Amber rubbed her eyes, and stood up drowsily. Why was she so tired? She leant down and hugged John. “It’s time to go… Bye…” She slurred sleepily.

John’s eyes widened. “Oh no! Stop!” He snapped his fingers. “Awake!” He snapped them again, then rubbed his temples. “What was it…” he murmured. Amber tilted her head languidly, staring at him. “Aha!” He shouted excitedly. “I’ve got it!”

“What?” Asked Amber, still tilting her head.

John hadn’t heard her. “Ergonify!”

Suddenly, Amber perked up. She felt like she had drunk three gallons of coffee, and it was absolutely overwhelming. She had no choice, but to direct it to an endless stream of questions. “What am I doing here? What did you say to make me energetic? Why was I so sleepy before? Were you having trouble remembering the word?” The words flowed out of her mouth in one great tidal wave of speech, and she sounded like a child who had eaten too much chocolate, and just overloaded on sweets. 

“Woah, woah woah, Amber!” John raised his voice and quietened her, smiling cheerfully, though the warmth was absent from his eyes. “I think you were over excited! What was the other word again? Oh yeah,” John’s voice took on a sweet tone, lulling the recent memories out of her mind. “Amnesio!” 

Amber blinked. What had they been doing? She had gone from lying on his chest drowsily to standing, full of energy. But her mind explained it away. He had probably guided her sleeping self to stand up so they could be off to their lessons. He was so caring!

“See you John!” She said cheerily and skipped down the path back to campus. She checked her timetable, and she had marine biology next. She loved marine biology! But something steered her away, and made her remember how much she was supposed to hate water as a fireos, but she had never believed it until now. Her mind pulled her more firmly into the resolution, and she made up her mind. She would absolutely hate everything related to water from now on!

She walked down the path, no longer cheerfully, but with only the goal of making her marine biology teacher’s life miserable. 

“Amber?” Someone shook her desk. “Amber! What are you doing?”

Amber looked up blearily into the teacher’s eyes. Why was she sleeping in class anyway? Until suddenly the same strange force in her head cleared her unnecessary thoughts aside and remembered her mission: to absolutely torture and destroy her Marine Biology mentor. 

The teacher cleared her throat, and continued on, “So, today we are learning the concise anatomy of a seal, based on this newly imported freshwater seal we got for our lake! It even came with our shipment of oysters for our next lesson in the following week!” The teacher’s eyes were wide with excitement, and she looked like a child who had gotten the gift she wanted for Christmas. 

Amber yawned pointedly, then half-murmured, half-yelled, “Boring!”

The teacher looked hurt, and Amber hadn’t the faintest inkling why the teacher was so upset, and why, she herself, Amber, was sad she couldn’t help with the seal. 

“Amber?” The teacher asked soothingly. “Deary? Why are you rebelling now? Surely you still love marine biology, right?”

Amber nodded, and shook her head at the same time, almost as though two people were trying to control her at once. She opened her mouth, was about to say “No.” but also “Yes!” At the same time, and as a result, she shook her head, nodded it at the same time, then said, “Nyos!” Like some strangely indecisive person. 

Amber waved the teacher away, and started furiously brainstorming methods to prank the teacher. She had to have some idea, right? She looked from left, to right, then she spotted it. An oyster! A dead one, sure, but it was still slimy from being shipped on that day. It was a few desks over, so she slowly inched her table closer, closer, until her fingers were brushing the table the oyster was perched on. She walked her fingers along the smooth mahogany surface, touched the shell lightly, then, quick as a flash, hurled it across the lecture hall, right into the teacher’s bag. Somehow, they never saw it. It was part of the strange powers coming with being a fireos, so that it was concealed from view when whizzing across the room faster than a fireball.

The teacher walked over to her bag, pulled out her laptop with the oyster sitting on top of it. “Oh!” She chuckled. “Must’ve left it inside whilst bringing the shipment in!”

A haze of anger flashed across her mind. Why wasn’t the teacher reacting? She wanted to be kicked out, wanted to leave this stupid, boring lesson. And yet… And yet something stopped her. A voice whispered in the back of her mind that was so familiar, yet so alien. “Stop! Why are you doing this? Surely you know! Surely you remember!” 

She shook the hold it had on her off of her. Why was she acting like she knew it? Why was she recognising and trying to welcome a strange, foreign voice into her mind? 

She turned her focus instead onto thinking of some outlandishly cruel way to hurt the teacher. She wanted the teacher to feel the pain, to feel helpless, to feel how Amber always felt by water. Water. The word brought in a tidal wave of memories that reminded her of the way she loved the sea, the peaceful, calming marine life. 

“No! Not now!” The words shook her entire body. It was almost as though some creature crept into her mind, and was pulling her around like a puppet, but it kept its hold, and she was lulled back into anger at water, the world, and most of all, her marine biology teacher.

She glowered at the woman, barely bridling her ever-growing rage. Until she realised what she was saying. The teacher was going on about how she loved seals more than anything, even herself. That was when Amber realised the perfect way to get her revenge, to hear anguished, shocked cries uttered by the teacher as she saw her seal bruised and injured. 

She immediately volunteered to set the seal up for viewing, and rushed outside to the enclosure around the river. Yet… some part of her didn’t want to… She didn’t… She didn’t want to hurt the poor marine animal! No! She had to. She just couldn’t not take this opportunity! She couldn’t not torment a marine creature. But yet… But yet… part of her didn’t want to! Part of her would give anything, no, everything to keep studying marine life. It was so ironic, that some part of her eternal flame-loving self actually wanted to… to… not harm it! No! She would still do it! No matter what her silly mind wanted her to do! It was almost as though the arguing part of her faded, hid itself away in the alcoves of her mind. 

Carefully, she grabbed a box labelled “Seal muzzles”. She thought they probably just wanted to restrain the seal when transporting it, which was why they included it. She carefully picked out a wad of waterproof cloth, which she double-checked to ensure they didn’t allow air or water through. She stuffed it inside the muzzle, and was halfway through fastening the strap when she stiffened. She jerked backward, seemingly not moving of her own accord, and took the muzzle with her. She lunged forward, directly at the seal, when suddenly she slammed into the ground and flipped herself around. It was almost as though she was fighting with some unknown entity for her control over her body. Why? She made one final, desperate lunge for the seal, and got the muzzle on. She smiled, as her brain tried to lull her into a sleep, when she heard her name.

A voice was saying, “Amber Phoenix Blaze! Please report to the reception office now!” She looked up, and realised it was coming from the public address system, which was hooked up to the intercom. She scrambled upright, and dashed to the office, which was a small separate building in the middle of the campus.

She walked in, smoothed out her hair, and stopped dead still. A man in his late teens was staring at her, tears streaming down his face. “So it’s true… You really have changed.” He made his way towards her, and tried to hug her, when she shoved him away. 

“Ugh, who are you?” She distanced herself further and edged away disgustedly.

“Me? You… you seriously don’t remember me? Your high school sweetheart? Your boyfriend? Your future fiancé? Dare I say… Your soulmate?” He looked up at her with big puppy eyes, looking lost, yet still… disgusting.

Amber’s face quivered. She thought hard, and remembered faint inklings of a memory… wait… nope! Nothing at all! This… this… disgusting man must’ve been hired by Felicity as some cruel prank to break her and John apart! Not that anything, anything at all could stop them from loving each other. 

“Umm, you can stop the act now! I am already in a solid relationship with John! I couldn’t want anything else, anything at all! Give Felicity a message from me, ‘Too bad! Your act didn’t work! I love John and he loves me!’” The man didn’t move, begging on his knees, but Amber didn’t understand why he hadn’t moved. “Ugh! Get away from me, you… you… freak! Didn’t you already get the message? Or are you that dense?”

At those words, Amber strolled out with her head held high. Somehow, a part of her felt… sad and remorseful that she had gotten rid of him like that. Oh well, it didn’t matter anyway, she wanted to keep moving on! She had an appointment to meet John! Though it was less of an appointment and more of a date. Her heart swelled, and she skipped off to look for him, and as she bounced away, she heard muffled bawling from inside the reception office she had left behind.

The closer she got to the male silhouette on the lakeside, the faster her heart beat, filling her with warmth and happiness. She had no clue how she didn’t break into a sprint and tackle him with a hug right there and then.

“John!” She cried out, starting to jog towards him.

He looked around, spotted her, and swept her up in his arms. He sniffed her hair, and murmured softly, “Hi.”

She began chattering at once, excited to finally see him after the day. “I had the strangest day today! During Marine Biology — By the way, how did I even choose that disgusting subject, eww! — When I was trying to prank the teacher, I was trying my hardest, but she literally did not freak out, whatever I did! Then somehow, I got this really good idea in my head, don’t ask me how, I have no clue, and I filled up with so much rage somehow! And I just attacked a seal! It was so absurd! But anyway, I went over, and you know what I did? But you know, such a strange thing happened! When I was trying to attack the seal, lunging forward, then somehow, I got pushed back, like my body was controlled by something else too! Isn’t that just so strange?” She pulled out of his embrace, and led him to a seat, and continued chattering like a chimpanzee. Eww. Why was that the first thing she thought of? Why not something else, like a phoenix? The family of them they had at her fireos family’s compound were pretty chatty. “And then, I got sent to the receptionist’s office, and met this totally insane man called ‘Ezra’. He kept saying we were ‘soulmates’” She made a face, “And ‘high-school sweethearts’. Ugh. I originally thought he was sent by Felicity, you know, because she’s in love with you and wants to take you, my darling, away from me, but no! He was like, totally deranged, and screaming, and bawling, like an absolute madman, still screaming we loved each other! Talk about being desperate! I mean, I’m pretty sure I never dated him because I’m pretty sure I would never date such an ugly person!”

Amber finally finished her rant, and John put a comforting arm around her. “It’s ok, my sweet, I promise, I would never, ever consider leaving you…” His eyes flashed, turning both red, and sending a shiver down her spine. “And I would never, ever let you leave me…”

Amber cooed, and pecked his cheek, suggesting they take a stroll along the side of the fence, chatting the night away. When they had made almost a full round of the school perimeter, that chilly winter night, snow began to fall, making Amber giggle happily, and spark a small flame to keep them both warm under their thick coats. The clock struck at nine-o-clock, and Amber suddenly realised it was curfew. She put out her flame, and bid John farewell as he headed to the boy’s building. “Sorry!” She called after him. “Meet up at eleven?” He nodded his agreement.

Amber skipped to the meeting point, barely containing her excitement at having another late night date with John. “John!” She called out excitedly, and ran towards him.

“Hi there!” He said. They began strolling around the school perimeter again, getting to know each other even better, and Amber could barely believe she was actually dating John!

They stopped by the pet enclosure, sitting down at a bench, and John took a deep breath. Amber began to fret. What if he wanted to let her go? He said he wouldn’t, but… How could she actually know? Maybe he reconsidered after what happened at the receptionist office or something…

John parted his lips, and said, “Amber… I… If you’re not ready we don’t have to… but…” Amber cocked her head. This didn’t sound like he was trying to break up with her… “Do you want to… to… stay over with me, at my kingdom, for the Winter Break? It would… be extremely splendid, if it was just me, my mother and father, as well as you. If you want, we could visit your parents in the spring?”

Amber tugged at the necklace John had given her. She had a… a itching sensation around her neck, mixed with a boatload of indecisiveness. Somehow, something in her mind was telling her to take off the necklace, but she didn’t want t— Take off the necklace!  That was really weird, but she still didn’t wa— Take it off! Take it off! She blinked. “John, of course I would want to go with—“ Then a sudden jerking motion tugged the necklace off her neck, breaking the chain, and it was almost as though… Almost as though she could think straight again! She remembered everything! She stepped away from John angrily, and yelled, “No! I don’t want to go with you!”

John stumbled back, his handsome features contorting into shock. “You… what? Why did I even like you from the start, you… you… rude woma— no! You don’t even deserve to be called a woman! You are a rude girl, not even a rude woman!” His features twisted into a stone-cold mask of anger. “Get away from me! If you do’t want me, just go!”

Amber fled the scene, tears pooling in her eyes. While she might not want to go away to a foreign country with John, it didn’t mean she wasn’t crushing on him, hard. She sat by the bench of the pet enclosures, and just watched the animals snuffling or woofing softly or squealing. It calmed her down, but it made her truly remember that she did, actually, love marine biology. It steeled her heart, knowing John tried to make her harm the seal, but still… but still… She still actually liked him. It was just there, no point to it, like the remnant of the spell, or the fragments rebuilding themselves. 

She remembered how rude she had been to poor, poor Dawn, and she felt the need to apologise for everything she had done. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and sent a message to Dawn.

Suddenly, she heard a loud bang. She stood up, wheeled around, and yelled, “Who’s there?” 

Everything turned black, a heavy, cloaking fabric surrounding her. She tried to scream, but the last thing she saw as her vision grew hazy, and she lost consciousness, was a black wasteland.