Chapter Two
Sam’s Family
So much had gone on in the last fifteen minutes that Mai stood staring into space thinking about everything that just happened. One minute she was just a normal girl, then the next she was a girl from another planet and had special powers. Her thoughts were swirling around in her head. She didn’t know what to think about all of this. She had powers—something to be excited about—but then, another planet would be attacking Earth—something to be afraid of, and then there was Sam. Mai wasn’t sure if she could trust her completely. After all, they had just met. She seemed very nice, but still, Mai could not be sure. Sam grabbed her shoulder and shook her violently, bringing her out of her daze. “Uh…what?” said Mai awkwardly, looking around at Sam.
“Come on, I want to take you to my house. We need to tell my father that we saw a bear-coon.” Without even waiting for Mai to reply, she grabbed Mai firmly by the wrist and started running though the thick woods, dragging Mai behind her. They were not running towards the edge of the forest, and towards the city, but farther into the forest.
“Where are we going? Town is the other way. There’s nothing this way but woods!” said Mai between breaths, Sam was running very fast.
“Well that’s what you think. I came from this way. I know where I’m going,” Sam said as she looked back at Mai over her shoulder. Mai thought she looked rather annoyed. Suddenly Mai felt her foot hit something hard and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground. As she fell, Sam let go of her wrist so Mai wouldn’t pull her down too.
“Hurry up,” Sam said irritably as she grabbed Mai's wrist again and pulled her to her feet.
“Sorry, but I can’t see were I’m going. It’s too dark!” Mai complained as she brushed the dirt off her clothes. She couldn’t help being just a little mad at Sam’s lack of sympathy. Sam rolled her eyes and put up the hand that wasn’t holding onto Mai. A flame ignited there in the palm of her hand.
“Is that better?” she said, putting her free hand on her hip. Mai nodded and without warning, Sam started running again, pulling Mai along and holding the flame high in the air like a torch. Sam seemed to have no trouble jumping over logs and rocks and dodging bushes and trees, but Mai on the other hand, was having a much harder time maneuvering through the thick woods. Her feet kept hitting rocks, she kept running straight through thorny bushes and a few times she ran head on into trees. But Sam continued to pull her forward. After about five more minutes of continuous running, Sam finally stopped and put out the flame in her hand. Then she let go of Mai’s wrist and started looking around.
“Shhh…” she whispered to Mai, who was breathing very heavy, trying to catch her breath.
“What is it?” panted Mai, who was just glad they had finally stopped running, so she could catch her breath.
“I heard something. Now, shhh…”
Mai listened as hard as she could, but the only sound she could hear, was her own heavy breathing. “But I don’t-”
Sam had put her hand over Mai’s mouth to make her stop talking. “Shhh…It’ll hear you…” Sam whispered angrily in Mai’s ear. Mai pulled Sam’s hand off her mouth.
“What will hear me?” she asked in a whisper, confused for the hundredth time that night. Sam pointed over to the place she had been staring at since they had stopped running. All Mai could see was a large bush.
“What? I don’t see anything.” Mai whispered. But before Sam could answer her, a deep low growling came from the bush Sam was staring at. Sam once again grabbed Mai’s wrist and started running, if possible, faster then before. But this time she didn’t light a flame so Mai could see.
“What is it? And can you… do that…torch thingy again?” Mai panted, bewildered by Sam’s sudden action.
“It’s another bear-coon, and this time, there’s sure to be more. I made the first one mad, and now I’ll bet he’s gathered his stupid little friends to team up on me. And no, I can’t do that ‘torch thingy’ again. They’ll see the light and know exactly where we are. Come on!” She didn’t sound scared and still had her flat tone. It was starting to get a little creepy that Sam was always so calm.
“I thought you… said you could… blast a bear-coon to… smithereens.” Mai panted, her side was starting to hurt.
“I can,” Sam snapped back at her. “But you can’t. We’re running away because you couldn’t keep a bear-coon away for five seconds, and I probably couldn’t keep more than four at a time away from you, and it sounded like there were at least seven or eight.” Sam said coldly.
Mai opened her mouth to protest but realized Sam was right. She wouldn’t stand a chance against a bear-coon, and she figured this wasn’t a good time to argue. They ran non-stop for what had to be at least fifteen minutes and surprisingly, didn’t see a single bear-coon. But every once in a while, Mai could hear growling or heavy thudding as if there was something big chasing them. Finally, they came out the other side of the woods. They were on the outskirts of town.
“All we need to do now is get into the city and we’ll be safe from any bear-coons,” Sam said smoothly, gesturing to the line of buildings that were no more then a few hundred yards in front of them. Mai nodded, she was holding the stitch in her side and panting very hard. Sam didn’t seem to be out of breath at all. Mai was very tired, it had to be very late, and she had forgotten to eat dinner, so she was hungry as well.
“My house isn’t far from here.” Sam said reassuringly to Mai. She started pulling Mai forward again, but this time, at a walking pace.
As soon as they got into the city, they started walking along the sidewalk. They passed stores, office buildings, and houses but didn’t see a single person walking along the sidewalk. Mai guessed that most people didn't like walking around after midnight. The streets were deserted accept for the few cars that drove past them. Sam took a left turn, and then a right turn, and then another right turn, then a left turn, and then… Mai lost count. It was a good thing Sam knew where she was going, because Mai had never been in this part of town and if she had been leading, they would have gotten lost a long time ago.
They walked though an archway that had the words Fire Pit carved into it and Mai guessed that must be the name of the neighborhood they had just entered. It was a very interesting little neighborhood. The houses all looked identical to one another, accept for a few small details. They were all painted a very dark shade of red, and had little fountains that resembled a volcano in front of them. At the end of each driveway was a little lamppost. They all had an archway with the house's address on it over the front door. And every house had a white mailbox at the end of the driveway. Sam led Mai in front of a fairly large two-story house with a small patch of grass in front of it. She pulled Mai along with her as she walked up to the front door. Sam let go of Mai’s wrist, which, by now, had lost feeling completely, and Mai had to massage it for a few minutes before it returned to normal.
“Now we’re going to have to be really quiet. You can spend the night in my room, and in the morning we can tell my father what we saw,” Sam said in her calm voice as she opened the front door. Mai nodded and they both walked into the house. All the walls were painted a dark shade of red that matched Sam’s robes. The ceiling was left white and the floor was made of a shiny polished wood. There was a staircase that led upstairs and two hallways that led in different directions. Mai followed Sam down one of the dark halls and through a door that had Sam’s name painted on it. Sam’s room matched the entrance hall: red walls, white ceiling, and wooden floor. She had a large four-poster bed and a red rug that was so big it almost covered the entire floor. Sam walked over to her closet and pulled out a thick sleeping bag
“Here,” she said, tossing the sleeping bag to Mai. Mai spread the sleeping bag out next to Sam’s large four-poster bed. Sam climbed into her bed, tossed one of her many pillows to Mai, and lay back. Mai put the pillow in place, put her head down and fell asleep instantly.
The nest morning, Mai was awoken by a loud thumping coming from somewhere up above. She sat bolt upright and started looking around frantically. Sam was sitting up in her bed, her hair was down, and she looked very annoyed. Mai guessed she had been woken up by the loud thumping too.
“What’s that banging?” Mai asked sleepily.
“My little brother Fudo,” Sam said with a disgusted look on her face. “He’s always mad about something.” The way she said this sounded as though she was talking about a cockroach.
“Oh….” That was all Mai could think to say. “Do you have a phone I could use? My mom has no idea I’m here,” Mai said as she remembered she had left while her mom was sleeping. Sam nodded, stood up and gestured for Mai to follow her. Mai stood up and followed Sam out of her room, down the entrance hall, down the other hallway and through a door that led to the kitchen. There was a boy sitting at the kitchen table that must have been Sam’s brother. He had a pleasant face, though he had brown eyes instead of gold or red ones. He had messy, brown hair and was wearing red robes. He looked up at them and smiled. This couldn’t be Fudo, because there was still thumping coming from upstairs. There was a woman standing in front of the refrigerator. She had long black hair that came down to her waist. She had gold eyes and was also wearing red robes. She had a gentle and pretty face, and looked shocked at the sight of Mai.
“Good morning, Mother,” Sam said in her smooth voice. This confused Mai. Hadn’t Sam said her mom died?
The woman turned her attention to Sam. “Good morning Sam. Who’s your friend?” The boy sitting at the table was still looking curiously at Mai.
“This is Mai. She’s from the Water Tribe,” Sam said as she walked over to the table at sat down next to the boy.
“Hello um…is it okay if I use your phone? My mom doesn’t know I’m here,” said Mai trying to sound polite.
“Of course,” Sam’s mom replied. Mai spotted the phone on the counter top and walked over to it. She picked it up and dialed her number. Her mom picked up right away.
“Hello?” said her mom’s voice.
“Um, hi Mom it’s… Mai-” As soon as she spoke her name, her mom’s voice started shouting before she could finish her sentence.
“MAI, WHERE ARE YOU! I’VE BEEN WORRIED SICK!”
“It’s alright Mom, I’m fine. I just…Um…” She was trying to think of some way to explain why she followed some girl she had never met before, all the way to the other side of town, after midnight, and spent the night at her house. But then she knew if she told her mom the truth, she would just think she was making up some crazy excuse for why she was gone. She couldn’t help feeling just a little guilty about leaving without telling anyone.
“Just…?” her mom repeated.
“I….spent the night at a…. friend’s house. I’ll be back soon, I’m fine, really,” said Mai reassuringly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I will next time, but it was really…err… short notice and…uh… she… needed my help.” She was trying to think something up as quickly as possible.
“I don’t know what you were thinking! Running off without telling me!” There was a pause. “I want you back here right now!”
“Please Mom, can I stay? I’ll do extra chores for a month!” She just had to stay, she had to help Sam. She couldn’t let something like being grounded get in the way of helping Sam save Earth from Romokka.
“Oh…I don’t know. You’ll need a much bigger punishment then that. I’ll… think about it for a while,” her mom’s voice said forcefully. “Just… be back before dinner.” Mai gave a little jump for joy. “But you’re in big trouble when you get back. So don’t think-”
“Thanks Mom. Love you, gotta go, bye!” said Mai hurriedly, and hung up the phone.
Mai walked over to the table where Sam was sitting. Sam was holding a piece of toast in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other. Mai took a seat next to her and took a piece of toast off the plate in the center of the table.
“Sam,” she said quietly, “you said your mom died. But a minute ago you said she was your mom.” She pointed to the woman who was now cooking something with her Fire Powers, rather than the stove.
“She’s my stepmother,” said Sam. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She gestured to the boy sitting next to her. “This is my other little brother Dakota. He’s ten years old. Dakota, this is Mai.” She took a bite of her toast. Dakota smiled and waved, Mai did the same. Suddenly, Mai thought of something.
“How old are you Sam?”
Sam looked at her for a second, finished chewing her toast and then said, “What, Oh I’m fifteen. How old are you?”
“Twelve,” said Mai, slightly disappointed at their difference in age. But then she remembered Fudo. “How old is Fudo?”
“What? Fudo? Why would you want to know about him?” Sam once again had a disgusted look on her face.
“No reason, just curious.” She wondered why Sam didn’t like Fudo, or so it seemed. Maybe they had recently gotten into a fight. That happened to all siblings, it always happened with her and her older brother, Wyatt.
“That reminds me,” said Dakota. “I’m going to see if I can go calm Fudo down a bit. Do you want to come along to meet him?”
“Sure.”
“I’m sure that he would like to meet you, though he can get very grouchy at times, so try not to make him mad.”
Dakota stood up and started walking out of the kitchen, with Mai close behind him., Mai noticed Sam was not coming. Dakota led her into the entrance hall, up the stairs and stopped in front of a door that had the Fire Tribe insignia on it. The banging and thudding was coming from behind that door. Mai guessed this was Fudo’s room. Dakota started opening the door slowly, but then something came flying out of Fudo’s room (which looked like a boot) and bounced off Dakota’s head, making him stagger backwards for a second before trying again. This time when something came flying towards him (this time a heavy book), he was able to dodge it, but just barely.
“Fudo, calm down! It’s me!” said Dakota. He took a few hesitant steps forward.
Mai looked around him and into Fudo’s room. She couldn’t tell if he was trying to hit Dakota or not, but it looked like he was just picking up anything he could get his hands on, and flinging it in any direction. He obviously had Fire Powers too because a number of things were either on fire, burnt, or in a pile of ashes. He too was wearing red robes, like the rest of his family, though his eyes were a wonderful shade of blue—unlike the others. In addition, his hair wasn’t pure black like the rest, it was dark brown, and was just long enough to partly cover his eyes. His skin was much darker than his sister, mother and brother. Theirs were all very pale white, and his was tanner. He was very different from them. There was something on his face that caught Mai’s attention. Across the left side of his face, over his eye, was a blue tattoo that looked like a bolt of lightning. The bolts of lightning streaked downward, starting just above his eyebrow and moving down over his left eye, over his cheek, and down his neck. When he saw Dakota, he stopped throwing things and sat down on his bed.
“What happened?” asked Dakota.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” It looked like he was very upset, and Mai was momentarily sorry for him. “Now just…leave me alone,” Fudo said sternly.
But Dakota stayed where he was. Mai started walking forward but tripped of one of the many things that were lying on the floor and Fudo realized she was there. Their eyes met. He stared at her for a long time, holding her gaze. Mai suddenly felt her stomach squirm. It was as though she couldn’t look away, like he was able to keep her eyes locked on his until he wanted her to look away. Then—to Mai’s relief—he looked back at Dakota.
“Who’s she?” he snapped, there was something in his voice that sounded a bit urgent or nervous.
“This is… Sam’s new friend from the Water Tribe,” Dakota explained. Though he spoke carefully as though if he said the wrong thing, Fudo might explode.
“She’s Sam’s friend?” repeated Fudo venomously. He stared at Mai for a long time before he finally said. “Get out of here. Both of you, I don’t need anyone, so leave, now.” He stood up and walked over to his dresser, which was tipped over, and set it back up right.
“Hold on,” Mai said, her temper rising. “I just came up here to meet you and you’re going to just throw me out because I’m friends with Sam or some stupid reason like that?” She didn’t know why she was yelling, she had just met him, and still she was shouting at him as though they were old enemies, as though there were something about him that was horribly familiar. It was like he reminded her of someone she knew a long time ago, someone who had hurt her in some way or another, maybe one of the kids in her neighborhood?
“If you’re friends with Sam then you’re not welcome in here. And I want to be alone. That means I don’t want a filthy Water Tribe peasant in here with me. And I forbid you to speak to me in that way!” Fudo said, anger clearly rising in his voice.
Mai narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe it! What do you mean Water Tribe peasant? Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you were such royalty,” said Mai sarcastically.
“For your information, I am prince of the Fire Tribe and heir to the throne! Now get out!”
“What’s your problem? We came to help you feel better and calm you down, and then you snap at us!” Mai was trying not to yell, but she couldn’t help it, she now understood why Sam disliked Fudo so much. He was an ill-tempered, spoiled little prince who thought he could treat people however he wanted, just because he was royalty.
Fudo shot her a murderous glare. “I don’t need anyone’s help, now get out,” he said once again, but this time though gritted teeth. When Mai still didn’t move he shot a blast of fire at her feet, making her jump back to avoid getting burned. Mai looked down at the scorched carpet at her feet, then back up at Fudo.
“You little—”
“Come on Mai,” Dakota said in a defeated voice. He grabbed Mai’s upper arm, pulled her out of Fudo’s room and closed the door behind them.
“What’s wrong with him?” said Mai angrily to Dakota.
“More than you know,” said a smooth voice from behind them. They turned around to see Sam leaning against the wall, her arms crossed and a smirk on her calm face. Dakota stared at her for a moment, then turned on his heel and marched off.
“Come on Mai, I told my father we saw a bear-coon. He said he wants to meet you,” Sam said in an almost satisfied tone. Mai nodded and followed Sam back downstairs and into the living room. This room looked like all the others: red walls, white ceiling, and wooden floors. There was a man sitting on the leather couch. He had black hair that hung partially over is eyes. He—like Sam—had dark orange, almost red, eyes and red robes, though his were much fancier.
“Hello,” he said. He had a deep, powerful voice.
“Um…hello,” said Mai, feeling very awkward.
“My daughter told me you can see bear-coons?”
Mai nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“She also told me you were from the Water Tribe, but don’t know how to control you powers?”
Mai nodded again, and shifted uncomfortably, this man seemed like he had a short temper as well.
“Well, I know someone who can teach you how to use them. Sam you know who I’m talking about. Please take Mai to see him.” Sam bowed to her dad and then looked at Mai curiously.
Then she nudged Mai in the ribs. “Bow.” Mai gave Sam a confused look and then did as she was told. Sam grabbed Mai by the arm and darted out of the room.
“Why’d I have to bow?” Mai asked.
“My Father is Chief of the Fire Tribe. Remember when I told you I was princess of the Fire Tribe? That’s why,” said Sam. Mai realized that when Fudo said he was prince of the Fire Tribe, he really meant it and wasn’t just saying it to get Mai off his back.
“Oh,” was Mai’s only response, she couldn’t think of anything else to say. She was still very confused, and felt very out of place in Sam’s house. She was a bit shy with all of these people, though she surprised herself that she had not been shy at all towards Fudo.
Sam started pulling Mai to the front door and said, “Come on. You’re going to learn how to use your powers.”
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