The Empty Seat (Eli's Friends)

[James Florian]

It was impossible to believe that it really had only been three days since Eli had gone missing, because quite honestly it seemed like an entire decade had passed. They were so sure they would find him that first night, they had been so foolish to believe they could actually find him in one night, but to everyone’s credit they did try. The six friends tore the grounds apart searching for any sign of their friend, but there was nothing. He just vanished, however at the same time Eli was still there. It still felt like it at least. More than once James felt as if Eli was there in class with him, and he would turn to say something, but he would only be greeted by an empty desk. Or he’d find himself on the pathway to the school’s pool only to remember Eli wouldn’t be there to help James with whatever stroke they were working on this week. But the worst of all had to be during meals. At first they tried to all sit at the same table, just like they used to, but nobody could ignore the empty seat next to Isla and nobody could hold it together either. By the time they had to clear their trays, filled with uneaten food, they were all crying. That is until they all just kind of decided to sit at a different table, one without an empty seat. Though they were now eating again at least, a small mercy compared to the rest of their predicament.

It would be a small mercy however if James didn’t have to walk into the library three days after prom, because honestly he wholeheartedly believed that Eli would be found by now. He would be safe in the dorms rather than where ever he currently was, which was probably not safe and warm knowing that Louis and Aristiedes were behind this. It frustrated him so much knowing that they did it, that they knew where Eli was, and they weren’t telling anyone. They were just acting like they were innocent and laughing behind their backs. They were so lucky that Grove had made sure that he was never alone in the same area as the villains, or this “perfect” prince would’ve gotten into his second fistfight since arriving at this wretched school.

However he no longer had the energy to even yell let alone fight, he was so tired and it was no surprise. That morning he had nearly drowned after all, and he was still confused as to what the hell had happened because it made no sense to James. One moment he was dying feet underneath the water with no one in sight, and the next he was coughing the lake out of his lungs on the dock again with no one in sight. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around how that happened, and plus there was that big fish he seen before he lost consciousness. It was bigger than any fish he had seen before, and he never heard Isla or Eli speak of a fish that big in the lake before. This whole situation was frustratingly confusing and honestly at this point James felt like he would give up his crown if it only meant he could finally get some answers.

Good thing I’m in the library then, James silently thought to himself as he ducked into one of the more secluded study areas of the library, which was the group’s meeting place and he placed his school bag on the sole table as a way of claiming it before zooming off into the expansive stacks (Queen Belle made sure that their school had the second largest library in the entire world. The first? Her own.) to find the books they were going to need. Thinking back to all the classes James was forced to take that was sort of about this subject matter, he literally grabbed copies of the princes textbooks along with all the outside reading they had to do. This sort of stuff was about locating a princess --or prince in this case-- and what sort of obstacles that could meet along the way. He left the dragon fighting stuff alone though, that class was more useless than well anything. Then he went off to another section of the library, this one a section he hadn’t been down much before; the villain’s section. It wasn’t so much as a place to find books that a villain might read, but instead it was one where you could find resources on all the villains that their parents had to face. James grabbed three books from here, one on Hades, one on Dr. Facilier, and just one big book on all the villains. It felt weird being in this section especially when he saw his grandmother’s name on some of the spines.

He quickly then rushed back to the little nook and put all these books down on the table, spreading them out into little mini-piles. He glanced at the clock and realizing he had a few more minutes before people were supposed to show up, James once more ventured into the maze of books and reemerged with a book about freshwater fishes. He wanted to get at least one answer to one of his many questions and at the same time a book would be comforting. For a few moments James would be able to escape this stressful reality, even if it was only into the world of fishes. So that’s why he pulled out one of the table’s comfy chairs, curled up in it, buried himself into his purple seacombe sweatshirt, and just forgot about what was really going on while pretending he only really had one problem in the world; naming a fish whose name he already knew.

A fish named Areli Triton.

[Isla Triton]

Isla had felt listless for three whole days. She was restless and she itched to do something, but there was nothing she could do. She needed to do something but she didn't know what. She had no leads about Eli. He had vanished.

She dreaded being the one to write home to her aunt and her grandfather. They would need to know sooner rather than later and she was quite sure that the school hadn't informed them. Why would they? A villain had only been acting in their assign role which was what they were trying to foster. Plus, they were fairly certain that Eli hadn't died. He'd just disappeared and it wouldn't do the school any good to declare that they had lost a prince.

But Isla walked into the library with her head held high and a look of determination on her face. She might be tired and restless, but she was determined to find Eli, no matter the cost. And she hoped that someone might have some news, no matter how small. Or maybe they could piece together some of the pieces to the puzzle to try and explain what had happened. Or the better question: why?

She found James quickly, moving to sit at the table and dumping her bag on the floor. "Hey," she said softly in greeting, slumping over the table. The bags under her eyes were dark and she looked as tired as she felt, but she was put together. She was ready to fight.

[Azalea]

It was with a heavy heart and tired eyes that Azalea entered the library that day. Her usual perfect princess sheen was lacking in lustre. Much less thought than usual had been put into her appearance, with just a brush drawn through her hair and only enough make up to half disguise the redness that lined her eyes.

Their friend was still missing and the Sultana was feeling less than worthy of that title. In fact she felt pretty powerless. It was not a sensation she ever wanted to feel again. She wanted to be back a week ago when everyone was happily talking about the prom, and more importantly, everyone was there.

Eli's absence had been noted throughout the school, although never on an official level. The friends had looked high and low and turned up nothing. So here they were, the allotted three days later, gathering to form a plan. Az approached James and Isla at their table, trying to look for all the world like they weren't already defeated. She gave them a determined smile and sat down, grabbing a book.

The game was on.

[Grove]

Grove didn't know how to help his friends. Eli hadn't been found and he didn't know what else to do. He wasn't a prince so he didn't know how to find anyone who had been lost. He knew how to track animals in the forest and probably could track people too, but Eli had disappeared out of thin air. He couldn't track people like that.

Grove had nothing else to offer his friends except for his support, so he strode quietly into the library, finding the table where his best friend sat with the two princesses. He nodded at them, moving to sit next to Jim.

He looked over at the book Jim was looking at. "Why are you looking at fish?" he asked perplexed. Jim had never expressed any interest in fish before. Maybe he wanted to take up fishing, though Grove doubted that fairly highly.

[James Florian]

James was so absorbed in the book in front of him that he didn’t realize that Isla had arrived until she dropped her bag on the table and caused James to nearly jump out of his skin at the sudden and seemingly loud noise in the dead silent library. He looked over at the newcomer with startled eyes, irrationally afraid that it was another threat. For a moment he was terrified it was Louis or Aristeides coming over to taunt him about Eli being missing like they had been doing to them all week. He didn’t want to have to deal with the girl with electric blue hair that called herself a witch or that backstabbing liar that made himself out to be their friend in the woods. He didn’t have the strength to tell them to go away, his throat hurt too much from swallowing that water and then vomiting it all back up in the infirmary. He was tired and weary from all the searches, so he couldn’t think straight. He was so emotionally drained that at times he was tempted to just curl up into a ball and just sob, for no apparent reason at all. He just wanted it to end, he wanted Eli back so they could all rest easy and recover from this devastating blow. However they weren’t telling them anything, those bastards just laughed and grinned at their pain. Why couldn’t they just let this anguish end?!

However it was not Louis that made the loud noise, nor was it Aristeides either. Instead it was Isla who just didn’t realize how easily James could be spooked when he was distracted as well as when he was in such an awful physical and emotional state. He looked at her with a deer in the headlights expression for a moment before his brain finally registered that it was nothing, just a simple mistake, but that didn’t stop James from saying in a quiet and hoarse voice, “Don’t scare me like that.” It wasn’t like anything like the powerful commanding prince voice he used sometimes, instead it was just like a scared boy, which of course what he was at the moment. Even Princes had emotions you know, they are human too.

Then Azalea came into the library, trying to be confident and regal in this trying situation like their parents would have been if it was them. However all it took was a good look at the three royals to see that in this situation they weren’t like their parents. Their parents would have been energetic and optimistic while also looking absolutely flawless which was not this ragtag group. They all were tired, they all looked like hell, and it was pretty damn hard to put a smile on their faces at the moment, but at least Azalea tried. She may not look as stunning as she did at prom, but compared to a boy who had just spat in death’s face and a girl who couldn’t even find the strength to write to home, she looked like she was the magical blue fairy. Had it really been only three days since all of them were dressed up and they were having what was supposed to be the best night of their lives? Was it even possible they could all be so broken in only three days?

James was sure none of them wanting to waste anymore borrowed time they had left so he rushed to explain what he grabbed after all the customary greetings were finished. “I just pulled what they gave us in class. Didn’t get any of the dragon stuff though, that class is useless.” He said pointing to the bigger pile of books, his voice was still hoarse sounding, but he did manage to find some sort of reserved strength to speak a little louder so he wouldn’t have to repeat himself and cause more pain because it actually kind of hurt to talk at this point. It hurt his throat and his head, but it shouldn’t last too long. The nurse had warned him about that, his voice should be fine in a day or two, if he didn’t end up getting pneumonia which could happen because of all that fluid in his lungs. This just wasn’t a good week for James now was it? “Those are about both Ari’s and Louis’s dads. We know that they’re involved so we better learn what exactly what we’re going up against. If there’s anything this school taught me, this will probably end in some sort of fight.” He finished explaining as he motioned to the other smaller pile of books off to the side.

His expression then softened from one of seriousness to a sympathetic one as he looked over to Isla and whispered, “I’m so sorry.” He couldn’t even begin to understand how she must be feeling at the moment. Not only was her cousin missing, but her “boyfriend” was behind it too. For James that would be like Grove disappearing and Azalea being the one behind it. If it were James this situation he would just absolutely break down into a hopeless wreck of tears and utter betrayal. The two of them had always been there for each other from the time they were diapers and to now being teenagers. That one year where Grove had been attending school and James wasn’t was hard enough, but at least he knew where Grove was and they had often wrote letters to each other. But being missing was a whole different situation. Being missing meant you didn’t know if they were alive or dead. It meant you didn’t know when you were going to see them again or if you ever will. James would just never be able to handle it. It was just a simple truth. Which is why James had a secret admiration and great respect for Isla in this situation. She was keeping it together despite the fact her world was crumbling around her, and James knew that took more courage and strength than a King needed in an entire lifetime.

Then Grove was the next one to walk in and take a seat at the library table. He gave his best friend a small smile as he said, “Hey Grove.” Just having the lumberjack nearby was enough to bring a slight smile to the prince’s face. He felt a little safer and a little more relaxed knowing that the one he cared about the most at this school was safe and not in any danger. He instantly felt guilty though, knowing that Isla couldn’t say the same thing. He was glad then when Grove posed a question to the raven haired lad since it was something to get his mind off of that selfish thought that made this religious boy find a confession box and receive clemency from the only real deity in this universe. Which of course wasn’t a hormonal teenager girl with a fetish for blue hair. However maybe he would have preferred the question to be something different, because as much as he didn’t want to tell his friends about his near death experience in fear of derailing the focus from finding Eli, he most certainly did not want to tell Grove that he nearly lost his best friend forever. He would freak out and fret over him which was the last thing he needed right now. He was fine, the nurse cleared him to leave just as long as he came back in first thing the next morning to make sure he was truly in the clear. He wasn’t dead and as far as anyone knew he was lucky to not have brain damage. He just had a nasty headache, no energy, paler than usual skin, and a hoarse throat. That was it. There was no need to freak out like Grove would do if he learned what happened. So he tried to hide his only really noticeable injury, his sore throat when he responded, but he didn’t do too well unsurprisingly, “Oh this?” He started to say as he held the fish book up slightly as he continued, “I was swimming in the lake earlier and I saw some sort of fish near the bottom. I just want to figure out what it was, but none of these are big enough to be the same thing.” He finished with a small shrug. Oh god his throat hurt so badly after saying all of that, but he knew he had to be his normal talkative self or Grove would know for sure something was up. Though maybe the cracking voice already had given that away.

Hopefully James did find that confession box after this meeting, because he was about to spin one huge web of lies if Grove pushed too far into this topic.

[Azalea]

Azalea grabbed a book from the "parentage" pile. She figured "like father,like daughter" would be a good way to start their search.

She grabbed sneaking glances at her companions. None of them wanted to be here. Not like this. It wasn't right. Azalea knew first hand that Isla was putting off writing home, they shared a room and trauma like this was hard to hide under such close quarters. She had been taking time to be extra sweet to the mermaid, on the off chance that it made any difference at all, though in her heart she knew it didn't.

James had not been doing well either. Everyone had heard about his incident at the lake though none of the details and the princess was very worried about him. Gone was the princely manners and airs, replaced almost instantly with the boy and his fears for his friend. Not that she blamed him one bit. She was no picture herself but the change in him was almost falling.

Even Grove seemed quieter. She didn't really know him so well, but he seemed to have James' interests at heart.

Her eyes turned down to her book and she read.

[Isla Triton]

Isla shot James a concerned look when he startled like he did and turned to stare at her as if she was some kind of hungry shark on the hunt that appeared out of nowhere. His eyes were so wide that they seemed like fish eyes. She didn't know what had frightened James so badly that he jumped like that when he was expecting them. "Sorry," she apologized, looking away from him.

Isla took interest in the books James had picked out. The one about Doctor Facilier might have a few of the answers she was looking for when it came to Louis and his involvement in this whole scheme. And maybe she would be able to figure out just what he was thinking. She reached for the book tentatively, pulling it closer to stare at its cover dubiously for a moment. And it was that moment that James chose to apologize to her.

She snapped her head up to give him a hard steady look. "Don't," she warned. "Just don't." And then she fiercely dove into the book so that she wouldn't do something stupid like cry again. She'd done too much of that recently and it wasn't going to help.

The mention of fish made Isla stop nd think for a moment. She wasn't as good with freshwater fish as ocean fish but she knew a thing or two more than most people. Plus she spent enough time in the lake to know about the fish there. "Well what did it look like then?" she asked curiously. "I know most of the fish in the lake."

[Grove]

Grove frowned at his friend. He looked pale and out of sorts, more unnerved than Grove had ever seen him in a long time. Granted all three of them looked like that. They all looked like they needed a long nap and a few sandwiches. Isla especially looked bad. Grove felt an overwhelming need to watch over her and make sure she was eating and sleeping properly. He felt an even greater need to protect them. He wanted to take them into his arms like child and protect them from the big bad.

And now that Jim was talking he sounded bad. He'd never been swimming in his whole life and now he was swimming in the lake? Grove was suspicious about that. There had never been any body of water close enough to them to learn how to swim, unless the royal court took a trip to the ocean in his absence. Or maybe he'd learned how while he was here. Grove wasn't sure what to believe. And then Jim's words sunk in. He'd been at the bottom of the lake.

"Why were you at the bottom of the lake?" he asked, trying to keep the concern to a minimum. "When did you learn to swim?"

[James Florian]

When Isla gave him a concerned look, James realized how much of a fool he must look like right now. After all he was jumping at the sound of someone putting a bag down on the table. Not a very princely action if you asked him, so with a small shake of the head James pulled himself together to say in response, "No, don't be. It's just been a bad day." His throat was hurting, but he couldn't just not speak in incomplete sentences, now could he? After all he was a prince he was raised better than that.

Then everybody started to grab their books, James tucked the fish book away and instead reached to grab one of the neglected princely textbooks, oh well. He could use the refresher anyways. However before he could even open the book Grove asked him questions about what exactly he had been doing at the bottom of the lake. Oh no, he had given away too much information. Soon Grove would know that he nearly drowned and he would smother him in over protectiveness and he did not need to be coddled right now, not when they had a friend to find. So he had to lead Grove away from what had really happened. James was going to have to lie. Too bad for James he was a bad liar, a very bad liar indeed. 

"Oh... I wasn't at the bottom of the lake. What are you talking about? I only saw it near the bottom. I didn't go anywhere near it. Nope I stayed on the dock. Yeah I never went in the lake, nope, never not me." James lied straight through his teeth, but it was clear it was a bad lie. James had never been good at lying, not with a mother like his that always encouraged her son to tell the truth and always seemed to know when the boy was lying. When he was little he believed her when she said it was just a mother's intuition, but in reality anyone could tell by the way he'd sit up straighter, talk faster, and his eyes wouldn't blink. Which of course is what he was doing now, James was just not capable of lying. Not with his nativity and childlike personality. He was just too nice and trusting to be capable of pulling off a lie. 

Which is why after a moment of looking around the group as they all looked at him funny, James admitted defeat by sighing and hanging his head down against his chest before reluctantly saying in all honest, "Fine. I was down at the bottom of the lake, I just wanted to see how far down I could go. I was just curious and Eli had taught me so I knew I could swim." He defended himself as he looked up at Grove and said as he rubbed his neck from the pain of talking, "I'm sorry Grove, please don't freak out. Please don't." He didn't want Grove to freak out now, because that would show that he couldn't tell Grove about how at the bottom the weeds had wrapped around his leg and how he almost didn't make out of the lake. He didn't want to tell Grove because then he would become an overprotective mama bear again making sure that the prince didn't leave his sight and that was the last thing James needed right now. Heck he had come to this place to just get away from overbearing guardians. How was he supposed to figure out who he was after all if everyone kept harping over him?

It was then that Isla's question reached him, and he turned to answer with a puzzled expression on his face, "I don't really remember what it looked like exactly. Everything was blurry and I only had a second, but it was big. Really, really big. Like bigger than any fish I've ever seen bigger, maybe as big as us." He said with a small shrug seeing nothing wrong with his guess, he was so naive when it came to fresh water fish that he thought it was okay for such a large creature to exist even though the lake's ecosystem would never be able to support it. "It was shaped funny though, I do remember that." He then continued, but it was clear by the way his face contorted in concentration he couldn't exactly remember what made it weird. It was just like a missing puzzle piece, or better yet a ghost of a memory. He knew it was supposed to be there, but he just couldn't remember the fish clearly. It was just an outline, a mere fuzzy glimpse before he passed out. He knew it was there! But if it wasn't for this stupid headache he could figure out what it was that made him want to figure out exactly what it was!

His hand moved up to his temple as a foolish attempt to give it some sort of relief as he pushed his brain instead of just resting it like the nurse told him he should do. He was warned that his head would hurt for a little bit as it recovered and repaired itself from the few minutes without air. Air. Something about that made his brain start to click the pieces into place and the look of confusion gave way to realization as his mind went from that fuzzy moment to a picture he had seen in a book of another fish, a fish that could breath air. A dolphin. But what's important about the dolphin? It couldn't possibly be the same thing as he saw, they were shaped different. Shaped differently because of the thing on it's back. "There was no fin on it's back." He said suddenly, "There wasn't a dorsal fin. Does that help?" He asked with a hopeful look in his eyes because that was probably the best they were going to get with this kind of head ache going on. 

[Isla Triton]

Isla nodded at the excuse of a bad day. She could understand that. She was having a pretty terrible week that didn't seem to be getting any better. If only she could figure out where Eli was, then she would feel better. If she could see that he was alive and well then she would feel better, because then she could plan for how to get him back.

James was a bad liar at the best of times and Isla could tell that he hadn't even tried to come up with a better lie. She was pretty sure that Grove could see through his lie too. A baby probably could have known that the prince was lying. She merely sighed and left them to their impending argument. Because Grove was a bit protective of the prince, though it was probably with good reason. Jim did seem to be in trouble more often than not.

Isla tuned back in at the mention of fish again. She listened carefully. She knew the lake pretty well and the fish in it. Even if she didn't know the exact fish in question, she could always go and have a chat with the lake fish. Or try to find the enormous fish. 

She shook her head. "That's impossible. Most freshwater fish can't get that big and even if they could, the lake isn't big enough to sustain a life that big." James was probably mistaken in size. She shrugged. The lack of a dorsal fin didn't mean too much to her. "It's probably a bottom feeder then. You must have seen two fish and thought it was one, but it can't be human sized."

[NPC]

When Isla is paying attention to the book, she may come across this particularly helpful passage;

Dr Facilier's Talisman

Don't let the common appearance of the necklace to the right fool you, this was a powerful tool employed by the evil Dr. Facilier to curse unsuspecting patrons of his voodoo parlor under the guise of either a tarot card reading or a deal to "Make all your dreams come true."



When the talisman was used by Dr. Facilier it was often the only way to tell that the witch doctor was in the midst of a deal playing out. When the talisman is in use it will glow a bright red, due to the fact the talisman would most often be filled with a portion of his victims blood. The curse only lasts as long as there is blood in the talisman and there is no other known way to end the deals offered by this cunning villain. The talisman will dispose itself of the blood in either one of two ways, either the talisman is used to alter the appearance of another in order to appear as the victim or it naturally drains over time. The first method is the quickest way of ending the curse with the blood fully draining in a few hours while the latter may take weeks or even possibly months if the talisman is not used for anything else. Finally there is one other option of ending any curses created with the use of this talisman, smashing
it. This is the most dangerous choice as smashing it will call forth the spirits from the other side who do not take kindly to their belongings being destroyed. This option should be avoided at all costs given the high risk of harm imposed by the angry spirits.



The talisman has not been seen since Princess Tiana of Maldonia destroyed it in order to free herself and Prince Naveen of Maldonia from the infamous frog curse, and has been regarded as to been lost with the evil villain forever.

[Grove]

Grove expected the lies to come out of Jim's mouth. He knew that when Jim tried to downplay something and lie about it that Jim had gotten himself into trouble. So Grove waited. Jim knew he was a terrible liar and he'd get around to the truth sooner or later. In the meantime Grove crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow at the obvious lies.

Grove sighed when Jim spewed forth the truth. He wasn't going to freak out on Jim. He worried, of course, especially since there wasn't anyone here that he trusted to keep Jim out of trouble. He didn't have a bodyguard here, so of course Grove worried about his friend. "I'm not freaking out, Jim," he said softly. "I just worry about you. You shouldn't swim alone. That's dangerous."

He turned his attention back to the matter at hand and began to look through one of the books on the table. If they were going to rescue Eli, then they were going to have to come up with a plan.

[Princess]

Recently, Princess's personality had switched to happy-go-lucky to sad. On some of her rare times alone she managed to be happy, before she realized that she was alone, and became sad again. So, while her week so far had been bad, those moments of happiness had kept her falling into despair like it seemed those who actually knew him had. No, Princess didn't know Eli personally, sure, she had seen him the the hallways, maybe talked to him once or twice, but she didn't know him personally. But she wanted to help and so when she heard voices in the library and saw that it was Eli's friends, she approached.

"Hello?" She said hesitantly, entering the same space that they where in was like a huge weight settled on her chest. But she wouldn't leave. Princess was a dog, and a dog's job was to comfort. "I'm not sure if you know me, but, I know you. I'm Princess. And if I could help you find Eli..." She trailed off, unsure. That was probably the most she'd ever said while sad. She took a step or two forward, nervously, hopefully they would let her help. She loved helping, she could comfort too. She was the best at that.

[Azalea]

The arrival of Princess startled Azalea who had been deep in thought regarding the contents of the book in front of her. She knew that she had seen the newcomer before and she seemed to really want to help.

With a smile Azalea motioned to a chair and the book pile that James had created. "The more the merrier" she replied "We could do with the help." she admitted. It was true, they had a lot of work to do and she wasn't sure they were getting anywhere talking about human sized fish at the bottom of the lake. The only one of those she knew was her room mate and she was sitting opposite her, certainly not in the lake. She wouldn't say that though, James had clearly had a fright and she was still concerned about that cough of his.

Getting nowhere, she closed her book and reached for another, hoping for some clues.

[James Florian]

Surprise, surprise nobody bought his lie. He felt awful for trying to hide the truth from his friends, and their glares of disapproval only made him feel worse. “I’m sorry” He said quietly as he looked around at the group hoping that they would understand, that they would see that he lied only because he didn’t want them to focus on why his throat hurt and why his skin was paler than usual. He didn’t want to be selfish enough to take their attention away from what was important here. Finding Eli. However he could now see that lying wasn’t the way to do that. Instead now everybody was looking at him rather than the books in front of them, which was eating away at the precious minutes Eli probably didn’t have. So anxious to move on and focus on what they needed to focus on, James looked down at the textbook in front of him flipping to a random page with the shame and embarrassment that accompanied him being caught in a lie clearly shown on his face. Hopefully the others would get the hint and everyone would move on.

However he did feel that he at least owed Grove an explanation as to why he was at the lake earlier, so he leaned over to his friend and said, “I know, but I just wanted to get away from… from everything for just a few moments. It worked for Eli so I thought it would work for me too. I won’t do it again, I promise. I’ve learned my lesson.” James said with a sincere expression on his face. He had no intention on going anywhere near the lake in the near future and even if he did he would be sure to bring a buddy. One that could safely swim to the bottom of the lake and not be stupid enough to get their ankles wrapped up in the seaweed.

“I know what I saw Isla.” James stubbornly countered when Isla tried to convince him that he was wrong. He remembered it being one large human sized fish. There was no way it was two, not with the way it had moved. It had cut through the water as one creature, two separate fish couldn’t have been synchronized like that for the two-three second gap James saw them. There would have been some sort of inconsistency that James would have noticed. After all when you’re dying you try to take in everything one last time. The image may be blurry and faded around the edges of his memory, but he knew he saw one fish. “As unbelievable as it sounds, it was one fish and it was that big. I’m not mistaken, I know what I saw!” James said in a frustrated tone because Isla wasn’t believing him. No doubt with their stubbornness this would be another fight. Why was it that whenever James came into the library he got into a fight?

Hoping to deescalate the situation, he turned away from Isla and instead focused on Azalea and their newest helper Princess. He smiled at the puppy in human form and welcomed her as well, “Yeah Princess, we can use your help.” He then pointed out and explained each pile so she could jump right into their work of learning every little possible thing that they could in order to get their friend back. For a moment it was silent as everyone read, but the silence was unnerving. Silence left space for thoughts, and thoughts meant thinking of the worst case scenarios and unlike other situations worst case scenarios were the worst thing this group of friends could possibly imagine. So in an effort to break the silence, James suddenly spoke up and said, “So did anyone find anything interesting yet?” Even useless chat about stuff that they would forget in three minutes was better than just the empty silence.