The Turning Tides

CHAPTER Twenty-Four

RING



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I kept Nixie focused on scraping the gouge deeper, wondering how much time we had before Jones returned. The water started to trickle out faster, and the puddle on the floor widened and spread, wetting the entire cement floor of the lab. We’d still only managed to bore a pencil-thin leak, and I could barely fit my fist in the groove we’d made. I realized it would take much longer than we’d have to carve out a hole big enough to crawl through.

I looked up, wondering how long it would take for enough water to drain out so I could breathe air. Even if I managed to transform back, I’d still be trapped naked inside a cold wet tank, and then have to watch poor Nixie undergoing the same painful and terrifying transformation. It was a lose-lose proposition.

Nixie was having a difficult time ignoring the floating corpse of the doctor, so I tried distracting her, teaching her how to play patty cake, and acting out the elephant song I’d learned as a child in Thailand. She looked mystified when I mimed a trunk and great flapping ears. I tried to make it into a squid song, but she started to look at me like I was losing my mind, so I gave it up.

I rubbed my temples, trying to think. The confusion was already starting to set in, and I remembered what Jones had said about the mermaid brain. He was right, I thought, struggling to hold onto my ability to make a plan, to think ahead more than a few steps. Clearly, chess would not be a mermaid strong suit. I remembered the game with my father, and wondered how he would take the news about me running off with Paul. I tried to hold onto my logical mind as I struggled to imagine what my next move should be.

I lost all track of time, and eventually the door to the lab creaked open. Jones had returned, hauling a tool box and a bag from the hardware store. He called out for Doctor Neuman when he noticed the wet floor. He traced the leak to its source, finally looking up to see the doctor’s lifeless body suspended in the tank. He dropped the bag he was holding and stood slack-jawed, frozen in disbelief.

He reached into his breast pocket slowly, lifting his phone to his ear in a daze, “Houston… We have a problem.” He groped for a chair, clearly rattled, “He’s dead… Neuman’s dead… I have no idea– I just got back…” His voice raised, “Jesus! He told me to… You took off too! Listen! You need to get back here right away…”

He put the phone away and slumped in his chair, mopping his forehead with a handkerchief. Within a few minutes Paul came barreling in through the door, grim faced and serious, surveying the scene in the laboratory with dismay. I slipped the ring as far down my finger as it would go, turning the stone towards my palm again.

“Get your sorry ass up and stop this leak!” Paul yelled at Jones and turned to glare at me; I could see him trying to work out what happened to no avail. He pulled out his phone and retreated to the far corner to call Edwards, speaking in a low, even voice as he described the scene. Then he called someone else, and by the change in his tone, I knew he was speaking to a woman. I assumed it was Olivia.

“What have you gotten me into?” he asked, telling her what was going on. I listened in fascination as a whole new side of Paul appeared. He whined and groveled, begging to be relieved of his task. “I have no idea how she did it,” he glanced up at me. “It’s like having a tiger by the tail… Maybe we should just give up on this whole project…” He winced when he heard the tirade that I was sure was coming from the other end of the line. “But I miss you… Don’t you want to see me? But…But–” She hung up on him, and he stood stunned for a moment. I’d never seen him look so upset.

He returned to the tank, watching Jones trying to stem the flow of water with some shop towels and duct tape. Paul lashed out at him, berating him for his stupidity while pacing back and forth, completely agitated.

“You fool,” he barked at Jones. “I warned you not to leave anyone alone with her. You have no idea what you’re dealing with! What are we going to tell Edwards?”

Jones scowled up at him, “I wouldn’t have had to go anywhere if you hadn’t let her tear up the bathroom!”

Paul cleared the space between the two of them in seconds, grabbing Jones by the throat and shaking him. Nixie whimpered and clung to my side.

“Idiot!” Paul growled through gritted teeth, watching as Jones choked and turned purple.

He released him, thrusting him away in disgust. Jones slipped on the wet floor and fell backwards, cracking his head on the cement floor, convulsing for a minute, then lying still. A pool of blood began to slowly form around his head, spreading out on the wet floor like a gruesome halo. His chest stopped moving.

“Damn,” Paul looked down on him remorselessly.

He glanced up to me, and my eyes met those of a cold blooded killer. I wondered how I could have missed it before, because now that I looked back, there were plenty of signs pointing right at him.

I was glad that there was a wall between us.

Paul paced the floor of the laboratory, his fists clenching and unclenching, and I swam Nixie to the far end of the tank to avoid the terrible sight of yet another dead body. Edwards arrived before too long, entering the room and racing straight over to us. His tight face grew even tighter when he saw Neuman floating in the tank. He looked at Paul, and down at Jones on the floor.

He shook his head in disgust, and went over to nudge the lifeless body with his foot, “What happened here?”

“He slipped,” said Paul defiantly.

Edwards took a deep breath, slowly exhaling in frustration. When he spoke his voice was menacing, “You stupid incompetent animal. I leave you in charge, only to come back a few short hours later to find I’ve lost both of my scientists…” he voice grew louder and higher, finally nearly yelling, “Do you have any idea how difficult they’re going to be to replace?”

A vein in Paul’s forehead bulged, and he took a step towards Edwards with a murderous glint in his eye.

“Watch it,” Nathan Edward’s voice was shrill, but he held his ground, “Olivia would certainly not appreciate anything happening to her biggest benefactor.”

I saw Paul check himself, and struggle to regain control. Every time the specter of Olivia was invoked he changed; the mere mention of her name acted on him like some kind of shock collar. Clearly, Paul was her man, lock stock and barrel.

“Now,” Edwards spoke calmly, like he was talking to a defiant child, “I want you to stop this leak right away.” They both turned to focus on the giant aquarium. “We need to increase the pump intake to keep it completely filled. Doctor Neuman had a theory that the longer we keep her in this form, the easier she’ll be to manage.”

Paul grumbled, “Neuman didn’t manage her very well.”

“She has powers beyond your very limited comprehension. Let’s not repeat his mistake. Keep the water level high,” He looked at me and Nixie, huddled together in the far end of the tank. “How on earth did she do it?”

“She must have lured him into getting close enough to drown,” Paul glared through the water at me with palpable hatred.

Edwards cocked his head as he peered in at us. “The creatures are lovely… and even the most intelligent of men can be fools,” he mused, speaking about us like we weren’t even there. Obviously he had no idea how sensitive mermaid ears were. He looked sideways at Paul, adopting the same faux-sympathetic tone he used on me, “Not to worry. She’s already more animal than human. Neuman said that once she loses some brain function she’ll become quite docile.”

I went rigid with fury, and Nixie whimpered again, her small body quivering by my side. I wanted to hold onto that rage, clinging to the only thing standing between me and despair. Something inside of me was growing rocklike and hard, and I embraced it. Angry energy bristled all around me, uncovering a predatory capacity to fight and kill.

I would never let Edwards get the better of me, and I vowed to hold onto my humanity. I fought to think clearly, doing multiplication tables in my head. I clenched the ring hard in my fist; it was the only tangible connection to reality, and if they took it away from me I would surely be lost. Then it occurred to me that I might forget Ethan, and I clutched it even tighter.

I squeezed my eyes shut, summoning an image of his smiling face, remembering how his eyes crinkled up at the corners. I would never be able to kiss that face again, and with the misery of that thought, tears leaked out to mingle with the cold salty water. If all I had left of my love were the memories of it, then they were the most precious things in the world. Losing them was the scariest thing I could possibly imagine.

Paul was fiddling with the pumps while Edwards retreated to the laboratory, rifling through Doctor Neuman’s desk. He took a laptop and some papers into his briefcase, shaking his head ruefully at all the damaged equipment. He pulled out his phone with a sigh.

“Do you want to hear about the little mess I found when I got back to the lab?” he asked sarcastically. I could only assume he was calling Olivia too; she seemed to be the one everyone answered to. He described the scene in the lab, telling her he’d already made arrangements to transport us to another location immediately.

“A cargo plane is fueled up and waiting, and the tank is being prepared as we speak. I’ll wait here until Paul brings the truck around and supervise the loading. Meet me at the lab in Berne in…” He looked down at his diamond encrusted watch as he calculated the time, “About fifteen hours.”

I froze, listening intently. Just knowing the ocean was so close had been more comforting than I realized. He was going to take us out of the country… All hope would be lost in a landlocked Swiss city.

“Oh… and Olivia? You’d better call your boy and calm him down, he’s starting to look like a loose cannon. We can’t afford any more setbacks.”

I nearly gave in and cried, but Nixie took my hand and looked up at me, “Marina, don’t worry. It will be alright. Your person will come for you. ”

I smiled sadly down at her earnest little face, “I’m afraid we’re on our own.”

She shook her head firmly, “No Marina… You have to have faith in what you cannot see.”

I remembered the similar words that Rosa had sent me off with that day at her house. I still didn’t understand exactly what they meant, but before I had a chance to ask, Nathan Edwards voice drew my attention.

“I want you to prepare the tranquilizer darts, and then go retrieve the tanker truck from the harbor lot,” he ordered Paul.

“Why don’t I just call and have it brought around?” Paul asked.

Edwards spoke slowly, acidly, “Because we’re going to move them ourselves. You’ll work the lift, and drive us to the airport. The less people exposed to them, the better. I won’t have any more idiots involved in this project.” He looked as disgusted as he possibly could, “If you want something done right…”

Paul flashed him a dirty look, gesturing to me and Nixie, “Are you sure you want to be alone with them?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Edwards snapped.

Paul stormed off, and Edwards sat down in a chair, inspecting his wet loafers with a scowl. He had just settled in with a magazine when there was a pounding on the door.

“You moron,” he muttered, getting up and sloshing over to fling it open. I saw the look of shock on his face when he saw the three people standing there. “Get out!” he bellowed, “This is private property!”

I looked over to see the face I thought I’d only ever see in my dreams, and the sight took my watery breath away. Ethan was framed in the doorway with a scared looking Max standing next to him. For a split second I questioned my own sanity.

Then he spotted the tank, and he came rushing past Edwards into the lab. Edwards reached out to try and stop him, but was instantly engulfed in a huge pair of arms and immobilized. Yuri was with them. All at once Ethan was there, standing up against the clear wall dividing us. He pressed his hands against the tank, his tortured eyes looking desperately into mine.

“Marina!” he cried.

When our eyes met my heart skipped a beat. He saw me– not an animal, or a thing– not even a mermaid.

He saw me.





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