5 Chapter 4

"Aidan!" Lucella wrapped her arms tightly around Aidan, her eyes were tightly squeezed shut and watery at finally having her friend back. The days of not knowing if Aidan was dead or not had been killing her, the anxiety of not having having Aidan with them has been like a thick rope tightly wrapped around her neck, eventually dragging her down and suffocating her with utter ease.

Aidan buried his face against the crease of her pale neck, he let out a smile, letting his nose fill with her distinctive scent of daisies. He embraced Lucella tightly as if she was some sort of porcelain doll that could break if you dared to let her go.

"You're okay." He heard Lucella mumble with relief which caused him to chuckle cutely. "Of course I'm okay," He pulled away from the hug and gently held her hands between his. "You guys wouldn't survive without me in the group."

Hazlet rolled his eyes at the older boy. "Aidan, shut up. Hug her some more, she's been worried sick about you."

Aidan widened his eyes, he dropped Lucella's hands and wrapped his arms around her once again, but was kept away from hugging her when Lucella pressed her hands against his chest, silently telling him that she was okay now after much distress.

"I'm fine, don't worry." She brushed Aidan's brown hair to the side, her eyes meeting Aidan's. "I'm glad you're with us."

Her sentence sounded melancholic, a slight sense of pain invaded her chest and made her knees weak at the sudden memory of Adan. Her eyes then became watery and she could no longer keep it in as salty tears began to dew her cheeks.

Suddenly, Hazlet, Nanshe, and Aidan stepped closer to her, their arms wrapping around her tightly. She bit her lip and hugged them back.

She was so glad, she was so thankful to have her three friends by her side because they were still breathing alongside her, they were still alive.

~~~~

Nanshe's eyes fluttered open in the dorm room's darkness as a small creaking had woken her up from her sleep. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes rapidly and lifted her head to see who was leaving or entering their dorm.

Slightly creeped out, she saw the figure of a teenager exiting and closing the heavy, creaky door. Nanshe immediately sat up, her pupils growing huge when she looked above her and realized that Lucella wasn't on her bed.

Had the men dragged her out?

'No, of course not.' Nanshe thought, her heart slowed down with relief at realizing that if she had been dragged out, the girl would've screamed her heart out.

Without waking Hazlet and Aidan up from their well-deserved beauty sleep, Nanshe sat up and climbed slowly and delicately off the bed.

Her webbed feet weren't as sleek though, why would they? They worked better underwater than on land. So like any other fish out of the water, Nanshe almost fell to the side. The only thing that had prevented her from falling had been her tail which kept her balanced.

Terror filled her entire being when she saw Hazlet sitting up, his hair was ruffled to the side and his eyes were squinted and dazed. "Nanshe. . . What are you doing?" The 17-year old yawned, clearly still asleep.

"I'm, um. . . Gonna get. . . Sardines." Nanshe thought quickly before Hazlet finally lied back down, throwing his warm blanket over his body. "Whatever Ms. Fish. . . Don't get. . . Eaten alive. . ."

A loud snore followed Hazlet's rather disturbing warning, but Nanshe just shrugged it off and took it as typical Hazlet having dreams about how to take over and enslave every being in the world.

After hearing multiple snores, Nanshe opened the door slowly and slipped out of the dorm.

It was forbidden to leave the dorm room whenever you weren't called to be experimented on, but it was extra dangerous to leave at night and wander around. . . Especially when guards were scattered all around the facility, marching and guarding every hall and anything that could be close to an escape route.

Nanshe was aware of the rules she was about to break, but she ignored her worries and began to follow Lucella's scent cautiously, she looked to the side and quirked her brow with confusion at the fact that there weren't any guards at all as she made her way down the hall.

But Nanshe just shrugged it off once more. She's a very careless creature, the fewer guards there were the better, so why worry?

She kept on walking and opened an emergency door to follow Lucella's path, the pretty siren then carefully went up the stairs that led to the facility's roof, a place she hadn't been too familiar with ever since she passed the 10 years of age. As Nanshe kept going up, she noticed that the once white and sleek steps of the staircase were now black; bits of blood painted and contrasted against the black and the smell of freshly cooked meat entered Nanshe's nostrils.

Her mouth would've watered and her inner predator would've thrown itself at the meal. . . If it hadn't been for the fact that the beautiful and tempting aroma came from at least ten dead guards.

Their bodies had been dragged and piled up carefully against a wall; their skin was the color of ash and their flesh had been blackened and burned, so much that part of the bones was showing here and there, and you could also see flakes of skin that were basically melting off the bodies.

Lucella had gotten mad. . . Well not mad, FURIOUS.

Nanshe shivered, now completely grossed out at the horrible sight. I mean. . . she'd seen what Lucella's powers could do if she was ever to be angered while using them, but she didn't know how murderous those lightnings could turn if the lovely and calm teenager was brushed the wrong way.

But, hey. . . At least now she knew where all the guards had gone to, and at least Lucella had been smart enough to kill any witnesses and bystanders before they reported her, which would've led to a serious beating.

Nanshe stepped over the dead bodies that had tried to capture Lucella before being smoldered, and slowly opened the door that led to the roof.

~~~

Lucella hugged her legs as she looked up at the stars in the intoxicating yet dull and starless blue sky. It was late at night, but sleep hadn't been able to find her and embrace her, so she had scurried over to the roof and look at the dead sky while reliving memories of her past lover until she grows tired of it.

It was something she used to do all the time. . . It was something that Adan used to do all the time. They had always stayed together at the roof to look at the sky which had once glowed brightly with stars. After Adan had died, the sky seemed to die as well.

Lucella let out a sigh, everything had seemed so fine, so tranquil so. . . Perfect.

Lucella grabbed the hoodie of her oversized sweater and pulled it over her head before pressing her face against her legs. She took a deep breath and drank in the familiar scent that still dwelled on the sweater.

A faint but distinct scent still lingered over the soft fabric. It had been a scent that she had missed for so long. . . The rather strong scent of clean pine trees and morning flowers. The scent of the one she had admired for so long. . . The scent of the only boy she had fallen for without realizing it.

Adan. . . Lucella squeezed his eyes closed as a small tear ran down her cheek when she looked up at the sky once more. Was the older still watching over her and their friends as he had promised all those years ago?

"Lucella. . . ?"

The 18-year old gasped with surprise. She immediately turned around, the hoodie of her sweater falling off her head as her big blue eyes met Nanshe's.

Nanshe walked towards her before her eyes got fixated on an item she hadn't seen since Adan died. The 17-year old sat down and brushed her webbed hand against the fabric that belonged to the sweater that Lucella wore. "You kept it."

"Of course I kept it," Lucella sighed, throwing the hoodie over her head once more to hide her rosing cheeks and her small shy pout. "Adan gave it to me."

"What are you doing here? We're supposed to be asleep at the dorm with the other two."

Lucella grunted. "I'm not tired," She let out a frown, her gaze fixing once again on the greenish-navy blue sky. "I don't want to sleep, not until I find out which star belongs to Adan."

Nanshe's eyes immediately softened, she stretched her arm and curled it around Lucella, pulling the older girl closer and embracing her just like a sister would.

She sort of knew the pain that Lucella was probably going through, she felt it every time she saw a bruise paint Hazlet's fragile body or whenever Aidan would come back half-conscious. But of course, the type of pain that the poor Lucella felt was a thousand times greater. . . After all, she and the others had known that Lucella and their former friend had something going on that couldn't be just a friendship or a type of admiration.

Lucella curled her arm around Nanshe's scaled torso, trying to find the same warmth that Adan had once given her, it didn't feel the same. . . But at least she had one of her friends to help her cure her still broken heart.