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

Chapter 41

Aquamarine rolled her eyes. "He's so annoying... I better practice, or my plan is going to utterly fail and I'll embarrass myself once again. Especially in front of Anchor..." She didn't know why, but even though he was a bully, Aquamarine wanted to embarrass herself in front of him. Probably just the fear of him laughing in her face for being weak and useless.

Atlantic ran at a rapid pace down the lake, where students from the group were already forming, seeming much more excited and chatty than they ever were at any other meeting.

Atlantic stopped, and Blackout – who was chasing after him – nearly nosebudded into him from behind, but quickly stopped as his heels dug into the dirt, making Blackout grimace slightly.

"Well, here we are!" Atlantic said triumphantly, putting his hands on his hips and smiling in an attempt to play everything off as normal.

As he kicked dirt off of his sneakers, Blackout mumbled back, "yep... here we are. Is everyone here?"

Atlantic put his hand over his forehead, acting as if he were spying the group as he peered at them. "We only need Alastair and Maddie and there they are!" He pointed to the side, where the two band geeks were racing up the hill.

Blackout huffed. "Well, let's get started then..." he seemed to want to talk about something else, but knew this wasn't a good time to do so and held his tongue.

"Alright, everybody!" Atlantic hollered with his hands cupped around his mouth, skipping up onto the top of the rock. "Who's ready to practice the spell!?"

Atlantic's cry was followed by cheers and yells. "Remember!" Aethra yelped out. "Aspen has to be on the end No one besides me is holding hands with royalty like this!" She gestured to Aspen, who let out a meek chuckle.

"It's unnecessary, but whatever," Anchor muttered under his breath, not going unheard by Aethra.

"Excuse me?" Aethra glared at Anchor. "Did you say something?"

"Yes, I did," Anchor challenged back. "I said it doesn't matter. If anything, you should be on the end. No one except that nymph who's obviously delusional wants to hold your crusty hands."

Aethra held a hand up to her chest with a firm gasp. "Excuse me!?"

"You heard me!" Anchor narrowed his eyes with a smirk planted onto his face. "Why, you little-!" Aethra seemed about ready to pounce on Anchor, when Aspen

grabbed her hand.

"Aethra, please don't get into a fight... this is important business," they mumbled, begging Aethra to let it go.

"I'm not the one who started it! That idiot's the one who got onto me for being a good, protective girlfriend!" Aethra snarled back, before turning back to Anchor. "If your girlfriend – if you could ever even manage to get one – was doing this, I'd bet you'd want no one else to hold her hand either!"

Atlantic's expression held a panicked look now, and he quickly shouted out, "guys! Stop! It literally doesn't matter and it's useless to fight over such trivial stuff-!"

"Ally!" Wanda suddenly cried out, and Atlantic whipped his hand around to see that Ally was now on the ground, seeming unconscious. "Darn it! I told her not to stay up all night!"

Atlantic rubbed the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. "What... what happened now..!?"

"I-I-'' Wanda stuttered out, "Ally's been kind of guarding me all night ever since all this siren business started... I told her to get some rest... but it seems she didn't listen..."

"Wait, what's she even doing here?" Talon questioned, "she's not in the recipe! She shouldn't even be here."

"Well, if you want me to be here, then she has to as well!' Wanda snapped back. "She's my partner in crime, with me being a witch and all..."

"But Alastair doesn't have one?" Talon raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wouldn't he need one since he's a wizard?"

"I don't have one yet," Alastair stated. "I might find one here, who knows! Some don't ever even need one. But once you find yours, you need them to do most magic."

"I'll do it!" Maddie piped up with a chuckle. "That way, we can practice music all the time!"

"It doesn't work like that," Alastair shook his head. "That would be like the most epic thing ever, but if it worked like that we would've figured it out the first time we can be in contact with each other."

"Wait, do you mean like skin to skin? Because we've never done that, I don't think," Maddie said, and her eyes brightened up. She quickly grabbed Alastair's hand, and suddenly a blast of orange burst out like a wave around them, making everyone be pushed back.

Alastair gasped lightly. "Oh my stars! It- you're my partner!"

Maddie let out a gasp, followed by a giggle. "Yay! We have to let everybody know this!" "Later!" Atlantic yelled out. "Can everybody please focus!?"

Everyone turned to him, and Aethra snarled with a sarcastic eye roll. "You didn't need to

be that cruel..."

Atlantic's left eye twitched in annoyance, and he let out a strained laugh. "I'm sorry... I'll

make sure to not do it later! Can everyone just remember that we're trying to save my cousin here? She might go insane or kill somebody else if we don't stop her?"

"Dang..." Stella mumbled, "you seem really upset..."

"That's what I was trying to say to him in first period-" Talon spoke.

"Maybe because you're all being annoying and I can't focus at all on trying to save my

cousin who's been by my side since before I even gained a conscience?"

"Can you maybe be nice to us?" Wanda pleaded, giving off some big round eyes as if

she were trying to guilt trip him. "Is it that hard to?"

Atlantic groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Just- can everybody get into that line?" "Aspen-" Aethra began defensively.

"Yes, I know," Atlantic quickly snapped. "Aspen will be on the end. Happy?"

Aethra nodded with a snarky smile, and everyone got into an order, a lot of people

arguing or shoving over who got to be with who. Blackout stood to the side, a bit worried at Atlantic's rising anger.

"Okay! Finally," Atlantic took a deep breath of solace. 'Anyone else have something to complain about before I do a countdown?"

Everyone stayed silent, much to Atlantic's relief.

"Okay! So remember," Atlantic reviewed. "I'm going to count to three, and you're all going to say Sit bonum luceat... you'll have to say it in unison, and you'll turn into your true forms, so be prepared for that. Alright! On one... two... three!"

Everyone muttered out the spell, but completely out of tune. Then Aethra just yelled it out again, wanting attention.

"Wait, do we go on three?"

"Me and Maddie did it together!"

"Because now we're tied together!"

"That was so bad!"

"Sit bonum luceat!"

Atlantic sighed once more. Of course this was going to happen. "Guys! We're... we're

going after three. Okay?"

"Got it!" Everyone chimed in.

Atlantic took a big heave of air in frustration, before everybody got into place once more. "Okay! So now... One... two-"

Suddenly there was a splashing noise from behind Atlantic. Atlantic paid no mind, until he felt hands clamp around his eyes, and he was pulled off of the rock into the lake.

"Atlantic!"