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

Chapter 45

"... my mother..?" Aquamarine mumbled, "but she's already dead..! How'd I kill her if she's already dead..?"

"This is the confusing part... okay, so let me see..." Blackout rubbed the bridge of his nose, concentrating as he tried to find the right words. "Okay, so... your mom was... uhm... a siren..."

Aquamarine immediately felt her heart sink. "She... what..?"

"She... she has successfully convinced the mermaid kingdom that she was a siren, and the king fell in love with her.... Then the war happened..." Blackout explained slowly, glancing up at Aquamarine each time to make sure she was doing fine.

"Oh my... flippers..." Aquamarine whispered. Blackout didn't want to continue this shocking revelation, but he felt like he needed to with how confused Aquamarine seemed.

"So... uhm..." Blackout continued reluctantly. "She actually had forced the sirens to let her live, and then just convinced all the scientists and others that came to the scene that they had found her dead body."

"So..." Aquamarine said grimly. "Did she convince Atlantic's mom that she was her sister and we're not actually related?"

"That... that's the other thing," Blackout admitted quietly, "Atlantic's mom is also a siren. So there's a chance he might be a mix of a shark and triton?"

Aquamarine's mouth went dry, as her jaw fell open in shock. "What..?"

"I know... we were all surprised when we heard it, too..." Blackout nodded slowly in understanding of Aquaamrine's shooken form.

"H-how'd you guys even figure this all out..?" Aquamarine asked, putting her hands up to her head in astonishment.

"You, uhm... told us? You said before you, uhm... killed your mother... she explained it all to you in hopes that you'd spare her."

"And I didn't?"

"As far as I'm concerned..." Blackout sighed, running a hand through his red hair. "Are you handling it well?"

"Yeah, sure..." Aquamarine stuttered out meekly. "Well... uhm... do you have any idea how long Atlantic's going to be out for..? I'm worried about him..."

"Yeah, I am, too..." Blackout admitted in a quiet tone. "Hopefully, not long... if all goes well, maybe he'll wake up later today? I mean, you woke up two days after being cured... maybe the concussion won't make him be out for any longer?"

Aquamarine out a weak chuckle. "Yeah... let's hope..."

It had been about two days, and Aquamarine hadn't been informed of Atlantic's awakening. As far as she was concerned, he was still unconscious. Ms. Fairyland had told Aquamarine that if everything continued to go well with her, she could be released the next day. Aquamarine was counting down the seconds until she was allowed to be released.

Aquamarine was currently looking over the packet for her math class. Since she had barely anything to do, she had resorted to going ahead and getting a jump start on her catch up work. She was on the seventh question, when suddenly the curtain opened. Aquamarine let out a squeak as it was very suddenly, and looked up from her booklet to see Blackout standing there, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"W-woah, what's going on?" Aquamarine asked, stunned by the sudden intrusion.

"Atlantic just woke up," Blackout burst out suddenly, and Aquamarine practically threw her packet to the side.

"What!?" she gasped. "Am I allowed to go see him!?"

"Oh, I'm afraid not," Ms. Fairyland peeked her head into the room with her caring expression once more. "You still have..." she glanced up at the clock in the hall. "Ten more hours until you're released!"

Aquamarine frowned. "Oh, come on! He's my cousin! Please!? You know how worried I've been ever since I woke up!"

"Come on... you've got to let her see him... don't you think it'll make her more relaxed and able to rest properly if she knew her cousin was alright?" Blackout backed up Aquamarine, and Aquamarine smiled in relief as Ms. Fairyland seemed to consider these words carefully.

"I suppose you two do bargain a good point..." Ms. Fairyland hummed, putting her hand up to her chin in contemplation. After about three to four seconds of intense thinking, she showed a compassionate smile, and said, "I suppose... but if you start feeling lightheaded or anything of the sorts, go back to your bed! I'd rather you be in a safe place than for me to know immediately..."

Aquamarine's expression lightened up as soon as those words left Ms. Fairyland's mouth. "Really!?" she propped herself up in the bed, feeling giddy at being able to see Atlantic after all of this.

Aquamarine quickly got up, much to Ms. Fairyland's disinterest. She wanted Aquamarine to get up slowly, but she couldn't wait any longer. She rushed out of bed, and Ms. Fairyland reluctantly led her to Atlantic's section. "He's there, behind the curtains. Be careful, he's still very dazed..."

Aquamarine and Blackout nodded. Blackout opened the curtain slightly, and the two entered into the curtained-off section. Atlantic was on the bed, and he had a bandage on his head, and seemed very out of it. He glanced up, and his eyes widened as he saw them. "O-oh... I didn't know you guys would be here so soon..." he muttered.

"Hey..." Aquamarine said quietly. She felt a bit awkward after learning of everything that she'd done to him while she was under the effects of the Corrupt Potion.

"H-hi..." Atlantic responded with an equal amount of hesitancy. It seems that the situation had caused a major rift in their relationship.

"So..." Blackout cleared his throat, as he could feel the tension bubbling up. "Are... are you feeling okay, Atlantic?"

"Y-yeah..." Atlantic nodded slowly. "I mean... I feel kind of... asleep..? I don't know how to explain it... What all happened..? We were at the lake, then everything became a blur, and just... then I passed out? Is that it?" he then suddenly seemed to come fully back, and he gasped. "Wait, Aquamarine here! You guys cured her!"

Blackout smiled lightly. "Yeah, we did."

Atlantic suddenly had tears forming in his eyes, and he turned to Aquamarine. "Are... are you really back..?"

Aquamarine couldn't help but give the tiniest bittersweet twinkle, as he felt like Atlantic deserved it at the very least after everything he's seemed to have gone through. "Yeah... I'm back... did you miss me..?"

Atlantic nodded his head rapidly, and seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown. "I missed you so much... oh my flippers, you have no idea how much I wanted to see you back to your normal self..."

"Well, here I am..!" Aquamarine let out a nervous chuckle, and Atlantic gestured her over, opening his arms.

"I want to hug you. I haven't gotten a hug from you for like two weeks or something of the sort," Atlantic demanded, and he seemed completely serious about this.

Aquamarine seemed glad that Atlantic didn't seem to have changed much while she was out of commission. She shuffled her way over, before giving Atlantic a hug. Atlantic buried his head into her shoulder, and Aquamarine could feel him shaking and siffling as he did so.

"I missed you..." Atlantic whispered, and even Aquamarine could barely hear it herself. "I was so scared... I thought I had lost you..."

Aquamarine smiled at Atlantic, despite the circumstances. Atlantic cared about her so much that her being influenced by the Corrupt Potion had done this much damage to his mental health. He obviously loved her.

Aquamarine and Atlantic eventually pulled apart, and Blackout cleared his throat once more. "Erm, where's my hug?" he asked.

Aquamarine seemed taken back at his response. She never expected him to want a hug, even if it was from Atlantic.

Atlantic couldn't help but chortle at that. "Well, come and get it!"

Blackout seemed pleased with that, and walked over to retrieve his much deserved hug from Atlantic. The two embraced for a few seconds, before they pulled apart.