Chapter Five

                                        

 

                                         Sam the Liar

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      When Mai woke up the next morning, Sam was looking through some of Mai’s things.  Like the things she had in her closet and dressers. “What are you doing?” Mai asked, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

     “Just looking,” said Sam as she pulled a stuffed cat out of a dresser.

     “Well, could you stop?” said Mai as she got to her feet.  Sam had finally gone too far, and Mai was fed up.

     “Oh, fine,” said Sam irritably as she threw the stuffed cat back where she had found it.  Mai walked over to her closet (which was now even messier than in had been), and pulled out a pair of navy blue pants and a light blue shirt that she thought would look nice with her robes.  Mai then took her cloths and her robes out of her room and went into the bathroom to change.  After she was dressed she went back in her room to find Sam once again digging through her stuff.

     “I thought I asked you to stop!” said Mai as she ran forward and closed the trunk that Sam was looking through.

     “Sorry,” said Sam in a huffy voice. “Come on, we’d better get going if we want to make it to your lesson, we overslept.  Or a least, you overslept.  It’s already nine o’ clock.  We should start getting ready.  We need to eat, wash up, and get all of our things together…” She went on about all the things they needed to do before they left, and by the time they had done most of these things, it was 10:30.  They were supposed to be at Master Chung’s house by 12:00.  The whole time they were getting ready, Mai’s mom had been avoiding them, careful not to be in the same room as them, and Mai was starting to feel very bad about bringing Sam back to her house.  Maybe it would have been better if she’d met Sam back at her house, but then, Mai’s mom would have never let her leave the house.  She would have been grounded.  Wyatt had been following them around, as if he was a parent, supervising his children, and it was starting to get very annoying.  About five minutes before they were going to leave, Wyatt went into his room and didn’t come out until Mai and Sam were about to walk out the door.  Mai was surprised to see that he was wearing Water Tribe robes too. Mai had noticed by now, that girl’s robes, and boy’s robes were slightly different. The boy’s had baggy pants and the girl’s had leggings and skirts that came down just above the ankle, with slits on either side, going all the way up to the hip. Other than that, the two genders had the same types of robes.  Wyatt also had his swords, in their sheath and hanging at his waist.

     “What do you think your doing, Wyatt?” Mai asked.

     “I’m coming with you.  I promised Dad I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.  So I’m coming along to make sure you stay safe,” he said.

     “Fine, but you have to keep quiet and not ask any stupid questions,” Mai said, crossing her arms.  Wyatt nodded. “Mom, we’ll be back soon,” Mai shouted down the hall.  There was no answer. “Is she okay, Wyatt?” asked Mai sympathetically.

     “Yeah, but she’s still really afraid of her,” he said, turning to Sam, who smirked at the thought of having done such a good job of scaring her.   Mai felt like giving Sam a hard punch in the face, but restrained herself.  Sam was the only one who could help her save Earth from Romokka.

     “Well, come on then,” said Sam.  She led Mai and Wyatt out of the house and onto the sidewalk.  Wyatt kept trying to walk faster than Sam, trying to take the lead, and Sam was attempting the same thing.  They kept increasing their pace until they were almost running, showing no sign of slowing down.  Mai kept her distance, staying behind them.  It was very funny to watch. Wyatt would elbow Sam to try and push her down, but Sam would push him right back, she appeared to be much stronger than he was.  By now they were sprinting along the sidewalk, with Mai not far behind.  As they approached the bus stop, Sam slowed down so she wouldn’t run past it, but Wyatt took it the wrong way.

     “Hah!” he shouted in triumph.  As he did this, he ran head on into the bus stop sign and fell back so he was laying flat on the ground.  Sam and Mai walked up to him.  Mai was laughing, but Sam looked as calm as ever.  Wyatt sat up, rubbing his soar head.  Mai grabbed his arm and hoisted him up onto his feet.  He mumbled a soft, “Thanks,” and walked over to the bench that was right next to the sign he crashed into. He sat down on it and crossed his arms.  He looked like he was a little kid who had just gotten a timeout.  Mai took a seat next to him and Sam sat down next to Mai.

     “Are you alright?” Mai asked, trying as hard as she could not to laugh, but she still felt sorry for him.

     Wyatt, who had been carefully touching the bump that had now formed on his head, said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”  Mai couldn’t help it any more.  She started giggling. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

     “You,” said Mai, clutching the stitch in her side.  Sam sighed and rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, Sam.  It’s funny,” said Mai, giving Sam a playful nudge.  Sam shook her head in annoyance.  Why was she so calm, had she forgotten how to have fun?  Mai had not seen her smile once, only smirk.  It would be very weird now to see any sign of happiness on her face.

     “Well, it’s not funny to me,” said Wyatt.  Mai was about to say something to Wyatt, but the bus pulled up.

     “Come on,” said Sam warily.  Once again, when they got on the bus everyone was staring at them.  Mai still didn’t like it, but Wyatt seemed to.  He was looking around at everyone turning every few seconds so people could look at him from every side.  Sam, who was leading the group, kept walking until they reached the back of the bus.  They took their seats.

      “So, where are we going?” Wyatt asked as the bus started to move. “If this is a trap—!”

     “The other side of town, Wyatt,” answered Mai, her brother seemed to calm down, but he never took his eyes from Sam, and kept shooting glances in her direction.  They didn’t talk the rest of the ride.  This was very strange behavior for Wyatt.  He was normally constant talk.  The bus arrived at Sam’s neighborhood about ten minutes later.  The three of them walked back up to the front of the bus, and this time Sam gave the bus driver three quarters.  Mai started to wonder where Sam was getting all these quarters.  This time when Sam started leading, Wyatt didn’t attempt to take over.  Mai guessed there were two reasons.  One, he didn’t know where they were going; and two, he didn’t want to risk getting another bump on his head.  Within a few minutes, they were standing outside Master Chung’s house.  Wyatt was looking it over carefully, a curious look on his face.

      He took a good look at the house before he said, “This is it?  It looks like a junk yard!”  He bent over and sniffed one of the weeds. “And it smells like one too,” he added as he stood up.

     “Wyatt, shush!” said Mai quickly, embarrassed by her brother’s remark. Sam was standing at the front door by now, and had already knocked.  Mai and Wyatt ran over to the door too, just in time to see a skinny bald man answer the door.

     “Ahh, Princess Sam.  I see Mai is here too.  Oh good. But who is this?” Chung looked at Wyatt curiously.

     “This is my brother Wyatt, sir,” Mai said, she was still a bit shy around all these new faces, and was trying to get over it.

     “And why have you brought him?” Chung asked cheerfully, he was bouncing on the balls of his feet.

     “Well, he insisted that he came along,” said Sam matter-of-factly, crossing her arms, her calm look still remained.  Mai was starting to think that maybe there was something wrong with Sam’s face that would not allow her to smile or even laugh, she always seemed grouchy.

      “Well, I certainly don’t mind,” Chung said brightly.  “Come in, come in.”  He moved out of the door way so they could enter.  Wyatt was looking around with his mouth hanging wide open, he looked very excited about being there with them, but still, he looked very unsure about what would soon be happening. Even Mai did not know what her training would be like, and she was starting to get very nervous.  She hoped that nobody but Sam would be there to watch, she didn’t want a huge audience.  She especially didn’t want Fudo to be there to watch.   She didn’t want to mess up and look like a fool in front of him.  Chung led the three of them down one of the long hallways and then stopped in front of a large double door.

     “Here we are,” he said, and he pushed the doors open.  This room was enormous.  The ceiling was at least twenty feet high and a one-story house could have easily fit into the room.  The whole room was lit by various torches that were hanging from the walls.  There were five couches scattered around the room, and at the front of the room was, what looked like, a marble throne.  It was a very authentic looking place, like a real training arena.  Mai felt her stomach squirm, she was very nervous now.  She was shy about being taught one on one with Master Chung.  She was not very good at communicating with other people, considering no one had ever really talked with her before.  There was still so much that confused her, there was so much about all this that she still did not understand, it was as if she was living someone else’s life, or like she had just stepped outside for the first time.  She knew this is where she belonged, here among the other Solarians, training with Sam, helping to fight off Romokka.  Everything she had ever known was suddenly thrown away and replaced by unknown things, things that she was eager to learn more about.  From beside her, she heard Wyatt whisper something that sounded very much like “Spoiled.”

       “This place is amazing,” said Mai breathlessly.

     “Well, I’m glad you like it,” Chung said brightly.  Mai now noticed that there was already someone else in the room.  It was Monkey-faced Karan; he was standing in the darkest corner of the room.

     “Ahh, princess,” he said stepping forward to greet them, though the look on his face suggested that he wasn’t glad to see them.

     “I see you brought her along again,” he said coldly, turning to Mai, who shifted uncomfortable under his hard gaze. “And who is this?” Karan said as he looked at Wyatt.

     “This is Mai’s idiotic brother,” said Sam, ignoring Wyatt’s insulted “Hey!” At these words, Wyatt leapt forward at Sam, but Mai put her arm out to stop him, frantic to keep him away from Karan, who could easily have defeated him and left him lying in a heap on the floor.

      “I see,” said Karan as he watched Wyatt struggle against Mai, who was struggling herself.

     “Well then,” said Chung, who had once again been bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I think we should get started.”  He gestured for Mai to follow him to the center of the room.  Mai put her arm back down and Wyatt, who was still pushing against Mai, fell flat on his face.  As May followed Chung, Sam grabbed Wyatt by the arm, lifted him to his feet and pulled him over to sit on one of the couches.  Karan stayed where he was and was watching Wyatt closely.

     “Alright Mai, what do you know so far?” asked Chung.

     “I don’t understand,” Mai said carefully, she felt very stupid at that moment, with everyone watching.

      “I mean, do you know anything about your powers?”  Mai shook her head, still feeling very awkward.

     “Well, your powers come from a ball of energy that is located in the chest.  And with the right training, you can learn to direct that energy.  That is what I will be teaching you. Now the first thing you have to do is focus your mind on where you want to direct this energy.  If you want it to go to your hands, or your feet, or even your head.”  Mai's eyes squinted in concentration.  She had no idea what she was supposed to do or how she was supposed to direct her energy.

     “Very good, can you feel the energy flowing?” Mai nodded, as she felt a strange tingling sensation flowing through her. It was not an uncomfortable feeling, but still foreign to her.  She was focusing so hard that she thought her head might burst. “ Breathe, don’t forget to breathe!  Good.  Now, to summon your powers, you must let your energy out.  Let it come out with your breath.  Take deep breaths and concentrate.  Good, very good.”  This was much harder than Mai had thought it would be.  Would she have to go through this every time she wanted to use her powers?

    “Don’t worry.  It is always hard the first time.  But once you get it, it will be much easier and you will be able to summon your powers in an instant.”  Mai had the impression that Chung could read minds.

    “Karan could you please pass me that bucket?” Chung was pointing to a rather large bucket that was sitting a few feet from where Karan was standing.  Karan picked it up and carried it to Chung, water splashing over the edge as he did so, leaving small puddles on the stone floor.

    “Thank you, alright, now we’re going to try it with water. Water Powers are different than Fire Powers.  With Fire Powers, the fire comes from the person, but with Water Powers, you can control water around you.  For example, Princess, could you come up here a moment?”

      Sam stood up and walked over to them, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else than here. “Sam could you shoot fire over there for me?”  Sam did as she was told and sent a ball of fire at the marble throne.  “You see, the fire comes from her and goes in the direction she wants, but with Water Powers,” he then picked up the bucket of water, walked over to the throne and placed it on the floor, then walked back over to where Mai and Sam were standing.

      “As I was saying, with Water Powers, you can control water from a distance.  You can’t shoot water from your hands and feet like a person with fire powers.  You can lift the water, move it into shapes, and just about anything else you could imagine.  Princess, you can go sit down now.” Sam nodded and sat down next to an annoyed looking Wyatt.  “Now I want you to do exactly what you were doing before.  Alright, now look at the water and concentrate on lifting it out of the pail.  As you do this, move your hand up.  Whenever you want to use your powers you must always move some part of your body.  This is what the water will follow.”

     Mai nodded and slowly started moving her hand up, focusing as hard as she could, trying to keep the energy flowing through.  The water inside the pail started to ripple as though someone had just dropped a large stone into it, but nothing else happened, and Mai was disappointed.

     “That was a very good first try.  Try it again, but this time, focus on the water, instead of your hand.”

      Mai was focusing as hard as she could as she lifted her hand.  This time, to Mai’s astonishment, the water in the bucket started rising and hovered in midair in an orb. “Oh, very good!  Very good!” said Chung excitedly, clapping and jumping up and down. “Now try moving it around, like a snake.  Remember, move your hand the way you want the water to move.”  Mai held her breath as she started to move her hand smoothly back and forth like she was cleaning a window.  The water stared to move too.  It was following her hand's movement.  Mai was starting to get the hang of it.  She noticed the she didn’t need to concentrate as hard anymore.  She was so excited that she couldn’t help herself, she shouted out in joy, she could use her powers!

      “Wonderful!  Oh, you’re doing great!  Now try using both hands.” Mai lifted her other hand and started moving it alongside her other one.  She started swirling them in different directions, making shapes and patterns.  “Good, now let’s try to do something else.”

     The rest of the lesson went very smoothly after that.  She got everything almost right away, and by the end of the lesson, she could summon her powers exactly when she wanted to use them and could do all sorts of tricks.

   “That was very good,” said Chung as soon as they were done. “There are very few who can pick it up that fast, I am very impressed. I have never taught anyone who was able to learn that fast, ever.  I think your next step is to find a Water Master.  Here, this is so you’ll always have water with you.” He handed her a pouch that looked like a small backpack.  It had the water tribe insignia in it, and he had already filled it with water.

     “Wow, thank you,” said Mai, the whole lesson was still fresh in her mind, and she couldn’t wait to use her powers again.

     “Hey Mai!” Wyatt had gotten off the couch and come running over to her. “That was great!” he said excitedly.

     “Thanks Wyatt.  Hey Sam! Sam?  Hey, where did Sam go?” Mai looked around the room, but her new friend was nowhere to be seen.

      Wyatt looked back over his shoulder. “I don’t know, probably off being mean or showing off or something like that” he said.

     “She went outside,” Karan said as he walked over to them, he looked very eager about something.

      “Oh, okay,” said Mai, strapping the pouch to her back. “Thank you, sir,” she said as she turned back to Chung.  She remembered Sam had always bowed to him, so she bowed.  

    Chung bowed back and said, “You are a fast learner.” He grimaced. “I think the Princess is waiting outside for you.”  Mai nodded, confused by how Chung had darkened.  She grabbed Wyatt, who had been looking at some kind of bug that was crawling on the floor, and walked from the room.  Sam was not waiting for them outside the door, so Mai guessed that Karan and Chung had meant outside the house.  So Mai—still dragging Wyatt—made her way back to the back door.  As soon as they got there, they heard voices.  Mai recognized one of them as Dakota’s, he was pleading!.

     “Please sir, I told you it was an accident,” said Dakota’s voice, he sounded afraid in some way.

     “I’m tired of all your accidents,” boomed another voice that Mai knew.  It was Soren, the Fire Chief.

    “No!  Sir, please!” said Dakota, he sounded on the verge of tears, and Mai was wondering what was going on out there.

    “This is your punishment,” said Soren, he sounded very mad, but still, he was the one in control of the situation.

    “No, no please I’ll be more careful,” Dakota cried.  Before Mai could stop him, Wyatt tugged out of her grip and opened the back door.  Dakota was on his hands and knees at Soren’s feet, Sam and—to Mai’s dislike—Fudo were both standing around them.  Everyone was now looking at Mai and Wyatt, who stood frozen to the spot in the doorway.  

     Soren looked back down at Dakota. “I know that you will be more careful.  I will make sure of that.  I can not afford your little mistakes any more!”  He drew back his fist, which ignited.  Mai knew what he was going to do.  He was going to burn Dakota.  Mai didn’t know what she had done until a few seconds after she had done it.

    “STOP!” She leapt in front of Dakota with her arms out, blocking Dakota from the view of the Fire Chief, she cast a sidelong glace at Fudo, his expression stunned her.  It was a look of pure remorse and pain.  What could he possibly be thinking about that would cause him to make that face.

     “What do you think you are doing little girl?” asked Soren as he lowered his flaming fist.

  “What do you think you’re doing?  You can’t do this!  It’s wrong!” All of Mai’s shy feelings had been replaced be those of fury and anger, she couldn’t let the Fire Chief hurt poor little Dakota—he was unarmed and defenseless!

       Soren looked as though Mai had just greatly insulted him. “I will do as I please,” he boomed.  

     Mai was reminded of Sam as he said this. “If you’re going to hurt Dakota, then you have to hurt me too!” The Fire Chief gave a cold laugh and raised his fiery fist higher, looking triumphant.

     “Mai no, don’t,” Dakota whispered from behind her, he looked as though he had just been defeated, like he had given up on all hope, like had had finally surrendered after a long, hard fight.

     “Mai!” Wyatt shouted.  He made to run to her side, but Sam restrained him, holding him by the arms. “What do you think you’re doing?  Let go of me!”  But Sam was too strong for him.   Karan came walking out of the house looking rather pleased at the sight of them.

    “Well Dakota,” said Soren, “I have thought of a better punishment for you.  General, restrain the boy.  Fudo, come here!” Karan walked forward and grabbed Dakota and pulled him to his feet, and held him so he was facing Mai.  Fudo rushed forward to his dad’s side. “Hold her,” said Soren.  

     Fudo walked forward and grabbed Mai’s wrists and forced them behind her back. “I’m sorry,” he whispered in her ear. 

     Mai would have never expected to hear those words come out of his mouth, and she wondered if—maybe—he wasn’t as bad as he seemed, but then again, he was holding her hostage.   The Fire Chief aimed his flaming fist straight at Mai’s face, he was only a few feet from her, the light was shining in her eyes, making her squint, and the heat was almost unbearable. This was it, she would die here, and she knew it.  Why was this happening?  Sam was her friend, yet she was taking part in this act, she had lied to Mai all this time, she had betrayed her, and now she was going to let her die, just like that!  Mai wondered why Dakota was going to be burnt, and now she wished that she had never left her room the night she had met Sam, that she would have never followed her and fallen for her horrid trap.  Just as Soren was about to strike, a gust of wind came rushing towards Fudo, so strong that it knocked him over, freeing Mai from his grasp.  Mai jumped out of the way as Soren’s fireball hit the spot she had been standing in.  Mai looked around to see where the gust of air had come from.

      As she was looking around, she saw that Dakota was glowing.  His whole body was glowing with bright yellow light—like a human-shaped light bulb—and he had an eerie yellow outline. His eyes had become solid and shiny, like mirrors. Mai stared in astonishment, how was he doing that—better yet, what was he doing?  Karan let go as Dakota started to walk forward.  By now Fudo had gotten up, Sam had let go of Wyatt and the Fire Chief had realized what was going on, all of their faces matched one another’s, it was a look of complete surprise and shock.  Suddenly Dakota shot a gust of wind at the Fire Chief.  It was a direct hit and Soren flew twenty feet in the air and landed with a thud on the ground where he lay unconscious.  Suddenly Sam, Karen and Fudo all started running at the source of the bright light.  Dakota then sent, what looked like, a small tornado in their general direction sending them hurtling backwards, where they lay sprawled out on the ground, momentarily stunned.  Dakota’s glow slowly went out and he fell down in a heap on the ground, not moving.

     From somewhere behind her, Mai heard Fudo shout, “You! You’re a Chosen One?  But you’re just a kid!”

     Mai ran forward to Dakota and held him in her arms. “Dakota are you alright?” she asked quietly.  Dakota’s eyes fluttered open and he sat up so suddenly that his head hit Mai’s.

     “Sorry, are you okay?”

     “I’m fine; it was just a little bump.”

     Dakota shook his head. “No, I meant, did he hurt you?” His face was full of concern, and Mai looked at him gently.

     She glanced over her shoulder to make sure they had time to talk before someone else tried to attack them. “No, I’m fine.  Are you alright?”

     Dakota nodded weakly. “Look out!” he shouted suddenly.  He stood up so fast that Mai was knocked to the ground.  Dakota jumped in front of her and sent a wave of air at Karan, who was running towards them. Mai looked to see where Wyatt was.  She spotted him fighting with Fudo.  He was using his swords to block Fudo’s fire balls, which came at him in short blasts, Fudo was not as good at using his Fire Powers as Sam was, so Wyatt was having no trouble to parry his attacks.  Mai had never seen Wyatt use his swords before, and she was quite amazed at how good he was at using them.  Mai stood up to join Dakota in the fight.  Karan had been knocked back again by Dakota’s attack and now Sam was running at them.  Mai’s face flushed at the sight of her now, she had lied to her, and now Mai was going to get her back, she would have revenge. 

     It was then that she remembered the pouch Chung had given her and so drew out a stream of water.  She launched it at Sam with all the force she could muster, and it hit her right between the eyes.  She fell down and lay there, rubbing the place were she’d been hit, a dazed look in her eyes.  Mai had been able to catch her off guard and hit her hard enough, she was lucky.  If she hadn’t caught her by surprise, Sam would have been upon them in just a matter of seconds.  Fudo ran from his fight with Wyatt and shot a blast of fire at Mai, who turned around and blocked it with her water.  She felt annoyed with herself for ever thinking that Fudo could be good, that he had a nice side.  She would use her anger for strength. It was all that could help her to win this fight.  She had not expected that her first fight would be a real one, let alone on the same day as her first lesson.  She thought that maybe she would slowly work her way up to sparring with Sam, not a real fight, where her enemies would not hold back, not care about her safety, not lighten up if they saw she was tiring.  Karan started running at them again, but Sam put her arm out and tripped him.  From the ground, Karan shot fire at her but she blocked it by putting one hand up and catching it like a ball it.  Without warning, she flung it in the other direction at Fudo, who was only just able to dodge it.  Fudo then ran at Sam, throwing a series of fiery punches at her. “You know I need him, you know it!”

    “Well, since when have I cared what you need,” Sam said coldly, returning fire, and forcing him backwards.  Karan got up and ran over to the fighting siblings and it was a three was battle between them. They were attacking each other head on without showing any signs of stopping, Fudo better than Karan, and Sam better than Fudo.  Mai, still in shock and slightly dazed by the sudden turn of events, seized this opportunity to talk to Dakota.

     “Dakota, we can get out of here while they’re fighting.  Come on Wyatt.” Dakota nodded and followed Mai as she grabbed Wyatt by the arm, ran back into the house and out the front door.  

    They could still hear the fight that was going on, but didn’t stay to listen.  Mai let Dakota lead them out of the neighborhood.  They didn’t know where they were going, but they did know one thing, they had to get as far away from Soren, Sam, Fudo and Karan as possible.