Page 100 of Land of Shadow

Something inside shatters, and Aang screams again.

“I don’t know what to do.” Evie’s voice breaks, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“We just have to be here,” Gretchen says solemnly, her face gone pale and drawn. “When he comes out, he has to know we’ve got his back.”

Over the next fifteen minutes, more things shatter. Aang’s cries go from wretched to angry and back again. All the while, we wait, huddled together outside his door. The heartbreak in him is enough to make my eyes water, my soul ache.

Another long span of yelling and destruction, and then he goes quiet. So quiet that I start to worry even more. Would he harm himself?

Evie knocks gently at his door. “Aang, please let us in.”

I hear a sob and then Aang’s voice. “Idrine. Idrine. Please, no. Idrine.”

“Baby please, just open up. Please.” Evie sinks down and presses her hands to the door. “Please let us in.”

“I want to die!” he screams, the last word ending on a long wail.

“No.” Evie speaks forcefully through the door. “No, Aang. We need you.Ineed you.”

“Hey.” Wyatt trudges down the hall. “What’s going on? I came out of the HCL, and no one was?—”

Another wail from Aang’s room.

Wyatt stops. “What is it?”

“Idrine,” Gretchen says and shakes her head.

“Shit.” Wyatt runs a hand through his hair. “Plague?”

“We don’t know, but we don’t think so. It happened at the camp.”

“Double shit.” He walks up to the door and in his most affable tone he says, “Hey, buddy. How about you let us in?”

“Go away!”

“You know I can’t do that, man.” Wyatt drops to his haunches. “We’re a team. The fucking Scooby Gang.”

“I told him not to go. I told him …” Aang’s voice drops into sobs again.

“Aang, please, just open the door, okay?” Evie calls. “Let us in.”

“Leave me alone!” His voice breaks. “I never should’ve left him. I never …”

“Should we try to break it down?” Gretchen asks.

“No. He wants space, so we give him space.” Wyatt looks around at us. “Let me take this one.”

“What?”

“I’ll stay here. You three go. I think it’ll be easier for him to let one person in rather than all of us.”

“We can’t leave.” Evie swipes at her teary cheeks.

“All of us right now will just overwhelm him. Let me stay.” He sits and leans against the wall beside the door. “He might open up if it’s just me. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I’m pretty chill when shit hits the fan.”

I realize he’s right, but I still don’t want to go. Not when Aang is hurting so badly.

“You sure?” Evie asks.

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