Chapter 9- Creepy Woman, Creepy Inn

"Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark... It came into the torchlight... and they knew the blade of Wing Fung was haunted!" Sokka shouted as he drew his sword and pointed it into the fire. You head Twig huff in boredom as you and the gaang sat around the fire telling scary stories.

"I think I like "the man with a sword for a hand" better," Aang commented.
"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink," Toph commented, which made you laugh a little.
"No, wait! I've got one! And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story," Katara sat up and told you all.

"Is this one of those "a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to" stories?" Sokka raised an eyebrow.
"No, it happened to Mom," That made everyone quiet down and watch Katara in silent. Katara looked at the fire and took a deep breath.

"One winter when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom noticed she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So Mom and some others went to check on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was home," She started, and Twig cooed a little unnerved, which made you pet his head.

"Just a fire flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, Mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice. "It's so cold and I can't get warm!" Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire," You felt Sokka scoot next to you for safety as you gulped.

"She was blue like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but when everyone came back, Nini was gone," Twig hid in your cloak, and you shivered a little.
"Where'd she go?" You asked Katara.
"No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day, but sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm," She finished, and you gave out a small sigh.

"That's a good one Water girl. A true ghost story," You smiled at her, which she blushed a little, but then you heard Toph gasp.
"Wait! Guys, did you hear that? I hear people under the mountain. And they're screaming," Immediately Sokka, Aang, and Katara went close to you and hugged you tightly in fear.
"Nice try," Sokk said, thinking she was joking.

"No, I'm serious. I hear something," Toph argued.
"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories," Katara suggested while shaking.
"It just... stopped," Toph mumbled.
"All right, now I'm getting scared," Aang shivered, but then you heard a new voice behind you.

"Hello, children," You all screamed and went over to Toph, where they all hugged you as a old woman slowly walked into the firelight.

"Sorry to frighten you. My name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby. Why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?" Hama smiled warmly as Twig was hissing at her.

"Yes please,"

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"Thanks for letting us stay here tonight. You have a lovely inn," Katara smiled at Hama, who poured tea into her cup.
"Aren't you sweet?" Hama softly softly as sat down with you all. Twig cooed as he hid under the table as you scratched his ear.

"You know you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in," Hama commented as you took a sip in your tea.
"What do you mean "disappearing"?" Sokka asked her.
"When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don't come out..." Hama trailed off, but then smiled at you all.

"Who wants more tea?" You gave a small shake of a head, feeling uneasy about this whole thing.
"Don't worry, you'll all be completely safe here. Why don't I show you to your rooms and you can get a good night's rest?" Hama reassured you all.

Twig laid his head on your lap and purred, a little scared, so you pet his head and gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry Twig, I'll protect you,"

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You yawned tiredly as Twig hid under your cloak with you and the Gaang walking around the town for food.
"Water girl and Hama are getting very much along, huh?" You commented to Aang, who nodded tiredly.

"You won't have any ash bananas till next week?" You heard a buyer ask a shopkeeper, who shook his head.
"Well, I have to send the boy to Hing Wa Island to get them, and it's a two-day trip," The keeper told him.
"Oh, right. Tomorrow's the full moon," The buyer coughed a little.

"Exactly. I can't lose another delivery boy in the woods," You hummed at that information as Sokka looked around.
"People disappearing in the woods, weird stuff happening during full moons? This just reeks of Spirit World shenanigans," He told you three.

"I bet if we take a little walk around town, we'll find out what these people did to the environment to make the spirits mad," Aang suggested with a smile.
"And then you can sew up this little mystery lickety-split, Avatar style!" Sokka grinned.
"Helping people ... that's what I do," Aang sighed.

"People, always angering spirits. If I were a spirit, I would just mess around with them so they would know not to destroy the earth," You joked, making Toph blow a raspberry.
"Why don't you take all those things back to the inn? I just have to run a couple more errands. I'll be back in a little while," Hanna suggested as you all stopped.

"This is a mysterious little town you have here," Sokka commented while leaning in. Hama just smiled and it gave you a weird shiver.

"Mysterious town for mysterious children,"

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"That Hama seems a little strange. Like she knows something, or she's hiding something," Sokka confessed to your four as you set the food down in the table.
"That's ridiculous. She's a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kinda reminds me of Gran-Gran," Katara told her brother.

"But what did she mean by that comment, "mysterious children"?" Sokka asked her.
"I mean, we were just children in the forest with nothing but a fire. A little mysterious Boomerang," You admitted.
"I'm gonna take a look around," Sokka mumbled and started to walk upstairs.

"Sokka! Sokka, what are you doing? You can't just snoop around someone's house!" Katara said in a panic
"It'll be fine," He assured her while going through rooms and kept on going.
"She could be home any minute," Aang gulped a little.

"Sokka, you're gonna get us all in trouble and this is just plain rude!" Katara huffed angrily.
"I'm not finished yet," Sokka tried to open a cabinet, and it swung open to reveal a bunch of puppets. Twig screeched in fear and ducked.
"Okay, that's pretty creepy," Aang confessed.

"So she's got a hobby. There's nothing weird about that," Katara trailed off while closing the cabinet.
"Sokka, you've looked enough, Hama will be back soon," You four followed the boy high up three stairs and he was pulling on a door.
"Just an ordinary puppet-loving innkeeper, huh? Well then why does she have a locked door up here?" He pointed out.

"Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff!" Katara glared at him as he looked through the keyhole.
"We'll see," He mumbled, before standing up again.
"It's empty, except for a little chest," He said.
"Maybe it's treasure!" Toph grinned, and Sokka immediately started to open the door with his sword.

"Sokka, what are you doing? You're breaking into a private room!" Katara said in a panic.
"Boomerang, even I don't break into homes," You scratched your neck while looking behind you nervously.
"I have to see what's in there," Sokka finally opened the door and picked up the small box.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Aang said while holding your sleeve.
"Maybe there's a key here somewhere," Sokka looked around, and Toph perked up.
"Ooh! Hand it over!" She held the box while her meteor rock morphed into a key, where she started to fiddle with it.

"Come on, come on!" Sokka grinned.
"This isn't as easy as it looks!" Toph muttered as Katara peeked over all panicky.
"Guys, I don't know about this," Aang nervously said.
"My attention span is fading, let's hurry!" You said with excitement.

"This is crazy! I'm leaving!" Katara huffed and turned to walk away.
"Suit yourself! Do it, Toph!" And with that, the box opened, with all five of you quickly surrounding the box to see what's inside.

"I'll tell you what's in the box,"

You all screamed and turned to face Hama standing at the door. You all looked down all guilty as Hama took the box and opened it up, to reveal a blue comb.
"An old comb?" Sokka said, disappointed, but Hama just smiled softly.

"It's my greatest treasure. It's the last thing I own from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe,"