Zodiac High

Chapter 80

Leo POV: Atlantis
    My eyes flutter open as the sun peaks through the window. But, some of its rays are blocked by thick bars. Where are we? I stand up only to realize that my left ankle is attached, by a blueish metal, to the stone wall. Where are we? The dirty stone walls line three of the four walls. Where are we? The fourth wall consists the same thick bars that cover the window. We have been captured and sent into a cell in a prison. I look around to see everyone slowly waking up. They are all chained to the wall as well. I see Aries try to melt the metal but, with no avail. Both Libra and Cap try their powers on it but, both do nothing to the metal. Cancer tries with his powers and fails.
    "Why do we always end up being captured?" Gemini questions in frustration.
    "Where are Calypso, Aphros, Asterope, Arête, and Perseus?" Virgo asks with worry.
    "We're over here!" A voice screams from across the room.
    In the cell across from our cell, we see our missing friends. They are chained to the wall as well.
    "Does anybody know what happened?" Asterope asks.
    "Last thing I remember is seeing a beautiful city and then being captured," Arête responds.
    "What are we going to do?" Calypso states in distress.
    "Shhhhh, someone's coming," Aries whispers.
    "Oh, good! You're all awake," a man states in delight.
    The man has a ring of keys on his right hip which jingles with every one of his steps. His appearance is gruff. A beard surrounds the lower half of his face and his height is intimidating. He unlocks my cell and places a similar blueish metal chain around each of our necks. A clear crystal hangs from all of them. Then he dismounts our chains, one at a time, from the wall. As soon as he dismounts me, I try to run away but am stopped as I feel a painful shock run through my body. My crystal turns black as it continues to shock me. My body slows before it is forced to stop. The man smiles cynically.
    "You will do as I say," he starts, "There will be no running off. Your eyes will always look on the ground unless you are being inspected. And there will be no trouble from any of you."
    He connects our chains together and locks us back up as he prepares our friends in the same way. Then he leads the seventeen of us out into the sunlight.
    My eyes are blinded for a moment before they are met with the most beautiful city I have ever seen. The streets are especially wide and are paved with glass. Underneath is a whole another city: one of coral, water, fish, and beauty. The buildings radiate with majesty as plants, unknown to the rest of world, climb up the white stone walls. Bridges line the streets as we travel further into the city. You can hear the waves crash against the shore and smell the salt in the air. I almost forget that we are captured for a minute. But, I am pulled back into reality when Aries ignites his fists as he tries to fight. He is brought to his knees as his crystal turns black. Scorpio tries a similar thing but, shouts in pain when his crystal turns black as well. Taurus bravely lifts all of us into the sky on plants as Aquarius distracts the man. All of our crystals turn black. Shouts of pain ring in my ears as pain rushes through our bodies.
    "I thought I told you to behave!" The man yells as pain shoots once again through all of our bodies. I hate this. I hate this man. And I almost hate this city. Someone needs to fight the pain. I try to but, I collapse to the ground. The pain leaves our bodies as we reach the middle of a market. I finally realize why we are captured. We are going to be sold as slaves. We are screwed.
    The man lines us up. He separates us by our gender and lines us up in height order. Asterope looks ready to cry. Both Sagi and Cancer look like they are going to puke. Taurus, Gemini, and Virgo all hold a stoic expression on their faces. Aries, Scorpio, Perseus, and Aphros are fuming in anger. Calypso, Pisces, Libra, and Cap look towards the ground just like they were told. Arête has no more smiles and faces outward with a frown playing on his lips. Aquarius and I both have brave faces on but, I know that we both have no idea what we are going to do. Soon, the inspection begins. Many people look at us in fear as some of us have shown our powers. Others looks at us as if we were a piece of meat. Still others look at us with no emotion. A man steps forwards and looks at all of us. We still, surprisingly wear the necklaces from Ms. Zodiac and Ms. Celestia. Pisces still has her original crystal: it's hidden inside of her mouth. All of our markings shine brightly in the sun. This man has an athletic appearance. His eyes are an electric blue. But, that's not the most surprising thing about him. His skin is bejeweled with gold and turquoise markings. They swirl around his bare chest and down towards his back. His hair is white with blue streaks. He looks like someone important.
    "I will buy all of them!" He exclaims in excitement. With that, the man hands over a large bag full of money. Our captor swiftly takes the bag and drags us to the man. I guess we are lucky to be together. It could have been worse. We could have been separated. I thought too soon.
    "I want all of the girls!" A woman states. She has the same electric blue eyes as the man and has similar markings on arms and legs. Her hair is long and pure white except for one blue on the right side of her head. She winks at the man and smiles sincerely at us. The man agrees by stating," Of course darling. Give the good man the money."
    The woman hands over another large bag full of money. With that we are handed over to this couple. We all obey as they, like the man, keep us in line with the black crystals. They lead us uphill to their home. It's dazzling. A palace of golden and white bricks that stands about four stories tall. A large stone gate surrounds the entire area. The gates close behind us and we travel inside. We pass beautiful gardens, churning fountains, and graceful statues before we arrive inside. The inside is even more grand than the outside. The floors are white marble and are perfectly polished. The walls are a playful blue. We are led down a long hallway, filled with both sides of busts of refined men and women. I soon realize there are no other people in this house except for the man, the woman, and us. We arrive at two tall wooden doors. The man opens them while the woman shoos us into the dark room. Then the man closes and locks the doors as the woman opens the curtains. As light enters the room, the marble floors sparkle. I look around only to be met with shelves and shelves of books. I have never seen so many books in my life. This library is bigger than Celestial High's library.
    The man and the woman stand next to each other before a bright blue light shines around them. Where they currently stood, a boy around our age stands. He has pure white hair, tan skin where one swirl of turquoise and gold rests of his right shoulder, and a face that shows distress, worry, and relief.
    "I'm so sorry about all of the confusion. I am Cepheus," the boy states as the room erupts in joy. Cepheus unchains us before he continues with, "I know why you are here and I apologize for the bit of inconvenience."
    "Inconvenience, I've never been so scared in my life," Asterope states with a grin.
    "It's no problem really. I'm just happy we found you," I state as everyone smiles a bit.
    "Good. I know that Ms. Celestia and Ms. Zodiac are dead. I'm so sorry. Maybe if I hadn't been such a coward—"
    "It's wasn't your fault," Cap interrupts.
    "Oh but, it is. If I had left Celestial High for this place, you guys wouldn't be here and they wouldn't have had to go and battle Aapeli and died," Cepheus breaks downs.
    "There no time to feel guilty. We need to figure what Cassandra's prophesy means," Scorpio states.
    "She said that you were in some great trouble—" Pisces adds before Cepheus interrupts, "I think I know what she means. Atlantis is degrading itself. And with it, me. As the city grows more corrupt, so do I. There is only a certain amount of time before I fully turn to evil just like the rest."
    "Where does this evil come from?" Sagi asks.
    "I think it has something to do with the crystals. This city thrived when the crystals were blue and when the people were moral."
    "Pisces has a blue crystal," Calypso states.
    "I actually have two. The one that the man gave me has turned blue," Pisces answers.
    "Mine's blue as well," Arête adds.
    "Mine too!" Cancer exclaims.
    I look around only to see that everyone's crystals are blue. They shine brightly. Our necklaces, that were given to us by Ms. Celestia, shine brightly as well. I feel myself become lifted from the marble floor and into the air. My eyes are blinded as I feel my body be spun around by some unknown force. We are being transported somewhere but, where could we possibly go this time?

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