Toxin

CHAPTER 14 - Twins plus one.

"Other than blatantly obvious-" Iris started, shortly getting cut off by Atlas; "There is nothing other than the blatantly obvious." he growled, crossing his arms. Iris was driving us both to school, and she forced Atlas to sit at the front, and let me sit alone at the back. I don't think she's forgiven us both especially Atlas) for that time. The rest of the car ride was silent, well, other than the music playing softly out from the radio show that was also on. They announced Dwayne's disappearance again, which didn't really surprise me since his parents are quite wealthy, and his father owned a radio station. But apparently three more people have gone missing this month, Sarah Olivan, James Murray and Ebony Fay. Ebony's gone missing?! I sat up suddenly, quickly drawing attention from Atlas and Iris. The radio continued, announcing that only one of these 'kidnapped victims' has been found. I relaxed as soon as Ebony's name had been called out again. We finally arrived at school, Effie running to be and meeting me before we walked through the front door. Atlas wasn't following us, but I didn't care. We ran over to the far side of the hallway, Effie trudging through, whilst I whisked swiftly between the sea of people. Once we finally were at the back doors, we turned, now facing a shocked Carol, and Ebony. Carol's twin brother Connor was behind her, patting his sister's shoulder. "Oh goodness Ebony! What happened?!" Carol cried out, almost as if she were blubbering. Ebony took a step back, chuckling in a nervous stance. "I told you, I don't remember. I blacked out, then appeared in my room." she exclaimed, hugging Carol. The tense Effie, who had now finally caught up and was beside me sighed in relief, relaxing her bearings. Carol hugged Ebony again, tears now streaking speedily down her cheeks. Ebony finally caught my eye. Nervousness bubbled up inside of her as she continued to look behind me, and at Effie. Carol stepped back, rubbing her eyes and facing us. "Oh hello Aaly! And Effie!" Carol exclaimed over in a song-like tone, though it was pretty audible that her voice was still cracked up from crying. I waved, giving her a small smile. Ebony then suddenly shifted back, her nose flaring. She was glaring behind me, so I turned around to see was she was looking at. Atlas was there, staring back with a blank face, her glare not scaring him as much as it should've. "G-Guys, today I want to be alone." Ebony grit her teeth, not breaking eye contact with Atlas. I stepped between them, as I felt it looked kind of weird. "Oh are you sure, Ebby?" Carol whined, turning her attention back to Ebony. Ebony nodded abruptly, and stormed off outside into the dark, gloomy and pouring outdoors. "I hope she'll calm down!" Carol exclaimed worriedly, turning to her brother and now making it seem like she was ignoring us, but knowing Carol, she wouldn't be. I shuddered, a cool chill riding up my arm. "We need to go talk to her." Vapour whispered calmingly in my ear. I nodded slowly, turning to Effie. "No, Aaly. I'm not staying back this time. I'm going to find out what happened to my boyfriend first hand." Effie retorted before I could reply. I sighed, and turned to face Connor. Connor had the biggest of crushes on me during our first years. But after his parent's called it a sin, he'd finally stop. "We'll uh- we'll go now." I nodded shortly, heading off into the rain. It wasn't hard to find Ebony, well at least when you've got the abilities necessary. She was around the corner of the school, on the side that had a gaping hole in the wired fence which led to deep bushland. She was hugging her arms and looking at the floor. Ebony used to hang out with me and Effie, and sometimes Carol joined us too. She was the sensible one, the calm one. The one that taught Effie how to do her work properly, and how to enjoy it. I wasn't left out as much, but I used to never pay attention. Ebony had black-rooted hair that faded into a deep brown. But she cut most of her hair off this year, now looking like a choppy bob-cut. And her eyes were always black, never a dark brown or anything lighter. Just, black. But now they looked darker than ever before. "Aaly, just go away." she mumbled, looking up at me. Despite her parents being known for how tall they were, Ebony was quite short, well at least smaller than me. That's short, right? Me and Atlas walked closer, Effie only taking a few more steps before standing there, watching us three. A low growl rumbled from Ebony. "Aaly. Take yourself and your followers out of here!" she snapped, standing up instantly. I stopped moving, standing only a few meters away from her. "We need to talk, Ebony." I sighed, looking down and shoving my hands in my pockets, looking up at Ebony only seconds later. Ebony glared back at me, her gaze shifting towards Effie and Atlas. "I don't want to talk... Knowing what I now am." she chuckled, her tone still firm in a threatening-like way. We didn't flinch, though I know Effie did from the corner of my eye. "Aaly, stay away from me... Or Sable's going to attack you, and I don't want that." she pressed, glaring at me through watery eyes. I sighed. When I opened my eyes, I knew Toxin was in control as I couldn't feel or move anything once again. "She said she wanted to talk." Toxin spat firmly, though because of her sweet tone, it just sounded childish. Ebony blinked, stopping dead in her tracks. "So you're going to talk whether you like it, or not." Vapour hissed, stepping forward. Ebony... Or Sable, gulped, sitting back down.

"You lied about what you remember, didn't you?" Effie snapped, crossing her arms in front of Ebony. A low chuckle came out, Ebony closing her eyes. A deep, smooth voice returned, opening her eyes. "Yes, she did lie. Sweet-hearted girl this one." Sable grinned, smiling. I furrowed my brows in confusion. "You're the first of us to attach to the opposite gender." Atlas wavered, blinking in surprise. "Mhm. I found Ebony the most interesting. She has a strong mind you know, which for me is more valuable than physical strength." he uttered, shrugging Ebony's shoulders. I looked up at Atlas beside me. Effie stepped forward again. "So these others look mostly for physical strength then?" she hissed, glaring at Sable. He nodded, smirking. Effie opened her mouth to speak again, but I rudely interrupted her first. "Where do these others come from?" I shot back. Sable sighed, looking up at me. "We can only survive without a body to latch onto for around a year. So once that year has ended, we fade off out of existence. I'm surprised Miss Toxin has survived for more than a century!" he exclaimed, almost purring. Atlas stiffed beside me, so I put an hand on his arm. He slowly grew less tense before returning to his previous state. "HAS MY BOYFRIEND DWAYNE BEEN LATCHED ONTO!" Effie bursted out angrily, glaring at me for interrupting her before. I lowered my head a bit, letting her talk- well, shout. Sable stared blankly at her. "I... Yes, he has." Sable murmured, now lowering his head. Effie froze, her eyes coming glassy again. "Who's doing this?" I asked, walking over to Effie, but still keeping eye contact with Ebony. Sable shuddered. "Toxin's father... He's regained strength and is now spreading this again." he uttered, staring blankly at the ground. Now I froze, blinking in shock. "He's doing this to find her... To return her to him... So he can absorb her power. He's strong, but she can be stronger." Sable exclaimed, a glare now being shot at me. Atlas tensed again, stepping once quickly towards me, spreading his hands out and almost shielding me from Sable. "How do you know all of this? Veninos wouldn't ever spread his plan onto someone else!" Vapour hissed, glaring furiously at Sable. "Well, Vapour, if you must know..." Sable started, continuing; "I was running on my last minute before my eternal death. Once the last day has occurred, he sends us off into a separate area in his mind which doesn't hide information from us. He does this so he can put himself at ease... But I broke off instead, gaining his information and quickly latching onto the strongest mind around at the time. Which was Ebony." he uttered, grinning and shrugging. Vapour blinked, dropping his arms to his side. "Well, finally we were gifted with a smart, not so psychopathic Mistquid." he'd snort, closing his eyes and letting Atlas return in control. "Really, Vapour? You used my sister's terrible label to name your kind?" Atlas chuckled out loud. "Oh- umm, sorry... I didn't realised he put me in control yet." Atlas stuttered uncomfortably, smiling in an embarrassing cute manner. I felt my cheeks flush again. "So you're done questioning me?" Sable started, continuing; "Because that is all I know... Other than how to human." he snorted. I stopped and thought for a second about any other questions. I looked around at Atlas and Effie, who were both looking at me. I turned back to Sable. "No... You can go back now." I muttered, crossing my arms. He closed his eyes slowly. When they opened again, an uncomfortable expression smeared across Ebony's face. She was back in control.