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

Chapter 33

She glared at the body that lay on the floor of the lake. Now, that lake was empty. She had learned that the other lake one tree over was connected to this one, at the bottom, and she liked it. It was like two little homes just for her. Of course, until Atlantic were to come and ruin her fun once again. It never seemed to stay, anyway. What more could one more disappointment do?

Atlantic marveled as he looked at the masterpieces before him. He had decorated all of the invites, and even made the background different depending on who he was sending them to. Maddie's was a light magenta, Stella's a pastel yellow, Talon's an off-white, and a light purple for Wanda. He had even made him and Blackout cards, as he was treating them like an official pass to the 'save Aquamarine club'. The name was in the works, of course. Now, she just had to pass them out. Luckily, 75 percent of these people were in his homeroom, and the other 25 percent was contained in his first period.

"Blackout!" Atlantic shouted as he opened the door, but paused. Blackout seemed to have fallen asleep while reading. Atlantic looked at the clock, and realized that it was about nine o'clock by now. Atlantic smiled lightly. He had to admit, Blackout was adorable as he slept. Atlantic looked at him for a minute or so more, glad that he could call this cutie his. E grabbed Blackout's blanket, as it was barely covering his legs, and brought it over him. Atlantic hesitated, before giving Blackout a light kiss on the forehead. He exited the room, turning the lights off and shutting the door as he did.

In the morning, Atlantic and Blackout did their normal routine, and Atlantic had gotten a band-aid to put over the scar, but it was just a reminder for the current moment his dear cousin was gone until they could find people. But he was also excited to start a little club today, even with the circumstances it was made under.

While Blackout was helping Atlantic with his braces, he said, "are you taking this okay?" Atlantic raised an eyebrow. 'What do you mean?"

"The fact that your cousin is... uhm..." Blackout struggled to find the words to explain the

situation to Atlantic.

"... you mean that my cousin is now a murderous villain?" Atlantic mumbled worriedly. "Y-yeah, that," Blackout nodded reluctantly. He sighed heavily. "You're not blaming

yourself, right?"

Atlantic hesitated. "I mean... I know there's not really anything I could've done to stop

it..."

Blackout agreed, "yeah. That's true."

"But, I mean..." Atlantic hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. "I feel like part of what

Aquamarine's feeling... might be my fault..."

"Oh? And how is that so?" Blackout questioned, not wanting Atlantic to feel this way.

"I made her feel like she wasn't important, I guess..." Atlantic mumbled. "I could always

tell when I had a problem or something my parents would smother me, but not much for her... I'm assuming they think that because she's not autistic like me, she doesn't need the help."

Blackout stayed silent for a moment, before meekly muttering out, "oh."

Atlantic sighed. "But... once she's back to normal, I'll reassure her... maybe talk to my parents about giving her more attention."

"That'd probably help," Blackout shrugged. "But right now, I guess it doesn't really matter what you say to them. She's surrounded in hatred and hurt, it seems." Atlantic sighed once more as Blackout finished off and said, "alright. I'm done."

Atlantic looked at his braces and nodded. He was about to get ready to leave ,but then remembered his invites. He quickly grabbed them off of his desk and put them in the front zipper container in his backpack, before swinging it onto his arms. "Okay, I'm ready to leave!"

Blackout quickly got his backpack and shoes, and met Atlantic at the front door. "Alright. Let's go."

Once at Ms. McKlaw's room, the two sat at their seats. Atlantic got out his stack of invites with the tiniest smile, and glanced around, seeing everyone he needed to give the invite to had already arrived to homeroom. Besides Talon, that is, but he'd get his in first period. Atlantic turned to Blackout. "Can I go deliver them now?"

Blackout let out a small chuckle. "Sure. but don't be too over dramatic about it."

"Of course!" Atlantic nodded energetically, very fast paced. "It's a secret mission, after all!"

Blackout blinked, before letting out a sigh tied to a quiet laugh. "Sure, okay..."

Atlantic smiled broadly, getting out of his seat. Carefully, pretending he was just doing a lap around the classroom, placing the invites on their designated owners. Maddie got her magenta one, Stella got the light yellow one, and Wanda got her purple one. Atlantic had pocketed the one that belonged to Talon.

He sat back down as if nothing had happened, although a few of his classmates looked at him in mild confusion as he leisurely walked around the classroom. But the three that had been given an invite looked at the invites with curiosity.

Atlantic turned to Blackout and said in a low and hushed tone, "there! All invites delivered!"

Blackout let out a tiny chuckle. "Was it fun?"

"Yep! And I was super sneaky about it!" Atlantic nodded back vigorously.

"Good," Blackout said while snickering lightly.

"Atlantic?" A voice said, and Atlantic spun around to be face to face with Wanda.

"Oh, hi, Wanda!" Atlantic instantly smiled, as he noticed she was holding the invite that

he had slipped into her desk during his little adventure around the classroom. "Do you need something?"

"Yes, well, I was reading the invite, and..." Wanda glanced at it. "It says that we'll need to perform a spell... I'm perfectly fine with all of this, but without Ally, my powers are barely able to be used... It's about the connection between us. So if I were to do this, Ally would have to come, too, or else I wouldn't be able to help at all."

Atlantic looked at Blackout, who shrugged, seeing no other option. Atlantic gave his attention back to Wanda as he said, "I don't see why not if it's completely necessary! She's welcome to come, as long as she obeys all the rules as well."

Wanda gave off a small smile. "Okay, I'm sure that'd be no problem for Ally... most of the rules are about not telling anyone and stuff, and she hates talking, so..."

"So it works perfectly!" Atlantic chirped up. "Thank you for asking, though, that was really nice of you!"

Wanda let out a weak laugh. "Ah, no problem. I'm just a stickler for rules."

Once in first period, Atlantic slowly slipped the off-white paper to Talon's desk, who almost immediately noticed it and hesitated before taking it. He read it with a cocked eyebrow, and Atlantic smiled as his plan seemed to be working just fine.