Betrayed (Keys To The Elements Story 2)

Chapter 18

"What on earth!?" a voice from a distance away yelled out. I immediately stumbled away from Parker and saw Zoey. And Diego. They were walking towards us, shock displayed all over their faces.

"I..."

"Why are you with him?" Zoey asked aggressively. This wasn't like her. She was usually so happy and excited about everything but... "And why were you hugging him!? Has someone brainwashed you?"

I cringed awkwardly as Diego just stared at the 2 of us, not saying a word.

"He... um..." I started, but Parker cut in.

"I'm sorry for what I did. I just saw her and she was trying to talk to Pierson, my friend who's a mermaid, so I thought maybe I could help her. It's the least I can do."

"You found a mermaid?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah, she's um... she's over there." I pointed out the direction, but Diego's eyes were still on me.

Diego shook his head in dismay. "I thought you would have better judgment, Clover."

"Hey! That's not fair, Diego. Parker apologized. Nobody was physically harmed with what he did. He gave the keys back, too," I countered. "I forgave him and honestly, you're the last person I thought would hold a grudge."

"Humph. We'll talk about this later," Zoey said, gesturing towards me and Parker. "Why don't we have a little chat with that gorgeous mermaid?" Before we even answered, she had already walked up to Pierson, with us in tow. Diego wouldn't even look in my direction. Had what I said hurt him that badly?

"Diego, I'm sorry," I pleaded, falling behind the others.

"I'm happy he apologized, okay? I'm happy he's back. Sort of," he admitted. "And I want you to be happy too. But I just can't forgive him yet for betraying us like he did. It's not that easy for me to get over. And I thought you would care a little bit more about what he had done."

With that, we walked towards Pierson silently. She was sitting on a rock now, combing her hair with her hands.

"Hey, Pierson. These are my friends. I think they want to ask you something," Parker smiled.

Her silky voice said, "Go ahead. I'm listening."

"See, we're looking for the water key and we have to technically go into the ocean to find it. And we can't without a potion that lets us breathe underwater," Zoey began.

I nodded. "One of the ingredients is a mermaid's scale and we were hoping you could let us have one of yours."

Pierson's smile was beautiful and even a taf bit contagious. She dove into the water and then her head surfaced once again. "I have a collection. Be right back. Wait here please."

"Thank you so much!" I called out, as she dove into the sea once more.

"Um... why is there a tornado coming our way?" Zoey piped up, after 2 minutes of waiting.

Wait, what? I turned my head and realized she was right. But not only was there a tornado, there were rain clouds, and one part of the ocean began to splash and throttle viciously.

"Get back," I warned, but it was too late. A huge wave had hit us and we were all dragged away by the sea.