There were scales on Chrysolite's side although they weren't much, only Sardius noticed it. He also wondered why scales were growing there, which should have disappeared like the color of her eyes and hair.
"Leave her be!" Michael came over pushing Ashley aside. Sardius stared at him in surprise, Ashley and Jasmine too were shocked at Michael's behavior.
"Can't you hear me? She needs to be resuscitated or she might die?"
"What will you do?" Ashley shot at him.
"I'll try to resuscitate her. I think I can do it, watched it on TV a couple of times. So, pull aside." Michael braced himself.
Sardius knew that he was the only one seeing the scales, for now, it was only a matter of time before they disappeared.
Chrysolite was no human, she was far from human, a strange being perhaps. He knew it, he felt it. Sardius stood at the point where he was blocking the sight of the scales brought on Chrysolite.
"I'll do it, Michael. I'll do it." Sardius told his friend.
"No way. I want to be the one to do it. So give way Sardius." Michael insisted.
"Don't be like this Michael, Sardius can do it. Let him be the one to do it." Jasmine was irritated by Michael's attitude.
"But he didn't even stop her when he came here? He didn't do anything!" Michael was pissed.
"Stop it, Michael! Just stop it! Don't blame anybody, we have to rescue Chrysolite. She needs us now more than ever!" Ashley shouted.
Sardius ignored him, bent slightly against Chrysolite so that his mouth was placed on her mouth giving her mouth-to-mouth respiration. After a while, he noticed that the scales which were on her sides had disappeared completely. Then, she coughed, spluttering as her body vibrated.
"She's alive, she lives!" Jasmine cried out as she touched her chest.
Michael again pushed Sardius aside as he helped Chrysolite into a sitting position. Why she was in her swimming suit, he wanted to know. But, first things first.
"Are you alright?" Michael asked her.
Chrysolite rubbed her eyes, the figures around her looked funny. Then, she recognized her friends and looked down at herself in a druggie state. Sardius studied her, surprised at how her Iris was back to its usual color.
"What is wrong with her Sardius?" Michael wanted to know but Sardius didn't have a reply to that. Chrysolite moved one hand of hers, then the other while her friends watched. She held one side of her head crying out in pain. "My head." She stood up pushing Michael aside but Jasmine and Ashley quickly reached out to hold her as she staggered.
"It's all right. You're fine now." Ashley hugged her.
"What's wrong? Why are you all surrounding me?" Chrysolite asked.
"You don't know?" Jasmine asked back which stunned the rest of her friends, why can't she recall how she wore a swimming vest to get into the pool?
"You know you're allergic to the pool yet we found you here. Why?" Ashley put in.
"I don't recall being allergic." She slightly pushed Ashley aside, going to the restroom to retrieve her school uniform while her friends followed. They were worried about her.
"I need to change, please. You don't need to follow me too." She told them plainly, they nodded as they watched her walk off to the restroom. Michael turned to Sardius the moment she was gone.
"What happened Sardius?" Michael wanted to know.
"She was drowning when I came here," Sardius explained, picking up his wet shirt.
"But don't you find it strange? She doesn't seem to recall how she's allergic to the pool yet she came here. What do you call that?"
"I have no idea."
"When you came here, didn't you notice anything strange?" Michael went further.
Yes, I did. I saw the lights the colour of her hair and eyes.
"I didn't see anything," Sardius replied knowing fully well that he was lying to his best friend.
"Why are you asking all these questions, Michael? It's a good thing Sardius saw her." Ashley said with a tired voice.
"Didn't you all notice how strange she was acting?" Michael turned around asking everyone.
"She's just allergic to the pool, that's all. Don't make something out of this." Sardius said.
"I just wish she could tell us why she came here in the first place," Jasmine told them while the others held their peace.
*******
Chrysolite sat before her mirror watching her reflection. She didn't know what to do. She had thought that if she dived into the pool, she might feel a thing but she couldn't remember feeling a thing. She couldn't even remember anything. Sardius was down the stairs talking to her granny. He was so super cool, he had been the first person he was while her eyes popped open while in the pool. She believed he saw her, she wanted to ask him but she couldn't bring herself to ask him. She had pleaded with him not to say anything to her parents and he had acted so cool about it which baffled her the more. He had understood her perfectly.
Sardius on the other hand felt he should Onyx, her mother. Onyx was talking to his mother who had called in some hours ago. "Sardius, what's wrong?" Beryl asked her son as she noticed his countenance.
"Nothing mum. I just wanted to talk to Chrysolite's mum." He said.
"What about?"
He thought about hiding the secret away from Onyx, yet he knew he had to do this to protect Chrysolite. Sardius explained what had happened in school and Beryl nearly screamed.
"Mum, don't. She'll hear you. I promised not to tell but I just couldn't. She knew something happened to her and she knew that I must have seen her so she asked me not to say a word." Sardius pleaded with his mum.
Onyx looked frightened, she glanced at Beryl and then stood up quickly. Never in her entire life did she think this might occur.
"Onyx, it's happening again, we have to do something," Beryl said.
"What's happening again?" Sardius wanted to know, he didn't understand a word his mother was saying.
Onyx told Beryl not to say anything through the look of her eyes. This must be a secret, no one should know. "Sardius, can you leave us for now?" Onyx asked.
The atmosphere had suddenly changed, the happy moods had transpired to moody moods. They were her ding something from him. He must find out for himself what that was. He nodded, then walked himself out of the room. Then the door was jammed shut, he heard the lock turned. All he had to do was to know what they were hiding from him. He placed his ears to the door to grasp the details of what they were saying.
"You have to tell her Onyx, you have to tell Chrysolite." He heard his mother say.
"I can't tell her. What do I say? Where do I start from? Marcus mustn't hear of this either." Onyx was panicking already, she was pacing around her room.
"What are your plans then? What are you going to do? One day, she'll know herself. Others might get to see her as Sardius did." Beryl went on.
"But she didn't take form." Onyx's hands were visibly shaking.
"Yes, she didn't. She's way too young for this Onyx, what are we going to do about it?"
Beryl asked again, perturbed by the thought.
"I don't know Beryl. She isn't strong enough to control those powers of hers. I can't dare to tell her that she is a mermaid." Onyx explained.
Sardius thought he'd lost his senses. He didn't think he heard right. Mermaid? Wait a minute? Chrysolite was a mermaid? He tried not to laugh at the silly thought. If Chrysolite was a mermaid that meant only one thing, her mother, possibly her granny was also an ermaid. That couldn't be!
"I'll talk to Coral Marble about this. No one must hear of this Beryl not even Daniel." Onyx said to Beryl.
Sardius knew he had to leave at once so he wouldn't be caught eavesdropping on their conversation. No one must catch him in the act. He left to Chrysolite's room who was tying her hair up in a fine bun. "Aren't you going home?" She asked after she noticed that he was still around.
"Now, are you chasing me home?" Sardius tried a lazy smile.
She returned his smile. "No."
He walked in and sat on her bed trying to process what he had heard about Chrysolite. Chrysolite was a mermaid, the image of her still played in his head. And she didn't know why that had happened to her, she couldn't even recall. Does she even know she has strange powers within her? Who would tell her that? He felt scared to his bones. Funny enough, he also wanted to protect her, no one would know of this.