Scales & Tales - The Tales of Mystic High - Book 1

Chapter 18

The quartet made their way to school, Blackout and Atlantic saying endless teases about how fun Aquamarine acted the night before. Electra was thrilled by the tales, relieving Aquamarine that she wasn't mad about her and the volcanic spirit going into her room without her permission.

As they went on, they encountered Anchor, who scoffed snarkily at them. Atlantic instinctively grabbed Aquamarine and Blackout's hand, as they were the ones right next to him. Anchor spotted this, and was about to say something, before catching Blackout's hateful gaze at him. Immediately Anchor seemed to remember what happened when he said something to Atlantic before, and quickly snarled, storming off.

Aquamarine felt a squeeze in her right hand, then another. She looked at Atlantic with a

smile. This was something hsi mom had taught the two of them when they were little, as it was a

family secret for saying 'I love you' to one another. Aquamarine quickly squeezed his hand twice

back. She then noticed something. Blackout was staring at his and Atlantic's intertwined hands, and Aquamarine's eyes widened as she realized that Atlantic did the two squeezes to Blackout, as well. Her suspicions about their relationship were confirmed – Atlantic's feelings were, at least. 1

Electra was unaware of this, and Aquamarine had quickly realized that she was practically the definition of 'ignorance is bliss'. She seemed zoned out as she walked, just staring at the floorboard, counting under her breath. "Uhm... Electra?" Aquamarine quickly nudged her, snapping the electric spirit out of her trance.

"Huh-?" Electra squeaked out, gathering the attention of the two boys. "Oh, did I zone out again?"

"Yeah... I think so..." Aquamarine hummed, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I do that a lot," a soft laugh escaped Electra's mouth while saying, "Stupid ADHD!"

Aquamarine's eyes widened in surprise. "You have ADHD?"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" Electra blinked at Aquamarine, almost like she had just said an obvious fact.

Aquamarine slowly shook her head. "No... you have not."

"Oops, my bad!" Electra rubbed the back of her neck with an awkward smile. "But yeah! I have ADHD. That's why I'm in the dorm right next to the special needs dorms. I may not be too severe, but the school counselor wants to check up on me with her weekly walkthroughs."

"Oh yeah, when will that be starting?" Atlantic asked. "I want to get ready. Will she judge you if your room is messy?"

"I hope not," Electra shrugged. "My room looks like a mini tornado went through it." "What's a tornado?" Atlantic inquired curiously.

"It's something that happens on the surface," Blackout budded in, after seeing Eelctra's

confusion on trying to explain it. "It's when the wind goes really fast and creates a vacuum-like thing and sucks up a lot of stuff. It can destroy a lot of buildings, and they're really dangerous."

"Oh..." Atlantic and Aquamarine awed, now understanding. Aquamarine's voice chirped up, saying, "so like earthquakes?"

"Yeah, they're both supernatural disasters," Electra noded. "I didn't know you guys had those underwater?"

"Electra, please. That's where they mainly happen. The floors separate – usually underwater – and make those lands vibrate as they move," Blackout rolled his eyes, talking like this was basic information. Aquamarine was about to tell him to shut up, but then quickly remembered what she had discovered about Atlantic, and decided against it.

"Well," Aquamarine cleared her throat. "I think we've all learned that supernatural disasters are very weird, and that we don't know about them."

"Except me. I'm amazing at them," Backout smirked, putting a hand to his chest. "I'm basically a supernatural polymath."

"Oh yeah?" Aquamarine inquired playfully, raising an eyebrow in a challenging way. "And what makes you say that?"

"I was born from one."

"What?" The other three said in sync. "Is that possible?" Electra said in a confused manner.

"Ooh, is that how your type is born?" Atlantic's eyes widened in awe.

Blackout shrugged, "I'm the only volcanic spirit I've ever known. I was born when a volcano erupted, and I just happened to erupt out of it along with lava."

"But then how is Drake your brother?" Aquamarine asked, thinking back to the senior – who was much kinder than his younger brother.

"Oh, right. Yeah, when I erupted, I sort of hit him in the head." He let out a laugh, before continuing, "so when his dad found me there, he just decided to adopt me."

"Dang..." Electra muttered, staring at the floor, before adding with a grin, "that's a pretty neat way to be born! I wonder if there are other volcanic spirits."

Blackout shrugged mindlessly. "I'd assume so, but no way to tell for sure."

"Probably at some point in existence," Aquamarine pointed out, "or else I think you'd be quite famous. Wouldn't you?"

"I was famous in my town. Everyone knew the 'weird kid who wasn't a dragon'. You must know what that's like, whatever freaky species you are," Blackout said.

Aquamarine felt her shoulders tense. Atlantic sensed this, and quickly elbowed Blackout in the side. "Shut up." Blackout rolled his eyes, but listened to Atlantic and didn't say anything else.

The four walked the rest of the way to Ms. McKlaw's homeroom in silence. Once there, they quickly dispersed at their separate seats. All that really happened was Electra went to sit

next to her cousin, Stella, while the other three sat down in their seats. Aquamarine was relieved to see Atlantic calmly sitting down, instead of crying and screaming like yesterday. Aquamarine suddenly realized how long yesterday had been, and all that had happened. Three people got mad at her, and it seemed like three people had forgiven her. Or well – she assumed Blackout had forgiven her. He wasn't trying to force her to reveal herself, at least. She was content, and everyone else was. As long as things stayed as they were, everything would be perfect.