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

Chapter 23

When Aquamarine woke up with a pounding headache, she noticed that she was in an unknown place. The sides of the walls were colorful, and had various trinkets and decorations littered on the walls and shelves. She slowly sat up in what seemed to be a cot, feeling incredibly confused and groggy.

"Aquamarine! Oh my flippers, quick scaring me like that!" Atlantic shrieked, making Aquamarine realize that he was sitting next to her in a coral colored bean bag. "Are you feeling okay!?"

Aquamarine flinched at her cousin's loud tone, but took a deep breath and slightly regained herself. "Y-yeah, I'm fine... what the heck happened..? That was probably the most horrifying thing in my life..."

"Well, do you remember before when Wanda kind of fired a spell at you?" Atlatnic questioned, and continued when Aquamarine slowly nodded her head, recollecting the fuzziness that was fogging up her mind. "It was some fear-inducing curse. It makes whoever gets cursed to see their biggest fears until they go insane..."

"Oh... I guess that explains it..." Aquamarine shivered at the memories. "And whatever you were talking to with Maddie..? It... it was her, right?"

"Yeah," Atlantic said, "she apparently knows something that's the cure to most curses, and she used it on you. I'm assuming it worked, unless I'm your biggest fear..."

Aquamarine let out the tiniest chuckle at Atlantic's attempt at humor. "Yeah, don't worry... I think it's over... where even are we?"

"Oh? This is the recovery room in the Counselor's Office. It's used for people who need to calm down after a panic attack or meltdown. You could say I spent most of my first day here..." Atlantic mumbled, as the two cousins remembered back to the beginning of school with a grimace. "But after she found out what happened to you, she sent you here in case you needed to have some time alone or woke up in a panic after what happened to you. Since I was kind of freaking out worrying about you, she let me stay in here at least until you woke up, and if you needed a familiar face for when you woke up."

"Yeah, I guess it was nice seeing you when I woke up..." Aquamarine mumbled in agreement, cheering up Atlantic as she did so. "So I'll go ahead and head back to class, I guess... where's my stuff?"

"Over there," Atlantic pointed to the side of the room, where her and Atlantic's backpack lay against the wall. After seeing Aquamarine's uneasiness, Atlantic quickly added, "don't worry. I know you like your stuff in specific order, so I made sure to put your stuff away. You like your stuff bigger in the back, smallest in the front, correct?"

"Yeah... But what about my notebooks that are the same size..?" Aquamarine questioned, still feeling a bit anxious on how her backpack was situated.

"Color-coded from white to black and then purple to red in rainbow order. C'mon, Aquamarine. You act like I wasn't there when you freaked out when Mom had reorganized all of your clothes."

Aquamarine sighed heavily in relief. "Thanks... I guess I shouldn't have second guessed you."

"Ah, don't worry. But you don't have to go to class if you don't want to... Alright? Ms. Nebu said you could stay here for as long as you want during school, or even go back to your dorm if necessary. She doesn't want you to have a breakdown during class..."

Aquamarine raised her eyebrows in shock. "Really? The counselor back in middle school never let us do anything like that..."

Atlantic grimaced at the mention of Mr. Burbuja? I hated him... remember when he tried to make that dumb claim that I wasn't autistic?"

Aquamarine scoffed. "Of course I do. He was so stupid! Even the teachers agreed you showed signs of it! Plus, you got diagnosed when you were three... it's not like it can just disappear!"