Bella [AANGXOC]

Chapter 78: The Desert

Everyday I read so many comments that go along the lines of, "GOD WHY HASN'T SHE TOLD HIM YET?!?!? good book though" 😂

I promise, good things are coming.

~

The temple began to shake a bit as little bits of sand started trickling through, not nearly as fast as it had originally been but still letting us know that we were running out of time. Toph wouldn't be able to hold onto it much longer.

Sokka started climbing up the rope and I followed quickly behind.

I was desperately hoping the owl wouldn't wake up.

In fact I was practically shaking at the thought.

Katara followed up behind me and Aang stayed on his glider, circling us slowly as to not leave us behind.

Then Sokka stopped climbing, "Wait!" he yelled. He was looking towards one of the corridors. "Professor, let's go."

The professor was sitting on the ground in the middle of the walkway surrounded by piles of books he had picked out.

"I'm not leaving, I can't. I've spent too long trying to find this place. There's not another collection of knowledge like this on earth. I could spend an eternity here," he replied.

Then, the most terrible thing, the owl awoke with a terrible shriek that rattled my head. He grabbed the end of the rope in his beak and started flailing around. Effectively making me drop first since I probably wasn't holding on as tight as I should.

I felt the air start coming up around me, knowing I was falling straight at the owl.

But I was jerked upward when Aang caught my hand and pulled me up. I held on harder this time and reached for Sokka, he grabbed Katara and Aang made his way up the tower, as fast as he could even with all the weight.

We emerged from the window of the tower and the heat instantly surrounded me. We crashed into the hot sand a bit roughly.

Toph, who had looked to be actually holding up the tower with sheer force, let go and fell back.

The tower sank into the ground in a second, leaving a small hole that slowly filled with sand.

I got up from the sand and brushed the rest off of me.

It was crazy to believe that everything that just happened, actually happened.

I assessed the rest of the team, making sure everyone was okay. It would be hard to believe if all that happened and nobody was hurt. This by far, was the most terrifying thing that has happened yet.

Toph was okay, she looked a little tired. Sokka and Katara were hugging each other and talking about plans for the eclipse. I guess him and Aang had found the next date. Aang was looking around for something. Momo was still on my shoulder. And Appa was--

I turned my head around a couple times.

Appa was...

Where--

I spun around a couple times. All I could see were the green clothes of Toph, the blue clothes of Katara and Sokka, the orange of Aang's and endless amount of sand.

There was nothing else around us, just endless sand as far as I could see.

A pit had settled in my stomach. Where was Appa?

I looked to Toph, who was still sitting on the ground with her head in her hands.

The pit settled deeper.