Black Tattoo

Trail of Bodies

"Are you sure she is here?" Chloe asks me with doubt. She bends down and looks down at the water of the lake. The dark surface reflects her face. With her hand she disturbs the water and her reflection gets blurred. Once the water stops moving Chloe's face  is clear to see again. 

"I'm sure. She's a water type and when they're hurt or scared they always hide in water." I tell her. I too am walking around the edge, trying to find her. But I know she won't even be close to the edge because of fear. Because of Celsius. 

"Fine, then let's get to it." Chloe says as she takes of her boots, jacket, jeans and her crop top. Leaving only her underwear. I see her toned body. 

I follow her lead and take off my clothes as well, but instead of underwear I do have a black bikini on. 

"Remember she is scared and probably hurt, so don't do anything stupid." Sensei tells us from behind. He will stay behind for two reasons. One, if she tries to run away from us by leaving the lake he will be able to see her and follow her. And two, Kate is scared and traumatized, for her it will be easier to open up to woman then to a old man. No offense to all men out there, I'm sure you are all great guys. 

"Yeah, yeah I know." Chloe says before diving in. I follow her in a second after. 

The water is cold against my skin. As a open my eyes I see everything is blurry, all the plants and some fishes too. With the rays of sun hitting the water I am able to see a bit in front of me. Now, I know this will take some time. The lake is big and I can only hold my breath for three minutes. I have to constantly swim up to the surface to breathe. 

Minutes pass, maybe hours even when I suddenly hear Sensei's loud voice as I resurface. I turn around and I realize I'm farther from the edge than I thought. I start swimming back. 

Finally, I reach the edge and walk out. Water dripping from me I take a look around and see Sensei bend down next to Kate's body. Her gray body. Chloe is sitting on the other side, both of them looking down at Kate. I walk over to them with worry. 

I bend down next to Sensei. Kate is still breathing, I'm really glad to see that. She also transformed while she was in the water. The skin on her back side is a black, grayish, slimy surface and her front side is still slimy but it's white. Between all her fingers there is a thick layer of gray skin. Because of the t-shirt she has on I only see half of her tattoo on her shoulder. I can only notice a wound that has half healed in her leg. 

"Only wound I see is the one on her leg. Help me turn her around to see if she has anymore." Sensei tells us. We slowly help him lift her and turn her. I don't see any wounds and if she had any they have healed already. I am surprised to see, however, how the bones on her back changed. Instead of a normal vertebra I see a straight line of bones start from her neck to her lower back, getting bigger and bigger until it turns into a pointy tail. The tail has a stinging spine, most likely with venom, and next to where the tail starts are pelvic fins. 

Kate's animal spirit is a...

"Stingray, don't touch the stinger." Sensei says as he examines her. 

"Nice, I've never met a stingray before. I bet with the right training this girl could become deadly." Chloe says with a smirk on her face. With 'right training' I'm sure she meant her training. Although, she is right. I have never met any fera that was venomous before. She has a great advantage. 

"You can train her later, let's get her back to the cabin." I tell Chloe. 

We lay her back down and Sensei covers her in a towel making sure to cover the stinger as well. Sensei grabs a hold of her upper body as I grab her feet. Chloe picks up all our clothes.