Chapter 2

The rest of the day dragged on, and I didn't receive any harsh kicks, shoves and much bullying. Maybe being burned by Caleb was enough for their entertainment for one day. I knew the entire school knew I got burned. Those benders in my art classed videotapes it! Everyone was whispering and pointing more than the usual while I had walked through the hallways with my head down. I felt ashamed but also furious that people had seen pictures and videos of me getting tormented by Caleb. What is with these benders? They have no kindness inside them, I swear!

I had hoped to go to school and have a normal life, however being the avatar who is being hunted by the Black Lotus made that rather difficult…

I had to go into hiding, or well—continue hiding. I had not been introduced to the world as the avatar yet because before the White Lotus(they support the avatar) could do that, the world soon found out the organization called the Black Lotus(who are against the avatar) were going to search for the avatar and put an end to him or her. I don't know why, but because of that the White Lotus forced me to hide and to never use my bending. I was considered lucky because the Black Lotus didn't know who the avatar was.

So the next thing that happens, is that I'm hauled off to a bending school to still receive an education like all benders but I unfortunately had to pretend I wasn't one.

Now, you're probably asking why I don't just use one element and to simply never bend the other three. When I was young, I could never control what I was bending. It was either I was bending anything, or nothing. That's all I could control. I controlled when to bend, and when to not bend. But I couldn't control what to bend. Which sucked.

So I was sent off to school forbidden to use my elements in front of anyone.

I still practice at home with the windows shut tightly, and sometimes out deep in the forest, but either than that, never in public.

Anyway, I came home today to an empty apartment. It's just about always empty, except for those few spirits who appear and talk to me when I get lonely sometimes. Is that sad? That I'm friends with spirits and not actual people?

It was a large apartment, which was a good thing because I needed a lot of space to practice my bending skills. The was a large living room, two bedrooms (one which I use for my bending studies), a bathroom, kitchen, dining room and an extra spare room where I just put a sofa and used most of it to store some gym equipment.

I shut the door after stepping inside my apartment and dropped my school bad on the floor next to the couch in the living room. I headed straight for the kitchen, took some lasagna out from the freezer then set it in the microwave. Hey-I'm the avatar but that doesn't necessarily mean I can could anything.

As I waited I thought back to what Caleb did to me today… fire… burning fire. I closed my eyes shut and took a seat in the dining room with my head in my hands.

Fire… a very strong element, that could be both beautiful yet gruesome at the same time… I was born with the element of water, then I had learned air, earth and after many months of the encouragement and assurance from the White Lotus… I ended up learning fire too. I had not wanted to learn it actually… I was scared to deal with fire before, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to control it… and I would hurt people. I was terrified of fire, and knowing at a young age that I was the avatar and that I would have to master the element of fire didn't help ease my fears either.

Now looking at today's events and seeing how evil Caleb was… I was so angry. He hurt me with his fire, intentionally. He burned me… everyone saw how he had hurt me and how severe it was…

The teachers didn't care, I hadn't a clue why but they didn't… they just don't have any respect for non benders…

Beep!

I jumped up from my tense position and rushed back to my kitchen. I took the hot plate of lasagna and made my way to the living room. I took a large bite from my lasagna and that's when my phone rang.

I sighed because I was being interrupted from my delicious plate of Italian then stood up, grabbed my phone from my bag and after putting it on speaker, I pressed the pick-up button and placed it back down on the living room table.

"Amethyst." Was the first word from the caller.

"Hey Ames, is everything alright?" I answered as I continued digging into my plate of lasagna.

"Hmm" he hummed on the other end.

Ames. He's one of the leaders of the White Lotus, he was a man in his 40s and one of my closest friends from the Lotus. He was an air bender, very calm when it came to stressful situations and a great leader too. Then again I guess all air benders are always very calm.

"Well… I have some good news and some bad news for you Amethyst." He said in a collected voice.

Oh wow this was getting interesting! Every day it would just be get up, go to school, suffer from Caleb and all those benders, come home practice bending, study, sleep and repeat. And of course there were some days where I'd head over to the Lotus headquarters and train there.

"Okay…" I said slowly, "Go ahead, shoot"

I heard him sigh on the other end. I could already imagine the frown on his face when he encountered tough situations. Was it really that bad news?

"Alright Amethyst… as the avatar you've been in hiding for about 9 years, correct?" he started.

I rolled my eyes a bit confused as to why he was stating the obvious. "Yeah. So…?"

"Hmm— well after all this time we decided it was time to say… expose yourself."

I froze up. There was a loud sound as I dropped my plate of lasagna and it shattered onto the hard flooring of my living room, leaving a mess of Italian that hopefully wouldn't stain the white tiling. I stared at my smartphone on the table with my jaw dropped.

Expose myself?! I thought shocked. W-what… why now of all times?! What about the Black Lotus? What—

"Are you alright dear?"

I quickly came back to reality as I heard Ames concerned voice again.

"U-um… yeah just uh, shocked really." I stumbled over my words. I took a deep breath in trying to process this. Expose myself to the world… as the avatar.

Finally…

Ames coughed, "The Black Lotus is getting weaker." He informed me, "We managed to arrest several of the troops in their hiding places we've discovered. And we decided that now it would be a perfect time for you to expose yourself. Scare them a bit, that the avatar is out there, alive and breathing and powerful."

I nodded to myself as I felt confidence yet nervousness run through my veins. I gulped.

"Alright…" I mumbled, "So when should I do it? And how?"

I swear I could hear Ames smiling on the other end. "You can start to expose yourself two weeks from now."

I again nodded at myself, "Why two weeks?"

"In precisely 12 days there will be a rally held for the Black Lotus against you. The leader, Clark Auverburn will be speaking. However, the crowd will not be as large compared to the other rallies. People are dropping out, giving up their loyalty to the Black Lotus… they're scared Amethyst. They know how big and powerful the White Lotus is, and knowing that the avatar is out there isn't helping either. We need to scare them after their rally. So exactly two weeks from now sounds plausible."

I took all that information in then sighed. "Being the avatar is so much work" I groaned.

My birth element is water, and when I had found out I was the avatar by accidently bending a rock when I was 4, I was delighted to know I had the ability to bend all the elements, and be a powerful figure in history. But now as a 14 year old… I realized how much stress it would be and how many sacrifices I had to make.

"Yes… it unfortunately is Amethyst." Ames replied sighing too, "You can reveal yourself to your school first. When they have bending classes feel free to show up and start bending like crazy. Show off a bit, there's no doubt you've been waiting to do this in forever Amethyst. And chances are there are a few members of the black lotus at your school."

I grinned at that thought.

"Word will break out automatically, and as soon as you reveal yourself I will send some members of the White Lotus to come and pick you up. Then we will carry out our mission to wipe out the Black Lotus completely, with you."

I smiled. I couldn't wait to see the look on Caleb's face when I full out show off my bending skills! Ha! His fire bending skills looks like lighting a small match while mine looked like a forest fire.

"Yes…" I breathed grinning. I swear I could actually feel some tears started to slide down my face.

Ames laughed, "So that's the good news… but the bad news is that the troops are getting closer to Republic City Amethyst… you must be careful out there during the next two weeks."

Yikes! They're getting closer to us? That's not good… one bad thing about being the avatar is that you're constantly being hunted down by your enemies.

"Okay, got it" I said firmly.

"Okay well… that's it really Amethyst, just be extra careful and on best behavior." He said.

"Right" I replied, "Erm… one more thing Ames…"

"Yes?"

"Can I reveal myself in a—say… a different way?" I asked a smile creeping up to my face.

"I'm not sure where this conversation is leading to…" he said unsure.

I smiled then explained my plan to him.