The Other Side of Darkness

Stopped By The Eels

Episode 3: Chapter 17~18

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The small group made their way to the mirror chamber where the Dark Mirror lay waiting for them. They managed to run into Ace and Deuce along the way. They were in the middle of getting lectured (again) by Riddle, so they were ecstatic when Lev and Jack asked them to follow them.

Before they jumped into the mirror, they all took a swig from the potion Azul gave them. After they all winced and gagged at the taste, they ran though the mirror and into the bottom of the ocean.

The first thing Lev noticed when she passed through the mirror was salty smell, and the cold. The coolness around her prickled her skin and made her feel tingly everywhere, her legs especially. They almost hurt from the sensation. When she opened her eyes and looked down, she found it was for a good reason. She screamed.

"What is it?" Jack exclaimed. They all turned to look at her, eyes wide.

"Woah, Lev!" Grim grinned. "You've got a tail!" Sure enough, the blue tail from her dream was back, and a light blue tang top covered her top half. However, she was the only one who had it. All of her friends still looked completely normal.

"W-wha?! How?!" Lev shouted, falling gently to the seabed. "How come you all don't have one? Was it the potion?" 

"Maybe," Ace shrugged. "It might affect you differently because you don't have magic."

"Does it hurt?" Deuce asked, bending down to help her 'stand' up.

Lev swished her tail a couple times. "No, but it's weird."

"Just keep holding on to me, okay?" Deuce said, smiling a warm smile and looping her arm through his. "Let go when you feel more confident." 

Lev's cheeks reddened a bit and she nodded. "Okay." 

The group slowly started making their way through the seabed, ogling at the splendid coral structures and cute little fish that swam by. Lev slowly started to get the hang of her tail and was soon able to get a good distance ahead of the group to check out the terrain. 

Because the others were still in land-creature forms, it was hard to them to move super quickly through the water. Lev, however, could easily cut through the water in her new body. It wasn't long before she spotted a large building which she guessed was the museum. Several merpeople swam in and out of the museum while others stood guard at the entrances. 

Hmm, getting the photo might be more difficult than I thought.

She waited for her friends to catch up. "Look!" she called when they finally came. "I think that's the museum!"

Ace began to look super tired and uncomfortable. "Finally. Why couldn't we all have been turned into mermaids? I'm pooped." 

"Same," Deuce and Grim agreed.

"Stop whining. Let's make a game plan," Jack suggested. However, before he he could say anything else, a dark shadow passed over the group. Lev immediately felt a twist in her gut.

That...doesn't seem good.

"Aah~! Look! They're here," a voice chirped. "Little Shrimp and crew." 

"Greeting, everyone. How do you like it? The world at the bottom of the sea." Two eel-like merpeople suddenly appeared in front of them. 

"The Leech twins!" Jack gasped.

"Hello, hello!" Floyd said happily. "Like the look, Shrimpy. We should take field trips to the Coral Sea more often~."

The eel and his brother both had long (like, really long) blue-green bodies and fins. Their hands and fingers had become dark and webbed and two fins protruded from the sides of their head. The only thing that had really remained the same was their different-colored eyes and their matching hair.