Water burst out of the Dark Mirror, spitting out three students from the sea. All of them were laying on the ground, panting, and soaked to the bone. Jack was the first one to sit up from his face down position, shaking his head, body, and tail like a wet dog after a bath. He looked at the other two. Jonah was laying on his back with one of his arms on his face to cover his closed eye and tried to control his breathing. Riddle slowly got up from laying on his side, coughing as spitting, trying to get rid of the disgusting taste of eel-mucus.
"There's no way we can win against mermaids under the sea..." Jack breathed out.
"We need a tail," Jonah spoke out, voice slightly hoarse from the tiredness and frustration. He lifted his arm from his eyes, letting it fall to his side. "Does any of you know how to make a somewhat-mermaid potion or spell?"
"Salacia potion would work," Riddle answered. "But that's an advanced level potion that isn't taught in school. Even I can't brew it correctly."
"Well, we don't have time for experimenting." Jonah slowly sat up as he continued. "We need to brew as soon as we can. If we can do it by sunset we can make a night ambush-"
["Oh?"]
Jonah's eye immediately widened. "Shit."
Of course, Jack noticed it. "What?"
"I... I blew up," Jonah spoke slowly, staring at his trembling hands on his lap. "He now knows..."
No confirmation was needed for both Jack and Riddle. They knew that Azul just read Jonah's mind because of the contract. They had already anticipated things like this. He probably had set something for their night invasion, possibly sending the twins again-
Riddle's eyes widened. "Wait. I don't think this will work."
Both Jack and Jonah looked up to him. "What?" the brunette asked.
Riddle turned his head toward him, but more focusing on Jonah. "If we go at night, like after sunset, the counter curse won't work."
Once again, Jonah's eye widened. "Ah-!"
Jack quickly connected the dots. "And if we face those Eel Twins again, you won't be able to breathe."
"That's..." Frustration once again came crashing down onto him. He gripped his hair, trying his best not to cry. But man, he felt like he wants to. Damn it. He didn't think that through. How could he forget about that as well? It was already embarrassing enough that he was useless back there for not being able to see the Leech Twins, now he was practically trying to kill himself-
"Hey." A hand on his shoulder snapped him back to reality. "Hey." Turning his head to the voice, his black eye met with a pair of gray. "Look. We've at least know what we are facing. We should think of an alternative tonight."
Riddle helped Jonah up, moving his hand to hold him around the shoulders while the other was holding his hand. "Come on. I'll make you some tea and cookies."
Jonah didn't even nod. He just let Riddle led him out of the Mirror Chamber, still feeling disappointed in himself. The walk was silent and to be honest, Jonah was grateful for that. They arrived in the Hall of Mirrors. Jonah vaguely remembered Riddle led him to the Heartslabyul Mirror.
Not even realizing that Jack stopped following him or Riddle and Jack exchanged a glance, a silent signal before Jack turned to enter the Pomefiore Mirror.
-----
"Well, that was certainly something," Azul mumbled as he doodled on his book with his glowing magical pen. Most of the gaming pieces were set aside, making rooms for new Mostro Lounge reports and additional contracts. It was funny that people still wanted to make a deal with him despite the whole anemones mess. Well, they do say desperate times call for desperate measures.
Maybe he was desperate at that time as well-
The door to his office was suddenly being opened and Azul quickly closed his book. Slightly frowning when a familiar ginger-head walked in with a tray in his hand. "I got your tea."
The corner of Azul's eye twitched but he kept smiling. "Why thank you, Trappola. Though I would appreciate it more if you knock on the door first."
Ace just rolled his head as he closed the door and walked toward the table. He put the cup and its saucer in front of Azul and the boss took a small sip. His brow furrowed. "How long did you brew this?"
Ace shrugged. "I don't know."
Azul sighed as he put down the cup. "I don't like this unprofessionalism. I told you to brew this for six and a half minutes."
Ace veins popped. He was holding himself back from smacking the prefect with his tray, but he knew he couldn't fight back without getting his anemones pulled. "Then why don't you brew it on your own?!"
Azul clicked his tongue. "You poor anemones." He stood up and picked up his book. Ace saw Azul took out a key from his pocket and inserted it into the keyhole of the giant save behind them. They could hear the sound of the safe turning and opening up. Ace stepped out of the way, standing behind the door while Azul stood in front of the safe filled with golden papers. The key was still stuck on the keyhole. Ace knew it was risky, but this might be his only chance. He just couldn't sit there and wait like a damsel in distress knowing what the captain is risking his freedom for them.
He quickly pulled the key from the keyhole and shoved it into his pocket, trying to make as little sound as possible over Azul's talks. "I understand that this is tough for you. But you need to learn."
Azul put his book into the safe, tucked between the contracts. He reached for the door and closed it. He paused of a second there before giving Ace a sideways glance. "Your captain is doing his best here. Why can't you?"
Ace growled at him. "He's not supposed to get involved in this mess." He stepped forward, glaring at him. "You said it yourself that you would rather have him out of your business!"
"Your captain is a nosy little brat. Sticking his nose in other people's problems," Azul responded, voice deep, not afraid of this small fry.
But Ace didn't back down. "If you know that making deal with us would bring Jonah into this sooner or later, why do you still do it?"
Azul suddenly picked up his magical pen and shoved it to Ace's neck, the gem glowing threateningly. "I do not like it if my anemones are questioning the way I run my business." Using the end of the pen, he lifted Ace's chin. The freshman could see the dangerous glint in Azul's eyes and he was sure that if Azul wanted to, he would blast him right now.
But Azul lowered his pen despite that he was still glaring at him, but Ace couldn't help but let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Now," Azul stated. "Be a good guppy and leave this room or else I'll give Argentum more trouble than before."
Ace glared at him, but he knew he lost this time. The ginger-head turned around and headed to the door before Azul once again called, "Trappola."
Ace stopped his track but didn't turn around. Azul walked toward him. "My key."
Ace shoved his hand into his pocket, gripping the key tightly. Azul noticed the way Ace's lips move but no voice came out from his mouth. He cleared his throat. "I'm waiting."
Ace finally sighed. "Right." He turned around and dropped the key into Azul's waiting palm. Without waiting for any order, Ace walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Azul looked at the key in his hand, then to the door. He should add more protection to the safe. Just for safety precautions.
-----
"What's with all the racket?"
The two Pomefiore students turned around and their faces immediately became pale. Jack watched as Vil, in his lab gear, walked toward them and stopped just a few steps before the front gate of the dorm, brow slightly scrunched. He averted his gaze to Jack. "What are you doing here, Jack?"
Jack nodded his head in greeting before continuing, "Is Epel here? We have something we need-"
Vil lifted his hand, cutting him off. "Is this a 'mermaid transformation potion' matters?" he asked.
Jack's eyes widened slightly. "How did you know?"
Vil stared at him for another few seconds before dropped his hand. "Potatoes, let him through." The two Pomefiore students stared at Vil in shock, but the prefect just continued, "We have important things to do."
"Yes, Prefect!" The two finally stepped out from Jack's way. Vil nodded at him and turned around, walking back into the dorm. Jack took this as a signal to follow the prefect.
The Pomefiore dorm had the opposite feel from Savanaclaw. The walls were white and clean, decorated with portraits and small chandeliers hung on the ceiling. On the sides, there were luxurious decorations. Jack felt so out of place. Even walking down the red carpet as the sun shone through the big glass window made him felt like a peasant compared to Vil's royalty aura.
Jack cleared his throat as he finally caught up to Vil and was now walking next to him. "Did Epel tell you about this?"
Vil hummed. "Oh, he told me many. About Azul, Jonah, and the contracts. A lot of Pomefiore students have also unfortunately trapped in his game." He gave Jack a sideways glance. "He received the message from you and Jonah and decided to sneak into the prefect's lab. I caught him extracting the gillyweed incorrectly. Threatened him to add more manner lessons and he spitted out everything." He let out a tired sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I still can't believe all of you are stupid enough to get caught in this mess."
Jack hummed apologetically. "I didn't expect you to be helping us."
"I promised Uncle Dire that I will look out for him," Vil said as they turned around the corner. "This is the least I can do without getting too much involved in Azul's radar. Us older siblings must help the younger ones, right?"
Jack hummed in agreement. Of course, he understands that feeling. He knew the feeling of needing to watch over your younger siblings, for he also has two; a brother and a sister, whom he loves dearly. He guesses that it is just an older brother's instinct.
Vil led them to a door with a stair that went downward. Compare to the rest of fancy always, the stairway felt gloomier, like there were walking down to a medieval dungeon. Opening another door at the bottom of the stairs, Vil revealed an underground, dungeon-like, laboratory, filled with various equipment and potions, and shelves of books Jack had never heard of. Trey, Cater and Epel was there on their work station, crushing ingredients and pouring liquid into vials.
"Epel!" Vil screamed, making Epel pull his hand away from putting a wooden spoon inside a bubbling cauldron.
"Vil!" Epel squeaked back. Vil took a quick stride to Epel and flicked the smaller boy's forehead, earning a winch from him.
"That's 'Senior Vil' or 'Prefect'," he scolded. "And I told you that you're supposed to stir it counter-clockwise!" He picked up the wooden spoon, pointing at Epel like a nagging mother in the middle of making dinner. "It's not even time to stir it yet. Give it three more minutes."
Epel stepped back. "S-Sorry."
"What is this actually?" Jack walked up to the cauldron, sniffing the air. "I've never smelled this before."
"Salacia potion," Vil answered, looking at the timer on his phone. "A modification of the basic polyjuice potion to change into someone else, but not animals. Combining this with the properties of gillyweed which give you fish-like attributes."
The timer went off and Vil stirred the potion counter-clockwise about three times. "A few ingredients in between and boiling for nearly eight hours. We're in the last steps." He turned his head toward the Heartslabyul students. "Trey, grab me a scoop of lacewings and a vial of gillyweed juice. Cater, can you quickly crush two lionfish spine?"
He gained a "right" and "on it" from both of them. Trey was the first one to grab the ingredients that he had prepared; a jar of dead flies and a vial of some toxic green liquid. Vil grabbed both of the ingredients and poured it in, changing the liquid inside the cauldron from purple to green, and stirred it one more time.
Cater came out and gave Vil a plate of crushed powder. "Stand back. This will pop a bit..." The others stepped back and Vil poured the powder inside the cauldron. He immediately stepped back when light green smoke burst out from the cauldron. Quickly, before the smoke disappeared completely, he took out his magical pen, flicking it as he chanted, "[Abyssalacia]!"
The green smoke turned gray and it got sucked back into the cauldron. Vil walked toward it, nodding in satisfaction when he saw the grey liquid. "It is done," he said, turning to the gang. "A cauldron-full of salacia potion."
Trey and Cater let out a sigh, tired but happy they had finally done it. Epel came up to Vil while carrying a wooden rack of vials. Vil nodded at him, a gesture to say 'thank you'.
"Drink a vile of this and you'll turn into a mermaid when you touch seawater and turn back into a human once you're out from the water," the prefect said as he poured the potion into several vials and secured it with a cork. "However, I don't guarantee that it will change you into your favorite fish. Maybe you want to be a jellyfish but turns into a squid instead. So, this potion is still risky to be consumed."
He gave the vials to Trey, who nodded in gratitude. "Thank you. We'll take that risk."
"When are you going to dive?" Vil asked.
"We did earlier," Jack said. "But we're doing it again tonight."
Vil nodded. "Let's hope one of your squad turns into an anglerfish."
"I'll join you," Epel spoke out, taking off his goggles.
Vil grabbed the back of Epel's lab coat collar, pulling him back. "No."
Epel turned his head toward him, glaring at him."But Vil-"
"It's not that I don't want you to help," Vil quickly said.
Jack stepped up, giving Epel a pat on the shoulder. "Senior Leona mentioned this too. And with the additional order, we can't let Azul know that you're also working behind the scene."
"He probably had suspicion if Jonah gets his hand on a potion that he didn't brew himself," Vil added. He looked up at Jack and the Heartslabyul students. "If Jonah asks, just say that you brew it this night. Pomefiore will lay low."
Trey nodded again. "Right. Again, thank you very much."
Vil nodded at them. "Good luck. The One-Eyed Captain always finds a way to turn the situations around."