Celestial

chapter 16

A/N: Thank you guys so much for helping me get 1k reads. I know its not a lot compared to other stories but it means so much to me.

Someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. It was Lynn. She immediately pulled me into a tight hug. I squeezed back. Hunter was standing behind her looking alert.

"How did you get here so quickly?" I asked.

"Well I was planning on getting help from Hippoplum and then I ran into Hunter. He was coming to help you too. It was pretty funny actually. He sounded so worried about you," Lynn said as Hunter shifted uncomfortably. Then his eyes widened as he looked at something behind me. Someone.

"Sorry Aspen. I don't want to do this," a familiar voice said. Emma pinched my nose and I gasped for air and she poured the contents of a vial down my throat. My first instinct was to swallow but I stopped halfway and tried spitting it out. But it was too late. I already swallowed it.

"It'll be a couple hours before the effects begin to take place. I really am sorry Aspen. You were nice but I am my father's daughter," she said with what seemed like a genuinely apologetic look on her face. But it's probably not.

It was all just a lie. It was all just a lie. If I keep repeating this to myself, it'll help me remember that it's true. And that I can't trust everyone.

"Oh my god. We have to do something about this! We need to get back to Hippoplum now," Hunter exclaimed.

As if previously planned, we ran to the broom closet with the hidden stairway in it. We ran out of the clinic earning a couple of stares. I don't blame then. Lynn and l looked crazy. Our eyes were bloodshot from when they drugged us and their were burn marks around our wrists and ankles from the ropes rubbing against our skin. Lynn asked a man where the nearest bus stop was and he pointed by a nearby 7/11. When we got there, Hunter told one of the women boarding the bus a funny joke to distract her and Lynn went invisible and swiped her ticket from her pocket. Then we did the same to two other people.

As we took our seats on the bus, I felt guilty watching the innocent people we stole tickets from be forced to exit the bus.

"Wow, I feel bad about that," I said.

"Me too," Hunter replied.

"Oh come on guys. Live a little. It's not like we had any money," Lynn said. But by the fact that she was avoiding our eyes, you could tell she felt ashamed as well. The bus ride was only thirty minutes to the nearest bus stop to Hippoplum. We exited and approached a man in a business suit to ask him for directions to Hefferton University, the fake school that Professor Nunes created with Fog to cover Hippoplum.

"Oh. Hefferton? You three seem to be a bit too young for college don't you? Oh well that's all right. It's only about five minutes from here. Would you like me to walk you there? It's on my way to work," the man said.

"That'll be quite all right. I think I can take it from here," Mr. Elmer said. I gasped and Lynn sighed.

"Oh thank goodness you found us. We could have used you back there when we were oh I don't know about to have our Celestial... ness taken away. Well actually uh-" Lynn glanced at me apologetically. I looked down.

"Wait. What?" Mr. Elmer asked.

"They- they were working on some experiment to get rid of Celestials. They created some sort of serum that would take away our purple eyes, blood, and our Gift. And- and-" I let out a sob. "They Emma, the girl I thought was my best friend forced it down my throat. It's supposed to start working in a few hours." Mr. Elmer looked speechless and utterly shocked.

"I can't believe someone is doing this. We have to get back to the school immediately," he said. We went behind a bush and he transformed into a horse. Hunter, Lynn, and I climbed onto his back and we raced back to Hippoplum. There was a crowd of worried professors crowded along the bridge leading to the entrance of the school. Professor Kaplan was the first to spot us.

"Ingrid! Look!" she shouted. Professor Milora looked over at us with a deep frown etched on her face. Her eyes widened as she saw us and all the other professors began noticing as well. We hopped off of Mr. Elmer's back and he quickly changed back to his human self and whispered something brief into Professor Milora's ear. Milora paled and nodded briskly.

"Ms. Grace Ms. Jones. How lovely to see you. We've all been worried as you can see. Mr. James, when are you ever going to follow the rules?" Milora's eyes crinkled in a smile. "However, I must commend you for having the courage to go after your friends in hopes of rescuing them." Hunter blushed.

"But there will still be consequences," she continued sternly. Hunter nodded and blushed again.

"Now Ms. Grace please follow me to the infirmary. Mr. Elmer has just informed me about your... condition. And Ms. Jones please go to Professor Nunes so that she may ask you questions about where you and Aspen vanished to during dinner two days ago." Lynn nodded with a frown on her face and went to go pursue Professor Nunes as instructed.

A/N: Wow. I have not published a chapter in quite a while. I'm just having a really busy summer and I'm sorta stuck but I'm not giving up. Just a heads up that I think the book will be ending soon. I know it's not that long of a story but it is my first story after all and it's not going to be perfect. But thanks again for helping me get 1k reads.

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