Fire is Blazing

The more the merrier

"Bunny, stop pouting you said you were hunger, and my grandma makes the best sandwiches." Angelo glances at me as I angrily take a bite out of the delicious ham and veggies sandwich we were given to eat on the way back to school we'd be able to make it to our last class this way. I huff and look away taking another bite, I hear the laughing between his bites.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah laugh it up."

"At least you'll make it to two classes today. Tomorrow will be a better day." He taps my shoulder with his as we start to head out of the forest. After his grandmother called the elders, we were forced to head straight back to school or else we were going to have to do extra classes down at the main building for a month with no outing opportunities. I was in trouble for not informing any of the guards that I was leaving the campus along without getting the pass and missing the first five classes that make me campus bound for the next two months. Thankfully I was able to speak to an elder and made sure that Angelo and his grandmother didn't get in trouble granted they wouldn't dare touch her, she was a force to be dealt with.

"So that's your grandmother." I comment, not knowing I interrupted his thoughts, the look on his face said he was glad to get some information, but he was overwhelmed by all it. Whatever he had talked to grandmother about was also weighing on his mind I can hear some of it without even having to try too hard to lock on his thoughts, but I couldn't understand any of thought he was trying to figure out. He looks at me with his old lopsided smile he had when we were little not his fake perfect smile that he wears at school, and it makes my heart jump I swear I could melt right now. My face flushed as I thought, I hope he isn't connected right now I could die of embarrassment. The fact that I can't hide anything from him is annoying but it does go both ways so I can't say it's unfair.

"Yeah, she is a wonderful person, but she can be very scary too at times, like this one time when I was six, we came down here for the weekend and I broke her favorite vase I thought I was going to get set on fire at any second but lucky for me my grandfather was able to save me." He smiles as he starts to remember his grandfather then a flash of him when he was little looking up at a tall man his hair had specks of gray with happy shining eye as he looks at the younger version of the woman, I just met she was a little upset but bends down and ruffles my/Angelo's hair. I was in his memory as him. I gasp putting my hand over my mouth confused.

"That was not part of the lesson today. What just happened?" I whisper. He looks just as confused as I was. He grabs a book out of his bag and flips thru the pages imagines and words appear on the pages as it searches to find my answer, but nothing showed up in the end it came up with nothing. Every page he flipped was blank after it searched its own papers finally fully frustrated, he slams it shut and tossed it back in his bag.

"What book was that? When did you take it?" I ask. He stared with disbelief as he felt confused and shocked about how I saw his memories and there was nothing in the book about it the emotions were heavy in the air and I could feel them as if they were my own, he was worried that we would get to close and I might get put into bigger danger if someone found out about how strong this bond is. Should we go ask your grandmother again? He shakes his head his thoughts slowly snapping him back to reality we had stopped walking as we looked through the book but without any answer we started moving once more. I focus on the sensation of the food in my mouth to focus only on myself to force my thoughts to think only about me our emotions were too strong, and I was starting to feel a bit in my stomach as it became clear that he was scared. I take a deep breath and try to understand what is going on as a whole, yes, we have the bond making us the two fire protectors, yes, it is stronger than most but, no, we don't know why that is the other protectors could never see each other's past, I mean, yeah, our powers did come a few years early so the goddess must be involved in that no one or anything else could affect the time we got our powers the question is why we were chosen and for what reason? I breath in again to pause my rambling thoughts. So many things were going thru my head at once I didn't notice I was done eating till I looked at my empty hand, sighing I look at Angelo who gone back into his own thoughts I take his hand gripping it tightly to have him focus on me, and my even breathing to help him back from his endless thoughts.

"We will be okay." I state in a cheery voice meaning every word I look him in the eyes and say confidently. "We have one another, as long as I got you and you got me, we are unstoppable." He smiles squeezing my hand once we got back onto school grounds we head straight to my class first.

"I'll be here to take you to your last class wait for me?" Angelo says holding a little tighter to my hand.

"Of course, I'll be here but don't make me wait long." With a nod he lets go and I head in. The class was a blur I couldn't focus on math (make schedule) so as I try to at least get the formulas I start to jot down the things I learned about the bond. When the bell rang, I couldn't get out fast enough. I packed all my things in a pill and rush to the door figuring I could put them in the hallway as I wait for Angelo. Ray had texted me numerous times while we were at his grandmas, so I pull out my phone as I try to shove things into my disorganized bag. I turn to my right to step out of the doorway and run right into someone,

"I'm so sorry, I should know better than to multitask, yet I tried anyways." My things fall to the ground, and I quickly bend to start picking my textbook up. "I should really look where I'm going more than what I'm doing." I try to laugh it off, feeling my temp rise from embarrassment. The person I bumped into bends to pick up my notebook that slid open and a bit off to the side. I look up and see Mr. Gabriel he was smiling at me with my notes slightly visible I reach for it quickly hoping he didn't see anything remembering Angelo's fear of danger and the uneasy thought he had about him. I begin to look at him with a little more thought.

"Mr. Gabriel, sorry about that again. Thank you."

"No worries I'm on my way to the library right now. I'll see you later, oh and don't forget to but some focus on your studies as well as the boys." My cheeks flush as he walks on by patting my shoulder an odd cold sensation runs down my arm but before I could think more about it my attention is pulled elsewhere.

"Aphei, dear..." I hear Ray sing behind me. I turn taking a glance at Mr. Gabriel before he turns a corner then look at my annoyed friend who was pouting. "Where did you run off without me?" Shoveling my things into my bag finally I smile sheepishly.

"About that." I lean in as she stands next to me noticing me waiting instead of moving like usual. "You'll have to wait until after school, I don't have enough time in passing to tell you everything." She sighs,

"Is it death con 5 or 1 I need to know level of preparation and you only get an hour and a half to prepare a good reason I was force to talk to officer kick ass during lunch instead of eating some delicious dumplings." I lean my head on her shoulder and mutter,

"It's crazy unbelievable but at best we're at a 3." She pats my head with a sigh,

"Oh, girly it must be a tough one if it's on the scale at all." She was going to say something else but was cut off.

"Bunny." Angelo's voice makes me look up, he was with Jason, and they looked friendly with one another, I raise a brow.

"Nerds are helpful." He smiles knowing I heard him.

"He's more than a nerd he's a genius." I give him a smirk back as I stand to face him and Jason.

"Great timing you two, since I know you, both have many questions I am thinking a study group in the library after school?" I ask looking at both Raven and Jason as he goes to hold her hand. He nods and she squints her eyes,

"Fine but I want to know everything." I smile and sigh internally as Angelo comes next to me making me have a warm sense of grounding. Raven wiggles her eyebrows looking at us

"Deal." I nod and we head to our classes before the bell rings.

Once in class I took out my notebook and read over my already known information I wrote down last period elaborating to help me understand what I can and begin to write the questions I have,

'What book did you take from your grandmothers?" I teleo Angelo,

"I didn't take it, I'm just borrowing it, until my week long lock down is over." He teleo's back, "Besides, I'm not going to let it out of my sight." I nod as we reach an unspoken understanding that we must not lose that book. With Angelo's knowledge and understanding of the bond, he knew a bit more than I did it was when the bell rang that I noticed the hour was gone. We pack up and head to the library. As we head up the stairs I ask him,

"Why do you trust my friends so much?" I look at him as he opens the door to the second floor he smiles at me,

"Because, Bunny, you trust them." The comment was simple, but it warmed my heart as I feel the trust he had in me.

"I think I am starting to understand your distrust in Mr. Gabriel, when I ran into him earlier a cold feeling ran through me as if my heat was being stolen my whole left arm went cold from his touch." I teleo at him and watch his expression get hard his anger flaring a bit I hold on tighter to hand. "I'm alright now that you're with me but I am going to have Ray hack into the teacher records and see if we can find some info on him." He looked surprised,

"The more you know." He laughs as we reach the library. Raven and Clay are already there waiting in a cubical. This school gave the students soundproof rooms to have group studies however the wall that faces the rest of the library is glass to keep people from doing inappropriate things. The moment the door was closed Raven starts to throw questions at us like bullets.

"Let me sit down first dang!" I say breaking her questions, we move to sit across from them using our back to block the outside from seeing our book as we pull it out. Clay eyes widen,

"Is this what I think it is?" Angelo nods,

"I promised you the book. However," Angelo pauses and pushes it towards him and tells him, "Open it." He listens and opens the book to a random page he looks stun as he flips to a few more pages,

"It's blank." He gasped flabbergasted. "This is old magic. How does it work?" He mutters looking over every inch of the book front to back. Angelo takes his jacket off and says,

"Place your hand on it and send some of your magic to a page." Clay puts a hand on a page and starts to do as instructed Angelo places his jacket over his hand to stifle the green glow from the transfer, "Now think writing form." When the jacket was removed you can see a picture turn into words on the page.

"What was that?" Raven asks watching the words appear and disappear on the page waiting for one of us to ask it something.

"This book is from my grandmother library and in order for her to be able to keep it the elder council had the book enchanted. The glow was your magic being excepted by the spell to let you see what is inside the book. I had you make sure you made the book inform us in word form than in visual cause it's not supposed to leave her house." Raven purse her lips.

"What is this book about?" She asks to look over the page with faded words as she grabs the book closer to her.

"It's accent spells and potions from the third century volume six." Clay answers.

"It's also supposed to have information on the protectors and their bond from the third generation." Angelo answers,

"That is what's death con 3, the bond is more like a doorway into each other's minds." I interject resting my head on Angelo's shoulder. He sighs a lends forward making me sit up straight his facial expression hardens and the tension thickens in the air.

"I am about to tell you all something and you cannot utter a word to anyone and cannot text or write any of this down, this is very sensitive information even I am not supposed to know. I overheard a council meeting last week and it appears that the Ice kingdom is making moves on the boarders lately. Bunny and I are the last two new protectors to be trained but there has been a large amount of spy's, my family was hit by one of them, but they didn't get me, and their plan had failed to a degree. the knowledge of who the new protectors have been kept known to only a hand full of people. No one should have even known we were the fire protection guards but because we both got our power at such young age that it was hard to keep a secret."

"Doesn't help that I learned about mine in front of many people." I snort crossing my arms, he nods.

"I didn't even know that you were like Aphei." Raven mutters flipping the book to the very beginning. "Okay so let figure out our ducks." Clay gets his notebook out and starts to write things down I flip to my note I've been writing, and he starts to make note.

"Remember don't add anything about the ice kingdom for obvious reasons." Jason mutters to himself as the finish's pieces are noted.

"Okay, so we have figured out is that you two have some crazy strong powers that must be keep a secret because there are spies are everywhere, two years ago your father found a spy and using old magic you were cursed and your parents died from it said curse before you could find the antidote. During that time after your parents passed, you were in the care for the council and grandmother and was trained by some of the best-known wielders alive learning lots of secret info about the ceasefire with the ice kingdom and worried something or someone one is after you and Aphei. Today you learned that information Aphei which helped you understanding Angelo that broke the doorway of your bond that is making you see and feel everything each other does. So, you two are on a whole different level of protectors and if I remember my lore class the goddess Gratphy is the one that gave us our powers and she probably is doing something because you are certain war is going to break out soon." Clay sums up everything we both knew. Angelo and I nodded,

"That about it yeah." I speak in an even tone my head starting to hurt from having gone over this a few times, I felt like I was being interrogated.

"Let's not forgot that we now having to study this book since someone clearly read it at some point and is using its old knowledge for evil." Raven sighs closing the book and sliding it to Angelo who put in it in his bag.

"Do you know how deep the enchantment goes on the book?" Clay asks Angelo taking some more notes down. Angelo shakes his head.

"No, but feel free to stop by my room during the week I'll be reading it every moment I can." Clay nods writing some more. I look over at Raven,

"Did you bring your laptop?" I ask her, she nods pulling it out, "Can you see what the schools' records say about Mr. Gabriel." She twists her mouth but starts to type away within seconds with a shocked expression she turns her laptop,

"There isn't any, how can he have no records, he's been here for almost five years." We all sit in silence looking at the screen.

"I knew something was up with him." I hear Angelo mutters, Clay looks at his notes,

"He's a spy, isn't he?" He asked in a low voice as if anyone could hear us. Angelo nods,

"If he really is and has been undercover for a that long of a time, the Ice king must have something big plan." We all wait silently as Clay is writing and is mumbling scenarios. When he is finally down writing Ray groans and touches her stomach.

"Guys, I'm hungry. It's almost nine the o.d at the common center closes in half an hour. Let go get something to eat get some sleep and reconvene together in the more during the assembly." We start packing up, but I pause,

"What assembly?" She smirks looking between me and Angelo,

"Right, you two were naughty and skipped most of school today. Well, the head of the council will be coming by tomorrow to make an announcement. We are expected to dress appropriately and be in meeting hall one after the second lunch is over." I sigh I hated when they come to the school I have to dress up and parade around with the council as they make their rounds with staff members and wealthy donors before the announcement is made, worst part is the dresses they send me to wear. I sigh once more as I zip up my bag, we slowly head out of the library making sure we stick to school related topic as we head back to the doors. It's a nice sense of easy run through me as the guys talk about the herb class Clay took in his freshmen year,

"See, I feel like I missed so much good information by being stuck with the council members and guardians." I hear Angelo mutter I squeeze his hand sending warm mental hugs.

"I can always teach them to you the labs are open until nine and we still have another year here left, I'll fill you in on all the good knowledge." Clay nudges Angelo's arm, "Besides, you had the best opportunity to meet not just one but all three of the most power element benders in the world. I's give anything to meet Adam Siggmon." He lowers his voice to a whisper mentioning Angelo's "on the job training" I didn't know they had even talked about that.

"You two got close fast. Nerd." I smile laughing to myself.

"Nerds...." I hear Ray say sarcastically. We both laugh out loud I shake my head a strange feeling itches my neck,

"I felt it, that cold dagger at the base of my neck. It's like someone is watching us we need to be careful." I felt like looking around but something in me told me to keep moving forward and act oblivious. "Try not to go anywhere without me for the time being, I have a hunch on who it is, but we need proof." After learning about this bond using teleo is becoming easier and I'm not really feeling the need to invade his mind when we are connected. We reached the girls dorm first we part ways saying our goodbyes and walk into the dorm to eat and end the night.