Elemental Academy: Rushing Waves (Silver Year)

Chapter 4: Deceived

I blinked, and the next thing I knew, they were gone.

Who were they?

"Hey, you're spacing out."

Zap again. "Hey there. Been following me around?"

"No, I just knew you'd come back to the Cliff after dinner."

"Guess you know me well?"

"Not particularly..."

"Ok, so why did you find me here?"

"Quake asked me to get you."

"H-he did?"

"He did. Why?"

"Nothing. Thanks."

"Yeah." I watched him leave. Quake asked for me? Didn't he have plans? Is Zap lying? If Quake needed me, wouldn't he come here himself?

Why would Zap say such a thing?

💧 The Next Day 💧

I walked over to the Cliff again, just like always.

"Quake asked me to get you."

But why would he do that? And if he didn't, why would Zap lie about that? Who's the liar here?

💧 Electric Zone 💧

"Greetings, Pacifia. What brings you here?"

"Oh, hello there, Magnet. Is Zap around?"

"Funny you should ask, he just left."

"Is that so? Where would he be?"

"Probably the Garden, like he usually, if not always, is."

"That's true. Thanks."

"My pleasure."

💧 Garden 💧

Of course Zap isn't here.

💧 Earth Zone 💧

"Where's Quake?"

"Hi again there, Pacifia! Quake actually went to the Cliff earlier to look for you!"

"Okay then, thanks."

💧 Cliff 💧

My mind is mixed up right now. One of the two must be lying to me, right? Did Quake really have anything to do? And if he was busy, he wouldn't tell Zap to come get me, would he? So what was...

"Hey there, Pacifia."

"Hi, Quake."

"Yeah, sorry about being busy yesterday. But I'm free now."

"Uh, can I ask you a question?"

"Go for it."

"Why did you ask Zap to come get me last night?" As I waited for Quake to respond, I thought I heard something. I looked around. Did something move? Maybe the wind affected the leaves. Maybe I was getting paranoid for no reason. I looked back at Quake. His look troubled me.

"I... what?"

"Wait, did you not do that?"

"I didn't talk to Zap at all yesterday."

"Eh? But then..."

"What's wrong, Pacifia? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just that Zap said you asked for me yesterday. I thought that was weird, because you did say that you were busy, right? So I figured that one of the two of you were lying, and for some reason, Zap was lying."

"That's strange. You sure it was Zap?"

"It could've been no-one else, Quake."

"That's odd. We should talk to him, then."

💧 Electric Zone 💧

"Hello again, Magnet. Um, Zap wasn't at the Garden. Where else do you think he'd be?"

Magnet shook her head. "Check the Dark Zone. Maybe he went to talk to Angel."

As Quake and I ran to the Dark Zone, we passed the Garden again to make sure. Zap was not at the Garden, nor was he at the Dark Zone. Angel just shook her head and said, "Zap never came here. In fact, the only time he was ever here was the first day of school."

"Hmm." I waved and started leaving. "See you then."

"Hold on," Angel said. "You said he lied to you, right? Well maybe he was trying to get you out of the way. Think about it. You were with Quake all the time last year. So perhaps Zap wanted you to be near Quake and..." Angel pointed up; the answer had clearly entered her mind. "Check the Cliff."

"Thanks," I said. Quake waved as we both started sprinting towards the Cliff. Why ever Zap would want or need to visit the Cliff was beyond my understanding. Quake started saying, "I think he wanted to visit the Cliff because—"

I cut him off. I whispered, "Look over there! There he is!"

I immediately began to understand. The person I saw was Zap. The thought of someone being at the Edge that wasn't me or Quake was so unbelievable that I had looked over who was there. It seems like Zap had noticed that I was behind him, so when I blinked, he used his Electric powers to speed over behind me. Something like that. Perhaps he just hid until he reached my back. I started to walk towards him when Quake grabbed my arm. "Not now, Pacifia. He might need to be there for something."

"Maybe," I muttered.

"Strange," Quake said. "I was here earlier this morning and didn't see Zap."

"Neither did I," I replied. I watched as Zap looked up into the sky.

He then jumped off the Edge.

Quake and I began to ran to the Edge. Multiple thoughts were clouding my mind. Why did he jump? It's just water down there. Would there be anything he can do or see from all the way down there?

As we reached the Cliff, Quake and I instantly dove for the Edge and looked down. He was nowhere to be found.

"He's under the Cliff," Quake reasoned. "So if we could look through this ground, we would be able to see him."

"What's down there, do you think?" I asked Quake.

"Rocks and water," Quake said. "And, it seems, there's also something else. Better check." Quake looked at me. I nodded.

Together, we both jumped down the Cliff.