Untold Truth

#7 Guiltrip (Part 1)

Skylar got to Atlantis just in time. Nonetheless, Carson was already pale. The moment she saw Clay, she was taken aback because she didn’t want to remain in Atlantis. Arion said to her, “It’s alright we are all here for one reason only, which is only to bring Carson back. Clay is just here to help you channel your powers.”

“How do I know that you aren’t lying?”, said Skylar. 

“Because we’re desperate.” came Kai. “We’ve tried everything. I already lost him once, I can’t lose him again. You understand don’t you, Skylar. The two of you have a bond that is closer than his bond with Aaron.”

Convinced, Skylar agreed to use her powers but she wouldn’t stand for any consequences of her using her already impossible to control powers. It was difficult to see Carson’s face which used to look like porcelain that had been cut due to the currents that gave him his scars. The scars reminded her of the villain from ‘The Lion King’, Scar. She looked at Carson’s lifeless body and then to Kai. He was devastated too that his son had to go through all this. She looked over at Tyler who just gave her a nod as a sign that she should just trust that everyone’s best interest was to resurrect Carson. She swam closer to where they had laid Carson’s body. 

“Think of happy thoughts. It would help you control your powers. Focus the power of resurrection to his heart.”, said Clay. She thought of the many times that Carson has been there for her; through the tough times that she had to endure the pain of heartbreak; how he’d been through all those months. She focused on one of those happy thoughts. She opened her eyes to see a ball of light that glowed brighter than the light that lit up the room. She watched as her light dispersed and into Carson’s chest. Everyone looked at him with only hope that it would work. Slowly, his face started to turn back to normal and was no longer dead-like.

All the people present watched anxiously, waiting for Carson to get up. “Why isn’t it working?” Skylar whined. “It’s supposed to work.” She looked down at her hands and asked herself, What have I done? She continued to bury her face in her hands. Though she was in the ocean she could feel the tears roll out her eyes. 

Tyler felt sympathy for her though he was still cold hearted about being nice to her, but how could you just let someone who is crying depressingly be left alone. That was when he finally realized that the truth why he didn’t really care was just because of a little mishap that Skylar had with her powers. He thought to himself as he wrapped his arms around her, She is still the same girl on the inside, the one who was devastated that her mother had passed away. I should just forgive her for the little mishap, she didn’t mean any harm.

Skylar looked up when she felt the warmth from Tyler’s arms. “What do I do now? He’s gone.”, said Skylar before going back to sobbing. “Everyone I care about just leaves me like that. First my mom, and then my dad sends me away. And now Carson. I think my life’s a curse. I’m sorry, Tyler. I can’t stay to watch.” She threw her arms up and then swam away. 

Tyler was about to go after him when something miraculous happened. There was a beam of light that shot out of Carson’s chest. All eyes were on Carson as they had not expected that to occur. The timing was also so precise - the moment Skylar burst out of the room. After the light slowly dimmed off, Carson shot up and coughed, like someone who had almost drowned. His eyes flutterly and the moment he saw the familiar light, he got up and looked around, and all eyes were on him. “What happened? Did I die?” was the first thing he said. 

Tyler let out a laugh before swimming in to hug Carson. Though they weren’t really best friends, Tyler always saw Carson as a big brother figure, standing second to Cody. That was the only proof that Carson required to tell that he was alive. Before swimming in to hug Carson, Kai told his son, “There’s someone waiting for you in the other room. I think you should go and see her first. She thought you were already a goner, Carson.”

“Who?” He could only remember the currents sweeping him, sending him tumbling in circles before he ended up getting a concussion. “Cody was the only one caught in the currents with me. There was no one else.”

“Skylar...” Tyler's voice seemed to trail off. “She came to resurrect you. And right now she can’t transform so she might just get stuck here in Atlantis for the rest of her life because we’ve tried to put her in salt water which apparently wasn’t enough to sustain her.”, said Tyler with his head down.

“Actually I think I might have a solution to your problem.”, said Clay spontaneously while taking Tyler away from Carson’s side. “Remember when we were searching up in the forbidden section of the royal library? I think I might have found a way to bring her back to the human world. It might be a little risky though. It is not a demon spell but I think it should do the trick.” They swam off to the lair.

“Wait, Skylar’s in Atlantis?” Carson started regaining his strength upon hearing her name. Nonetheless, he was still too weak to swim on his own. “I need to see her.”, he faced Arion. 

“You need to rest.”, a familiar voice came from the corner of the room that made Carson’s heart start to race “She can wait.” It was his sister. 

“No, she’s already worried that I am dead. I can’t just let her continue to worry. She already lost so much, I can’t just let her continue to feel troubled and thinking that it’s her fault when it isn’t.”

“Alright, big brother. Arion and Zayn will take you to her. She’s in my room.” She realized that Carson’s love for Skylar was much bigger than how much he cared about his own well-being. As she watched her brother attempt to get up with Arion and Zayn supporting him from both sides. 

The moment that they were out of the room, Aria let out a sigh because she knew something that Carson didn’t. She knew that if she told Carson he would be even more devastated that the girl he loved was not all rainbows and sunshine, and may be the death of him. 

Elyssa sat on the couch in Cody’s room after handing him the heart rate monitor. She couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be in his shoes - Having to be the oldest and always having to be the example for his siblings. How could she know? - She was always the one who rebelled against everything that demons stood for. She wasn’t close with her sisters either because she was always the black sheep. The only sister she had probably been slightly close with was already in a sleep like death because of her boyfriend’s mother. Reflecting about all this, she realized that the only thing that was keeping her from truly understanding humanity was that she didn’t really have much space for love in her life until Alec had confessed his love to her. Despite all that, she mostly still saw Alec as a partner rather than a boyfriend. 

That was when she was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Cody was still preoccupied with connecting the wires so he told Elyssa to go and check who it was. To her surprise, it was Alec, Speak of the devil. She thought to herself. “Alec, what are you doing here? I thought that you have gang business to deal with.”

“I decided to try to surprise you by picking you up from school but apparently, you weren’t there. What happened? Alison was rather worried when you left the class by telling your teacher - Mr. Marcus - that your aunt was sick?”

“Whoops. Did I forget to text you about it? Oh my bad. Well, I received a call from Skylar saying that Cody and Carson had been gone for quite a long time so I needed to get Tyler to Atlantis to make sure that they were okay. But then the moment we got back, we had a little issue.” They finally got to Cody’s room where Alec saw Sapphire’s unconscious body, pale and frail, laying on the bed. 

Beside her, stood Cody with his arms folded. “Can I help you, Garcia?”

“Don’t mind me, I am just here to make sure that Elyssa is okay. But what happened to her?” His eyes were on Sapphire. 

“Lead poisoning. Not that you would care that much. But we have a hunch on who would dare to poison her.” He realized that Alec was kind of worried because her body was here and not in the hospital. “Don’t worry, I’ve already drained her blood clean of lead.”

“I think you should report this to the police. It looks serious though.” 

“There’s an issue with that, because I had not called the hospital right away, and my fingerprints are already all over her body from drinking her blood, I would be blamed for this. And because the police are hard to get by, there’s only one person we could possibly call for a favour but it’s a hassle to have to call them.”

“But didn’t you promise Skylar to call the hospital?”, said Elyssa. 

“You really have a problem with me not calling the hospital, don’t you?” Cody grumbled before picking up his phone to call in a favour at the hospital through a speed dial. “Hey Diaz, I need a favour. Remember my ex? Well she’s in an uptight situation right now. So it would be great if you send in an ambulance A.S.A.P. I’ve already extracted lead from her system. But right now, she needs a safe place to stay.” 

“We’ve got a full house of patients at the moment. So since your mansion is closer to hers, I think you should be able to keep her safe.”, said Diaz on the other line.

“On second thought, I think I’ll just call in this as an attempted murder. Do me a favour to send this in to the police will you?”

“Got it boss. Do you happen to have the name of the person who attempted to murder Sapphire?”

“Not at the moment but we have an obvious suspect who has every reason to want to kill her. Kylie Jones. She’s always wanted her dead but don’t put it into the form first.” Cody continued to put down the phone.

“Was that even a qualified paramedic?”, said Elyssa with her arms on her hip.

“He’s got a Phd and a job in the hospital for a reason. Plus he’s the one who’s been supplying us with blood since Skylar and Tyler turned so yeah, sure he’s qualified.” Cody sashayed out of his room to get himself a drink. 

Elyssa threw her arms up as she sat on the couch facing the bed. It was odd that Cody allowed his ex to sleep in his bed but what was weirder was how chill he was about letting Sapphire stay. She wondered whether he might be still under Angelica’s control.

Elyssa walked up to Sapphire whose heart could already be sensed by the heart rate monitor. The beeping sound of the heart rate monitor reminded her of Gracie’s current state. Alec came up from behind her and took her hand, “I know this is traumatizing to you but it’s life.”

“It’s not that only. I have a feeling that Cody is still under some kind of spell and eventually, there would be someone who would sabotage everything here. I have a feeling that the killer would try to come back to end Sapphire officially.”

“But I thought Cody had already put her on the suspect list.”

“Yes, but there are always loopholes that might guarantee her innocence. She can just so easily deceive people just as we can because she is part demon too. She’s actually a distant cousin of Cody’s which is the only family link that they shared. So what we really need right now is to find the evidence that Kylie attempted to kill Sapphire so that we can get it to the authorities.”

“Look, I get it that you are stressed with everything that is going on but you have to know that you aren’t alone, you can’t just keep piling up work just because you are scared of what the truth may hold.” He continued to take her hand. “Come on, I think that’s enough pressure for one day, you look like you could use some air. Let’s wait till Skylar gets back. Two heads are better than one anyways.”

Elyssa just smiled because Alec always knew how to calm her especially in times that are tough like this. As they walked out of the room, they heard Cody talking to someone with feminine voice over the hologram call. They tried to catch a glimpse of who it was but apparently they couldn’t as Cody’s sixth sense was quick. All they heard was something about a plan that Cody was discussing with the demon, before Cody switched off the device.