The Invitation
She sighed just as she glanced up to see Delia and Natalie floating in front of her, their tails swishing soundlessly through the dark water.
"Tiffany!" They both called out, and swam quickly to her.
"What happened? Are you okay?" asked Delia worriedly.
Tiffany grinned and rushed up to hug them tightly. When they pulled back, she replied, "I think I'm fine, it's just I don't know how I got here either." She told them what had happened after she woke up.
After finishing, Natalie immediately said "What is that gemstone for?
Tiffany shook her head and said in a low voice "I have no clue, but whenever I take it off, my tail starts burning up and it fells horrible, it hurts a lot."
"We should ask Gertrude, she knows all about magic and enchantments," Natalie said.
"What about that note that the guy had given you?" asked Delia, reading Tiffany's mind with her powers. Delia was able to see that Tiffany was hiding something.
Natalie looked confusedly between the two, "What are you talking about?"
Tiffany sighed and told them about the note that the guy had given her, "At first he said that he wasn't going to explain everything to me, then he gave me this note." She reached for her pouch and pulled the note out, "Here, read it." She handed it to Delia and while Delia read it aloud, Natalie looked at it over her shoulder.
"'Dearest Khloe, you are invited to the Mystical Masquerade Ball. It will be on September 3 at ten o'clock. You will be able to bring two guests along with you. Hopefully they are from royal families. We hope that you will be able to come. With best regards, the Black Queen'" Delia finished reading the note and looked surprised.
"Looks like they know your mermaid name," muttered Natalie.
"What is this supposed to mean?" asked Natalie, "'with best regards, the Black Queen'?"
Delia looked at Tiffany, "Do you have any idea who this Black Queen is?"
"I have heard of a queen who lives in the Middle East, but I don't think her name is the 'Black Queen'." Tiffany's voice trailed off as she suddenly heard a rumbling noise coming from behind her, like something collapsing. "Did you feel that?" she asked the other two.
"Yes," said Delia.
At the same time Natalie muttered, "look behind you Tiffany."
They all looked towards the cave where Tiffany had just exited from, a bright yellow light was pouring out an underwater gas-like substance. A golden burning ball jumped out from the hole and landed a few feet away from them, Delia swam forward cautiously, and suddenly the ball exploded, drenching Delia in a sparkling golden substance.
"Delia!" exclaimed Natalie and Tiffany in unison. Delia was giggling like mad and saying incoherent words. More golden orbs erupted form the cave and a second one had splashed Delia, making her giggle like mad. Tiffany swam over quickly and grabbed Delia, dodging another golden sphere, she dragged Delia over to Natalie.
"SWIM!" Tiffany shouted to Natalie. Natalie nodded once, turned, and swam as fast as she can out of the dark tunnel.
Tiffany slowed down slightly and cast a binding charm on the giggling Delia, let her go, and followed Natalie, speeding up all the while. When Tiffany had dropped Delia, she had floated down for a few seconds before being jerked up and swam away at top speed, following Tiffany.
This had been the effect of the binding charm; when the main person goes one way, the other follows behind.
Tiffany swam as fast as she could, propelling the water past with her tail. She was able to see Natalie swimming her hardest in front of her. Looking behind them however, a hundred fiery orbs followed them, closing in.
The orbs glowed brightly and some of them had spikes while others were a poisonous yellow shade. Natalie and Tiffany speeded away, dragging a still giggling Delia, trying to get towards the land. Tiffany caught up to Natalie and swam ahead of her, gaining speed all the while.
Natalie saw Tiffany swam past her dragging Delia behind, she looked back at the orbs and what she said made her freeze. She saw an army of the orbs spin out some sort of web, the web braided itself with one another and soon became a huge sticky net.
Confused, Natalie shook her head. No, this was not possible, she thought. There is no Evil Enchantress, but if there is none, then where did these soul orbs come from. Then as the realization sunk in that a new Enchantress had came to be, the orbs cast the net on top of her, sticking to her hair and tail. She cried out for help.
Almost reaching the land, Tiffany heard Natalie shouting, "HELP ME! THEY GOT ME!"
Tiffany turned to see Natalie stuck in a net that a few of the orbs had cast over her and struggling to get loose while the deadly orbs advanced gradually. A few of the orbs circled to the front of Natalie and the orbs were dragging the net away speedily.
Tiffany murmured a charm to throw Delia onto the land. A large bubble erupted from Tiffany's palms which enveloped Delia, and then it slowly started rising up to the surface. Delia stared at Tiffany with wide eyes, a smile plastered on her face.
Tiffany waved to her, then turned around, and swam after Natalie.
* * *
Gertrude screamed, "NO! WE CAN'T LET GO OF EACH OTHER'S HANDS NOW!"
Stella choked on the water and transformed into a mermaid, "Change into mermaids, it is easier!" She nodded to herself at this and smiled as she gripped Jackie and Kaitlin's hands tighter.
With a blinding flash, all of them turned into mermaids and sank beneath the water, the turtle swimming in circles above them through the sky, pulsing with light, but just not enough…
Gertrude squeezed her eyes shut and focused on all of her power, even the little power left for her to still be there. Gertrude felt a twinge of something inside her leave her body and a shimmer of light floated straight towards the turtle, and passed into the shell.
The turtle dived into the water and a wave of energy spread through the school courtyard, the water was gone immediately. The swirling waves as if sucked into a whirlpool sank down into the ground, the water gushed out from the windows of the buildings.
A few last inches of water streamed down in trickles to sink into the ground. And all of the water was gone.
Jackie sighed as she let go of Stella's and Gertrude's hands. Kaitlin surveyed the scene before them and exclaimed, "Hey! The buildings are fixed!"
Gertrude turned back to her human form. Stella laughed and without warning, the platform on which they were standing disappeared, one minute they were floating on the air, the next they fell with a thump as they hit the wet soggy ground.
Gertrude sank down, weak-kneed, and smiled slightly. Stella, Jackie, and Kaitlin all transformed into their human form as well, Jackie rung out her hair while Kaitlin just performed a spell to get the water in her hair away. The two of them were smiling broadly.
Stella however looked at Gertrude and asked, "What's wrong Gertrude? Are you hurt? What happened?"
Gertrude shook her head and whispered faintly, "I'm drained… of power now… I used… too much."
Jackie and Kaitlin had heard their conversation and stared worriedly at Gertrude too, Kaitlin went over to kneel by her side. "We have to help her now."
"I guess we could transport her to the Hall of Remedy's," Jackie muttered.
Stella shook her head, "I don't think we can, she doesn't have enough energy left."
"Well then what do we do?!" demanded Jackie.
They all thought over that question, no one said anything.
Then Kaitlin spoke up, "I know, I can… give my energy to her."
"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" shouted Stella, "you already lost most of your power, if you use any more, you will be just like Gertrude!"
Jackie looked thoughtfully at Kaitlin, "No, I don't think she would be entirely powerless, remember, Gertrude is not of royal descent, no offense, and Kaitlin is. She would never lose all of her power entirely; she's too powerful for that."
"Please Stella, you have to let me do it, we're running out of time," Kaitlin pleaded.
Stella glared at her but then she nodded and dropped her gaze, looking at Gertrude. "Step back," Kaitlin whispered.
Stella and Jackie stepped back and watched as Kaitlin walked towards Gertrude and arranged her arms crossed over her chest, lying down. Kaitlin waved her arms up, murmuring an enchantment to transfer power.
The air heated up around her and waves of heat rolled upon Gertrude. Kaitlin chanted the spell, her arms shaking but her voice was steady. As more power and energy reached Gertrude, she opened her eyes and sat up slowly, staring at Kaitlin. '
Stop!' she seemed to yell, but they were unable to hear her and Kaitlin continued.
The atmosphere wavered and with a blinding flash of white light, exploded.