"I've got a really bad feeling, you guys," Aquarius told Virgo and Libra.
After their Ms Mal sighting, they had been trying to get back to camp. But with Hydrus patrolling the border of the woods, it was nearly impossible to get anywhere.
"I always had a bad feeling. But did you listen? No!" Aquarius continued complaining to the girls.
"Shut up. I'm trying to read his mind," Virgo snapped, referring to Hydrus.
Aquarius shut up. Virgo concentrated, and was able to hear Hydrus' thoughts.
Gem should be dead. Nobody could survive all those falling trees and fire. Calling out for her big brother. Ha. Nobody's going to come for her. Well, maybe they'll come for her corpse. Hydrus' thoughts echoed in her mind.
Tears slipped down Virgo's face. "Oh my god. I think Gem is dead."
"What do you mean?" Libra asked Virgo, putting her hand on Virgo's shoulder.
"Hydrus. I read his mind. He said Gem should be dead," Virgo cried. Libra hugged the virgin.
"Should be. Maybe somebody came to help her," Libra attempted to reassure her.
"Hydrus said she kept calling out for Nye. But then she suddenly stopped." Virgo kept crying onto Libra's shoulders.
"That's impossible," Aquarius said. "She still had Cap. And Leo."
"Even though she had them, Leo was finding water, Cap was at base. Pisces and Taurus got separated from her. She was alone. She died alone," Virgo sobbed out.
The three of them huddled together and cried because of what they thought became of their friend.
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"If that son of a bitch goes near me again, I'll kill him myself," Gem growled. She was, of course, talking about Hydrus.
"Don't worry, I'll help you. Base is just this way," Capricorn said, as he pushed away some branches.
"I can't believe Phoenix is cousins with him. How does he stand it?" Gem complained.
"Hydrus is family. Sometimes, that's enough." Capricorn finally saw the cabin. "Come on."
The two walked up to the cabin. It was completely abandoned. Cancer had left it all alone.
"Let's sit down and clean you off. What'd you get at the store?" Capricorn asked.
"I think I dropped my bag. Pisces might've picked it up. But we got some food and medical supplies, which could be useful right now." Gem winced. She ripped off the bottom of her shirt, which was already slightly torn. She wrapped it around one of her scars.
"Once Cancer gets back we can sort it out. If we're lucky, she won't be long." Capricorn put his hand on her shoulder.
"Taurus was worried about you," Gem said out of the blue.
"She's family. I'm worried about her too," Capricorn replied.
"Capricorn? If I don't make it—" Gem started, only to get interrupted.
"You will."
"Or if you don't make it," Gem continued. "I think I'm in love with you."
Capricorn looked at Gem with despair in his eyes. "I think I love you too."
Gem pulled Capricorn down and kissed him. When they pulled up, Capricorn had one thing to say.
"Ha. I've got a crick in my neck. You're shorter than you look."
Gem gave him a look that said, I'll kill you later.
———————
Taurus and Pisces ran through the woods, incredibly wary after Virgo's phone call. Taurus has once again turned visible, and the two were tripping on branches. Suddenly, Pisces fell into someone.
Pisces screamed. "Get away, you bitch!"
Taurus helped her up. "Pisces, that's Tari."
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I thought you were Ms Mal." Pisces let out a long breath and helped up Sagittarius.
"Why would Ms Mal be in the woods?" Sagittarius asked the two.
"We got a call from Virgo and the lookout team saying they saw her coming in here," Taurus explained. "So we started running."
"Wait, wasn't Gem with you?" Sagittarius asked them, looking around.
Taurus hung her head, while Pisces looked anywhere but Sagittarius. Taurus was the first to speak.
"Hydrus grabbed her and we have no clue where she ended up. I think I saw her get away but I don't know for how long," Taurus spoke carefully, as if every word was worse than the one before.
"And you left her?" Sagittarius scowled.
"We thought she was behind us until we looked back and saw her running in the opposite direction. Maybe Cap or Nye found her or something," Pisces added in.
Sagittarius groaned. Pisces and Taurus' eyes widened and they stepped back in fear. Sagittarius furrowed her brows and spun around, only to be faced with Ms Mal.
"Please, don't let me interrupt your little quarrel." Ms Mal had a sinister look in her eyes.
"Ms Mal. The worst English teacher to ever live," Taurus muttered.
"Please, call me by my real name," Ms Mal gave them a sickening grin. "Pavo."
"The peacock. You're a constellation," Pisces realized.
"Almost everyone is the godawful town is." Pavo Mal stepped closer. "But not every constellation should be alive."
Pavo Mal stepped closer to Pisces and stabbed her through the stomach. Pisces grabbed her stomach, but didn't pull out the spear. Instead, she broke it so it would stay in her.
"Sag, find Cancer. Get to base. I'll hold off Ms. Mal. Take Pisces with you. Send reinforcements," Taurus commanded, them turned invisible.
Now that Pavo was weaponless, Taurus could use her invisibility to keep her occupied long enough for Sagittarius and Pisces to get away. Sagittarius scooped up Pisces in her arms and carried her away.
"Saggi, it hurts," Pisces complained. "It feels like I have my period."
"That bad, huh? Don't worry, we'll find Cancer," Sagittarius spoke in a calming voice and carried her through the woods. "I think I see the base."
Sagittarius was right. She saw the base peeking from the corner of the trees. She sighed in relief as she ran there. She saw Capricorn and Gem.
"Oh my god! You guys are alive!" Sagittarius sighed in relief again.
"Yeah, but what's happened to Pisces?" Gem asked her, her voice heavily laced witness worry.
"Ms. Mal," Sagittarius informed.
"Lay her down on the steps," Capricorn instructed.
"We need to take out the spear." Gem told them both.
"We need a cloth, or she'll bleed out though," Sagittarius countered.
Gem thought for a moment, before stripping off her shirt. Without her shirt on, she only had a nude bra. "We can use my shirt. I've already ripped it for my own things, so it should be usable. Plus it's not really wearable anymore."
Sagittarius nodded and started to take out the spear. "I hope this works."
Pisces started screaming. "Ow. Ow. Ow!"
Capricorn awkwardly stood there. "If we do this right, then it should. Should I turn away Gem?"
"I don't care. You've probably seen me and Leo eating ice cream in our sports bras as much as Nye has," Gem shrugged.
Sagittarius finally finished taking out the spear, and by then Pisces was sobbing and clutching Gem and Capricorn for support. Sagittarius took the shirt and cut it in so instead of a circle, it was straight. She tied it tightly around Pisces' stomach.
Taurus came running to the camp. She clutched her arm tightly. "Miss Mal's retreated for now, but I know she'll be back. Where's Gem's shirt?"
"Covering Pisces' stomach. We don't know where Cancer is." Sagittarius informed her.
——————
Cancer arrived at the pond with the others. Nye has long since beat her there. "How did I end up here? I thought I was chasing Sag."
"Hey, Cancer! What are you doing here?" Nye asked. "Shouldn't you be at base?"
"I had a feeling Sagittarius could use some help, so I followed her but ended up here," Cancer told him.
"Come in the water then," Nye told her. "It's so nice."
"It's not right."
"What?" Nye turned to her. "How's the pond not right?"
"It has a current. Ponds don't have currents," Cancer informed him. Her eyes widened. "It's a trap."
Leo walked up to them. "Why do you guys look so worried?"
"The pond." Cancer started running towards it, causing Scorpio to get out. "Is a trap."
Aries, who was waist deep, scoffed. "How can a pond be a trap? See, I can walk back right now."
Aries tried walking back, but got pulled away by the current. He kept getting pulled to the center of the lake. Worry and fear polluted his face.
"I'm sorry! Help me! You were right! Help!" Aries screamed, barely keeping himself up. And then, he wasn't. He was being held under water.
"We've gotta try to save him," Cancer decided.
"Have you seen that current? You'll never make it!" Nye warned her.
"She won't be alone. I'll go with her," Scorpio volunteered. Determination was written across his face. "We'll come back. With Aries."
What Scorpio didn't say to the others were two fateful words. I hope.
Nye and Leo watched them. Two figures, one a white person with a mans build, the other a black person with a girls build, dive into the water. Cancer and Scorpio, trying to save the day. Aries couldn't make out their faces.
Aries struggled and kicked and almost opened his mouth to scream, when he remembered closing it is what was keeping him alive. That's when, as if being pulled by some current, the two figures are torn away from him. Once Cancer and Scorpio get above land, they scream for each, getting pushed to either side of the pond.
Above the water, two voices speak. Nye and Leo.
"We've gotta save 'em!" Nye begged Leo. He put his hand on her shoulder.
"Cancer and Scorpio couldn't get through that current. We have no chance. The best thing we can do for 'em is stay safe," Leo replies, her southern voice breaking through.
"But... Tari..." Nye sounds as if he's about to cry, which he is. How do we tell Tari?"
"The tide won't let us near him. It's pushing us away, but keeping him under," Cancer gasped, coming up for air.
"I'm going in again," Scorpio decoded. Before someone could stop him, Scorpio dove under water. He swam for Aries, but he couldn't make it. That's when the current stopped suddenly. Scorpio made it too Aries.
Cancer, Nye, and Leo watched as Scorpio made it to the top with Aries in his arms. They swam to the edge of the pond. Aries was unconscious.
"Apply pressure to his chest thirty times. Then, give him some air," Cancer instructed herself. She was certified with lifeguard training from her summer job.
She did mouth to mouth. Then she did it again. And again. And again.
"DAMMIT!" She shrieked. "This isn't working."
Scorpio felt Aries' pulse. His face paled. His expression went slack.
"Scorpio. What's wrong?" Leo asked him, dead serious.
"He's got no - no pulse." Scorpio looked at all of them. "Aries is - Aries is dead."
They were all too in shock to think. Their friend had died in front of them. They couldn't save him.
"We should bring him to camp. The others - the others, they would - they would want to know," Scorpio stuttered out.
"Maybe I can heal him!" Cancer cried. She tried using her powers. "Why isn't this working? It should work!"
"I think we're too late," Leo miserably told her.
"This was Tari's fate," Cancer said. "Or so we thought. Her vision... the first one... it wasn't about her it was about Aries."
Leo only looked at her, but stayed silent. She didn't want to talk, and neither did the rest of them. The three of them carried Aries' body back to camp. It took them a while, but after some time they returned. All eyes were upon them.
Gem immediately ran up to Nye and hugged him. "You're safe! I was so worried!"
"What's happened to Aries?" Sagittarius stood up cautiously, approaching her boyfriend. She touched his face. "He's all wet. And cold as ice."
"Sag, I'm so sorry. Aries, he was swimming - we found the pond - and it was a trap. There was a current and we couldn't," Scorpio started to cry. "We couldn't save him. We couldn't save him."
"Couldn't Cancer heal him? Why didn't she?" Sagittarius demanded.
"I tried everything, but nothing worked. I'm sorry," Cancer choked out.
"I'm sorry too," Sagittarius coldly snapped.
Gem pulled Sagittarius into a tight hug, but mouthed to Cancer, it's not your fault.
Cancer nodded meekly, and the three Zodiacs that carried Aries there laid him down on the ground. The Zodiacs sat in silence for a bit, most weeping, before Nye started to talk.
"Where's the other three?" Nye croaked out. "Where's Aqua, Libra, and Virgo?"
"We don't know," Capricorn admitted. His eyes were bloodshot.
"Why is my sister half naked?" He followed up.
"Because of me." Pisces winced as she got up. "I got hurt real bad, and we used her shirt as cloth."
Sagittarius stripped her shirt off. She shoved it to Gem, who was sitting next to her. "Here. Put it on. I'll get another shirt."
Not in the mood to question it, Gem put on Sagittarius' sweater. Sagittarius went up to Aries and took his shirt off of him. She put it on.
"It smells like his awful cologne," Sagittarius weeped.
Nobody knew how to respond to that, so Cancer got up and started to heal Pisces.
"Gem?" Virgo's voice appeared from the woods. "You're alive?"
Gem turned around only to be tackled by Virgo, Libra, and Aquarius.
"I read Hydrus' mind and he said you should be dead," Virgo sobbed. "We've been so worried."
"We're glad your alive," Libra sobbed with Virgo.
"We were so worried," Aquarius hugged them all tightly.
"I wouldn't be so happy just yet," Gem croaked out from beneath them.
"What do you mean?" Aquarius rolled off of her.
"Aries... he, um, didn't make it," Gem informed them.
They all got off of Gem. Libra crawled over to Aries, and then to Sagittarius.
"They will pay," she promised.
—————
I apologize for this chapter. It'll be better I promise. Just not quite yet. What did you think of the chapter?Sincerely, FlipFlop.
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Ps. Thanks for getting this book to 265 in general fiction!!!