew through the air.

"Nice job, "L. E. noted.

Someone clapped slowly. "Oh yes, most impressive," a familiar voice said.

I looked and saw Roja holding the twig.

"Roja," I said.

Everyone jumped up at the ready.

"Hello," he said waving playfully.

He jumped down from the tree and tossed the stick aside.

"What are you doing here?" Lamara said.

"Awe kitty, I missed you so much that I had to see you again," he smiled.

"Well, we're ready for you this time. You won't win by yourself," L. E. came forward protectively.

"Now who said I came by myself? I made a new friend, I believe you've met him before," he said and motioned behind us.

A man stepped out from the bushes. It was the man with the silver mask, Avon's right hand man. At once, they attacked. Silver Mask shot several spells at us. L. E.'s protective circle around me shielded the spells; the others had to dive out of the way. Roja unleashed several fire blasts. I ran to engage him when I hit an invisible wall; L. E.'s shield also trapped me in. I banged on it but I couldn't break it.

"L. E.!" I cried trying to get her attention.

She looked over but Silver Mask got in the way. She pulled out her wand and they began to duel. It was incredible to watch since I understood magic. L. E. was exceptional. Her spells were so powerful. When Silver Mask blocked them, they bounced off his shield and hit the one around me. Soon it began to crack. I saw what L. E. was doing. I pointed my wand at Silver Mask.

"Expelliarmus!" I shouted.

He dodged the spell and shot one at me but it just cracked the shield even more. He realized what was happening. He began to block all spells toward my shield and redirecting them anywhere else. I couldn't move out of my bubble but I could shoot spells out of it. I used my new magical talents. I couldn't do much but it was enough. I shot as many disarming charms as I could. I also levitated objects and sent them flying at him. I used one of the spells I learned earlier.

"Lumos Maxima!" and blinded him with white light. I then used a tickling charm, "Rictusempra!"

Our combined effort was enough to knock him off his feet. L. E. shot him right at me and the nearly shattered the shield. I knew the impact of him and L. E.'s spell would break it. A mathematician awoke in me, I calculated the exact time the shield would break and the most effective time to attack and with how much force. I spun on the spot. The shield broke. I sent a ball of air right at his back. He face planted the ground. I strode forward and faced Roja who was currently fighting Lamara and Moji. I watched them work together to create a tornado of flames. They swirled it at Roja. He came out unharmed but covered in soot.

"Nice one," he smiled.

Shan shot a rock at Roja. He kicked a ball of fire into it. Dhanu jumped out of a tree and fired an arrow. Roja jumped to the side and shot one of his ropes around Dhanu's bow and pulled. This time Dhanu held onto the bow and jumped at Roja with a flying kick. Roja dodged with a maniacal grin.

"Now we're talking," he laughed.

"Yeah, we are," I said.

He looked over. "The more the merrier, right?" he looked nervous though.

"Right," I agreed.

I grabbed some water from the river and water bended it at him. He shot several arcs of fire while back flipping to dodge another rock from Shan.

"Why is it that you always camp by a river?" he asked.

"It isn't a coincidence, we camp near sources of water on purpose, incase we need to fight or wash clothes," I said as I fought.

He created a horseshoe of fire around him. I kneeled and punched my fists into the ground send a wave of earth at him. It launched him into the air and over his field of fire. He quickly waved out a circle of fire for him to land. I launched more streams of water but he just shielded himself with his raging inferno. The water was evaporating before it could get to him. I decided to try ice: I shot several ice shards at him.

"Ow!" I heard him cry out. "You nicked me ha ha."

It wasn't effective enough. 'Time to fight fire, with fire, literally,' I thought. I shot several blasts of fire. He shot his own blasts so they canceled each other out. His style was very over aggressive, he never blocked, even his defense was offensive. I realized fire wouldn't work either. I gave a nod at Lamara; she nodded back. We both swirled around a large gust of air and in one motion extinguished the flames.

Roja looked up in surprise. Silver Mask woke up and got to his feet and nodded at Roja.

"Well children, it's been fun catching up, let's do it again some time," he said.

"What, you don't want to capture us for a bounty?" Moji challenged.

"Oh believe me, I am collecting a bounty," he said cryptically.

"Expluso!" Silver Mask shot a spell at the area of charred grass and a cloud of ash exploded into the air and knocked us to the ground. When the smoke cleared, they were gone.

"No!" L. E. said in frustration.

"So, Avon is hiring bounty hunters now?" Koluk asked.

"Yes, but not to capture us," L. E. said. "They probably went to report what happened, Avon will know you're a wizard Hyriu. Our one advantage will be gone. And it means Avon is watching us."

Short but action packed. Hyriu is now a mediocre wizard. I think this worked out nicely, I wanted to bring Roja back and still show that Avon is a threat even if we haven't seen him for a while. We are getting near the REALLY good stuff. There are really only three little stories left in book 2. After this is a four part arc, though the four chapters develop a variety of things, they do tell one continuous story. It is a story that has been dropping hints here and there. I'll go ahead and tell you all. Throughout the book there have been little hints about the way Hyriu feels about Shan and vice versa, that will be explored over the course of the next four chapters.

In the middle is a short but cool story where some characters will be brought back in a bigger way. This is the storyline that the poster for part 2 of book 2 comes from. With the Fire Nation ship and the pink sunset.

Then after that is the ending storyline for book 2. For book 1, the finale storyline was the final 10 chapters after Hyriu returned from the Earth Kingdom. The last storyline in book 2 is longer than 10 chapters and is a lot better than book 1's ending in my opinion. Be warned though, not everyone will make it to the end of book 2... But that is a while from now, roughly 8 or 9 chapters I think so you have time to prepare.

Chapter 26: Tsunami Town will go up Monday.