The Turning Tides

CHAPTER Fourteen

SUSPICION



~



Ruby dragged out her visit, staying on the entire week. She skillfully kept Ethan at her beck and call, constantly feigning helplessness about one thing or the other. I was aggravated by his inability to see through her act, but the truth was, he really wanted to believe it.

I was afraid he needed to believe it.

“I’m scared to spend the night here alone,” she whined, keeping him from joining me at the studio. “I can’t take the bus in heels!” she protested, getting Ethan to chauffer her around town. She was practiced at deflecting blame; nothing Ruby ever did was ever Ruby’s fault. She was full of stories of all the terribly unfair things that had happened to her in her life, and Ethan took this as further evidence that she should be forgiven for her past transgressions.

It occurred to me that she’d done Ethan a favor by leaving. As much as her abandonment had hurt him, I couldn’t imagine what years of being around her twisted mindset might have done to him. He was being psychologically toyed with, batted around and used like one of Stumpy’s playthings, and there wasn’t much I could do about it.

Ruby was a master manipulator, and the more I tried to point out what she was up to, the more he made excuses for her. I stopped trying to argue the point, deciding to wait out her visit, hoping Ethan and I would be able to pick up where we left off. I called my dad every night, happy to hear his voice get stronger and stronger as the week progressed. He seemed to be doing just fine without me.

Ethan was constantly after me to visit the apartment, but I declined, choosing to see him only at school. We made the most of our limited time together, snuggling side by side on the bench under the big oak tree. He kept trying to explain away his mother’s behavior, unable to see through her façade. I struggled to hold onto sympathy for Ethan, fighting desperately not to resent him for his weakness.

Patience, I told myself. I owed him at least that much.

The days ground into a whole week, and I began to move more and more of my things from Abby’s into the studio. It was just me and Stumpy, and I spent more than one night painting myself into exhaustion in a desperate bid to stay away from the night waves. Canvases started piling up again, and the obsessive painting was only barely enough to keep me from running out to the sea.

Detached from Ethan, I felt like an anchorless boat; fearful that the smallest current might send me drifting away.

By the time Friday rolled around it was becoming obvious that Ruby would be outstaying her welcome. I pestered Ethan to pin her down about her plans, and she finally claimed to have a bus ticket for Las Vegas that departed Sunday morning.

I’d told him about Megan’s show on Saturday, and he was conflicted. “Tell Megan I’m sorry to miss it,” he sighed. “I should probably be there for Mom’s last night.”

I couldn’t help but be disappointed, but I could see how torn he was. It would be cruel for me to make him choose between us. I was so happy to hear that Ruby was leaving that I agreed to join her and Ethan for a goodbye dinner on Friday night. I called Cruz, telling him I’d miss Evie’s dinner for Megan, but I’d be up first thing the next day.

Ethan met me after class on Friday, insisting on seeing me off on my trip to the lab. When Max arrived, I waved him over with a smile and introduced them. Ethan shook his hand firmly, and I saw his eyes narrow. His face hardened as he stared down a nervous Max, telegraphing a threat without speaking a word.

“Be careful with her,” he said in a low voice.

He pulled me close and kissed me like he was marking his territory, “I’ll see you tonight.”

We walked to the parking lot, where Max led me out to a beat up old Volkswagen Bug.

“Your boyfriend seems like the jealous type,” he said nervously, opening the door for me.

I paused before climbing in, embarrassed, “He’s really a nice guy. He’s just going through some stuff right now.”

I could understand Ethan being unhappy about all the time I was spending with Paul– after all, I was still wary of his ex-girlfriend. But Ethan had actually dated Amber, and Paul was simply a friend and an ally. Ethan’s rude behavior towards Max was another thing entirely. He was completely out of line, and frankly, I was offended. His mother’s insinuations seemed to be making him unwilling to trust anyone at all– especially me.

Ruby’s presence had brought out a dark side of Ethan that I’d only seen hints of before. His insecurity was making him suspicious of everyone, and his suspicions were making him unpleasant to be around. I could only hope that once she left, the black cloud that was hanging over his head would disappear along with her.

“Have you ever been out to the lab before?” Max asked, sneaking nervous glances at me as he drove us up the coast. We passed the turnoff that led to the burned out shell of Edwards’ former mansion, taking the very next exit. The landscape looked familiar, and I realized that it was close to the beach where I’d surfed with Bradley on that terrible day not so long ago.

“No,” I told him, “But I know the area.”

We turned onto a private road lined with “No Trespassing” signs that threatened prosecution, terminating at a parking lot that looked like an armed camp. It was surrounded by a tall chain link fence topped by three strands of barbed wire that angled outwards. There was a guard in a kiosk stationed at the entrance gate, and Max pulled up and stopped, lowering his window.

“I have a two o’clock lab scheduled,” he announced. The guard stooped down to look in the window.

“ID please,” he held out his hand.

Max held out his identification, and the guard checked his name against a list on a clipboard, “Who’s your passenger?”

“This is Marina. Uhm, she’s my…uh, assistant.” he said unconvincingly.

Spoken like someone not accustomed to telling lies, I thought, pulling out my student identification. I leaned across Max to hand the man my card, “Professor Powell has arranged for me to visit the lab.” I smiled broadly and made eye contact.

He smiled back, and then looked down at my card, reading aloud, “Marina Vanderpool?”

“Yes sir,” I nodded.

“You have until four,” he waved us through.

Max parked, turning to look at me, “Any relation to Martin Vanderpool?”

“He’s my father.”

He looked shocked, blurting out, “Didn’t he just get blown up by a land mine?”

“He was injured,” I explained, rushing to get out of the car, “But he’s going to be fine. Now let’s go check out this lab.”

I didn’t want to discuss my father. We only had an hour, and I needed to see as much as possible. I had to know if what Yuri said was true. I hurried towards the large windowless building, looking up to see a pair of cameras on either side of the door aiming down at us. I turned around to see Max standing behind me with a strange look on his face.

“How do we get in?” I asked impatiently.

Max motioned to a keypad and I stepped back, watching as he rapidly typed in six numbers. Too rapidly, as I could only make out the first and last digits. A green light came on, and he opened the door, gesturing for me to go in.

“Why so much security?” I asked.

“I guess they’ve gotten threats from animal rights activists. Some rich guy donated the land and they got a huge grant, but if you ask me, they’re blowing it all on surveillance.” The door closed behind us with a loud click.

I followed him into a short hallway with a couple more heavily fortified doors. It reminded me of a hospital corridor, save for the eerie blue lighting and the abundance of cameras in the ceiling. We passed a door with a sign posted over it that announced, “Danger : Restricted Area : Authorized Personnel Only”.

“What’s in there?” I whispered.

“That’s what we’d all like to know,” he groused.

Max stopped at the second door and punched the same six digit code into the keypad. This time I got the first three numbers.

The room was large, and humming with row upon row of tanks that held all kinds of sea creatures and plants. We passed a couple of students intent on feeding a tank full of anemones, and a girl poring over something through the lens of a microscope.

Max pointed out the pipes that lined the walls, “Since we’re located so close to the shore, we have a system that pumps in fresh seawater constantly. It’s a vast improvement over the old lab… We can keep so many more specimens alive now.”

“Alive,” I repeated, looking around.

He led me to the circular tanks that held his specimens, “See the egg cases here, and look!” he sounded excited, “Paralarvae!”

“Wow!” I said, my eyes darting around the room, “Is the restricted lab as big as this one?”

“Bigger,” he said. “Professor Powell told me they had a tank installed that could hold a good sized Orca.”

“Does he have access to it?”

“I’m not sure.”

He turned his attention back to his aquariums, pointing out the mature squid, “Most people don’t give very much credit to the common squid… But watch this!”

He disappeared behind a tank for a moment and returned with a small net full of squiggling krill that he dropped into the water. The squid inside grew excited, darting around the tank and changing from a bluish color to a dark red. I watched in fascination as they used the two longest of their ten tentacles to snare the little shrimp-like creatures.

I looked up to meet Max’s smiling eyes. “Chromatophores, ” he said.

“What?”

“They have color changing cells. Each cell consists of a pigment sack surrounded by radiating muscles.” Max went on and on about the squid while I took in every detail of the room, trying to imagine its mirror image. “As the muscles contract –”

“Excuse me, but is there a restroom here?”

“It’s out the door at the end of the hall, I’ll show you.”

“No!” I exclaimed, “Your time is much too valuable. Stay here and do your research… I’ll be right back…” I started to walk away, “But Max…”

“Yes?”

He looked up as I turned and came up to whisper in his ear, “Can you give me the number to get back in?”

Once again, I could feel his reluctance. Fortunately for me, he was doing battle with something he was powerless against.

“Please?” I breathed intensely.

“Loligo,” he said.

I raced out into the corridor, hurrying over to the door of the mysterious lab to inspect the the electronic lock with a frown. It had the same sort of keypad as the other, and I stared at the numbers, wondering. The lock buzzed and I started back. Someone was coming out!

When the door opened, I was standing a few yards down the hall, pretending to be digging in my purse. I heard it click shut, and saw a man in a white lab coat step out. I looked up with a friendly smile, straight into the most vacantly evil pair of eyes that I’d ever beheld.

I flinched, and stopped in my tracks, unable to breathe.

Those eyes narrowed, regarding me with clinical detachment.

“Who are you?” he asked. He was balding and gray at the temples, but he didn’t look very old; he was neither tall nor short, not heavy or thin. He was completely average, and under any other circumstance I probably wouldn’t have taken any notice of him at all.

I broke eye contact, looking back into my purse, “Uhm… oh….uh, I’m just a student.”

“I’ve never seen you before,” he said. I looked up to see him studying me intently. There was something incredibly cold and impassive in his gaze; I was reminded of the girl in the lab focusing on her microscope. I took a step back.

“Yes, well… I– I’m new,” I backed up some more, rattled.

He looked thoughtful, and stood staring at me.

I turned back to the door of the student lab and frantically tried to remember the combination, but my head was still spinning. I squeezed my eyes shut, what was it? Loligo! My fingers were shaking as I tried to remember the letters that corresponded to the numbers on the keypad. Five, six, five… three, three, six… A buzzer sounded, and the red light remained on. I could hear his footfall as he walked towards me.

“An alarm will sound after three failed attempts.” He was standing right behind me.

I swallowed, and tried again. Five, six, five… four, four, six. The green light went on, and I heard the latch click. I slipped in, closed it behind me and stood shaking like a leaf on the opposite side. There was something very wrong here, I thought, shuddering as I remembered the look in the man’s eyes. I took a deep breath, composed myself, and went to find Max.

He was bent over a metal table, and he waved me over. I went to his side and looked down at a specimen tray holding a meticulously dissected squid, spread out and sliced into sections. Max started pointing out various anatomical features with a scalpel.

“See here? These are the chromatophores– color changing cells. This is the pigment sack here…”

My head was starting to ache.

“…As the muscles contract, the sac expands, exposing that particular color of chromatophore…”

I reached out to steady myself on the edge of the table.

“I can show you under the microscope…” He looked up with a smile that faded when he saw my face, “Are you okay?”

~

A sound in my head grew louder and louder and my ears started ringing. Only wasn’t a bell, it was a stamping sound. A primal scream of pain and fear reverberated through my skull, “Noooo!” I screamed, “Noooo!”

~

“Marina!”

My eyes fluttered open, and I struggled to focus on Max’s freckled face. As the pounding in my head subsided, my vision cleared. I sat up, dismayed to find myself lying on the floor of the lab. Max helped me up into a chair and stood wringing his hands while I caught my breath. He finally rushed off to get me some water, not knowing what else to do. The two boys that were feeding the anemones stood staring.

“I’m fine,” I told them, waving them off, “I just got dizzy.”

They looked at the squid, and back at me. I could hear them chuckling as they walked away.

I dropped my head into my hands, “My God… Oh my God.” A little part of me held onto the hope that what I’d just heard meant nothing, but I knew better. I needed to know why I was screaming, and why I was scared. I needed to see Ethan, to touch him. I wanted to be with someone who knew me. I wanted to go home.

“Are you going to be alright? Do you need to see a doctor or something?” Max held out a glass of water with a tense face.

I forced a smile, “I’m fine… I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”

“Oh God… your boyfriend’s gonna kill me.” He looked around, “I can take you back to school…”

I shook my head, “Don’t be silly. You still have an hour. I’ll wait here while you finish your lab.”

He looked relieved, and got back to his work, casting worried glances my way every so often. I drank some water, and after a while I got up to look around, trying to shake the terrible feeling of dread. When we were ready to leave, I peeked out into the hall first, holding my breath until we got past the restricted lab and out into his car.

We pulled out of the parking lot, and the creepy scientist was waiting in the kiosk with the security guard. My stomach seized up tight, and I prepared to get out and run, but the guard opened the gate. I turned my head away as we drove past.

“Who was that guy?” I asked, swiveling back to see him watch us drive away.

“That was Doctor Neuman. He’s the director of the facility.”

I was quiet the rest of the drive home. So, that was the man that Edwards had chosen to run his immortality project. I wondered if he knew about me– He certainly seemed suspicious. Every cell in my body told me he was evil.

Max dropped me off at my car in the parking lot, and I reached out and touched his arm.

“Thanks for helping me out. You have no idea what that meant to me.”

He looked puzzled, watching me as I hurried to get in the Rover.

I drove straight to my studio, and staggered in the door to find that a lonely little kitten had scattered brushes and tubes of paint all across the floor. He raced to greet me with a motorboat purr, and I collapsed onto the couch with the cat nuzzling my face.

“Oh Stumpy,” I whimpered, as he rubbed his nose across either side of mine. “What am I going to do?”

I now knew I was going to have to get inside the restricted area. I had to know for certain if Yuri’s claims were true. If so, I would find a way to destroy the lab, or at least ruin any equipment I could. It might not stop Edward’s evil plans, but it would slow him down, send a message, and perhaps even make him think twice before he messed with any other mermaids.

I opened my laptop and did a search for electronic locks. Within a few minutes I found a page with all kinds of keypad operated security devices. I recognized the one from the lab, discovering that it was top of the line, and very formidable. Maybe Paul would have an idea of how to get past it.

I was dizzy, and my head still ached a little, so I pulled a blanket over top of myself, burying my face in sweet soft kitten fur and curling up into a fetal position. I stroked the cat, listening to the throaty hum of his purr, drifting off into an exhausted sleep.

I dreamed of aquariums.





~