Zuleika arrived at home completely out of breath,only pausing in the front door long enough to notice Sesto and Coty waiting for her just a few feet away.Pushing Coty aside,Sesto confronted her with an accusing glare plastered on his face.

"And why didn't someone ride home with us?"he demanded in a voice that wasn't necessarily mad,but high with suspicsion.

"Nothing,"she smiled coolly,passing his by with a nonchalant shrug,"I just decided to walk home...a lot healthier,right?"

Sesto looked tooken back,"Um,sure."he blinked with surprise as he watched her rush up the stairs,but then his uncertainty aroused again when he noticed she seemed in a hurry to hide something,"Better go check this out for myself."

He wandered up the stairs quietly after his sister,trying his best not to make the floor creak,it being an older house and all.When he finally reached the very top of them,he realized he could hear water moving rapidly in the bathroom.Thinking she was taking a bath,he began to go back down.But something,he didn't know what,perpelled him to reach for the door knob and slowly open the door to just a crack.

"Oh,shoot!"Sesto heard her groan in fustration,then his eyes caught sight of her moving some sink water.

It swayed with her hands gently and almost soothingly,somehow it just seemed so natural that Sesto almost forgot it was impossible.But then a spilt scond later,he gasped in disbelief and caused Zuleika to drop her hands to her side.She snappd her neck around,just in time to see the door swing open and a gaping Sesto appear in the doorfame.

"This isn't what it,"she started to say quickly,gingerly lifting up the chain of the plug to unclog the drain to allow the water to go down,"It's...it's...Sesto,say something!Please,wait,wha..."

But she didn't have the time nor the oppurtunity to show him it was alright,because he was out of sight and racing down the stairs and towards the phone to call who knew who.Zuleika ran after him and grabbed the phone just as he began relentlessly jabbing away a numbers.

"Zu,let go!"he told her sharply,as she desperately managed to him from dialing,"You need help or something!"

"Let me explain!"she yelled back,finally able to tear the phone from him and throw it back down on the receiver,she looked up then and into the eyes of her brother,"Please,just let me."

Sesto just stared at her as if he'd seen a ghost or as if she was some alien out of this world,he was so much in awe he didn't even notice the couch behind him as he accidently staggered back and plopped down onto it,just trying to clear his mind.

"What's there to explain?"he managed to inquire her after a while,his tone was skeptical but his face was electrifed with amazement and bewilderment,"You just moved water!"

"That's right,"Zuleika seated herself down next to him and then moved over some for Coty to sit down,"I'm a Water-"

"Don't even say it!"Sesto snapped at her,turning on her with a tight,burning face and his eyes flashing,"After all this time of thinking it was all make-believe...you suddenly just gain magic water moving powers or something?Unreal!"

Zuleika sighed irrevocablely,turning away from him and resting her chin on the couch and staring out into the now again clouded sky.And as it started to rain,that's when she got her idea.Turning to Coty,she grabbed his hand and made her way with him quickly by a uncontrived Sesto.

"Wait!Where are you going?"he called out after her,but she ignored his calls to her as she and Coty reached the porch.

"Can you really bend water?"Coty asked in a small voice,standing up on his tip-toes so she could hear better.

Zuleika smiled akwardly,as she trepidly reached out her hands into the beginning drizzle of the rain.Holding her breath,Zuleika moved both hands to the right slowly,that was when the rain paused and swerved with her.She let go of her breath and as soon as she pulled back,the rain fell straight down again.But then she noticed Coty was over on another side of the porch,trying his luck to move water too.

"How do you do it?"he asked her curiously,swiping his little hands back and forth in the now showering rain's water.

"Well,Co.You have to be a bender,"Zuleika smiled at Coty,but her eyes were directed at Sesto,who was just staring at her through the window,"I'm a Water Bender,supposively.So I can move water.It takes a lot of time to acutally master the element completely.But,hmm,it's worth it."

Just then they saw thier Mother's cab pull up in front of the house,it's wind shield wipper's screeching loudly on the glass.The door then flew open and thier Mother,a long tangled brown haired and out-of-breath Mother,raced across the yard with a squashing sound to her black,boot-like shoes.

"Hi,"she breathed as soon as she was in the doorway,Zuleika and Coty followed her back in,"How's everyone...Sesto?"

Sestolooked up at her idly,"Who me?"he formed a cheesy grin and then lazily slumped down on the Couch,"Nothin'."

Zuleika waited until they all ran into the Kitchen,where she knew she should tell Coty not to tell.But the cheesy grin that her oldest brother still held on his brillantly-tanned and well-structured face made her pause and...grin back almost.

"So I guess you were right then,"Was the only thing he said to her casually,mock admiration playing in his eyes as he got up and started off,but he turned once and then said to her with an almost normal smile,"Guess you're not so crazy after all,sis."

Zuleika was a little winded for a moment by what he had said,but then she gradually realized that he was beginning to think about all the times he had teased her for what he called her 'Fantasy obession' but now he seemed to agree that maybe it wasn't a hoax,but something much...much more.

"Thanks."she said softly as she trailed behind.

"Umm,little heads up."Sesto grew serious for a moment,shoving his hands in his pockets,"Don't mention this whole 'Water-moving' thing in front of Mom.Heh,the last thing we need is a Thirty-two-year-old woman flipping out."

"Alright,"Zuleika nodded in agreement,"I...Mom's 32?"

But as her and Sesto were finally going into the Kitchen,she thought she could see the portal like before in her front yard and the boy from before just standing in the eterance.He looked so familiar,as if they were connected somehow.And,not by being Bender's either.Maybe something more.Zuleika continued to watch,but he soon faded away.

OK.If it's starting to get rather confusing,don't sweat!The next chapter is going to thoroughly explain what this all means and were going to find out who the bad dude is too!More soon!

LP