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

Chapter 32

She saw her cousin swim away, and looked at her wrist. "I did it..." voices swarmed her mind, screaming various things that only made her hatred in her heart grow bigger and bigger. She didn't know what he was talking about. This was her true self, no matter what he thought nor said.

Atlantic emerged to the surface, and immediately caught Blackout sitting near a tree, looking worried. He saw Atlantic escape the water and immediately ran over to him. "Atlantic! Are you-" he noticed that Atlantic was staring on in terror, most likely zoning out. "Atlantic..?"

"S-she..." Atlantic mumbled, the adrenaline fading away. "She did it..."

"Who? Who did what?" Blackout asked. Seeing that Atlantic seemed unable to answer in this state, he helped him out of the water and to the tree he was leaning against himself before. Atlantic helped, but was still heavily shaken up. After some minutes of calming down, Atlantic got out, "I saw her... I saw Aquamarine..."

Blackout's eyes widened a bit. "Really? Did she look any different?"

"She... she was in her true form, but her eyes..." Atlantic shivered as he thought of the horrific sight. "They were bright red."

Blackout thought for a second. "So... she really is under the effects of Corrupt Potion..." "I... she is... sh-she..." Atlantic buried his head in his knees. "She killed her..."

Blackout turned to Atlantic, confused. "Do you mean the si..." he didn't dare finish the

sentence. That wasn't Aquamarine. It couldn't have been.

"She killed the siren," Atlantic finished in a small voice. "I saw the siren... she was

pierced through the heart..."

"Oh my gosh..." Blackout brought a hand to his mouth, gagging at the mental image. "She actually did it... the potion's affecting her that much..? Did she..." he looked at Atlantic defensively. "Did she hurt you?"

"She used a piece of ice to pierce the siren, and then she threw it at me... it didn't stab

me, but..." Atlantic brought his hand up to his cheek, and pulled it back to see blood. The lake

must've made it much more watery than it would've been. "She sliced my cheek..."

Blackout put his hand to Atlantic's cheek, and Atlantic wasn't sure if it was meant to be romantic or just checking his scar. Nevertheless, Atlantic let out the tiniest blush.

"That's going to leave a scar..." Blackout mumbled. He sighed. "What happened after that?"

Atlantic shrugged. "I think she realized she hurt me , and just... I don't know... it was like she was fighting for her sanity... she was grabbing at her head, screaming at me to leave or else."

Blackout's eyes widened. "So she's still in there..."

'What?" Atlantic asked, as he hadn't caught what Blackout had just said.

"She must still be in there. She's not completely gone." Blackout looked at the lake. "She

recognized you, at least. Did she say anything besides those threats?"

"Uhm... let's see..." Atlantic thought back to the encounter with a grimace, but

responded, "she said how I had high expectations for her... and that I thought of her as some innocent sister... I don't know why she was saying that stuff – I swear, none of it's true..."

"It's the potion," Blackout said.

"Mind elaborating what you mean by that?" Atlantic asked.

"The potion's making her think like that. She isn't thinking clearly, the potion's fogging up

her mind," Blackout explained.

"So..." Atlantic thought for a second. "You said she's fighting it and that she's not

completely gone. How... how long until she's completely gone..? How long until we can't save her..?"

Blackout almost instantly responded with, "when my-" he quickly covered what he was going to say with a cough. Atlantic made a mental note to ask Blackout about it later. "I read a book that had someone who got affected by it..." Blackout said cautiously, choosing his words wisely. "He had about a month before he went so insane that he just... I don't know... he..." Blackout was clearly struggling on getting the words out.

Atlantic noticed his discomfort, and hurriedly tried to get away from the story. "So she has a month?"

"I think," Blackout hummed, seeming to go along with Atlantic's plan. "But the... story... I read... the potion made him go insane. She seems more angry than insane, so it may be different for her. That's a rough estimate, I guess..."

Atlantic thought for a second. "So we need to get those people real fast. Who were they again..?"

"Nature, light, and wind," Blackout said almost instantly, as if he'd memorized every bit of this. He seemed to be really determined with all of this.

"Okay. Should we, like, have an after school meeting with the people we know would work so far?" Atlantic offered.

"Yeah, that'd work. We can explain what's happening, and maybe they'd know some people," Blackout nodded.

"Ooh, I know, I'll make little cards for it!" Atlantic cheered up at the thought. 'It'll be a secret club!"

Blackout sighed, rubbing his temples. "Give me patience..." he whispered under his breath, before speaking in a normal volume, "fine. You can. But remember, this is for your cousin..."

"I know," Atlantic agreed. "But this'll be so fun! I'll get started on the cards right away!" He got ahold of Blackout's hand, practically dragging him back to the dorm. Once there, Atlantic grabbed his laptop, and plopped down on the beanbag in the corner of his room.

"You're making them on your laptop?" Blackout asked, peeking into Atlantic's room.

"Of course I am!" Atlantic said, as if it were common sense. "I am not making the same thing over and over with the invite name the only difference. I'll simply print them without the name, and then I'll write the names on them!"

"Oh," Blackout nodded slowly, now understanding Atlantic's way of thinking. "Well, I'll leave you to it then. I'm going to be in my room reading a book."

"Have fun!" Atlantic waved viciously as Blackout exited his room, closing the door behind him as he did so. Atlantic's attention then turned back to his laptop, getting the invites ready.