The Girl After

Chapter 33

I'd like to think that I have great instincts. I take pride in saying that they have never steered me wrong. It was my instincts that made me so vital to the Triple Threat Triad, and it was my instincts that ensured Bo and I never suffered anything more serious than a few gashes on our bodies.

And it was these instincts that told me that something was suspicious about Unalaq and the creepy twins. Something within me was absolutely certain that there was something amiss about their intentions, though I couldn't quite pinpoint what they could've been plotting. I had yet to share my thoughts with the others, but I surely wasn't hiding my distaste. One evening, I sat with Korra, Mako, Bolin and the twins in a restaurant. I was squeezed between Mako and the wall, across from Bolin. I had been coherced into going to dinner with the group My lips were bent in a scowl, as we're Mako's; I couldn't see Korra, but I was sure that she possessed the same expression.

"Isn't this fun?" Bolin gave an odd laugh and attempted to kill the resentment that settled over our table. "We never get to spend enough time together, just the....six of us. So fun!"

"I don't want to be here, Bo," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. My lip was jutted out like that of a pouty child. Mako elbowed me. His way of saying: Deal with it, none of us want to be here. To that, I elbowed him in return, though much harder than he'd done to me. He let out a grunt as I hit his arm.

The twins looked at one another with their signature solemn faces. Was it a twin thing? Did twins share thoughts? No, of course not. Don't be ridiculous. Eska and Desna were in individual people, not clones....

Right?

"Excuse us," Eska said quietly, "while we retrieve more sustenance." She and her brother leave the table in unison, moving soundlessly. Bolin maintained a hearty smile as we watched them walk away. The farther they became, the more his smile dropped into a disheartened frown. His eyes darted between the three of us as we squirmed to somehow shift and make ourselves less uncomfortable, receiving elbows to the ribs and a few kicks in the shin.

"You guys gotta save me," Bolin pleaded desperately.

"I thought you were breaking up with her," I said, and even I could hear the jealousy in my tone. Hopefully the others hadn't noticed it.

"Yeah," Mako chimed in, "what happened to ripping off the leech?"

"I tried!" Bolin explained, "But every time I bring up the subject, she threatens to freeze me in a block of ice and feed me to dolphin piranhas!"

"So it's more like you tugged at the leech," I noted, and Bo nodded.

"Over and over and over, but it won't come off!" He wailed. He looked to Korra, who had half of her body out of the booth on order to make room for me and Mako. "Why didn't you warn me your cousin had the power to reach into my heart and crush my soul with her bare hands?"

Korra paused for a beat. "Because I thought it was pretty obvious?"

Bolin shook his head. "No, no," he said. "Not to me! I'm very bad at reading people. You should know that by now. Oh, man." He held his head in his hands in distress. "Oh... Do something, Avatar!"

"Bolin," Mako sighed. "Korra can't just break up with your girlfriend for you. You have to do it yours—"

"I'll do it," I blurted, unintentionally. Everyone's eyes were on me, but I'd nothing to say. I hadn't even meant to say it out loud. Why had I said it? I merely shrugged, as if it was nothing, and said, "I'm great at breaking bad news to people."

"No, you aren't," Mako said with a short, almost bitter laugh. "Remember when you told that earthbender girl that I wasn't interested in her, even though I told you not to?"