[completed - under editing]
[last chapter edited - 8 | setting a trap for yourself]
"You're told all your life that you're broken, insane, mentally ill. And then you're told that you are going to repair the world."
᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽
Thirteen...
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Carina
Pisces looks at me as Taurus slips through the puddle. "You're last," he says with a shrug.
"Then how will I maintain the puddle?" I argue, frowning. Even now that my attention is diverted, the puddle is becoming smaller. I hate to admit it, but I also don't really want to teleport through the puddle. Even though yes, I trust Pisces.
"We'll go together," he improvises and closes his hand around my elbow. I've always wondered why he's shy, especially around me. Maybe it's because he thinks I can read his mind, or something. Even still, his touch is feather light and comforting.
The water soaks through my shoe. It's cold, is the last thing I notice before I feel myself pulled through the air and I land heavily on my backside.
"Crap," I wheeze, the breath knocked out of me. Scorpio roughly snatches my wrist and pulls me up into a sitting position. He doesn't look remotely concerned at all. How rude, I wonder and start devising a way to get him back, before his eyes soften and he wraps me into a light hug, a gesture of affection I hadn't expected. He's usually more distant now.
Looking around, I notice that we're in a familiar forest of bonelike trees. A forest that is completely empty and devoid of any life, as far as I can tell.
"Blood," points out Gemi, kneeling next to a sizeable reddish brown splotch. Leilani kneels next to him, her hair lightly brushing over his face. He blushes slightly, tracing the splotch with a finger, as if to distract himself. Old trick. I know that. Carina knows everything.
"It's old," calls Caprice. "I've seen that." She has a thick braided gray rope in her hand that seems to extend into the trees. Pursing her lips contemplatively, she turns it over before pulling on it with a hard yank. She nearly overbalances and falls, steadying herself against a tree, as the forest in front of us melts away quickly like ice cream in front of a ravenous Leo, or sanity in the Hell Zone. Instead of the forest, there's a lake stretching for a good distance. I can barely see the strip of shoreline on the other side, distant and pale yellowish white.
"That was an illusion," comments Ari, his tone impressed. Hesitantly, we clear the tree cover and walk over to the lake, Caprice still gripping the rope, unwilling to release it.
She experimentally tugs it again and suddenly, a relatively small boat floats into view. It has two sails. There are few ripples on the lake, implying little wind.
"We're supposed to cross the lake in a sailboat, apparently" states Leo matter–of–factly. "What? Is there something in the lake?"
Something emerges from the lake quickly before disappearing, small wavelets rippling in a circle from where it had emerged. Too big to be a fish.
