It Takes Strength

Just a quick note before the story starts :) All of my stories are in a program on WP that generates ads between some chapters in the phone app. If you would take a moment to glance at them, I would greatly, greatly appreciate it. These chapters take 3-5 hours of my time, so please lend me a few seconds of yours as you enjoy the series :) 

Trying something a little different, let’s see how this goes :D

Fri-

“Please, Hice. I don’t want to stay here again.” I begged as I was set down helplessly on the small beach we often frequented before being caught. It had a lot of garbage mixed within its beautiful sand because I had been gone so long and no one else would clean it.

Hice used to help me, but now…

He stalked toward the water as I sat still, needing to wait for my tail to start reforming into legs. I still wasn’t feeling that well, but each day I spent being free, I got a little better. Hice had fished for me, beginning almost immediately after we had left the human’s small pool of water. I greatly appreciated having my belly full, when I could stomach food, but after he finished retrieving a meal for me, he would always disappear for a span of time.

It didn’t bother me, at first, but as the sun rose, then set, then rose again, and Hice’s trips became longer and longer, I began asking to be allowed to join him, but he never agreed and would always tell me that I was safer not following him. Also, he started making me stay away from the water unless I needed to wet my skin or drink, as he didn’t think I could swim well enough if I got caught in the high tide.

“You will be safer here.” He said, restating what he always told me.

But what does safety matter if I am practically caged on this island?

I knew that he likely didn’t understand why I wanted to follow him, even if it meant harm to me. I had yet to meet a mer who could understand my way of thinking. Granted, there aren’t many of us left in general.

Yet the few I have met always tell me that I think too much like a human. That I know too much useless information.

Sighing, I lay back down in the sand and stretched my aching legs as they finally appeared from amongst my tail. Curling up on the warm surface, my eyes followed Hice’s form as he walked into the waves. I thought he would leave again without another word, but he stopped when he was knee-deep in the water and turned to look at me over his shoulder.

I couldn’t help my response. I perked up, pushing my upper half up off the sand as a faint inkling of hope welled in my belly. Would he allow me to come with him today? Would he decide not to leave and possibly stay a short time with me?

My hope was dashed like the waves upon the small rocky portion of the island as he turned back around and dove into the water. Not a few moments later, I saw his fin appear above the surf, then slowly descend beneath the waves.

I sank back down into the sand, defeated. This is not where I want to spend my time. Frustration crept into my mind at my body’s inability to heal faster. Wait. That man. The doctor.

I knew what a doctor was in general for humans, but my knowledge on them wasn’t much. But he helps people. He helped me. The thought that he could possibly speed up the healing process or figure out why I wasn’t doing well anymore, brought me back to a sitting position.

“Alright. Gotta get up now.” I told myself, knowing that actually doing so was going to be a lot harder than saying it.

Pushing off of the warm sand once I was on my hands and knees had me stumbling forward. A strong pain shot through my weak legs, dropping my weight before I even managed to get halfway up.

I’m not going to let this stop me. I want to be strong enough to go with Hice.

Clenching my fists in the hot sand, I blew out a breath of frustration and carefully got myself back up onto my hands and knees, then began crawling toward the waves. I knew that Hice didn’t want me to leave the island and that I likely wasn’t strong enough yet, but sitting around waiting for things to happen wasn’t going to work this time.

I need more help.

Determined, I made the grueling trip to the water. The sun was already high in the sky by the time I felt the ocean’s sweet relief on my tired body. My tail and dorsal fin painfully reformed as I allowed the cool saltwater to wash over me.

He’s going to be really mad… but I just can’t stay here.

I would come back to him as soon as I could, of course, but I didn’t doubt that Hice would find me long before then. He always came back. Always kept me safe. I want to be able to keep him safe too, though.

Narrowing my eyes on the water, I slowly began to roll myself into the surf. I could have forced my tail not to form just yet, but I didn’t want to waste the energy it would have taken to do so. As soon as I got deep enough beneath the waves, I gave a few strong side-to-side strokes with my tail and darted off into the depths of the ocean.

Callem-

Wading into the shallows, my eyes saw several things happening at once. Little fish darted around my legs, nibbling randomly out of curiosity. A small sting ray moved along the bottom, hunting atop the sand in the relatively calm waters. My eyes rose slightly and a smile spread across my lips as they found him .

“What are you looking at, Cal?” Parker said with a hint of sarcasm to his voice.

It had taken me quite a while to understand how sarcasm worked, especially when different people used it. The words always sounded the same. Slightly extended with a bored tone to them. When my brother uses it, he’s usually mad at Jason for not having sex with him… or he’s going to try and kill you. When Parker uses it, he wants positive attention. I didn’t use it, because I wanted what I said to be understood. Both the words, and their inflection.

“Callllem.” He drawled, making my smile grow on my lips as I made my way toward him where he lay on the large main fishing pier, looking down at me.

The water wasn’t deep where I was, and I could have gone around, but I decided to just climb the worn wood until I was sitting beside him with my legs kicked over the edge. As soon as I was settled, Parker dropped his head into my lap and settled one hand on my leg as his eyes closed and he sighed.

“Not going well?” I asked, already knowing that the phone call likely hadn’t.

Parker shook his head slightly and I gently pressed my hand against his soft hair.

“No. Oliver is trying his best, but the judge refused the retrial request, again.”

I wasn’t surprised, but I didn’t know too much about the human’s justice system to be able to input more than an, “I’m sorry.”

Parker pushed himself up, only to lean against my shoulder and settle his head there. “It’s alright. At least they’re keeping their word and not harassing him to be studied or anything. He’s doing a few things this month, but besides that, he’s just being kept locked up.”

I knew Parker was upset that they had decided not to keep Ocar at his facility, but considering Parker’s history with us, it made sense that the humans would be wary of him possibly letting Ocar go.

“It just hurts to see one of my only good friends exhausting himself so badly. I mean, I would do it in a heartbeat for you, but it still doesn’t make me happy to see him so tired and stressed all the time.”

Nodding, I wrapped him in a quick hug and pressed a kiss to his hair.

“I understand, Parker. I would never let someone take you away from me, either. We must stand by Oliver during his hardship, and hope that things can turn out differently soon.”

Parker straightened and nodded, sniffling once. Always wearing your emotions. He rubbed at his eyes for a moment, then grinned over at me. “You’re right. Oliver knows what he’s doing, and we just need to stand by him when he needs us.”

I returned his smile, then chuckled. “And when he doesn’t want us.”

Laughing, Parker got himself up and began walking toward the deeper section of the pier. I hurried to follow and took his hand in mine when I caught up.

“He certainly does get annoyed when we randomly come over with dinner or a movie to try and distract him from worrying so much.” Parker said.

“Yes, but he always seems to relax a little when we do. After he throws a fit.” I add.

Parker smirked sideways at me, a mischievous look in his eyes that I knew all too well now. When he stopped abruptly and began to turn toward me, I stepped back, then around him just fast enough to dodge his shove.

“Going to send me into the water, Parker?” I asked with a chuckle as I grabbed him a second before he stumbled right off the dock, then tugged him back and into my arms. “You are trouble, little human.”

The sly look he gave me when he looked up to meet my eyes was definitely trouble, but before I could react, my attention was taken by a slight splash a few hundred yards out. When I didn’t respond and instead stared off into the distance, Parker turned in my arms, no doubt to follow my gaze.

“What is that…?” He wondered aloud as I began hurrying toward the far end of the pier.

At first, I thought it could be a wounded shark, but as I got closer, I recognized the dorsal fin. I’d only seen it a few times, but I had quite a good memory. “It’s Fri.” I said before lunging off the edge of the pier and diving into the cold water.

Indifferent

Fri-

Numbness swirled throughout my body like the waves upon a calm sea. Back and forth the feelings traveled along my skin, invisible urchin spikes poking at my fingertips. I tried to flex them to get rid of the feeling, but found that I was unable to move my hands at all. 

Well, this can’t be a good thing. 

Searching through my thoughts, I remembered heading back toward where the human doctor was from. The beach to the east, yet I don’t remember actually getting there. 

It got really dark one night and the seas got rough suddenly. Then I was pulled under, and after that it’s all a blur. 

I was beginning to realize that I’d gotten caught in a terrible storm when something hard suddenly slammed into the side of my face, making me hiss loudly in response. The numb ache in my body began to dissipate almost immediately, but the tingling in my fingers got worse before it began to drift away, too.  

“Dammit Mellac, that’s not how you’re supposed to wake someone up who has a concussion!” Someone shouted far too loudly to my left. 

There was a grunt and the sound of someone moving, then replying. “What’s another if it wakes him up?” 

With my head aching terribly, I did my best to force my eyes open. It was dim where I was, but I knew right away that it wasn’t a cave or even outside. There was no water, either, which was unnerving. 

“Fri? It’s Oliver. I helped you out before when you weren’t feeling well. Can you hear me?”  

I wanted to let him know that I could, for the most part, but I couldn’t quite get my mouth to move. My lips parted a small amount, but there was no way I’d be able to speak with such a slight action. 

“His breathing is beginning to even out.” The man mumbled before I felt something cold touch my chest. “Heartbeat is getting better, too, but he’s still too pale.” 

Another pressure touched my wrist, then I felt an abrupt pain like the sting of an urchin. “Sorry, Fri. I saw you flinch a little, but I need to get some fluids into you.”

He messed with my wrist for another moment before setting it back down on the soft surface I was lying on. “That should help, hopefully. If he doesn’t come around soon, we might have to take him to the lab for some real tests. He should have recovered with the stuff I gave him before, but he clearly hasn’t much.” 

A shirt time later I felt a soft touch against my face that urged me to press my cheek against the hand. It took a lot of effort and focus, but I did manage after a moment. 

“Ah, there we are. You should be feeling at least a little bit better as the fluids spread through your system. You scared us.” 

Mellac’s voice echoed in the background. “I honestly don’t care about him.” 

A chorus of “We know” sounded right after his words, but I didn’t mind. The other mer had no reason to care about me. I felt a soft warmth settle over me a moment later, then the faint touch of someone’s hand in my hair. 

“Get some more rest. I’ll be here in case you need me.” Oliver said as he removed his hand. 

I could hear him messing with one of those human computers as I dozed in and out of consciousness for what seemed like quite a while before my eyes finally allowed me to open them. 

“Ah, there you are.” Oliver said. 

I could see him moving, possibly setting aside his computer or whatever was on his lap, but my vision was still blurry with sleep. When he reached for my face, I let out a quiet warning growl. I did trust him, but I couldn’t see that great yet and I wasn’t feeling well, either. 

“Right, sorry. How are you feeling now?” 

I carefully rolled over onto my belly to try and get myself up, when I felt something tug on my left wrist. On instinct, I snapped my jaws over it, only to recoil when my teeth nicked my skin. 

“Whoa, hey. Don’t bite that. I can take it out now that you’re awake. It was just to get some water into your body. You didn’t have enough after floating around in the ocean.” 

Floating around in the ocean?

“What?” I said, my voice rough from my dry throat. 

“Callem found you by the main dock. You were barely conscious and couldn’t move much. We brought you back here and I’ve been keeping a close eye on you. The others are here, but I didn’t want them in the room when you woke up. I told them to wait in the living room because if your vitals were any worse, we would have needed to take you to the facility for some better help, but I didn’t want to stress you out.”

The thought of being in another of the human’s dark buildings wasn’t something I would ever want, even if it was for help. 

“Thank you, for not taking me there.” I said as I shakily pushed myself up in the bed to sit beside him. I needed to lean against the wood piece at the head of it, but at least I was able to sit. 

“I was looking for you, but I got caught in a storm, I think.” I told him as I met his gaze. I wasn’t afraid of him, nor other humans, but I knew now that I had to be far more careful than I had been in the past. 

 Oliver seemed surprised. Since I had his full attention, I pressed on, worried that one of the other humans who I had heard earlier might come in before I could get to say what I needed to. 

“I still don’t feel well. I feel better, but just not how I normally did.” 

I wasn’t sure if I was getting through to him at first, but when he smiled and nodded, I gave a quiet sigh of relief. “I understand, and I can tell that something else is wrong, but I can’t do much with what I have here. We’d have to go to my lab, Fri.” 

My stomach immediately began to feel uneasy at the idea. 

“You don’t want to go. I don’t blame you. All I can really say, is that our facility is different. I’m one of the people in charge there, and I would never let anything bad happen to you.” 

His words were only slightly reassuring. I would still be placing myself back in the care of humans who wanted to do things with me. My eyes rose to his again, but he didn’t smile this time. “I can’t tell you that some of the tests won’t hurt a little, or that you will feel comfortable in the pools we have set up, but if you are feeling that badly, I would really suggest coming with me. Maybe think it over, then let me know before I go in tomorrow morning?” 

I wasn’t too sure of the meanings on some of his words, but I was good at stringing sentences together and figured out what he was trying to tell me. “Okay.” 

The door opened not a moment later, drawing our attention to the young boy and older person that came in. I knew from meeting them before that they were both mers, and that the younger one was named Kipper. I couldn’t place the taller man’s name, however. 

“Hello,” The boy said as he stopped near the bottom of the bed.

I didn’t respond right away, as I was busy looking them over. It was strange to see mers wearing clothing. The boy seemed to have no patience, as he looked up at the larger mer, then began climbing onto the bed… with a gun in his hand. 

Oliver yelled and lunged for it, grabbing the weapon at the same time he jumped out of bed. He staggered slightly because of his metal leg, but didn’t come close to falling. “Mellac! How many times have I told you not to get Kipper the gun from the safe?” 

The older mer, Mellac, then, shrugged. “Your number codes are pathetically easy to figure out and he knows how to use it.” 

Oliver growled under his breath as he made his way toward the door. “And that is the problem.” 

The small mer grinned as he took the seat Oliver had beside me. “He’s really easy to make mad.” He said. I nodded, but my focus was on the other mer. He was still standing at the foot of the bed and judging from his posture and cold eyes, he didn’t like me. 

He must be the one I heard from before, when I couldn’t open my eyes yet. 

“Don’t worry about him. He hates everyone equally.” Kipper said, finally drawing more of my attention. 

“You’re a shark.” He stated, making me nod. When he leaned closer, I narrowed my eyes. I remembered that they were dolphins, and our species weren’t exactly best friends. Sharks tended to prey on dolphins, especially loners and dolphins often harassed sharks. 

  “Let me see your teeth.” Kipper said as he reached up, tugging on my bottom lip with his fingers. “You have pointy teeth, right?” 

I growled at him in warning, but he didn’t seem to have even heard it with how focused he was on seeing my teeth. If the other mer wasn’t still watching us at the foot of the bed, I might have bitten him for ignoring me, however, I didn’t want to start a fight over something that I could hopefully handle quickly without violence. I did, however, throw in another warning growl as I parted my lips and bared my pointed, serrated teeth.

Kipper seemed to get the message after he took a quick closer look at my teeth. He backed off the bed, looking at least a little sorry for intruding on my space. When Mellac nodded toward the door, Kipper made his way out. It was clear that the boy wanted to say something, but he bit his tongue. When he was gone, I turned toward Mellac, who was starting to make his way out, too.

“I thought you hate everyone.” 

I was curious as to why he stayed to watch over the boy if he didn’t like him, either. Mellac seemed annoyed that I had even asked the question, but did turn back to me when he got to the door.

“He is my brother’s offspring. I find them useless. He does not. I care that my brother is not sad some of the time. I believe his son dying would cause a short period of such emotion and I do not wish to deal with it.” 

Before I could reply, he walked out. 

“Okay…” 

I should have gotten up to find the doctor, or at least just to stretch, but as I was still not feeling well and would likely have to deal with an angry Hice soon, I decided to lay back down and get some more rest. I knew he would be mad at me, but as I lay my head against the pillow again and closed my eyes, I knew that I hadn’t had a choice. He wouldn’t talk to me or let me come with him to wherever he went. Now, I doubt I even had the strength to swim far, though. I needed help, and hopefully Oliver could provide it.

Unfortunately, I believe I’ll have to go to his lab to get it. 

The idea was unsettling, but when the bed dipped with weight beside me and the scent of Oliver told me that it was him, I decided to let myself relax and just deal with things as they came. If I had to go to the lab to get better, than that was what I would do.  

(I will try to update this book at least every 2-3 weeks. I work full time while writing other books so my time is very split)

Welcome Back

(Be jelly, I got a little savings bank XD)

Callem-

The loud knock at the door wasn’t much of a surprise, even though it came around eleven at night. I’d been pretending to watch the news show with Parker, who had fallen asleep a little bit ago. Considering the force of the knock and also the impatience behind it, I was pretty sure that it had to be the shark. 

Getting up, I stretched my arms over my head for a moment, then sauntered to the door. Not bothering to check the small hole in it, I tugged it open. 

Oh. 

I’m actually right on my guess about it being Hice.    

The mer shoved past me before I even had the door all the way open. Mad, like always. I didn’t doubt that it was because of Fri being here, but I’d think that the smaller mer would have told him. Clearly not. Unless it’s something else. 

I followed him calmly. I wasn’t worried that he would start attacking someone, but things could get bad quickly if my brother decided to step into the situation. The idea had my feet speeding up a bit, then putting myself in the doorway to the room Oliver and Fri were in just in case Mellac did bother coming to see what was going on. 

“What are you doing here?” Hice growled as I watched him stomp over to Fri’s side of the bed. 

Oliver had been asleep, but was beginning to come around. He was on top of the blanket and his laptop was open and next to him, so he probably had just fallen asleep while working, again.

Fri hunched a little beneath the blankets at Hice’s words, but didn’t seem afraid of him. He’s probably used to his temper. It was a sad thought, but I have been told that my brother holds such a temper, too, and that I am just used to being around him so I don’t consider it as being so bad. 

“Well? Why are you here? You do realize how dangerous being around humans is?” Hice yelled. His hands were turning into fists at his sides and his gills were flaring. I was considering stepping in and at least putting myself between him and Fri until he calmed down, but then Oliver sat up and took our attention. 

“He’s sick and he’s coming in to my lab for some testing to see if we can figure out what’s wrong.” 

Hice bared his teeth, and this time, I did step in. Putting my body between him and where Oliver sat on the edge of the bed fastening his metal leg back on, I squared my shoulders but tried to not look aggressive. I didn’t want to start a fight. 

“I found Fri floating in the ocean. He wasn’t doing well so we brought him here to recover.” 

Oliver appeared beside me as I finished speaking. 

“He needs more help, Hice. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” 

Hice’s growls were getting louder as we spoke, but he held himself back from doing anything else, for now. Instead, he glared over at Fri, who was doing his best to sit back against the headboard of the bed. It was clear that he was struggling, but Hice didn’t move to help him and Oliver and I didn’t dare cross his path to do so. 

“Why did you not tell me, Fri?” He asked, his voice calming a small amount at the sight of his hurting friend. 

When Fri just looked down at the blankets pooled around his waist, Hice stalked over to him and grabbed his shoulder hard enough to clearly get Fri’s attention back on him. “I asked you, why did you not tell me? All you did was keep asking to come with me, not that you felt so poorly!” 

Fri shrunk back against the headboard, but kept his eyes on Hice. “I said I didn’t feel very good a few times…”

Hice snarled and turned toward the wall. I thought he might punch it, like Mellac sometimes did, but he spun back around after a moment. “There is a difference between not feeling very good and feeling so badly that you go off on your own and nearly get yourself killed!” 

Fri seemed to want to respond, but thought better of it and just averted his eyes again. Hice blew out an angry breath and ran a hand over his face before turning his attention to Oliver. 

“You said he needs tests. What kind of tests?” He asked. 

There was a very clear warning in his words as they were hissed through clenched teeth. I only recently started learning about what tests were and how Parker and Oliver did them, but I had no idea what kind they would use on Fri. Hopefully not the ones that do the dissect thing. I don’t think Hice would like that. 

  “He needs some blood and urine tests. They are basic ones that won’t involve any kind of drug or pain besides drawing some blood with a needle.” Oliver replied, as calm as ever. 

Hice still didn’t look happy, in the least, but he did take a seat on the bed beside Fri. When the two began speaking in hushed words, I looked at Oliver and when he nodded to me, we both stepped out.  

Seeing Kipper sitting on the sofa when we walked into the living room, mid-yawn, had me hurrying over to drop down beside him. I kept my hands at my sides, but I really wanted to hug him. Remember the deal you made. One hour of together time in return for no sudden hugs. I was coming to not like that idea very much, because I swear the length of an hour changes every time. 

  I really need to have Parker teach me time better. 

He has before, but I just don’t seem to understand it very well. I can tell what time it is, and that certain spaces between the numbers mean minutes or hours, but Kipper must know it better, because I always get told differently by him when it’s our together time. 

“Hello father.” Kipper said sleepily as he leaned against my side. The only time he tended to be interested in me besides when we agree to hang out, was when he was tired. Not that I minded. I hesitnatly tugged him into my lap and hugged him gently. He growled, but snuggled against me anyways. 

“Hey Callem, what’s going on?” Parker said, returning from the bathroom. 

No wonder he wasn’t out here anymore. 

“Hice is here.” I replied with a smile, my attention mostly taken by my son. Not that I didn’t love Parker and want to give him my attention, I definitely did, but I rarely got to hug my son without him getting upset. It wasn’t a moment I was going to let slip past me. 

“Here?” He said, stopping suddenly beside me to look around. 

I glanced up at him when Kipper began to doze off. “Yes. He’s in the room with Fri.” 

Parker’s lips turned down into a frown as he looked that way. I could see ideas running through his mind, but when he turned back to me, he offered me a smile and a shrug. “I suppose I’m not too surprised. He was really protective of him when he was here last, and neither of them have had great interactions with humans.” 

I nodded and opened my mouth to reply but got cut off when Hice stalked out of the hallway carrying Fri in his arms. They were both wearing shorts taken from the room since they had both been naked previously. Probably a good idea. Walking around naked would draw too much attention. Not that we weren’t allowed to, but it just drew too many eyes.

“He will do your tests.” Hice said as he headed for the door. 

I reluctantly set my boy aside and stood. Since I was already wearing pants, I just followed them. Parker took my hand as he walked up beside me in his checkered pajamas and I gave it a quick squeeze before stopping at the open door. Since neither Mellac or Jayson had made an appearance, I figured that it was best to leave them. It seems like everyone else silently agreed, too, as no one tried to go wake them up. Or interrupt.  

Hice stood on the other side of the door impatiently, his glare leveled on Oliver, who was carefully walking toward us.

“I can’t walk fast, shark. You’re just going to have to be patient.” Oliver grumbled, getting a growl from Hice. “And you’re not allowed in the room when I’m doing the tests. You have to wait on the other side of the glass.” 

That didn’t get a pleasant response from the shark, but Oliver just stopped in front of him and crossed his arms over his chest. “Too bad, Hice. If you want to be there when I try to help him. If you want to be there for him. You will do as told and wait behind a safety barrier.” 

Hice hissed, baring his serrated teeth. “Why, are you planning on hurting him more than you said you would?”

Oliver rolled his eyes and walked past Hice, then turned on him with an impressive glare. “No, but I want you far enough away that if you overreact, I have time to respond.”

Instead of replying again, Hice just stalked past us and got in the back of Parker’s truck with Fri. I turned when Parker gave Oliver a strong pat on the shoulder. “Glad you’re in high spirits again, bud.” 

Oliver shrugged his hand off, but I could see the smile hinting at his lips. “Because I have my own finned reason to value my life now.” He said as he hobbled past us. 

Chuckling once he was out of earshot, I leaned over and stole a quick kiss from Parker, then pulled him along toward his truck. I had a feeling that we were going to have quite a busy night. 

Too bad it isn’t in bed.

Caution

Fri-

The building was well taken care of, but as I followed Oliver and his friends inside, with Hice at my back, I couldn’t help but feel apprehension build in my gut. The place was clean and very well lit. There were also very few cages anywhere, and the few that I could see were way to small to fit any person in. Mer or not. 

“Alright, here we are. This is one of our examination rooms. Have you ever had blood drawn before, Fri?” Oliver asked as he began taking items out of a drawer built into a long able placed in the middle of the room. I couldn’t remember exactly what occurred for a blood draw, though I knew it was generally the removal of blood from a person or animal. 

“No, I don’t think so. It could have happened but I had felt so badly at the other place that I don’t remember much.” 

A firm hand pressed against my middle and I immediately knew that it was Hice. He gently moved me back against his chest, but showed no other sign of comfort. It was a lot for him, and I appreciated it. 

As Oliver continued to get things ready, I studied his face. He glanced off toward the door in the corner several times with a longing look, but eventually refocused his complete attention on his task before he turned to me with a tired smile. 

“If you wouldn’t mind, can you just sit up on this table and give me your left arm?” He asked. 

I did as told, glad that I had at least put on a pair of shorts, because the metal table was quiet cold, even beneath the fabric. “This is going to hurt a bit, but it should just be a pinch. If it start to hurt badly, tell me, don’t pull away, okay? You can cause damage by doing so.” 

I nodded, doing my best to keep myself calm. The needle felt like an ordinary urchins when it slid beneath my skin. It stung a bit afterward, but the pain was manageable. It wasn’t but a few seconds before he removed the needle and placed a small bandage over the tiny wound it had created. 

“Perfect. Great job, Fri.” 

His words made me smile. I didn’t need the praise, but it did feel good to know that I had done well. “Can you go pee in this cup, Fri? Just up to the small red line.” He asked as he gestured me to slide down from the table. 

I took the cup and removed its top, wondering why I would need to pee in it. It had to be another test. Well, at least this one won’t hurt at all. When I started removing the shorts I’d borrowed, I heard a few chuckles and stopped, looking back up at Oliver with confusion. 

“Here, come over here. You can fill what the cup needs, then just pee into the drain.” Oliver said as he gestured to an opening in the floor by a row of cages that didn’t seem to be occupied. 

As I got myself ready, he turned on some water and it began flowing in the drain. Filling the cup was easy enough, but aiming afterward was a bit hard. I wasn’t used to having to aim. It never mattered were I relieved myself when swimming or on mine and Hice’s beach, though I did tend to bury it if it was on land. 

“Don’t worry about it, this room gets cleaned daily and disinfected.” Oliver said once I’d finished and pulled my shorts back up. He held out a small bottle and gestured for one of my hands after he’d taken the cup and set it on the table. I put my hand under the bottle and raised a brow when I saw some type of thick water drop into it. 

“Rub your hands together. It’s just for any possible germs.” 

I didn’t understand why that mattered, but I did as told anyways and rubbed my hands together as I followed him back to the table. He took a few minutes to set up the tests he wanted, then began studying. I realized that I wasn’t needed any longer and leaned against one of the walls to wait. Hice was beside me immediately, his right arm around my waist to help hold a bit of my weight. I appreciated the gesture since I was getting tired and leaned against him to show just that. 

“How are you feeling right now, Fri?” Oliver asked after a few moments of silence. He was still looking at one of the samples using an item I couldn’t quite remember the name of. 

“Tired, but not too bad.” 

He made a small sound of acknowledgement, then remained silent for another few minutes before leaning away from the item and wiping his brow with an arm. 

“Well, there’s nothing really out of the ordinary from what I can see.” 

My lips turned downward, making Oliver give me a small smile. “It’s okay, Fri. It normally isn’t that easy to figure things out, anyways. We’ll keep going.” As he spoke, he took another item he’d put some of the sample of blood into and then one for the urine and set them in a small machine. 

“That’ll take a few minutes…” He paused, eyes wandering back to the far door before glancing at us. “I’ll be just a few moments.” 

I wasn’t sure where he was going, but when I looked around at everyone else, they were averting their eyes and the previously relaxed atmosphere had disappeared. What’s wrong? 

Curiosity nagged at my insides and as soon as Hice’s got the better of him and he went to look at what Oliver had previously set up, I made my way toward the far door. It hadn’t been shut completely when he’d walked through it, so I didn’t feel too bad about nudging it open slowly and peaking inside. 

It took my eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness. There were only a few floor lights every couple of feet to light the long hall. Each door also had lights below it, but none of the ones that were overhead were on. 

Since no one had called me back yet, I slipped completely inside, being careful not to shut the door or make any sound. Walking down the hall, I kept my eyes open for anyone coming or going, but the area was deserted. Door after door was locked and the areas inside were dimmed. I could tell that there were pools beyond some of them, some small ones, and then one large one. The final door had another large pool in it I could see through the glass wall at a distance, but I stopped the moment I noticed movement in the faint light that managed to reach inside. 

My eyes darted up since it appeared that the light was coming from above. Oh, there is a window up there, but it looks like it’s mostly covered. Returning my gaze back to what was going on, I blinked a few times to focus and realized that Oliver was sitting carefully a foot or so from the edge of one of the pools. I had to lean forward a little to see better, as there was some type of wire on the glass that I noticed was wrapping around the entire room, blocking small portions of my view. There’s lots of it. Even on the door. 

The quiet rush of water caught my attention, making me focus in on the pool right as a person emerged. A mer? Seeing his tail reform into legs, I knew that my guess had been correct. Cool. He’s an orca. I began walking forward, excited to meet another mer, but stopped abruptly when he pulled Oliver into his arms for a very strong hug. Almost immediately, his song started echoing through the building. It was quiet, at first, but then it grew in strength until I could hear the sadness and longing in my bones. 

It appeared like his mouth was moving just enough to speak, but his words were lost on my ears. I was too far to be able to make the mumbling out, though I knew my hearing was greater than a humans. Judging from how Oliver was trying to get as close to the man as possible, even though he was soaked from being in the water, made my heart jump a little. 

Are they lovers? 

When the mer nuzzled against Oliver’s neck, I felt my face warm and knew that it was time to leave. The me was clearly stuck here and could not leave for some reason. I wasn’t sure why, and I didn’t want to guess. They were having some time to themselves before Oliver had to leave and lock the door again, sealing the man back inside that dark room. I began taking steps backward toward the door, being careful to try and not make any noise. Whether he had heard me or not, his head lifted and my heart stopped for a second when our eyes met. 

He didn’t hesitate for a second to bare his teeth. The white flash of them was visible even in the dim light and I read the message loud and clear. Heart suddenly racing, I turned and bolted back to the examination room. 

(My power kept going out trying to get through this lol)

Questions

(Unedited, sorry. Super bad lightning storm so gonna turn off computer) 

Callem-

I knew that he had to be here when Fri came ducking back through the door looking very pale. We had all heard his song, too, but Fri’s actions made us sure. It was a relief that he was freed from the dry prison finally, but it was also going to be hard on Oliver to be able to see him but not take him out of his this place. 

“Are you alright, Fri?” I asked as I stepped closer. 

He jumped a little, looked up at me, then looked down. “I don’t believe I have made a friend today.” He mumbled, messing with his hands nervously. 

I offered him a smile. “It’s alright. That is Ocar. He made a mistake a while ago and unfortunately, now the humans want him to pay for it. How his current situation came to be was unfair, but there is little we can do. Oliver has been trying his best to free him of the human prison, especially because of how dry it is. I am thankful, that they finally saw reason for that, at least.” 

“They tried to keep him in a dry place?” Fri asked, not seeming to understand how that could even be possible for a mer. 

I nodded. “Yes. Human prison is not very helpful to us. A shower once a day is sometimes okay, but we need soaked often to stay healthy.” 

He nodded then, seeming to understand what I was talking about. When I didn’t reply any further, he turned his attention to Hice. The other mer seemed to notice he had eyes on him, because he turned away from the conversation he was having with Mellac and walked right over to pull Fri against his chest. It wasn’t really a hug, but sharks weren’t know for being friendly. Even to each other. 

We waited another few minutes before Oliver limped back through the door. His hair was messy but there was a new expression on his face that I had not seen in quite a long time. Hope. He got back to testing the samples he had taken from Fri with a slight smile on his face. 

The results, when he finally did finish what he could do on his own, weren’t promising. There were no clear signs for what was causing Fri to still feel bad. Oliver said that the toxins he had been given before were all gone. 

I don’t understand it. There must be something else there. 

Of course, I didn’t understand many things involving humans and even mers. I always thought that our bodies would heal themselves as needed, but I did know that sometimes, that didn’t work. It was sad to think about it, but Fri may have one of those things that can’t be fixed. I wasn’t going to voice those words, though. There was enough sadness among my friends with Ocar’s situation, no need to add to that. Especially if I cannot be certain. 

“Hey Callem, what’s on your mind?” Parker asked as he stepped into my chest. I gladly wrapped my arms around him and hugged him close, stealing a few licks on his cheek before offering a smile. 

“Just worried. I hope that everything will end well and wish that I could help more.”

He nodded against my chest. “I know how you feel, but Oliver is the best when it comes to figuring out what’s going on with anything aquatic. I’m great at field research and visual cues, but he’s the best with the microscopic stuff.” 

I nodded, then looked up as Hice ducked away from Fri and headed for the door. He seemed to be in a hurry, but when I turned my attention back to Fri, the mer looked upset. “Why did he leave?” I mumbled, not directing the question to anyone, really. 

“Fri, is Hice okay?” Parker asked, drawing the mer’s attention to us. 

He looked down and shrugged, blinking quickly. “I don’t know. He won’t talk to me about it but he keeps leaving and never lets me come with him.” 

That’s odd. He seems like he cares about Fri, but to leave him several times and not allow him to come with him? 

I couldn’t think about Parker leaving me like that. Sure, he had to work and most times he couldn’t let me come with him, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. It was, what Parker told me, respectful, to at least let your love know where you were going if they couldn’t come with you. 

  Perhaps they aren’t lovers, though. 

Fri seemed to like Hice’s attention, but Hice just appeared to tolerate Fri in most cases. He cared for him, possibly about him, but not like I do with Parker. 

“You do not want to follow him?” I asked as Oliver began putting away everything he didn’t need looked at by someone else later. 

Fri hunched his shoulders and pursed his lips. “I do, but I can’t. I don’t feel well enough to swim, and he always swims away. I had tried a few times, but it was always too far or he came back and brought me back to the sand. I don’t want to make him mad again by trying to follow.” 

“We can just use the tracking chip, Fri.” Oliver mumbled as he finished what he was doing, then walked over to a computer. 

“Right! He has a chip because of what he had done before. Good idea.” Parker said with an excitement that made me want to hug him, among other things. Instead, I squeezed him a bit harder, then let him go since I could tell that he wanted to run over to the computer. 

Curiosity brought the rest of the group to it and we waited in silence as the system was brought up and Hice’s short tracking number was entered into the search. It came up after a moment, showing us that he had almost made it to the ocean already. 

He has to be running, but why? Did he forget he had to leave? 

His speed picked up the moment it shows him hitting the water. Surprisingly, he didn’t go very far out, and instead began heading up the coastline at a steady speed. 

“He’s heading toward the old Cal-Waves facility… but why? It’s closed down and guarded.” Oliver said quietly, as if thinking out loud. 

Why would he go there. 

We all waited to see if he would, and sure enough, his tracker stopped moving right where the old building for Cal-Waves was marked. 

“This isn’t good. He has no reason to be there.” Parker said, worry beginning to show in his voice. I tugged him back against him chest and nuzzled his hair, wanting him not to worry too much. 

“Mellac and I can go see what he is up to?” I offered. 

There couldn’t be anything serious going on at that place. It was closed and locked up. I wasn’t worried about checking it out, especially if my brother came with me. 

“I do not mind going.” Mellac added a moment later. 

“I suppose.” Parker said, worry still in his tone as he looked up at me. I gave him a smile, which he returned after a second. 

“Just look around in the water, okay? Don’t surface unless you need a breath. Don’t go in the building.” Parker said as he turned to face me in my arms. His wish for my safety made my smile widen. 

“I promise, Parker. I will not do any of those things. We will just go and see what Hice is up to for Fri’s peace of mind. Nothing more.” 

Mellac walked over to stand beside me and nodded. “I will make sure he doesn’t wander off. My brother can be far too curious.” 

I felt my face warm. He was right, I did often get distracted. 

Oliver turned from the computer and motioned for us to follow him to the exit of the building. “That should work. You guys both have tracking chips from the trial, but that also reminds me. Parker, get rid of that gun Kipper brought home that one day. You’ve been keeping it in the safe, but if you’re caught, you could get in a lot more trouble than we can handle right now.” 

Parker nodded beside me. I knew that he’d only kept it in case anyone came for us again, but it did make sense to get rid of it, too. I didn’t want him to be taken from me. I will protect him. 

“Alright.” He finally said as we stepped outside. The sky was darkening with a storm, but it would not hinder my brother or I. 

“We’ll turn on the tracking system again on my computer at Parker’s. Do you guys want a ride down to the water?” Oliver asked. 

I shook my head. “No. It will give us time to talk for a short while and for you to get the tracking set up before we hit the water.” 

Oliver nodded. “Good idea. Best of luck to you two. Be careful. We all want you, and Hice, to come back safely.” 

I offered him a smile, then turned to catch up to Mellac, who had already begun walking toward the ocean. I was about halfway to him when I stopped, turned, and ran back to pull Parker into my arms for a quick kiss 

“I will be back soon.” I told him, earning a soft kiss in return.

“I’ll be waiting. Drag that pain in the butt shark back here before dinner, okay?” 

I chuckled and nodded, messing his hair up a bit before turning and running off to join my brother. We would be back soon and this whole strange situation would be over. Nice and simple.

Why Won’t You Tell

(Sorry I’ve been super busy and still am. Trying to find a new place to live x.x Small update, but yay, update? Unedited) 

Fri-

We were all quick to follow Parker inside when we arrived back at his home. He got the computer set up in a few moments while I hurried to take a fast soak in the pool. My skin wasn’t used to being dry while stressed for long periods of time. And if it’s one thing that Hice causes, it’ stress. 

By the time I climbed out of the pool, dried off a little, then pulled my borrowed shorts back on, everyone was sitting at the dining table around the computer. I took the open chair beside Parker that seemed to have been left for me, as everyone else was standing, then peered at the small dots flashing on the screen. The one that was further ahead, that Oliver had told us was Hice, wasn’t moving very quickly compared to Mellac and Callem’s. 

“Alright, so, Hice has definitely stopped at the laboratory.” Oliver said, drawing my attention to him where he said beside Parker. 

“But he is moving.” I stated, knowing that it was clearly what was going on if you looked at the screen. 

“Nah, that’s just geographical lag from the satellites.” He replied, making my head hurt. 

He seemed to be able to tell that he’d made a mistake with his words after a moment, because he looked over at me with an apologetic expression on his face. “My mistake. It means that what tracks him has trouble sometimes, so it looks like he’s moving when he’s really not. You can tell because it will do it for a moment, then stop, then do it again.” 

 I returned my attention to the screen, and sure enough, what he was saying happened. I still didn’t understand how it really worked, but if Hice was staying still, than he was staying still. 

“Okay. Those other two that are getting close to him are Callem and Mellac?” I asked, wanting to be sure that I wasn’t confused. 

Oliver offered a small smile and nodded as he turned his attention back to the screen. “They’re just about to him. I really wish we would have thought to put microphone collars on them. Not being able to hear what’s going on is a handicap.” 

I wasn’t aware that humans could put those on each other. I knew about their phones and things, but not of ones that could work underwater. Figuring that it didn’t matter now, since we couldn’t do it anymore with them already gone, I leaned forward a bit and focused on the dots. 

It didn’t take long for Callem and Mellac’s to catch up, then do that weird drift thing that Oliver was talking about. 

“They’re all there.” He added, as he, too, leaned forward with narrowed eyes. 

The dots drifted for a short time around the facility, then Hice’s began slowly making its way back toward where we were. Callem’s followed soon after, but Mellac’s stayed behind for at least ten minutes more before following after the other two. I wasn’t quite sure why, but I still felt like something was off. They seemed to be swimming the same speed as they had coming out. Except for Mellac, who was going a bit faster, no doubt to catch up to his brother. 

“I’m going to go pick them up.” Parker said all of a sudden. 

He stood up from the table and I quickly jumped up, too. “I want to come, please.” 

Without hesitation, Parker nodded and waved his hand for me to follow him. 

“I’m going to hang here, Park. I’ll give you a call if there are any issues but it looks like they’re coming back over by the research dock, judging by their trajectory.” Oliver said as he leaned back in his chair, eyes still studying the dots on the screen intently. 

Maybe he thinks something is odd, too. 

I knew that sitting around wouldn’t help, so I hurried after Parker. His truck wasn’t something I was too thrilled to be in again, and my stomach agreed, but I managed the short drive down to the shoreline with just a bit of dizziness. Hice was the first mer out of the water. He trudged from the surf, clearly frustrated, but I didn’t care about his temper. I ran through the shifting sand and stumbled into his chest. 

His arms came around me to keep me from falling on my face, or more likely, bringing him down with me. “What are you doing here? You should be resting, Fri.” He stated, his tone frustrated but still somehow gentle. 

“I’m sorry, I was worried.” I said as I hugged him, nuzzling my nose against his damp chest. 

He did have a point, however. I wasn’t feeling very well all of a sudden. It was likely from the drive down to the shore, but I couldn’t shake the dizziness that had started after I’d gotten in the truck. 

“Fri?” Hice said, reaching up to press a palm to my cheek. 

I couldn’t seem to focus enough to respond as he lifted my chin so that he could look in my eyes. He turned my head from side to side a moment later, making the dizziness blur my vision and churn my stomach. 

“Dammit.” He hissed, though even that one word seemed hazy. 

My body began to feel light, but thankfully I could feel Hice’s hand hold tight to me when I lost my balance. He easily lifted me into his arms, then I could feel that he was walking through the sand. 

“He needs help, now.” Hice growled, likely to Parker, since I couldn’t imagine him speaking with any other human for such a thing. 

My vision cleared long enough for me to realize that Hice was, indeed, making his way to the truck parked just off the sand. Parker walked beside us until we reached it, then turned and waved toward the ocean. I couldn’t manage to lift my head to see who he was gesturing too, but I ended up not needing to. 

Callem came into view a minute later, soon followed by a panting Mellac. They both climbed into the front of the Truck with Parker while Hice carefully hopped into the back with me still in his arms. 

“Stay awake, Fri.” He stated with a strong glare leveled on me. 

I gave him a tiny smile, but was having trouble keeping my eyes open. It was rare to ever see Hice show any emotion besides annoyance or frustration, but looking up at him right then, I saw a tiny bit of concern in his dark eyes. 

“Just tired, Hice. Don’t worry.” 

He growled in response, making my smile grow before I yawned and tried to blink my eyes open. “Wait… Hice, you’re arm is bleeding.” I mumbled, feeling the words slur on my tongue. 

Instead of replying, his eyes widened slightly, then narrowed. “Stay awake, Fri.” 

I wanted to fuss over his wound. To help him and also to find out how he got such a cut, and how he’d gotten the few random ones he seemed to always come back with but dismissed as nothing, but my eyes just refused to remain open. Before we even returned to Parker’s home, I found myself fast asleep.

Align

Callem- 

It took a lot of arguing from Parker, and one snarl from Hice, to keep Oliver from taking Fri to the hospital. I didn’t like the too-clean white place either, but Fri didn’t look well, at all. His face had gone white and his breathing had gotten very slow. 

Oliver hovered around him like a fly would a dead fish floating on the surf, but there was little more he seemed to be able to do for him. When he finally appeared to realize that, he turned toward Hice and I, as we were the only two left in the room. His expression hurt my heart, but I didn’t know how to help. I’d asked, but staying out of the way was always the answer I received, so I did just that. 

I’m thankfully very good at it, or I would have been tripping Oliver as much as Hice has. 

“I just don’t know what else to do. I called one of my researchers to go over the samples I took, but I can’t think of what could be causing something like this.” 

The stress on his face was something I’d hoped wouldn’t return after he’d met with Ocar earlier, yet it was clearly back. He ran his fingers through his hair, then stifled a yawn before trying to shake the exhaustion from his mind. 

“Oliver, you should get some rest.” I said when he just heaved a tired sigh and leaned against the nearby wall. 

His eyes rose to meet mine, but even with the exhaustion building in his gaze, there was still clear determination.

“There’s got to be something that’s causing these strange symptoms.” He mumbled after covering his mouth to try and hide another yawn. 

My eyes wandered to Hice as Oliver returned to pacing. The mer was stoic, as usual, but something else was there. I wasn’t the best at reading emotions, or spelling most of them, but something was off about him. Right as I was thinking about asking him about it, he glanced toward me, our eyes meeting. His narrowed, as they always did when not looking at Fri, but then he looked away and sighed.

“Hice, can we talk?” I asked, taking my chance.

His eyes cut back to me and I could feel his normal aggressive tension slowly beginning to return. “No.” 

I expected his response, but curiosity and the need to want to try and help made me step closer to him. He tensed and lifted his lip just enough to show me a few of his teeth in warning, but I just ignored the gesture and offered him a careful smile. 

“Is your arm feeling any better?” I tried, wanting to keep away from the topics he was less likely to talk about. 

He remained silent for a moment, sparing Oliver a look before returning his attention to me. 

“It’s fine.” 

Oliver had treated the injury, put in a few stitches, then wrapped it with a bandage. There were several old scars in the same area, almost overlapping, that were visible, too, but no one had dared to point them out. 

Licking my lips, I nervously glanced over at Oliver, then back to Hice. “Can we talk?” I asked again, taking a step toward the hallway and nodding in the direction of the pool. I had noticed he’d been scratching his skin off and on randomly, and hoped he’d take the chance to soak and I’d be able to speak to him a little more openly without anyone else around. 

After a few more minutes of silence Hice rolled his shoulders and silently walked out of the room. I waited a moment before following him out to the pool. He was already in the water by the time I got the door shut, his dorsal fin calmly cutting through the surface as he swam lazily beneath it. 

Since he’d removed his shorts to shift, I decided to do the same. I also couldn’t completely trust him and preferred my tail when swimming. The water was warm as I slid in, my lower body changing as it got wet. I swam in place for a few moments as Hice circled around me. His actions made me grin. Parker had showed me a movie called Jaws, and it was quite funny to see Hice copying the fake shark in the film. 

When he surfaced in front of me, he seemed a bit more relaxed and just began calmly treading water. “Do you have any idea what is wrong with Fri?” I asked. The question, I knew, wasn’t likely to get a positive answer, but I just felt like Hice was hiding something that needed to come out. 

He replied as his eyes narrowed on me. “No.”

“Okay. What caused that injury on your arm? And the ones before it that are now scars?” I asked. 

His lips turned down into a frown and he began slowly swimming backward. I let him go but didn’t look away from his wary eyes. When Hice got to the far edge of the pool, he let his back rest against the wall and sighed. 

“A scalpel.” He muttered, his lips just barely brushing the top of the water as he sank down a little bit. 

But that’s what Parker and Oliver use at work. I think. 

“The small sharp knives humans use to cut skin…?” I asked hesitantly. The idea of being cut open by one of those did not appeal to me in the least. They always made cutting through a living, or usually dead animal, seem way too easy. The few times I’d watched Oliver or Parker do it, my stomach turned and I almost threw up. 

“Yes.” Hice replied before ducking underneath the surface. 

His fin rose above the waterline a moment later as he began doing laps around the pool. I let him swim, glad to at least be getting answers, even if they are taking a while. When he surfaced a few minutes later by the opposite end, I moved to the middle of the pool and held onto a wall so that I could at least be within range to hear him. 

“Why did you let someone cut you?” 

Hice snorted and swam forward slowly. “No one cuts me.” 

Then… he did it to himself? But why? 

“Enough with your questions. They’re best left unanswered, Callem.” He stated before heading toward the ladder to get out. 

I wanted to know more, but just looking at his movements and how he barely bothered to keep his head above water, it was clear that he was reaching his limit and needed to rest. Reluctantly, I followed after him but paused by the ladder when I heard the lanai door open. When I looked over, my lips pursed as I tried to remember the person stepping outside beside Parker and Jayson. I couldn’t place him in my memory. 

Immediately, I stalked over to Parker and put myself between him and the man. He smelled clean, like Parker’s work and the Cal-Waves building did. I didn’t like it. 

“Hello, Hice.” The young man said, nodding his head slightly as he spoke. 

I didn’t like the way he looked. He had on a too-big sweatshirt, as if he were trying to hide his clothing underneath in a hurry. His pants looked formal, like what Parker and Oliver wore to work. His hair had clearly been styled, but not enough to keep it from being mussed by the end of the day. It was shaggy now, and a deep brown. 

Parker always told me not to judge people when I first meet them, but as I narrowed my eyes on his dark brown ones, I couldn’t find myself able to see the man in a positive way. 

“You… um, you left this.” The young man mumbled as he walked over to Hice, who had just finished pulling on his shorts, and  held up a small plastic bag. 

Hice was nearly snarling at the man as he approached, but when the bag was held out, he snatched it immediately and seemed to calm down just as quickly as his eyes bore down on the small white bag. 

I wonder what’s in it. It seems light. 

“You should not have come here, Mica.” 

The warning in Hice’s voice was clear, but Mica just shrugged and hunched his shoulders. “Sorry, I just… wanted to bring that.” 

Hice drew in a deep breath and blew it out as a sigh as he ran his hand through his wet hair, making it stick up a bit on one side. He then stepped forward and grabbed the man’s wrist, pulling him quickly back through the home and out the front door. We followed until the threshold of the home, then waited and listened. I also took that moment to tug my own shorts back on. 

“Don’t come back here again.” Hice hissed, shoving Mica toward a small silver car parked by the road. 

Mica stumbled toward his car, turning when he stopped near the driver’s door. He looked upset, but not angry, like Hice. He almost looked like he had given up, or was upset that he couldn’t find something to say in return.

Why is it so important that he leave? And what did he bring? 

I stared at the bag clenched in Hice’s hand as the mer snarled, then turned and stalked back into the house. Mica lifted his gaze to mine for just a brief moment before turning and sliding into his car. He was gone a moment later, leaving me to turn, only to realize that Hice had gone into the room Fri was resting in. 

I suppose I should leave him be. 

I still wanted answers, now more than ever, but pressing him right now wouldn’t do either of us any good. So, I turned to Parker and grabbed his hand. He smiled sleepily and tugged me over to fall on the sofa. Something was on the television but I ignored it and gathered Parker up in my arms.  Some rest would do us all good. Hopefully Hice would be in a better mood in the morning and want to finish talking… or he’d likely just be normal uncooperative Hice. Either way, I would try to get more information from him tomorrow.

Late

(Rest in peace, Chester-Linkin Park. Thanks for the years of amazing songs)

Fri-

Waking up to see Hice sitting beside me on the bed was a relief. I was so used to him disappearing that I thought he might have already returned to the ocean. I watched him for a few moments, mesmerized by his rigid stature and steeled stare. He was looking at nothing but the wall, but I knew that there was more to his gaze than just real things.  

There is always a storm in his eyes. 

A faint brush against the side of my face brought my attention back to the present. Didn’t realize I’d lost my focus. I thought as Hice lowered his hand from my cheek and tilted his head slightly. “I’ve got something you need to eat.” He said, drawing a frown from me as I looked around, only to see a small plastic bag sitting between us. 

I don’t smell any fish…

He reached for it and pulled out a small bottle, then opened it and let two small pills fall onto his palm. Medicine? “I don’t want to eat that, Hice.” I said, eyeing the little red pills with distaste. I didn’t like human medicine, especially after what had happened to me in their care , so I was definitely not going to take it again. 

“This is different than what they forced on you. Take it.” Hice stated, his voice demanding as he took my hand and placed the two small pills on my palm. 

I grimaced at them, for once in my life, extremely against doing what Hice was asking of me. My eyes rose back to his dark ones and I licked my lips, shaking my head as his eyes narrowed. 

“You will eat them, Fri.” Hice growled as he grabbed the pills from me and began lifting them to my lips. I fell back against the pillows and turned away, trying to hide my face. My body wasn’t nearly strong enough to fight him, though. “Oliver!” I shouted, not knowing what else to do to keep Hice from feeding me the pills. 

The door slammed open a moment later, then Hice’s weight was gone from where he’d grabbed my waist through the blanket, using the position to lean over me. The sound of his body hitting the floor echoed through the room right before two different snarls followed. I ducked beneath the blanket, not wanting to see who was fighting him. 

They kept at it for a few minutes before I heard more people come in and apparently separate them, considering the sounds of fighting stopped right afterward. I peeked out of from under the blanket and saw Parker shut the door, then turn to follow Oliver over to me. Parker climbed into the bed but stopped getting closer when I hissed. 

“What happened, Fri?” He asked as he sat back on his heels, nervous curiosity on his face. 

Oliver moved to the edge of the bed and reached down, retrieving the two red pills Hice must have dropped. “He really tried to get you to take these? They must have been what was in the bag that man gave to him.” He said, staring down at the small pills as he flipped them over with a finger. 

“These… they’re for humans. I took them once in the hospital. They’re to reduce severe swelling. They’re incredibly strong and can cause severe liver damage if used incorrectly.” He said quietly, lifting his eyes to me as he finished speaking. 

“Mica must know something we don’t.” Parker said as he looked to me, then back to Oliver. “I think he’s from Cal-Waves. He said that Hice had forgotten the bottle and brought it to him. If anyone has been paying attention to the case, they’d know that Callem and Mellac are here, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that Hice would return here, too.” 

That idea didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t have any swelling, so why would he want me to take those pills? “Fri, I really think that you need to go to the hospital, now.” 

My eyes narrowed on him and I growled quietly as I hunched beneath the blanket slightly. “I feel okay.” Not great, but not terrible or anything. It was one of my good days so far. 

“You don’t understand. The man that had brought the medicine to Hice said that he had forgotten it. He could have been sneaking it into your food. You could have some serious problems going on inside of you right now. You really need to get to a hospital and get some scans done.” 

I fidgeted and shook my head. “No.” 

Oliver heaved a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair as he turned in a circle, limping a little. “This isn’t something that I can help with anymore, Fri.” He stopped, facing Parker and I again. “If he did in fact give you these, they could kill you! You don’t have to be feeling too badly right now for the damage to be occurring, but if we wait too long and previous doses have already begun destroying you from the inside, it’s going to be too late soon.” 

I still didn’t really understand what he was saying. I got that the medicine could hurt me, but I’d never taken any, and I couldn’t think that Hice would try to hide it in the food he brought me. I’d never seen him carrying a bottle back to the island, either. 

“He wouldn’t hurt me on purpose.” I mumbled, suddenly feeling unsure of my own words. My head was also beginning to hurt, but I pushed the feeling aside to focus on what was going on. 

Oliver pursed his lips and glared down at me. He was angry, but I told them that I wouldn’t go unless I absolutely had to, and I had already gone to their facility. “Why can you not use what you already took from me? Are those results meaningless?” I asked. 

He took a moment to answer, as it seemed like he was trying to get himself to calm down. “They aren’t enough. You need scans. Serious testing. You clearly don’t have visible swelling anywhere, and if those pills had in fact come from Cal-Waves, where I assume they did plenty of invasive tests on you, then you absolutely need to get to a hospital. Those pills are for severe swelling usually caused by trauma to the body or cancerous growths.” 

I had heard the word cancer a few times while at the Cal-Waves place, but it was never said to me. I had just heard it as people came and went, and sometimes after they had messed with my body for a test. My stomach twisted nervously as I thought through what he was saying. It was beginning to get hard to think through my headache, though. 

“Can I not rest first at least, to think about it?” I asked, wincing a little as the pain pulsed just behind my left eye and the vision there blurred for a moment. 

Oliver’s blurry face turned to Parker, then he hurried and limped out of the room. There was silence for a moment before Callem and Mellac came into the room and straight over to me. Neither of them touched me, but I kept a steady hiss up to warm them that I wouldn’t accept them getting any closer. 

“I’m sorry for this, Fri, but I refuse to not do something while we still can.” Oliver said. I turned my attention to him, but I couldn’t tell what he was doing besides digging through something that had to be his medical bag on the floor beside the bed. 

When he straightened, he lifted something black and pointed it right at me. I blinked several times to try and clear my vision enough to see what it was when I heard the pop of a dart gun, the sound familiar to me from my time at Cal-Waves. The feel of the dart sliding into my shoulder hurt a lot more than just physically. 

My head began to hurt terribly as my vision turned black. My heart sped up painfully in my chest as I felt my head hit the pillow. I will remember this, human! I thought furiously right before my mind went blank.

Hands Off

Callem-

The smell of the hospital alone was enough to make my stomach feel upset, like I’d eaten a fish that had been left out for too long. Again. “Are you alright, Callem?” Parker asked right as we stepped into the elevator to bring us up to the floor Fri was staying on. 

Instead of dwelling on the awkwardly moving machine beneath my feet, I looked down just as Parker lifted his hand to my cheek with a worried expression on his handsome face. “You don’t look well…” 

You are the sweetest human. 

I gave him my best smile and leaned over, nuzzling his nose until he nudged me back with a chuckle. “You and your PDA.” He said, his words turning my smile into a playful grin. “As long as we aren’t naked it’s okay, yes?” 

“That was the part you made up, Cal.” He said, though his smile told me that he was fine with my version of his rule. 

The door opened right as I opened my mouth to reply. Oh well. I suppose this isn’t the place to make such jokes, anyway. I’ll wait till we get home. Determined to behave, I squared my shoulders and withheld the urge to itch my skin beneath the shirt I had on. I was used to wearing clothing, but they had all been older and worn, mostly Parker’s. New things were quite uncomfortable. 

“His room should be right over here,” Parker mumbled as I followed him down the hall. There were a lot of people walking quickly back and forth on the floor, but very few actually went into rooms. 

When we stopped at a room, door covered in red warning signs, we both looked at each other and grinned. “I don’t suppose he’s in here?” I asked, trying out some sarcasm for Parker’s benefit. I didn’t like saying one thing that could mean another, but Parker seemed stressed and there really couldn’t be a misunderstanding that I was joking a little with what I said. 

He gave me a cheeky grin and I returned it before he reached for the handle. The door jerked, but held firm. We frowned at each other, then Parker turned toward a woman hurrying toward them. 

“Excuse me, but you can’t enter that room.” She said, seemingly out of breath from rushing. 

Parker looked up at me and I nodded, knowing not to say anything. I wasn’t the best at talking people into situations, or whatever it was called when you made people do what you wanted. I knew there was a word, but it was escaping my thoughts. 

“We’re friends of his, our friend Oliver brought him in.” Parker said, his voice calm even though I could tell that he was still stressed. He had a nervous twitch to his fingers and almost stuttered twice. 

The woman grabbed the clipboard hanging next to the door and read through what was scribbled on the sheets. How can anyone read that? I wondered as she continued to read. Maybe she’s just pretending that she can understand it? 

“What is your friend’s name? And what are yours?” She asked, glancing up at us. 

“His name is Oliver and I’m Parker.” He glanced over his shoulder at me and nodded. “And this is Callem.” 

The woman looked back down at the clipboard, then wrote something on one of the lower lines. “Alright, but do not approach him. He’s been extremely aggressive since he was brought in and is restrained.” She looked back up at us, her eyes narrowing. “And we don’t need to test those restraints, am I being clear?” 

Frowning, I nodded at the same time Parker did. Fri wasn’t an aggressive mer. He was a sweetheart who had to be terrified in order to try and hurt anyone else. When she finally said that we could go in, she unlocked the door but made us wait until two men came over to escort us, as if they could do anything against an angry mer. 

I kept my mouth shut, though, and just waited until she opened the door and we were allowed to go inside. What I saw when my vision adjusted to the dim room made my stomach ache terribly. I wanted to run over to the bed and tear Fri free of the ropes that held him to the metal bed. Parker grabbed my wrist and squeezed, making me take a deep breath as I stared down at him. 

“Calm down, Callem.” 

His voice didn’t help me much as I slowly made my way closer to Fri. He had a mask over his face, and a weak, but steady growl was echoing in the quiet room. His eyes were barely open, but I could feel them on me. I let my gaze move over his body, the amount of things hooked up to it was sickening. 

“He can’t need all of this.” I stated, staring sideways at Parker as he stopped beside me. 

Instead of answering me, Parker turned toward the machines that were beeping in the room. I wasn’t sure what any of them were, but surely Fri didn’t need so many. 

“Why is he on a ventilator?” Parker asked as he turned to face the woman who had followed them inside, the two men she’d gotten to join her at her back. 

She glanced down at the clipboard, using the light coming in from the hall to read. “It says that he came in unconscious. He was barely responsive and needed assistance breathing. That’s why the machine was hooked up.” She stated, returning her gaze to us. 

“I’m assuming he’s tried to escape or attack someone, and that is the reason he’s tied? And not just because he’s growling?” Parker asked, a hint of frustration in his voice that I shared. 

The woman sighed and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “He came in unconscious but when he came around, he began baring his teeth and growling at staff. They tried to assure him that they just wanted to help him, but he refused to keep the ventilator mask on or the IVs for the fluids he needs in.”

He must have been terrified. Anger boiled in my chest when I realized that Hice was nowhere to be seen. I had expected him to be lurking in a dark corner, watching over Fri, but he wasn’t here. I doubt he even came at all. 

The door opened right as I thought that and I had a feeling that my own mind had brought Hice to Fri’s side. Unfortunately, the person who stepped through the door quietly, then turned and shut it before facing us, was definitely not Hice. 

Parker stepped forward, likely about to speak to the man, when a snarling roar ripped through the room and the machines against the wall began going crazy. I jerked my attention back to Fri, who was fighting the restraints in a fury. He swung his head back and forth enough to force the mask off, then began trying to free his arms. His struggling forced some of the IV needles to pull free, leaving lines of blood slowly escaping from his wrists and arms. 

“Fri, calm down.” I said, trying to soothe his anger. 

His dark-rimmed eyes met mine, and I realized then, that he wasn’t angry. He was terrified. Without thinking, I responded. Whirling around, I grabbed the man by the throat and slammed him against the wall hard enough to shake the shelf leaning up against it. Dust fell slowly to settled on us from the ceiling as Micah lifted his shaking hands to scrape at my arm, but I didn’t release him. I tightened my grip as my gills flared and I felt my teeth starting to form points. It took a lot to bring out my other side without the feeling of water over my body, but I was very close to tearing him apart.

The only thing that saved the man were his gasped words as he choked around my fingers digging into his neck. “Hice s-sent me.” 

I let his body drop to the floor then, after a final strong squeeze. He coughed, then gagged and coughed several more times, trying to regain his ability to breathe. I probably hurt him for far longer than this moment, but after Fri’s reaction to him, I couldn’t find it in me to care. A hand wrapping around my left arm brought my fury back and I turned, snarling at one of the two men that he woman had brought in for protection. He shrank back against the opposite wall, eyes wide. 

“Cal.” 

Parker’s voice immediately made me sigh with relief as he stepped beside me and offered a smile. “It’s alright. He won’t be able to get to Fri with all of us here.” 

He didn’t yell at me for losing my temper. I never lose my temper. Unease nudged at my heart, but as I looked down at the man still at my feet, I couldn’t find it in me to apologize. 

“Why would Hice send you here, and not come himself?” Parker asked, taking over the situation. 

I let him, though I remained right beside him, ready to defend what was mine. My fingers lifted to gently grasp the edge of his shirt, just in case. I wanted him to know that I was there the second he needed me. 

It took Micah a few more moments before he heaved a tired breath and leaned back against the wall. Sweat dotted his brow, making his dark hair press against his skin as his dark eyes lifted to meet Parker’s. He kept glancing at me, but I held back my snarl. I wanted to growl at him. Make him cower for doing whatever he had done to Fri previously, but Parker needed me to calm down for right now, so I would. 

“He wanted me to try and help Fri.” Micah finally said. He seemed like he was being careful with his words, and it made me uncomfortable. 

Parker seemed to notice that, too, because he squatted down and narrowed his eyes on the man. I followed, kneeling beside him, doing my best to look dangerous. He flinched, hunching a little and licking his lips nervously. “I came because he asked me to.” He repeated. 

Parker pursed his lips. “What makes you useful? How could you even begin to help Fri? You brought him that bottle of medication last time. Oliver said that stuff was strong. Dangerous, and for the treatment of severe swelling.” 

Fri’s growl played as background music to our discussion, keeping Micah clearly worried. When he didn’t reply to Parker, I bared my teeth and Parker continued. “Answer me, Micah. What can you do here?” 

“I-I know what’s wrong. What they’re doing won’t help him.” 

The man’s face paled as he spoke and I thought he might pass out right where he sat. He didn’t seem like he would know what was wrong. He wasn’t dressed like the doctors. He didn’t talk with strange words that most of them used at Parker’s work. He seemed normal, wearing a simple black T-shirt and worn jeans. His shoes were even old-looking. I couldn’t see him as a doctor, let alone one that knew about mers. 

Parker, though, seemed to take his words seriously. He was looking at the man with a hesitant expression. “Fri knows you. What did you do to him in the past?” He asks, his voice calm, though I could hear the edge in them easily. 

The man was practically shaking at the question, which only fueled my own anger. I lowered my left hand to the cold tile floor and leaned forward where I crouched, hissing as my gills flared again. 

Micah’s arms shot up at the same time he yelled his response on a shaky breath. “I was the head biologist assigned to study him!” I had his throat in my grasp before he even finished speaking, his arms knocked aside as if they were nothing. Soon, you will be nothing, too! My heart pounded against my chest as I didn’t hesitate to choke him. 

I was content to let the light slip from the man’s eyes before I felt Parker’s hand press over my own at the base of Micah’s neck. “Callem. We need to think this through, please let go of him for now.” 

My anger flared, betrayal making my heart confused as to what I should do. “He hurt him, terribly.” I growled, putting more strength into my action. Micah struggled, clawed at my hand, but he got nowhere. He would pass out shortly. 

“Callem, release him, now.” Parker said, his gaze focusing past me when I glanced his way. I then followed where he was looking and released the man out of surprise. The people who had brought us into the room were gone, replaced by police with guns pointed at us. 

Had they been here the whole time? I didn’t hear anyone come in or saying anything. 

Standing, I faced the men, a frown finding its way onto my face. I could hear Micah coughing beside me, but I wasn’t going to look away from the guns. 

“What’s going on in here?” The officer to my left asked from the doorway. He was a bit heavy, but still held himself well. He wasn’t afraid of me. Because of the gun. 

His eyes went to Micah, but he didn’t try to move closer. We waited silently until Micah was able to catch his breath and shakily get to his feet. I expected him to try to get us out of the way. To tell the police that I’d attacked him, which I did. He remained silent for several more moments as he leaned his body against the wall to help himself stand. He then looked at me, our eyes meeting and holding. I wanted to snarl, but I forced myself to just narrow my gaze. He turned his attention to the officers then, and forced a pained smile. 

“It… it was just a misunderstanding.” He rasped, speaking clearly painful for him. 

The officers seemed shocked. I felt shocked. I’d just attacked him. Tried to kill him, yet he said that we had just had a misunderstanding? The two policemen looked at each other, then back to Micah as they slowly lowered their guns. 

“Are you sure? You should get treated, and press charges.” The one on the right said, his brown hair thin, leaving him nearly bald. 

Micah nodded and pushed away from the wall. He wobbled a bit, but managed to stay upright. “No charges, please leave us be.” The officers were hesitant, and I thought they might just take me away anyways, because they probably could, but with me being a mer, they were likely hesitant. 

“Okay, but we’ll be waiting in the hall. If we hear anything at all, we’re coming back in.” The heavier man said before turning and leaving with his partner. 

I walked forward and shut the door, not bothering to wait for the woman and her two guards, who had disappeared off to somewhere else. When I turned back around, I saw Micah limping over to the many machines hooked up to Fri. Some weren’t working right, but I figured that was because Fri had thrashed in his bed, removing some of the items connected to the machines. 

“A lot of this dosage is too high. He doesn’t need this at all, and this is too low.” Micah said as he began messing with the machines. I didn’t like him touching anything that had to with Fri, and while Fri had calmed down, he was still growling and snapping at Micah each time the man got almost too-close. 

He did get too close one time, when he removed one of the needles that was still stuck in Fri’s wrist. Fri lunged, his teeth snapping down onto Micah’s left arm. The man winced, a quiet whimper leaving his lips, but he didn’t stop what he was doing or call for the officers. I felt a pain in my arm just watching as blood began to run down his skin toward his wrist. “This is toxic. It might have helped initially, but it’s poison in the end.” Micah said as he tossed the needle, connected to an IV, aside to hang by its intended machine. 

Fri released him after he removed another needle. I could tell that he was about to fall asleep, and that was likely the only reason he gave up his attack. Micah stumbled about for a while longer, fixing this and turning off that. Parker and I followed him closing with our eyes, making sure that he wasn’t hurting Fri. 

When he finally stepped away from the bed and machines, having replaced the mask over Fri’s face since Fri had fallen asleep, he turned and grabbed a clipboard set off to the side and began writing. “He needs these medications as fast as you can get them. Double the dose on this one,” he said as he made a mark next to one name. “And halve this one. Don’t give him anything else.” 

Parker took the clipboard from him right before Micah turned and leaned back against the wall, sliding down it with a long sigh. Parker left to get the medicine and I took the time alone to kneel down in front of Micah. He didn’t move. His head was hung forward, hair falling to just barely hide his eyes. I reached forward and moved his bangs aside. 

He passed out. 

I wasn’t surprised. I did hurt him pretty badly and he was bleeding from Fri’s bite. Sitting down in front of him, I tried hard not to hate him. He had caused terrible things. Yet he’s here trying to help. He couldn’t just be doing this because Hice asked him to. I was confused, and I didn’t like it. 

Frowning, I gave my own sigh and decided to just wait for Parker to return. We would get Micah help after Fri was taken care of.

You Thought You Knew

(Well, time to answer one of the questions… and add a few hundred more. Figured I’d update again since you guys don’t get mad when I need an extra week :3)

Callem-

The staff returned following Parker. He must have gotten them, because they hurried over to Micah and got him out of the room before returning a few minutes later to check the machines he’d changed. They didn’t seem happy, but when they began trying to put the needles back in and hook Fri up, I stepped between them and him, baring my teeth in warning. 

“He does not need those things. Leave him be.” 

They looked at each other with knowing eyes, and I realized that when we left, they could just reconnect the machines. I was just opening my mouth to tell them that I’d kill them if they caused him more harm when Parker stepped between us. 

“We would appreciate that any changes from here on out are run through our friend who brought him in, and signed as his guardian, from what I saw on the papers you were reading.” 

The two doctors, both men, narrowed their eyes over the masks on their faces, but took a step back. Parker held his phone out toward the doctors, a grin on his face. “He’s waiting to talk to you. He can answer any verification questions about his identity.”

The two men looked at each other, then the slightly taller one with graying hair reached out, taking the device and placing it at his ear as he pulled his mask down to hang around his neck. Their conversation was quiet, their voices low likely because of Fri sleeping behind us. When they finally hung up the phone and handed it back to Parker, they seemed tired. 

“He confirmed that what you say goes, for now. We will need him to come in, however, to sign for the changes in care.” The man said. 

“How long did he say he would be?” Parker asked. 

We will wait for him. 

The man frowned, but replied. “About seven hours.” 

He’s probably at work and planning to visit Ocar. 

Parker ran a hand through his hair, sighing as he dropped into one of the chairs placed around the room. “We’ll wait, then.” 

The doctors scowled, but they eventually nodded and left us alone, shutting the door behind them. When no one returned for a few moments, I let myself finally relax and climbed into Parker’s lap. I knew that I was a bit big, and maybe a little heavy, but when his arms came around me and held me close, everything felt so right. 

“Hey there, Cal,” he whispered as he grinned at me, my head resting against his shoulder. I began to sing quietly, the sound rising from my throat to vibrate through the room quietly. Parker’s arms held me closer as he buried his face in my hair, his whole body relaxing. 

I loved that I could do this for him, to him. My song called to him, but also allowed him complete calm. He had been cautious of it at first. Fighting the hold. I remember when we first met. When I would sing because I was lonely. My heart thumped happily in my chest at the memories as I let my eyes close, enjoying the peace. 

Whispered voices slowly woke me. The steady beeping of a few machines helped pull me back completely, my eyes blinking open sleepily. I turned, yawning as I got to my feet and looked at Oliver. 

“Good evening, Callem.” He said, then turned his attention back to Parker. “I’ve signed all the paperwork and spoke with Micah when I caught him on his way into the elevator. I don’t know what his story is, and he seemed a bit dazed, but what he suggested about the machines, and what medication to give Fri, made sense, so we’ll keep it the same for now.”

Parker got up and placed a hand on Oliver’s shoulder, squeezing a bit as he smiled. “Thank you for coming, and doing this for Fri. Is everything going alright with Ocar?” 

Oliver rolled his shoulders and Parker let his hand fall, though the gesture seemed to just be to release some stress, not to make Parker move his hand because he didn’t want to be touched. “They finally let me give him some enrichment. Fish frozen in blocks and different puzzles. They’re simple and probably annoying, at best, but…” He sighed, blinking quickly as he swallowed hard. “I felt so relieved when he at least paid them some attention.” 

My heart warmed at the idea of Ocar messing around with boring items just to please Oliver. The mer was stubborn, and I couldn’t see him doing that for any other reason than to ease some of the worry Oliver felt over him. 

“I am glad.” I said, offering Oliver a small smile. I wanted to say something else, but an odd sound caught my attention. From… above? 

It felt almost like vibrations. Like a pulsing growl, but so, so far away. Tilting my head back and forth slowly, I tried to figure out where it was specifically coming from, but I couldn’t figure anything else out other than it was above us. 

“Parker?” I asked as he finished speaking with Oliver, who had taken a seat beside Fri’s bed. Parker turned toward me, a curious look on his face. “What’s up, Callem?”

Shuffling nervously, I tilted my head again, catch the same song. I had hoped that I was wrong, but I couldn’t deny what it was. “I hear singing.” I said, making him raise an eyebrow, probably wondering why someone singing was an issue I needed to bring up. 

“I… it’s a mer’s song.” 

His eyes widened and Oliver jumped up from his chair, stumbling due to his metal leg. I caught him quickly, then set him back down. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing.” I told him, not wanting him to try and follow us with his bad leg. If it was another mer, it would be hard to protect him while also watching over Parker. 

“Let’s go see what it is, Cal. You’re right though, it’s probably nothing.” Parker said, though I could tell that he didn’t mean it. He was worried. As was I. 

I smiled and nodded, following him from the room when we were both sure that Oliver wouldn’t try to follow us. As soon as we were outside the room, door shut, we headed toward the lifting metal box. 

“Are you sure you hear a mer, Callem?” He asked, a frown taking away his sweet smile. I didn’t answer until we stepped inside the box and I hit the button that should take us up. 

“Yes, it’s definitely a mer.“I said, looking up and tilting my head here and there as we rose. The sound got closer and closer, though it still felt like it was distant overall. 

We stopped on the next floor, but immediately I knew that it was higher. I wrapped my arm around Parker’s middle as he tried to step off the machine. Tugging him back against me, I pressed the up button again, grinning to myself as he leaned closer when the doors closed. I pressed a kiss to his hair before the doors opened again. 

“Not this floor, either. Higher.” I said, reaching for the up button again. 

Parker took my hand, stopping me from pushing the button as he looked up at me with worried eyes. “Callem, the next floor is the roof.” 

I tilted my head, not understanding why it was an issue. If you can get there with this machine, then they could be up there. “I think they are up on the roof.” I state as I press the up button again. 

Parker didn’t look happy, but he nudged a little closer to me. I hugged him gently, then stepped out of the machine when it stopped. There were stairs in front of us, and I didn’t hesitate to begin climbing them. The sound was clearer here, and I knew that I had been right. 

They’re on the roof. 

I made it to the door in moments, Parker on my heels. Trying the handle, I noticed that it was unlocked. Broken recently, by force. Licking my dry lips, I pushed the door open and stepped out into the dim light of dusk. The sun was just about down, but there was easily enough light from the city and sliver of remaining sun to be able to see well. 

Parker stepped up beside me, then froze at the same moment my breath struggled to leave my lungs. “Callem…” He whispered so quietly that I could barely catch him above the howl of the wind. 

I couldn’t find the ability to respond as I stared. Hice sat on a small raised section of the roof a foot or so higher than the rest. His eyes were dark as he looked out upon the city. His body was tense, yet he almost seemed relaxed at the same time. It’s just the position he’s sitting in. I thought as I took a hesitant step closer. He’s ready to snap if someone bothers him while he’s singing. 

Well, someone else. 

Micah sat right up against his bare back, his right cheek pressed against Hice’s skin. The man’s head was tilted down as he hunched against Hice, his dark hair covering his eyes. He looks, sad. Depressed? I couldn’t find the words for a moment, but then the description came to me suddenly. He’s hurt. My eyes narrowed on what I could see of the man’s face… the tears running down to his chin. terribly hurt, somehow. 

“No way.” Parker whispered, his hand finding its way to mine as he gave it a shaky squeeze. He wanted to leave, and I couldn’t argue.  

I started backing away, tugging Parker with me. This wasn’t a situation I felt we could deal with right now. Hice was dangerous enough, we couldn’t risk him attacking us, or Micah. The moment I had Parker back in the machine and the doors slid shut, we both gave a huge sigh of relief. I hugged him to me, never wanting to let go as what we had just seen sunk into my confused mind. 

Somehow. Some way. Hice’s song affects Micah.

Beneath Your Nose

Ocar-

The puzzles. The same strange tasting fish day in and day out. It was wearing on me. My tail pumped lazily as I glided along the bottom of the deep pool. I was grateful to be allowed at least this much freedom. Being given a pool at all was a relief after suffering in human prison, but it was far from the ocean. Very, very far. 

The scent of something sour hit my nose and I glanced up from the darkness. More of that medicine they keep putting in the pool. They said that it was to kill aquatic infection in specimens , but I wasn’t a damn experiment. I didn’t feel sick and I wasn’t stupid. They were dosing my water for a different reason… but hell if they would bother telling me. 

I’ll have to ask Oliver when he comes back. 

The faint vibrations caused by a human walking alongside my pool brought my attention to the other side from where the chemicals had been put in. I swam closer, staying deep enough to hide in the shadows of the wall to my right. He was talking to someone, though I could only feel one set of footsteps. 

Must be on a phone. 

Falling back slightly, I slowly began rising toward the surface. I didn’t want to be visible, or at least draw attention to myself, but I also wanted to know what he was talking about. It was odd for a human to be around me to begin with, but one not paying attention when walking along my pool? 

He’s not afraid… or he’s stupid. 

As I rose higher in the cool water, I began to be able to make out what he was saying. 

“…was added. Yes, several times.” 

The faint vibrations from his footsteps stopped abruptly, making me dive down. I circled around to the far end of the pool, then surfaced just enough to see where he was. Ah, tying his shoe. Since I wasn’t noticed, I silently slipped back beneath the surface, returning to my previous spot to wait. 

“Like I was saying, sir, I put the chemicals in the water, but there’s no reaction.” 

He began walking again and I slowly followed, being careful to stay deep enough to not draw his attention. 

“It’s not working on him the same way it did on the smaller mer, perhaps because they are different species of animal.” He stopped talking for a moment, likely listening to whoever he was speaking with. 

“Yes. I did double the dose, but he’s not floating up to the surface, and honestly, I can’t even see him.” 

A shadow moved over me, instinct forcing me to dart to the bottom of the pool. I turned in the water to look up and noticed his faint shadow. Is he trying to find me? I wondered, considering floating to the surface, as he’d said, just to see what he would say. I decided against it quickly, however, because I really didn’t understand what he would do if I did. When his shadow disappeared, I waited a few more moments, then rose back to my previous spot. 

“We’ll have to find another way to get him out.” 

There it is. This guy’s going to be a problem. 

“Yes sir, I’ll keep you updated on what they plan to do. Yes, at least we can get to him. I’m sure one of the doses will get him. I’ve been hiding the sedation medication in his food, too, so it’s only a matter of time before I can figure out the appropriate amount to knock him out.” 

I wasn’t familiar with the word sedation, but considering what he followed it up with, I had a feeling that staying awake around him was extremely important. 

“He has a medical exam soon, either tomorrow or the day after. They’ll likely try to put him under for that and I can slip him something extra to keep him down. I’ll let you know the specifics later, once I get all of the information.” 

I dove after that, needing to process what information I already had. Oliver needs to come back. I knew that there was going to be an exam, but I was told that it was just to check my basic health. They had said that if I caused no problems, that I wouldn’t need to be made to sleep. 

Lazing about the bottom, I waited for the light filtering down from the glass ceiling above my pool to turn to shadows before resurfacing away from where the chemicals were added earlier. No one was around and the lights were dimmed. 

I waited quietly a few feet from the edge of the pool until I began hearing voices coming from the hallway beyond my locked door. Their words were too mumbled by the walls to make out, but when they stepped through the door a moment later, my heart gave a strong pump in my chest, but also sped up with worry. 

The man from before… and Parker. 

“Hey there, Ocar. How have you been feeling?” Parker asked. 

His question made me nervous. He hadn’t asked that before, and after the other man’s phone call, I think Parker might have been talked into thinking that I might not be well. I can’t let them get close. 

“I am fine.” I replied, treading back a few more feet to be sure I was completely out of reach. 

Parker looked over his shoulder at the other man as he knelt by the edge of my pool, then gazed back at me. “You’re sure? You aren’t too hot or cold? The food is okay on your stomach?”

My eyes narrowed on the other man, then softened when I returned them to Parker. “The food tastes horrible and I will not eat it anymore. Please give me normal fish.” 

Parker seemed surprised as his small smile turned into a frown. “Normal fish? We use thawed fish, but we don’t add anything to them.” 

I glanced back at the other man, who was doing a good job of pretending he didn’t know anything about what I was saying. 

“There is something being put in it. It tastes horrible and I won’t eat it again.” 

The other man took a step closer to the edge and folded his arms over his chest, returning my previous glare with one of his own. “You don’t have much of a choice as to what you get. You are a prisoner here, and there is nothing being put in your food.”

I weighed my options. If I came out and said what the man had said on the phone, he could possibly hurt Parker. I didn’t care much for the human, but Callem did, and I respected him enough to not bring harm to him if I could help it.   

“Then I shall just not eat.” I stated simply. I didn’t need food every day. If I was in good enough health, I could even go a week without much discomfort. 

Parker’s frown deepened as he stood. “I’ll go catch you something when I have time, Ocar. Let me know if it’s any better when you try it, so we can rule out any possible health issues?” 

I nodded. I would be glad to eat wild caught food again, especially if it hasn’t been frozen first. 

“You can’t just bring wild fish in here. You could contaminate the other pools by mistake.” The other man said. I smirked, but hid it under the surface of the water. From what I’ve heard of him, Parker didn’t pay much attention to rules, at least when it came to mers. 

When Parker just smiled at the man, I could tell that they weren’t going to get along very well. The man pursed his lips angrily, but then forced himself to relax and nodded at Parker. “I need to go check on our other specimens, if he seems under the weather at all, please let me know.” Parker just responded with a bob of his head before the man left them alone. 

I hadn’t expected him to just leave, but it was a relief to be alone with just Parker as he sat back down at the edge of the pool. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you some good stuff. My friend is a fisherman and even if I don’t have time to do it myself, he wouldn’t mind letting me buy a few from his daily catch.” 

With a calming sigh, I slowly swam closer until I was able to hold onto the wall a few feet to his right. He smiled at me, but I didn’t return the gesture. He wasn’t my human and I wasn’t happy to see him in any way other than that he wasn’t a mean person. 

“Thank you.” I told him. 

The creak of the door opening drew my attention to it. I was ready to bolt back beneath the surface, but then Callem stepped through the door, a warm grin on his face. “Hello, Ocar.” He said as he came over to sit beside his human. 

I want my human. 

Unease made my stomach turn as I watched them. They kissed briefly and Callem nuzzled Parker’s hair for a moment before their attention returned to me, but it was enough to make me miss my freedom. I wanted to be able to go to Oliver and show him attention, but I was stuck waiting in this cold box of water day in and day out for him to come to me. 

“Don’t worry, Ocar. Oliver is working hard to get you your freedom.” Parker said as he reached toward me with one hand. I wasn’t sure how he wanted me to respond, but I hissed, baring my teeth for a few seconds before moving a few feet further away. I didn’t want him touching me. I just wanted Oliver. Could he not stop working, either at his job or to get me out, a little more so that he could visit me more often? 

I’m being selfish. 

My mind drifted as my body did in the water, memories from before I met him coming back to my tired senses. Lyric. I missed him, a lot, but I couldn’t bring him back. I don’t want to risk losing Oliver, too. He may not be here as often as I’d like, but he’s all I really want now. 

I ducked my head beneath the surface and slowly dove down toward the bottom. I didn’t feel like speaking with either of them any longer. He’ll come back. Maybe I can get him to stay for more than a few minutes next time. Closing my eyes, I allowed my mind to relax and rest until I would need to surface for another breath. Sleep wouldn’t come, it rarely did here, but I was done with people for today.

Power

(Sorry this will be short. The hurricane has my mind all messed up this week and since it turned toward me, I don’t see myself having power soon to finish this, so I’m splitting the chapter so you guys at least get something.)

Callem-Half chapter-

Coming to work with Parker the next morning felt odd, as I wasn’t very interested in being in the giant building where I used to be locked away in it all day. I needed to speak with Ocar again, however, and that was the only way I could meet with him. Thankfully, Parker was very busy in the morning, and then had to get ready for a thing he called a check-up, with Ocar in the afternoon. I wasn’t sure what he meant by it, but he said that it was nothing big and would just be a few doctors checking on him to make sure he was doing well. I didn’t like the idea of other fish doctors being around him, so I decided to stay the entire day just in case and to be sure that I had enough time to speak with him. 

I followed Parker around for a short while before he was permitted to let me in to see Ocar. He was one of the head doctors, but he still needed permission because they considered Ocar to be dangerous. I couldn’t argue that. If I hadn’t been released so soon after being captured, I would have been very dangerous. 

“Wait by the door when you’d like to be let out, alright Cal? If anything bad happens, people will come in,” Parker said as he unlocked the door to Ocar’s pool and allowed me to step inside. 

I turned and smiled at him, leaning forward to press a kiss to his lips before leaning back and nodding. “okay, and I will.” 

He smiled and shut the door, the electronic lock clicking into place loudly in the quiet that surrounded me. Feeling eyes on me, I turned to see Ocar at the other side of the pool, floating easily as he watched me with narrowed eyes. 

“Hello, Ocar.” I greeted with a cautious smile. 

Being alone in his territory without Parker made me be far more careful. I wasn’t going to approach his pool or try to be too friendly. He was cornered and caged. 

“I wanted to speak with you, if you’d allow me some of your time.” 

It probably sounded dumb phrasing my words like I did, but he could just as easily sink to the bottom of his pool and ignore me. He might be trapped, but he didn’t have to accept my company. 

When he ducked under the water, I held my breath. Because of the glare from the lights having been turned on above us, I couldn’t see his form beneath the water very well. When he surfaced by the edge of the pool a short distance away, I straightened. 

“Do you know someone named Micah from when you were at Cal-Waves?” I asked, needing to cut straight to the point in case he lost his patience and dove back underwater. 

His eyes widened by a fraction, but silence stretched on between us without a response. I waited, still, seeing his mind working behind his eyes. “Yes.” He finally said, allowing me to relax a small amount. If he hadn’t answered, I would have considered our conversation likely to have ended there. It was a relief that he seemed to be considering speaking with me. 

I took a calming breath and stepped a little closer, then sat down on the hard tile floor, crossing my legs to try and get comfortable. “We went to check on Fri at the hospital and Micah came to help, saying he was doing it for Hice. He left after a short time, then I heard singing. We found Hice and Micah up on the roof…”

My hope was that he’d have something to add to what I’d said, but when he stayed silent, I sighed and continued. “Do you know anything about the two of them together? Are they mates?” 

That got a laugh from him as he pushed off the wall to drift backward in the water. “Don’t get confused, dolphin. You know as well as I do that we sing for more than that.” 

Licking the sudden dryness from my lips, I felt my stomach turn uncomfortably at his words. “He’s controlling him, then?” I asked. 

He dove for a moment, only to surface at the edge a few feet in front of me. After setting one arm on the edge of the pool, he leaned forward and smirked. “Does it matter? Let them do what they want. It has nothing to do with us.” 

Beneath his dark eyes I saw a hatred that I had rarely seen in other mers besides my brother. I know that he doesn’t care for Hice, but is his anger toward him, or both of them? I hadn’t seen Micah do anything bad, but just belonging to Cal-Waves was enough to make me dislike him, even if it did seem to help Fri. 

“Stop overthinking this. Whether they are mates or not doesn’t matter. Hice can and will sing to control people, just like I’ve heard your brother can. We all can, technically, but some are more gifted than others. If he wants to use that gift to further his own goals, I don’t care.” 

“He’s hurting him!” I said without thinking, immediately wanting to take the words back after I’d spoken. I just, it was hard to sit back and watch someone suffer, even if that person wasn’t good. 

My words were funny to him, it seemed, because Ocar gave out quite an uncomfortable laugh before he leaned a little further over the tile. “Hurting him? Do you have any idea what poor Micah has done to me and the other mers that were captured by Cal-Waves? What he did to Fri!” 

My heart felt like it had stopped, yet at the same time I could feel it beating a hole in my chest. His sneer grew into a full snarl as he bared his teeth at me in anger. “That disgusting piece of trash was one of the head scientists. He ordered the tests. He ordered the rapes! He ordered them to all-but kill Fri!” 

Ocar had climbed out of the water but I didn’t dare move as he closed in on me, teeth still bared as his fury rose. “You think that I would ever care about that filthy human enough to try and help him after what I’ve seen him do?” He yelled down at me. “I hope Hice is his mate. I hope he’s using him. I hope he breaks him. Then I hope he murders him and leaves his body for the fish to devour!” 

 My blood ran cold as I fought to stay still. When he finally turned and stalked back to dive into the water, I inched my way backward until I was by the door. It opened moments later and I hurried out, panting to try and keep myself from shaking too badly. That had not been the information I had wanted to hear, and somehow, I was still conflicted about Micah. 

Perhaps I am just far too nice, like Parker has told me. I thought as I followed the two people who had let me out toward where I figured Parker was. They still had the exam to do, and I would stay for him even after our tense conversation, but I had quite a lot of thinking to do when I got home.

Worth

Ocar-

I was ready when they came for me. Three doctors were present, one to play the good guy and the other two held electric poles. I didn’t suspect that Parker would bother to use his, but I knew that the other doctor, the one that I’d overheard earlier, would gladly knock me out if I gave him a reason. 

My temper had died down a little once Callem had left, but I was still seething that he would even think to care about such a worthless human. Not worthless. He can help Fri if he really wanted to, or if Hice made him. He was nothing besides a body that knew how to heal and hurt. Once he healed Fri, if he could even do that, I pray that Hice would just kill him. 

“We need to do that exam I told you about earlier. Would you mind coming with us please, Ocar?” Parker said as he offered a small smile. He held his weapon lazily by his side. Clearly, it was off, or he’d be zapping himself as it brushed against his pants. 

I thank you for showing your trust to try and make me feel more relaxed, but I will be dangerous if I’m threatened… and if you get in the way, you will get hurt. 

“I would mind, but the choice doesn’t seem to be mine.” I replied as I stalked toward them, keeping my eyes on the doctor I trusted the least. When I stopped in front of him, he raised his pole a little and nodded toward the door. 

“You will walk in front.” I told him as my eyes narrowed. 

The man gave a haughty laugh. “Yeah, right. So you can attack me?” 

Tilting my head, I smirked and crossed my arms over my chest. “You have two other doctors here that you clearly trust, but I don’t trust you the most out of all three of you. I’m not stupid, human. I see the hate in you, and I don’t want you anywhere near my back.” 

The man was about to open his mouth and respond when the other doctor, whose name I didn’t know, either, spoke up. “Just walk in front of him, Bart, we had planned to have one of us lead, anyways. And besides, Parker has an electric pole, too. If he tries anything, we can easily take him down.” 

Bart. What a boring name. 

“Yeah, right! That guy goes to bed with one of them every night! Like I would trust him to knock this one out if it came after me.” 

Logical worry. I bet he doesn’t even know that Parker doesn’t even have his weapon on. I can sense something from Bart’s, but nothing is coming from Parker’s direction. 

“It’s not hard,” Parker said with a raised eyebrow. “It’s not like these can kill him, so yeah, I can and will knock him out if he tries to hurt anyone.” 

The determination I saw behind Parker’s narrowed eyes was quite entertaining. I thought he was always a happy, yet foolish guy. It seems that I was mistaken. Somewhat. 

“Fine, but if I hear a single thing, he’s getting it .” Bart growled as he stomped in front of me. I bit back a laugh, because I had a feeling that it would set him off and I didn’t feel like being shocked just yet. 

We walked for a short time before I was brought into a small but bright room. There was a steel table set up in the middle with a few small tanks along the wall with random fish inside. Little notes were fastened to most of the tanks. Callem was standing in the corner, his arms folded over his chest and a surprisingly serious look on his face.

“Up on the table.” Bart said as Parker slipped off to the side to get a few things situated. I didn’t like the look of the needles he was dealing with, but I figured that this wouldn’t be all that fun from the beginning. 

I did as I was told, even though the table was uncomfortably cold on my backside. Bart told me to lie down so that they could start taking some samples to test, for my health, of course. “No thanks. Surely you’re skilled enough to take them from someone sitting up. You are a fish doctor, are you not? I doubt any of your other patients even have the ability to be as manageable as me.” 

He wasn’t happy with the answer, but when Parker walked in front of me and gently wiped a foul-smelling piece of cotton on my arm, then grasped it with one hand while the other moved a needle close, I glared over his shoulder. I’ve had to deal with needles at Cal-Waves and a few times while here, but that didn’t mean that I liked them, at all. 

To my surprise, I barely felt the shot. Even when Parker removed the needle, there was barely any pain. I looked down at my arm, eyeing the faint blot of blood building on the surface. Parker wiped it away with another wet piece of cotton, then picked up another item with a needle on it. 

“This one has to go a little deeper, I’ll try to be fast.” He said as he wiped another we piece of cotton over my skin and then slipped the needle beneath. It was a little more uncomfortable than the first one, but really wasn’t bad. 

When he removed the needle, he wiped off the blood that rose to the surface, thanked me, then gathered his samples. The other doctor whose name I still didn’t know, stepped in front of me then and did a few simple tests. He said that they tested my reflexes, but I could have just showed him by knocking him out. His little tests didn’t hurt, but they were quite annoying. After what felt like forever, he stepped away, eyes stuck on his board he’d written everything he’d found out on. 

I expected Bart to try his luck now, and he didn’t disappoint. He started getting his own needles ready to take samples and I considered how much trouble I could get into by killing him. I knew that he wouldn’t be nearly as good as Parker, even if he tried to, which he wouldn’t. 

The first time he wiped my arm, I narrowed my eyes on him, my upper lip twitching. He didn’t even try to be careful. He jabbed me with the needle and I couldn’t help but Snarl loud enough to vibrate the table. He jumped back to grab the shock stick he’d leaned against the wall, but it wasn’t there any longer. 

The sound of something clattering to the floor brought everyone’s attention to the far door. My heart dropped into my stomach and I was off the table before I could even think. I scooped Oliver into my arms with an excited, loud hum. Normally I wouldn’t sing around others. At least, not humans who were so close, but I couldn’t believe that he was here right now. 

“He’s attacking him!” 

I knew what was coming. He’d gotten his chance to try and knock me out. Whirling us around, I snatched part of the electric pole where I wouldn’t get shocked, then yanked hard to the left. The stick impaled in the wall beside us and I felt the power coming from it die. He wouldn’t be getting it out or be able to use it even if he did.

“Parker, knock him out!” Bart yelled. 

I didn’t even bother looking at Parker as I nuzzled my face hungrily into Oliver’s neck, inhaling his scent as I hugged him tighter and tighter to me. His arms wrapped around my neck was the best thing I’d felt all week. I slowly allowed my back to slide down the wall until he was nestled in my lap. My tongue licked a tiny bit at his cheek in between little bites. It was a childish thing, acting like a human dog to show your affection, but I couldn’t help myself. Thankfully, Oliver seemed perfectly okay with the gestures. 

When I’d finally managed to calm myself, I looked around the room. All eyes were on us. The unknown scientist was blushing slightly, Parker and Callem were grinning and looked as if they’d just given each other a bit of attention, too. The person who didn’t look happy at all, was Bart. 

Sucks to be you, with your horrible name and even worse attitude. 

I wouldn’t let him ruin my mood. Scooping Oliver up into my arms easily, even with his metal leg adding weight, I eagerly carried him from the room. 

“You can’t leave, your exam isn’t over!” Bart yelled, though his words fell on deaf ears. I was done, and since I didn’t hear him running after us, I knew that he wouldn’t try to drag me back there. 

That other scientist didn’t seem to be nearly as much trouble. Perhaps I’ll try to make an ally next time I see him. 

It couldn’t hurt. If Bart was going to go after me so obviously, I would need all the help I could. 

The moment we got to my pool I began pulling off Oliver’s long coat. His shirt was next, though I wasn’t as careful with it and perhaps it would not be wearable again. He didn’t seem to mind. I held him firmly as he worked on the buckles for his metal leg. The second it came off, I took a deep breath plunged us both into the water. 

I didn’t hesitate to dive, pulling my human with me. He was the only one worth anything to me. As we settled near the bottom, I sealed my lips over his soft ones and allowed us to drift comfortable in my makeshift home while I breathed for him when needed. Our arms remained tangled around each other and I felt an urgency in my body to keep him with me beneath the water’s surface forever. Unfortunately, I knew that I couldn’t, but I was going to enjoy this time I had with him and not dwell on what would have to be. 

My human. 

I rose one of my hands to sift through his flowing hair, only to cup the back of his head and push our lips together a little harder. 

I love you. 

When I blinked, his eyes were suddenly open. My pool was saltwater, but it didn’t have so much in it to really rival the ocean. His eyes would hurt later, but I couldn’t look away, because it almost seemed like he was projecting the same words to me through his beautiful gaze.

A Little Help

(Racket: I think I broke Snowman, oops.)

Callem-

The next day I decided to walk to the hospital alone. I thought that it wouldn’t be too bad, but even after driving places with Parker for so long, I still didn’t understand distance very well. I left in the early morning, before the sun was barely visible, but didn’t arrive until it was well overhead. 

My mistake. Perhaps he will pick me up later. 

Not that I minded walking back, really, but I might not get back before he did and I wouldn’t want him to worry when I wasn’t there to greet him. I always greeted him when he got home from work, even the days I decided to go swim in the ocean. Missing seeing his smile when he walked through the door and saw me wasn’t something I wanted to ever happen. 

Stepping inside the too-cold building, my nose wrinkled at the strong smells and I quickly headed for the elevator. It seemed that everyone who worked in the building on the floors I traveled knew me already, because, while they stopped most of the humans coming through the doors, not a single one even motioned toward me as I moved. They could have been afraid of me, too, but I did try my best not to be mean. 

Stepping into the elevator, I pressed the button to close the doors, then leaned back against the wall with a tired sigh. I had been up most of my evenings after Parker had fallen asleep thinking about what Ocar had said about Micah. I didn’t want to believe that he deserved the torture he was surely getting under Hice, but I didn’t know the man at all. He could very well be as evil as Ocar said. 

Or there could be something else. 

As the floors passed, I began to hear something over the quiet music playing in the elevator. By the time I got to Fri’s floor, I knew that it was Hice. If he was singing again on the roof, which only made sense, then Micah must be here.

Worry twisted my stomach as I stepped off the elevator and went to Fri’s room. I was just stepping into the room when someone walked over. He appeared to be a doctor, judging by the blue clothing he was wearing and the mask pushed up above his eyes. 

“Hello.” I said, unsure what he wanted with me. 

The man gave me a tired smile and reached over to slide the door to the room shut, then turned to face me. “Hello, my name is Dr. Hugh. You must be one of his friends? I believe your name is Callem?” He asked, making me only slightly surprised. Everyone seemed to pay attention mers when we went out. 

“Yes, that’s me.” I said, darting a glance sideways to Fri’s room before returning my attention to him. “Can I help you with something?” 

I didn’t think I could. Mainly, because he was a doctor and I knew nothing about bodies besides how good it felt to be inside of Parker’s. My face immediately went red at the thought, drawing an odd look from the doctor before he cleared his throat and spoke. “I just wanted to ask if you knew the doctor who has been treating your friend, Micah?” 

Oh. 

“Yes, I know him.” 

It wasn’t a lie. I did technically know him. Just not well, or really, at all. Except for what other people have told me and the few times I’d been around him. 

“Thank god. Please, try to get through to him. He’s been working nonstop,  and I’m extremely worried that he’s going to get very sick, very soon, if he doesn’t stop and take a break.” 

He’s overworking himself? 

It didn’t take me more than a moment to realize why Micah was going nonstop. 

Hice. 

Anger welled in my belly as I nodded at the man.“I’ll talk with him.” 

He gave a relieved sigh and thanked me before turning on his heels and running back down the hall, likely needing to be somewhere and only having had a few moments to talk.

I thought about going into the room and talking to Micah, but when I pulled the door open and looked inside, I knew that it would be meaningless. He was slouched in the chair closest to Fri’s bed, his black-rimmed eyes checking the monitors, then Fri’s wrist. He paused for a few moments, then went back to the monitors and wrote some things down. 

His eyes look dead. 

He, himself, didn’t look good, either. Besides the black around his eyes, his hair was a mess, like it hadn’t been washed in a long while. His clothing was wrinkled and stained, and his skin was far more pale than I remember it being. 

I need to talk to Hice. 

Without wasting more time, I slid the door shut and hurried back to the elevator. Taking that up to the top floor, I then headed up the steps to the roof. The lock was broken, though it looked like it had been recently replaced with a new one. 

They’ll need another new one now. 

It would have been funny to me if I wasn’t so worried about this terrible situation. Once outside, I took a calming breath and headed for Hice. He was right where I expected him to be, but this time he was standing instead of sitting as he looked out over the human city. 

“Hice.” I called over the wind whipping around us. 

His song took a moment to come to an end, then he slowly turned until our eyes met. The look he gave me was cold, but I wouldn’t expect anything else from him. 

“Hello, Hice. I came to speak with you about Micah.” 

His eyebrows drew down into a scowl and he turned his back to me again. “There is nothing to talk about.” 

Nothing? Micah is half dead downstairs and you care so little for him that you would let him die, even helping the only person you care for as hard as he can? 

“We must talk about Micah.” I restated, adding more determination to my voice as I walked closer, stopping just a few feet away. 

When Hice didn’t respond, I bit my lower lip and narrowed my eyes on his back. He wore a thin, sleeveless, red and white striped shirt and a pair of loose red shorts. He would be able to slip out of them easily if he ever wanted to shift. 

“Be gone, dolphin.” He eventually growled as he glared at me over his shoulder. 

The wind whipped his light hair around with force, but he didn’t seem bothered by the stinging I felt on my own face from the tips of my hair. 

“I will not leave until I know why you are hurting him so much. He will die, Hice.” 

That seemed to get his attention, because he turned back to face me, a half-smirk on his face. “And that matters to me, how?” He asked, tilting his head slightly. 

I was surprised by his response. “Surely you understand that he is doing everything he can to help Fri. He may be the only one who can do anything.” 

Hice laughed loudly at my words, confusing me. 

“Oh yes. He is helping him, but there are other doctors, Callem. And all of them will do whatever I tell them to. Micah might know more about mers, but he has also told several of the doctors how to treat him and is writing down everything he does. I know he will die soon without rest, and I don’t care in the least.” 

My head hurt thinking about how someone could be so horrible. Mers weren’t know for being nice, and my brother was a good example, but he rarely killed people without cause, and now that he knew that there would be consequences for doing so, he’s stopped completely. 

Yet Hice is willing to let Micah die because he can. 

I had no doubt in my mind that he would allow all of the other doctors to die, too. Surely they would figure out that something was off and possibly find out that Hice was behind it, but how many people would have to die before that outcome? 

I don’t like this at all. 

“Please, just let him rest. Please stop singing to him for a few days.” 

Hice snarled abruptly and before I could consider reacting, his fist was slamming into the side of my face. I stumbled, but managed to remain on my feet. With a shake of my head, I steadied myself and looked up just in time to see claws coming at me. I ducked just in time and saw a few threads of my hair fall past my eyes, sliced by Hice’s swift attack. 

“Stop!” I growled, though I didn’t expect him to and stumbled backward so that I could react when he came at me again. 

When he lunged forward and slashed at my chest, I ducked away, then responded with my own claws. I caught him in the jaw, but he took the hit intentionally to get closer to me. My back hit the ground hard with his next attack, the hot cement burning into my skin through my thin shirt. 

“I will only warn you one more time, Callem! Leave me be! Micah will die whether it is by my song or his own misfortune, so go fret over some other worthless human! This one’s life is over soon either way!” 

  What does he mean? 

“What do you mean, his own misfortune?” I asked. 

His claws holding the front of my shirt began to scrape against my skin, but I held still, needing to get answers while he was focusing on me. 

“He is dying anyways, what does it matter if I kill him sooner than his disease does?” Hice growled, baring his teeth as he spoke. Blood ran from his left cheek, but he ignored it as it dotted my own face. 

Wait. He is sick? He didn’t look sick when he brought Hice that medicine the first time I saw him. 

“He does not look sick, besides being too tired.” I replied, my voice serious as I narrowed my own eyes on his glaring ones. 

“Because he’s been doing the director’s dirty work, and getting paid damn well for it. He was the demon of Cal-Waves when it came to mers. Whatever the director wanted done, he’d do it. Not because he wanted to, oh no, he hated it… but he’s dying and he needed that money. He told me, when I was still a captive there, that he’d rather kill himself than keep doing what he was doing to us, but I suppose he’s just as selfish as all the other humans. He couldn’t do it, and he just kept being the director’s pawn until you and your little group of human friends took down most of that facility.” 

Most? 

“Don’t give me that look, Callem. You know as well as I do that you can never manage to kill an entire school of fish, no matter how hungry you are. There are more of those people. The director, for one, never even went to jail. He’s still calling the shots, so you better watch your own tail instead of worrying about a dead human walking.” 

When I didn’t reply he got off of me and stepped back a few feet. “Now get out of here, dolphin. And don’t come back.” 

I sat up, wiping his blood from my face as best I could before standing. There were so many questions I still had about this situation, but I knew that I wouldn’t find the answers to them here. Without another word, I headed back inside and down the stairs to the elevator. At first, I hit the door to the first floor, but when I heard Hice start his song up again, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to just leave. 

Pushing the number for Fri’s floor, I waited only another moment before the doors opened and I hurried out. The same doctor that had spoken with me before was walking past and stopped, looking at me with surprise. 

“I scratched myself a bit.” I said as I wiped at my cheek a bit more. 

Most of the blood must have wiped away, because he narrowed his eyes but slowly nodded. Probably letting me go with that answer because I have no injury there. 

Either way, I made my way to Fri’s room and stepped inside. Micah was still sitting by the bed, but he looked about ready to pass out. Or he’s being woken up by Hice’s song. The man was clearly struggling and I decided right then that I wasn’t going to leave him here. He likely needed to be in a hospital if what Hice said about his disease was true, but he couldn’t stay here. Not with Hice directly above him, commanding him to work nonstop without a care about his health. 

There was a quiet sound behind me and I glanced back for just a moment, noting the doctor from before. Well, now I can’t knock Micah out. As soon as I thought about those words, I realized that I actually could. Or at least, I could try to. I wasn’t sure how strong my song would be compared to Hice’s, or if it would even affect Micah at all, but I had to try. 

Taking a moment to gather myself, I let my thoughts calm until all I could hear in my mind was the song I needed to sing. I then let it slowly slip from my lips in a quiet, consistent hum. I didn’t like singing for anyone besides Parker, but I knew that he would be proud if I could find a way to help Micah. Even with everything the doctor had done, I couldn’t see Parker being so upset with him that he’d wish for him to stay here and suffer under Hice. 

It took nearly ten minutes for me to see any signs that my song might be working over Hice’s. Micah kept up his habitual movements, but every few seconds his head drooped and it looked like he might just fall asleep, only to wake again a moment later. 

Fifteen more minutes of strict concentration and Micah finally began to tilt in his chair. Before he could fall over, however, I stepped forward and scooped him up into my arms. The action seemed to be the final push I needed to take over in Micah’s mind, because he passed out completely at that very moment, a quiet snore coming from him as I carefully got him settled against my chest. 

Once I was sure he would be okay, I turned, only to see the doctor from before still there, his mouth open in surprise. He said nothing as I approached, but when I moved to step out the door, he didn’t move so that I could walk past. 

“I… are you going to take care of him? He really should be admitted here.” The man stuttered, unsure of how to handle the situation, I was sure. 

When I offered him a small smile, he seemed to relax a small amount. 

“I’m sorry, but I do not think that he will be safe here for some time. He has written down everything needed in order to take care of my young friend. Will you see to it that the doctors all look at those notes and are very careful with Fri?” I asked. 

The man slowly nodded, then fished a hand into his coat and pulled out some money and offered it to me. “Use this to take a hospital shuttle car back to where you live. It should get you anywhere within town.” 

I took the money, careful to shift Micah’s weight so that he remained comfortable at the same time. 

“Thank you.” I said before turning toward the elevator. 

“I’ll also accompany you outside. No one will let you walk out of here with someone looking like that, and with the bit of blood on your face, without someone with you.” 

I hadn’t thought about that, since I never got bothered coming and going, but what he said made sense. When we got to the bottom floor, we walked calmly to the exit. Someone did indeed stop us, but the man with me waved them off. The person seemed confused, but did let us go after a quick hushed conversation. Once outside, I took in a deep breath to clear my head. 

“The shuttles are right over there.” The doctor pointed just down the walkway. I nodded, but for some reason, my eyes rose, drawn to the roof.

Hice stared down at me, his normally light grey eyes as black as the darkening clouds of the storm building behind him. Beside me, I noticed the doctor follow my gaze. 

“That’s who’s doing it, isn’t it?” He asked. He didn’t seem mad or surprised, like I thought he might. 

I nodded and he sighed. 

“Do not go near him. He’s dangerous.” I said as I looked over to meet the doctor’s eyes. 

He nodded and ran a hand through his messy brown hair. “He’s another mer. I remember seeing his picture on the news. He’s the bad one, right?” 

“Yes. Keep your wits about you is all I can say. If you send people after him, he will only kill them.” 

The man blew out a stressed breath and nodded. “I have no doubt that he’ll be targeting me now, since I’m helping you take away his target, so I guess I’ll have to do my best to keep him from doing whatever he’s done with him, to me.” 

I just nodded. Even if I explained what Hice could do, it wouldn’t help the man. I would return to the hospital when I could, but Micah needed help now, and that was what I would get him. 

“Thank you,” I said before heading toward the shuttle cars he spoke of. I silently wished him the best, but my hopes were not high. Hice would not let this situation go unpunished. I just hoped that he didn’t kill the man for simply being a good person.

Drop

(Totally didn’t upload this on the wrong story >.>)

Fri-

Waking up wasn’t something I thought would be possible for me. Granted, I’d been conscious off and on for what felt like days, but I could never find enough energy to make that final push beyond the firm barrier in place before my mind.

I had a feeling that the medications I was being given by the humans were at least partly to blame, as I had never experienced such a force before when trying to awaken. For some reason, the barrier was beginning to thin as I pushed against it. I didn’t expect to be allowed through so easily, but after only a few moments the wall vanished, drawing a gasp from me as I startled awake.

“Ah, there you are. Finally.” A familiar voice chided to my right.

I remembered it as being connected to one of the doctors that had come and go over the time I’d been asleep, but I couldn’t place a name to the blurry face my eyes tried to focus on and an unsettling feeling began to swim in my belly.

“Micah sure had you on some strong stuff. No wonder you took so long to wake up, even with such a heavy cocktail of drugs.”

Unsure of what he meant exactly, I didn’t bother trying to respond. Instead, I blinked repeatedly, trying to clear my vision as I did my best to get my limbs to respond. I didn’t feel very well, but that wasn’t a surprise.

“Now then…”

My lips curved into a frown as my vision finally began to clear. I thought that his voice was just familiar because he was one of the doctors at the hospital, but when his face formed before my eyes, I caught my breath. One of the metal machines near my bed made a strange sound, drawing a chuckle from the man as he turned back to me.

The director… how is he here?

I had only seen him a few separate times back at the lab, but I rarely forgot a face. He didn’t look quite the same, but I would never forget the sight of his icy eyes.

“Good, you remember me. Now, get up, we’re leaving.” He stated as he stabbed my arm, pushing something into my skin before pulling back and throwing the item he’d used somewhere behind him on the floor.

I was used to not disobeying him, as the consequences were normally severe, but I was hesitant to leave with him. “I am sick, I cannot leave.” I slurred, hoping that I was understandable. I truly did not know what was wrong with me, but I did know that humans went to the place I was to get better. I wanted to get better.

“Sick? You are dead, you just haven’t stopped breathing yet.”

What? But then… why does he want me to come with him?

Fearing for my life would have likely been more logical a thought right after the information he had given me, but I did never think quite like other mers or humans I had met. I’ve known that I had not been well for a long time, and if my life were to end because of it, well, that was the way it would be, even though I did not want to die.

A faint sound met my ears as the man began speaking again, but I couldn’t focus. Hice. My eyes rose to the ceiling and I had to fight not to close them and begin to sing back. The director did not like singing, not one bit.

“Get out of that bed, right now!”

The man’s shout had my head jerking back down so that our eyes met. He was clearly furious, but I could also see stress and worry on his face, too. Is he not allowed to remove me from here on his own? Do I have to walk out? The thought to be difficult surfaced, but I knew that he would hurt me if I tried to resist.

Forcing myself not to look back up toward the ceiling, I hesitantly began to get my legs over the side of the bed. It took a lot more effort than I thought it would. I felt like I had all of the energy in the world surging through my body, but at the same time, I felt my body’s exhaustion and fought to perform simple motions.

I knew that it would be impossible to stand, but I couldn’t not try. My body was already terribly weak and I still did not feel all too well. Any punishment at this point would only worsen my current condition.

The moment my bare feet touched the floor, my weight dropped. I yelped as several things that were fastened to my arms pulled out abruptly, but my throat was so dry that it came out as a gruff whimper before I landed on my hands and knees, then crumbled down against the floor trying to catch my suddenly-lost breath.

“Dammit, get up!” The director yelled, though I could do nothing to accomplish what he wished. My body hummed but refused to move as numbness began to spread over my cold limbs.

My vision started to blur as I fell to the side, finally letting out a relieved breath as my weight was taken off of my tired body. I could faintly see his blurry form moving in front of me, but I couldn’t see what he was doing. It would have worried me, but as I lay on the cold floor, all I could think of was the growing throbbing in my head and the fact that I could no longer hear Hice’s song.

“Get out, now. I let you stay on the roof to keep those annoying other fish out until something happened, and you couldn’t even do that.” The man said. There had to be someone else in the room now, but I couldn’t see much of anything anymore.

The low growl that came soon after the director’s warning warmed my aching heart instantly, though. Hice! I would have shouted his name if I could, but it came out as merely a squeak on my dry lips.

“Get out, Hice. You do not want to cross me again.”

There was silence for a minute before I heard the faint sound of footsteps coming closer. When a rough hand settled against my face, I nodded my head just enough to rub against Hice’s palm. His familiar scent washed over me, calming some of my more erratic nerves.

“You know that he’s dying. Don’t tell me that he’s going to get better now. We made a deal. I let you try to save him with that pathetic doctor who is dying nearly as quickly, and if he fails, then I get the mer’s body.”

There was a loud snarl as Hice’s hand vanished from my face, cooling the skin instantly. “He has a name!” He roared.

“Do not threaten me, Hice. We had a deal! A corpse needs no name!” The director yelled back.

Several more growls filled the room before I felt myself being lifted. “Hice!” The sudden burst of air against my exposed skin, as well as the subtle motion of being moved up and down slightly but frequently let me know that he was running.

He’s trying to get away. To get me away from the director.

In all honestly, I didn’t want him to, but I was unable to speak. There were always consequences when you opposed the man, and I didn’t want Hice to be punished for my sake. If what the director said was true, then I wouldn’t be alive long enough for the punishment to Hice to be worth the risk.

I tried to speak in order to tell him to leave me behind, but I couldn’t even get my lips to part any longer. Without much else to do, I resigned myself to waiting until we stopped. It took quite a while, too.

“Hice, what in the world?”

Oliver?

“Fix him!” Hice snarled as I jerked in his arms, then felt warmth begin to heat my shivering body.

Several people could be heard around me within a matter of moments, but I didn’t focus on any other voices besides Oliver and Hice as I was being laid down on something soft. “Hice, I-I don’t think-”

“I don’t give a damn! Fix him! You are a doctor, you must fix him!”

Silence took over but I could hear shuffling feet and faint pressure against my skin every few seconds. I wasn’t sure what was being done, but when the warmth tripled, I sighed with relief.

“The heat blanket will make him more comfortable.” Oliver said before Hice cut in. “The director was there. I saw an empty needle device on the floor.”

“So he gave him something, on top of what Micah was already putting in his system.” Oliver mumbled. “I can’t, in my right mind, give him anything else.”

“Why? Surely you have something?” Hice said, his voice actually sounding close to begging.

Another short bout of silence, then a snarl and the slamming of what I could only assume was the door leading out to the pool, as it sounded like it slid. It hurt to know that he was in so much pain because of me.

“I’m sorry, Fri. I wish I could do more right now. Try to get some rest and I’ll be here all night if you need me. I just can’t safely give you anything more until at least tomorrow.”

I appreciate it, Oliver. Please don’t worry over me, I will do my best to get better.

I knew that it was unlikely to happen, but I wasn’t too good at giving up. As long as my aggressively protective friend was willing to wait for me, I would keep trying.

Chances

Callem-

The next morning was hectic. Hice was up before anyone, which meant that everyone awoke soon after he came back inside. I had no doubt that he had been watching Fri from the side of the pool in between swimming off his frustration. 

When I walked into the living room, Oliver was being shaken awake by Hice. It was clear that he hadn’t slept well, but Oliver rarely slept these days. He took a minute to come around, but as soon as he seemed remembered what was going on, he turned his attention to Fri. 

“Before I fell asleep last night I took a few samples from the bruising spot on his arm and called in a favor from one of my colleagues to come pick them up and run them.” He said as he pulled out his phone, clearly reading through a message. 

“What a sick bastard.” 

Oliver’s words drew my eyebrows up and halted Parker and Jayson in the doorway to the hall. 

“What does it say?” Hice asked after an awkward silence. He was sitting close to Fri, one arm resting against the sofa, just barely touching the other mer’s pale hand. 

“The results for the tests… the director injected Fri with a cocktail of chemicals, but the main one was formaldehyde.” 

Frowning, I looked to Parker for an explanation, but he just looked very sick all of a sudden. Turning my attention to Fri, I noted the spreading black and blue skin along his upper arm. 

“It’s a chemical used to preserve dead animals.” Oliver explained as he loaded something into a syringe from a vile he took from his bag. 

“What are you doing?” Hice asked, his hand now gripping Fri’s wrist tightly, his eyes on the syringe. 

Oliver flicked the tip of the needle, then moved to kneel next to Fri. “I’m going to give him something to hopefully fight the chemicals, but if my guess is correct, this isn’t a one time occurrence.” 

It isn’t? 

“You mean that the director had put that chemical in him before?” Hice growled, eyes narrowing on the needle as Oliver carefully slid it into Fri’s skin and pushed the end piece. “My coworker found patches of irregular cells.”

Seeing Hice’s growing frustration, Oliver hurried to explain further. “The drug is used to preserve dead things, but when exposed to living tissue, it can cause cells to multiply uncontrollably.”

Parker and Jayson both stared at each other for a moment before finally walking into the room and sitting near Fri and Oliver. “That’s what’s wrong with him.” Parker said, his voice having gone eerily quiet. 

“Wait… so you know what’s wrong with him? So you can help him?” Hice asked, his voice raising with a faint hint of hope. 

“The cancer he has is extremely hard to treat.” All eyes turned to Micah as he stepped into the room. The dark circles that had been below his eyes seemed to have grown in size, and he looked even more pale than he had when I’d brought him here. 

Hice actually looked like a puppy that had been kicked after the doctor had spoken. Mellac probably would have been the one who kicked it.

Micah took a seat on one of the folding chairs we’d brought in from the lanai. He almost looked like he’d fallen asleep right then and there, but after a few shallow breaths, he opened his eyes and looked at Oliver. 

“The director had ordered me to do tests on him since his capture. He didn’t consider him strong enough to be worth passing on his genetics, so he was used as a study subject to try and get as much information as we could on mers. I didn’t inject the preservative into his system, but I saw the director leaving the room his cell was in with an empty syringe more times than I could count. He must have been doing it this whole time… which means that he could easily be the cause of Fri’s current state.” 

“But you know what it is. Fix him.” Hice whispered, the fight seemingly having gone out of him as he stared up at Micah. 

To my surprise, and likely to everyone else’s in the room, Hice wasn’t trying to force Micah to act. He could have, until one of us interfered, but he just sat beside his hurt friend with wide, worried eyes. 

“The tumor has spread by now. Metastasis has occurred to the tissue in his brain.” Micah replied, his eyes lowering from Hice’s until he was staring at his hands in his own lap. “There isn’t much that can be done that would be worth the pain it would cause.” 

Tilting my head slowly, I took in the tired man’s expression and ran his words back through my mind. Now it makes sense. “You have the same thing.” I said, earning a tired glance from Micah and a half-hearted smile.   

“I’d tried chemotherapy with him once at the hospital, but it nearly killed him after only a few minutes. Surgery was another option, but considering that the cancer had spread to the brain, and wasn’t centralized there to begin with, meant that it would have been too much tissue to operate on. It would have killed him just trying.” He added. 

“So there’s nothing else…?” Hice asked, though his attention wasn’t even on Micah any longer. He’d turned his focus to Fri, resting his arm on the sofa to lean on. His face was so close, yet Fri didn’t stir at all. 

I watched Micah’s attention switch from his lap, to Hice, then Fri, and back again before he released a tired sigh. “It probably won’t be worth it, either.” 

Hice swung around immediately, his eyes narrowed as rage surged just beneath their surface. “What!” Micah sank back into the chair, averting his eyes again. “It’s just… mer bodies and human bodies react to the cancer differently, from what I’ve seen while researching Fri’s and my own sickness.” 

 When Hice just growled, Micah straightened in his chair and continued. “Perhaps a blood transfusion.” 

“What good would that do?” Oliver asked. “It might have helped a little in the beginning to prevent infection, but it’s far too late for that now.” 

Micah licked his lips nervously, but still managed to meet Oliver’s eyes. “When I tested his blood throughout his stay at the Cal-Waves facility, it showed that his white blood cells were actually fighting the abnormal ones, considering most human white blood cells deal mainly with infection, it was strange. His were attacking the abnormal cells… they were literally attacking the cancer.”

“Then he needs a bone marrow transplant?” He asked. Micah shook his head, his shoulders hunching a little more. “No, a blood transfusion.”

Carefully standing, Oliver stalked over to loom over Micah, Hice appearing beside him moments later. “Why was this not done in the hospital, then? Why wait until now?” He growled, clearly becoming as angry as Hice currently was, judging from the look on his face. 

“You really think a hospital would allow the transfer of blood from one person with cancer to another, or even a mer with it?” 

Micah’s words silenced the entire room. My son walked in during that stretch of time and, surprisingly without a word from anyone, settled down on the floor beside where I stood. He still looked half asleep, which was probably good considering how stressful the conversation was.

“Why the hell would you want to transfer more cancer to him?” Oliver finally asked, his voice nearly silent with shock. 

Shrugging, Micah slowly stood from his seat. “His cells fight the disease, reacting differently than than human ones. Perhaps his cells could mutate mine fast enough, or vise versa, perhaps it would give him a little more time.” 

“Time? He needs to be healed, not just given a few extra days!” Hice snarled. 

Oliver stepped in, pushing a hand against Hice’s chest. “Hice, we need to take this one step at a time. Considering how bad Fri is, time may be all we can get. But if we don’t try this, and soon, we won’t even be afforded that.” 

The look on Hice’s face hurt, but he seemed to make his decision on the situation quickly, because he was turning back to the sofa and scooping Fri into his arms. 

“Didn’t you hear me before? We can’t take him to the hospital for this. Oliver, do you have the necessary stuff for it?” 

Oliver was already halfway to the front door when Micah spoke. “No, but I can in a few minutes. I’ll be back soon.” 

While he was gone, Hice set Fri back down on the sofa and Micah got to work setting up blankets on the floor beside it. “I’m going to need to lie down for this. I barely have the energy to move a whole lot, so I’m going to be useless during the procedure and might even pass out.”

“Can I finish killing you if you do?” Mellac asked as he sauntered in, wearing only a pair of black boxers that hung too low off his hips.  

He dropped into the seat Micah had been using, relaxing into the uncomfortable fabric with a smirk on his face. “I’ll think about it.” Micah replied, making me frown. He almost seemed like he was being honest about considering Mellac’s question. 

“Alright, I’ve got it!” Oliver yelled as he limped inside, a larger medical bag than his normal one, hanging off his shoulder. 

“That was fast, for a cripple.” Mellac mused, earning a glare from Oliver. “Too bad you can’t be half as useful as me even though you can use both your legs and your mouth works far too well, hm?” Oliver replied, not even bothering to note the sneer my brother was sending his way. 

Oliver wasted no time hooking up Micah. He had a few lines going into him, but only one was taking out the needed blood. “I’m going to be adding some saline and an antibiotic as the transfer finishes up because you look like shit.” He mumbled, drawing a quiet chuckle from Micah. 

He must really be exhausted. His eyes are already closed and he’s not even flinching being poked with all the needles. 

“Okay, got it.” Oliver said as he capped the bag of blood he’d taken from Micah. It had only taken about 15 minutes to get it, too, which I thought seemed very fast for the amount in the bag. 

Oliver had Fri hooked up to the bag a moment later, then began the process of transferring it through the line. When he looked pleased with the progress, he looked down to where Micah had gone still near his foot. Parker and Jayson were talking in quiet whispers, wondering whether the treatment would do anything. 

“Hey, Callem. Come here, please.” Oliver said all of a sudden, bringing everyone’s attention to him. 

I wasn’t sure how I could be of any help, but I walked over anyways. “Yes?” 

“We’re doing the same thing, but in reverse now.” He stated, hooking a like to Fri’s undamaged arm. 

Hice was beside us in an instant, grabbing Oliver’s wrist before he could even think to put the needle into Fri’s. “Like hell you are!” I could tell that his hold was painful from the wince Oliver gave, but the man stood firm when he turned to address Hice. 

“If there is even a chance that this crazy idea could work, why not offer the same opportunity to Micah?” 

I didn’t think Hice could look anymore mad than he already did, but his face began turning red and his eyes burned with rage. “He is a terrible human! He deserves to die!” 

Oliver dropped his gaze for a  moment, only for it to settle on Micah’s pale face. “Yes. He is a terrible person. He’s done horrible things.” He raised his eyes back to Hice’s, a tired smile on his face. “But he’s here. Doing what he can to help, even though he’s lying on the floor before us dying of his own disease. The least we can do, as decent people, is try his own idea for him, as well.” 

It was clear that Hice didn’t like what Oliver wanted to do, but after a few cuss words, he stepped away, giving Oliver enough room to work. “Hold this empty bag as it fills, then fasten it up to where the other is. We won’t take out as much as we did from Micah, but we’ll need to get a decent amount.” 

I did as told, watching as Oliver slid a needle into Fri’s free wrist. It took him longer to get blood flowing from it, but a slow line began to fill the empty bag. When we’d collected enough, I put the bag up and he carefully got down on the floor to set Micah up to receive the transfusion. 

“I have a feeling that if this works, it’s going t be one sided…” Oliver whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear him as he worked. The way he spoke, however, made me think that we might not like the side it possibly ends up helping.

Consideration

(Just a note, this book is still fiction :P) 

Fri-

Waking up wasn’t something that I thought would happen. I’d been ready to go, even though I’d planned on trying, my body had decided that it wasn’t up to the task. Yet here I am. It was a shock, but I was proud to be able to open my eyes again and see Hice waiting impatiently beside me. 

He looked calm on the outside, but I knew him better. My head was in his lap, his left hand gently settled atop my head as if we had been in such a situation hundreds of times. My heart gave an odd thump at the idea, but then I pushed it away. Hice wasn’t like this normally. I’ve probably stressed him out horribly being so ill. 

I did feel better. Not perfect, but the strange pressure in my head that’s been causing me to feel so tired has eased up quite a lot. I almost felt like I could stay awake for more than a few minutes. 

Turning my attention to what Hice was looking at, I saw that the human’s television was turned on and a news show was playing. They had put it on several times in my hospital room, but I was usually too tired to pay it any mind. 

Opening my mouth a small amount, I tried to speak, but my voice refused to work. No surprise. I’d been unwell for some time, so it didn’t come as a shock, but I needed Hice to know that I was still with him. He looked so tired beneath his stoic expression. 

Thinking for a moment, I tested out my body. My fingers moved a small amount, but my hands and arms refused to do much. My feet were no better, though it was a relief that I had no pain from trying, just the feeling of exhaustion from far too much swimming. 

“Fri?” 

Blinking, I refocused my attention on Hice, but he was just starting to look down at me. Glancing around the room as best I could, I saw Oliver standing near a wall, a glass of water in his hand. Before I could figure out a way to respond, my body was roughly pulled into Hice’s lap, my head dropping onto the armrest as he leaned down so that our noses were only an inch or so apart. 

Hello, Hice. 

I wanted to talk to him, but I just couldn’t. Instead, I forced what I hoped looked like a smile, though I could tell that my lips weren’t moving very much. 

“Fri?” He asked, the disbelief in his eyes making my heart hurt. 

“How many times have I told you not to jerk him around. He needs to stay as still as possible to rest.” Oliver said as he limped over. His leg seemed to be bothering him quite a lot considering the way he was moving. 

Hice wasn’t paying him any mind. His sole focus was on me, and I couldn’t complain. I’d missed seeing him. He’d been around when I was in the hospital, but I never felt well enough to interact with him and could rarely stay awake. Now, with his rough hand hesitantly settling against my cheek, I couldn’t help but feel lucky. 

“I’m sure you’re too tired to reply right now or move much, but I’m glad to see you finally awake, Fri. Micah did quite a lot of research on you that we didn’t know about, and well, he kept most of it to himself until recently. He’d done some things under the director’s nose, and quite honestly, is saving your life in a round about way. He gave us access to the research files in his personal email before passing out again a few days ago.” 

Looking up at him where he stopped beside where I was lying, I tried to give him some sort of gesture to continue. Of course, I couldn’t move, but he seemed to understand. 

“He suggested we do a transfusion between you and him before that. He wasn’t technically wrong saying that his cells, even with the disease that would be transmitted, could help if yours managed to mutate them. Your body did wipe out the small amount that was transferred and use his good cells to your advantage from what the small tests I was able to run on you two days showed, but we’d needed to do two more transfusions using Callem, and Mellac to boost your system more.” 

Wait, they gave me a disease to try and cure my disease? 

“You don’t look like you understand. And honestly, I don’t, either. Micah seemed to realize some sort of reaction mer blood had to human blood and general diseases and tried to use his sickness to help your body grow a stronger immunity. It’s something along the lines of what happens when injecting a killed virus into a system as a vaccine, except that it was live and you were already sick, but the details in his notes were extremely complicated to put together as to why it could possibly beneficial to do that, likely to keep the information out of the director’s hands if he ever got access to it.” 

I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened then, trying to convey a nod. 

“Well, either way. Your body is doing better. You’re not cured, by a long shot, but I’m thinking that you aren’t feeling nearly as bad as you have been recently.” I gave him a small smile and he returned it. 

If I’m doing okay, and they gave my blood to Micah, then how is he doing? 

I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t, and there was no way to show my curiosity through my tired eyes, so I just turned my attention back to Hice. You’re adorable when you worry, but I wish you wouldn’t any longer. I’ll be okay. I wasn’t positive of that, at all, but if it would remove his cautious expression he wore as he carefully touched my face and replace it with the frustrated frown I knew so well, I would be very happy.  

He leaned down to nudge his nose against my cheek, the faint sound of sniffing telling me that he was taking in my scent. I probably didn’t smell all that great after being in that human hospital for so long, but when he leaned back just enough to lick my nose, I couldn’t help but give a weak chuckle. It was mainly just the sound of air escaping from between my lips, but when Hice closed his eyes and a rare smile found his its way onto his face, I knew that I wanted to be sure to laugh around him as much as possible when I felt better. 

“Kipper, could I borrow a small bit of that?” Oliver asked, drawing my attention over to where the young mer had just stepped out of the kitchen with a plate of food. I didn’t want it. At all, but I knew what was coming. 

You need to start eating again. 

Biting back the sense of nausea that came from the idea, I tried to keep myself from stressing as Oliver took a small piece of fish and walked over. It looked like he was going to try and give it to me himself, but Hice had no interest in letting him. He reached up and swiped it from Oliver’s hand in a blur, then sniffed it before moving it to his palm and scratching it to shreds. 

You would probably try to drown me if I told you that you looked cute right now. 

When he reached up with a little pinch of fish, I forced my lips to part just enough for him to slip it between them. I didn’t bother trying to chew, since he had torn it up into nothing and I could barely work my jaw. Thankfully, my tongue wasn’t up to its usual task either, so I couldn’t taste the food as I swallowed. 

“Perfect. Keep doing that. Just make sure he’s sitting up a little more so he can swallow well.” Oliver said. Hice didn’t reply, but he did shift me a bit more, then put a pillow under my head before pressing another piece of shredded fish to my lips. 

I ate what he had, then drank a little bit of water from a cup that Oliver brought over. 

“That will be fine for now. We don’t want to push his stomach too far so soon.” 

After licking his fingers, then my lips twice to likely remove any stray bits of fish, Hice got himself comfortable lying down beside me. “Because I would think he’d want to know. What is going on with Micah?” Hice asked, his voice nearly a growl at the mention of the other man I was curious about. 

Oliver didn’t look happy with the question, but he ended up sighing and taking a seat across from the sofa we were resting on. “He’s not doing great. When we did the transfusion, we didn’t think about blood types or how transferring from different species would work. We got lucky that when we finally got some stuff to run the blood type tests. You guys don’t seem to go by the same standards, though. Basically, humans are only comparable to transfer blood to certain other humans. Similar blood types and what not. But you guys don’t seem to have that issue when receiving, but giving…”

Then what was the problem? Why didn’t my blood help him? 

“Well, it’s complicated to give you an answer you’ll understand. You’re very smart, for a mer or human, but even my head hurts trying to think about what’s going on with him.” 

Silence took over the conversation, but I could be patient. And Hice didn’t care, so I knew that he wouldn’t try to rush Oliver into replying. 

“All I can say is that your blood did help, some. Micah’s body seems to consider it a danger, however, and has been attacking the cells that were transferred like what happens when the incorrect blood type is used. The fact that your cells were already fighting a much stronger version of his sickness probably prolonged his life a great deal, since Micah got lucky and it doesn’t seem like we transferred enough infected cells to be damaging, however…” 

However, what? 

If I could have growled at him to continue, I would have, but I had to wait until he was able to decide what to say before he replied a few moments later. 

“With his cells attacking yours, and yours attacking the disease, his defenses are running very thin. We’re going to try and do a transfusion later for him from Ocar, if I can get clearance to take a blood sample off-site and he’ll agree to give it, but we’re just running out of options. Human blood won’t do nearly enough to bother with at this point and I won’t draw from Kipper with him being so young, so it’s down to Ocar’s cells.”

But can’t Callem or Mellac help anymore? Can they only do it once?

“If it doesn’t help enough, I’ll do it, too.” 

Hice’s words had my tired eyes widening and Oliver’s mouth dropping open slightly. I knew that he wouldn’t willingly let them take anything from him, and probably let Callem and Mellac get forced into donating first, but to hear him offer his own blood up to save Micah…

He turned on the sofa, his back pressing against my left side as he grumbled. “Fri would never stop bugging me as soon as he could talk if I didn’t offer.” 

Nodding slowly, Oliver got himself up from the chair. “I appreciate the offer. We’ll try Ocar first, then have you as a last resort. Thank you. Both of you get some rest now, if you’re up to it later, Fri, I’ll get you another small piece of fish and some more water.” 

I gave him a little grin before allowing myself to relax. As my eyes gladly drifted shut, I couldn’t help but widen my smile the slightest amount. 

Hice is so sweet. But I want to keep my bones from being broken by mistake, so I’ll just keep that thought to myself and try to get some rest.

Return

(Thank you for your patience, I just got a new laptop and got everything set up. The keyboard is a bit weird, but I’m getting used to it slowly lol Puppy jail cause she wouldn’t stop pulling on her brother’s ear.) 

Callem-

“Micah?” 

I waited a few moments, hoping that he’d respond. When he didn’t, I poked his shoulder beneath the blanket. 

“Micah?” I asked again, wanting him to wake up. 

“It doesn’t matter how much you nag him, he’s not going to wake up just because you want him to.” Mellac said from behind me, where he’d been looming with a scowl on his face ever since Jayson had left with Parker to go to work. 

They had taken days off specifically so that at least one human was home to look after Micah, since Hice refused to let anyone but Oliver touch Fri. Micah had shown signs of improvement after the transfusion from Ocar, but he still hadn’t woken up. Fri has been waking up a lot. Why won’t you? 

I knew nothing about his condition besides what little Oliver tried to explain to me, so it wasn’t like I thought poking him and asking him to get up would honestly help… but it made me feel at a bit better that I was still here for him and wanting him to come back. 

After walking around that hospital and seeing people alone in rooms, seemingly waiting to die with no one beside them, I knew I couldn’t just leave Micah by himself. “Maybe he will.” I put in, just because I knew that it would make him mad. 

I loved my brother, but sometimes I just had to bother him. 

“And maybe Eight will like you one day.” Mellac returned, earning a glare from me. “His name is Kipper.” 

Mellac rolled his eyes at that, but didn’t respond as he turned and left the room. “Don’t worry, he’s a jerk all the time, but he secretly wants you to wake up, too. So you should, or else he might try to drown you in the pool so that things could return to mostly normal.” 

“That sounds… unpleasant.” 

I nodded, staring down at the blanket. “Yes, it’s not very comfortable. He tried to drown me when I was twenty seasons bec-…” My eyes went wide, then jerked up to stare at Micah. “Did you just talk?” 

His eyes are closed. He doesn’t look like he’s awake.

His breathing did sound a bit funny, though. 

Should I go wake up Oliver? 

The idea didn’t settle well. He’d been up every couple of hours to help Fri and check on Micah. He needed to sleep.

But Micah had to have spoken, unless I’m hearing things. 

“I think so.” Micah gasped out quietly. 

Everything in me was telling me to run over and hug him and maybe lick his face a few times, but I knew that I had to get Oliver instead. Running for the door, I shouted for him even as I darted down the short hall and into the living room where he often slept on one of those blow up things on the floor by the couch Fri used. 

When I stopped in front of the sofa, the only people to be seen were Hice, holding a sleepy Fri and baring his teeth up at me. “Where is Oliver?” I asked, ignoring his warning. He was a mean mer, but no matter how much he flared his gills or snarled, he wouldn’t do much as long as Fri was safe with him. It was adorable, but I wanted to live so I kept that bit of information to myself. 

Hearing something in the kitchen, I decided to stop bothering Hice and check there. That’s where I found Oliver, hovering by the microwave waiting for something that didn’t smell anything like good to finish cooking. 

“Oliver, Micah is talking.” I said, a big smile on my face. 

When Oliver just smiled over his shoulder at me and gave a quick greeting before returning his attention to the microwave, I stared at him, wondering if he’d already known about Micah. The moment the machine beeped, though, he spun around with his mouth open. 

“wait. Did you just say that Micah was talking? Like, words were coming out of his mouth?”  

I nodded slowly, wondering why it took him so long to understand. He didn’t seem to need much more notice, however, as he hobbled out of the room as fast as he could with his metal leg. I followed after him, being sure to stay close enough to help him in case he tripped, but far enough away so that I wasn’t the one to trip him… again. 

I grabbed his bag on the way into Micah’s room and set it down beside the bed as Oliver began checking Micah. “Hey Micah, can you say something to me, please?” He asked as he gripped his wrist and looked at his watch. 

“Loud.” Micah mumbled, his scratchy. 

“Well I’ll be damned. Micah has decided to come back from the dead.” Oliver joked as he continued working. He normally didn’t mess around about things, but I knew that he was still exhausted, being the main human who knew how to take care of Fri and Micah. 

There was a quiet stressed laugh from Micah a moment later that barely sounded like a breath, but it still made me smile. “I see his energy is coming back fast.” I said, reaching over to brush his bangs. 

“How are you feeling, Micah? Any pain? I’m sure you’re tired beyond belief, but does any specific area hurt?” Oliver asked. 

There was silence for several seconds and we looked at each other, probably both of us wondering the same thing. Did he fall back to sleep? 

“Not that I can think of. But then again, It feels like my head is a television stuck on a channel that’s getting no signal, just making a lot of noise and showing blurring black and white lines.” 

Oliver pursed his lips, then crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s one plus one?” 

Micah was silent for a moment before quietly replying. “Two.” 

“Three plus four?” 

“Seven.” 

“Ten plus zero?” 

“Asshole.” 

My lips stretched into a grin as Oliver snickered. “Seems like you’ve got the basic math down.” 

He was about to speak again when the chime from his phone went off, drawing our attention to it as it was pulled from his pocket. 

“Hello?” He grumbled, glaring at the ceiling after having checked who the caller was. 

It’s probably the court. He never looks so upset unless it’s them. 

“Yes, I know I’ve been trying to get him out.” The whole damn trial was clearly bought and paid for considering I didn’t want to press charges, there was no evidence that he specifically did it, and I refused to testify!“  

There was silence for a short time, likely because the person on the other end of the phone was speaking. Oliver was visibly shaking, his free hand balled into a fist as he tried not to breathe too loudly. 

I waited and watched as his expression went from anger, to confusion, shock, then hesitation. When he finally spoke, his words were so quiet that I had to focus in order to hear them. 

“You’re letting him go?” 

My heart stumbled over itself in my chest and I stepped forward, my own eyes growing wide. Ocar? Are they really going to let Ocar go? But why? How? I would love for him to be free, but I didn’t understand how the situation had changed so quickly. 

“Yeah, I’m coming right now. Don’t let him walk out of the building until I’m there. Actually, don’t let him out of his room.” Oliver said before he ended the call and turned to stare at me. “They’re letting him go because there was overwhelming proof found that the judge had been bribed for the verdict he gave…” 

My smile widened. “Go bring him home. I’ll watch Micah.” 

Oliver only looked slightly hesitant before he gave a quick nod, then limped as fast as he could out of the bedroom. “I’ll be back in no time.” 

When I heard the door to the house close, I sighed out a breath. It was strange to know that Ocar was going to return, but I was eager to see him away from that room he’d been locked in for too long. 

“Something’s up. The director doesn’t make these kinds of mistakes.” Micah said, his voice cracking on several of the words, though they still managed to be understandable. 

I looked over at him, noticing that his face looked more pained than it had before. “You are hurting.” 

The quiet grunt I got in response was answer enough. “Why did you not tell Oliver?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed furthest from him. I didn’t want to poke him again since he was already awake, so I figured that I should stay away in case I did it again out of habit. 

“Clearly, he has more important things to deal with right now.” Micah responded, making me frown. But he got that phone call after he asked if you were hurting. 

“Don’t worry, Callem. It’s not important. Now I’m going back to sleep, and you’re going to keep what I just told you quiet, yeah?” 

I nodded, then realized that his eyes still weren’t open. “Okay.” 

When I heard his breathing slow after a few minutes, I stood up and tilted my head as I stared at him. “I didn’t say that I wouldn’t tell, I just said okay   that you can go to sleep.” 

Parker always said that it was bad to lie, but I didn’t really lie. I just gave my approval of one thing and ignored the other. 

Smiling to myself, I turned on my heels and walked out of the room, content that Micah would rest at least until Oliver returned from the short drive to the lab. When I entered the living room, Hice and Fri were still on the sofa, Fri was awake and his attention was focused on the corny cartoon on the television while Hice was only staring at his messy head of hair nestled atop the blanket on his lap. 

He’s so cute. 

“Would you two like something to eat?” I asked, drawing their attention just long enough to receive two nods. 

The kitchen was easy enough to use once I knew what things to touch and what things I shouldn’t. Basically, I am allowed to use the fridge, freezer, and sink. Parker had made us milkshakes one night and I thought I’d try it with fish the next day while he was at work. I didn’t know that raw fish wasn’t supposed to go into a blender, even if it was with milk. 

By the time I had two pieces of fish thawed for Hice and Fri, and two for myself and Ocar, in case he was hungry, the front door was opening. It was far too early for Parker and Jayson to be home, so I knew that it had to be Ocar and Oliver when I heard two sets of footsteps come in. 

The thud of the metal leg is a bit of a give away, too. 

I quickly delivered the fish to Hice and Fri, then offered the plate I’d prepared for Ocar to him. “It’s nice to see you back.” I said with a smile as I took in his appearance. He was much thinner than I remember and was only wearing a pair of loose shorts. I also noticed a metal band around his ankle that was flashing slightly, but didn’t comment. It was clearly some sort of device they’d put on him and I’d bet money I don’t have that it was a way for humans to track him. 

“Hello, Callem.” He stated simply, nodding once before tugging Oliver past me toward the patio area. “There are things happening that we will need to discuss as soon as Parker and Jayson return, but until then, I’m going to enjoy my human, so please leave us be.” 

He didn’t even give anyone a chance to respond before they were out the door and it was sliding closed behind them. 

“Uh… okay.” 

Well, I guess I’ll just eat and wait till Parker and Jayson are back. Darn my curiosity. 

Err, I hope Mellac isn’t in the pool.

Humor

(Ocar refused to take this chapter so Hice got shoved into the POV. Yes, he’s pissed about it.)

Hice-

It wasn’t hard to figure out that something was going to happen. Specifically what, I couldn’t be sure, but it was obvious that someone was creeping around the outside of the house over the past week. I would have been shocked if it wasn’t one of the director’s people, but they never came close enough for me to figure out the specifics. 

“You’re worrying again.” Fri whispered from where he was held tightly in my arms on the sofa. 

I ignored him at first, but couldn’t help looking down at his own large worried eyes after only a few moments. “You cannot help.” I said, not wanting to lie and tell him that there was nothing to worry about. He was still weak, though getting better, but either way, he would not be useful if something dangerous did happen. 

Huffing, Fri squirmed in my arms until I reluctantly let him stand. He’d been doing better, but I still didn’t trust him to do much on his own. In fact, before he got halfway to the kitchen I was on my own two feet, following after him. 

I stepped in front of him as he reached for the fridge, then nudged him over to stand near the counter. “Hold onto it.” I told him as I took out some fish for him. 

“Not unless you eat, too.” He said, reminding me that I hadn’t since yesterday. Food just didn’t sit well with me the past few days, but I knew that he wouldn’t listen unless I agreed. That was the one thing he had over me; himself. 

Growling, I pulled out a small piece of salmon and added it to the ones I’d already set out on a plate. I set the plate in the microwave for thirty seconds, since the fish wasn’t frozen, then turned to lean against the counter where he was. The humans had all gone to work besides Oliver, who was asleep in the room Micah was using, so when I heard a faint noise from outside, but no one ended up coming inside, I gestured for Fri to get down to the floor. Ocar was still likely inside, as well as Kipper, too, but I didn’t want them in the way. Ocar was better off guarding his human and Kipper was useless in general…  unless the little bastard had a gun. 

“Someone’s here again.” I stated as I walked to the entrance to the kitchen. 

From there, I looked out toward the pool area. Unsurprisingly, I saw a human pressed up against the wall. Props for getting inside the screen without me hearing you. Unfortunately for you, you’re going to die now.

Stalking toward the glass, I yanked the door to the side, snapping the lock with ease. The man jumped, not expecting me, I’d guess. I knew that it was hard to see through the glass during the morning with the glare from the sun, and had gladly used it to my advantage. 

Of course, he had easily seen and heard me breaking the door, but I was fast enough in getting to him and snatching the gun from his hand for that to matter. “Morning.” I greeted with a raised eyebrow. 

The man’s face went completely white and I smirked, recognizing him as one of the director’s personal guards and hit men. “He’s got you going after fish now, Frank? What a blow to your self esteem this must be.” 

When he didn’t respond, I narrowed my eyes and began lifting the gun to his head. Too bad he wasn’t very good at his job. “Thanks.” I noted as I saw his eyes flinch to the right, looking at something behind my shoulder. 

Without a second thought, I grabbed him by the throat and yanked his body around right before the sound of a gunshot rang out. His body jerked, then went limp, making me whistle with appreciation. 

“Nice shot.” I noted as I jerked the gun in my free hand up, then shot the other man who had fired from beyond the pool screen on the opposite side of the patio. 

My bullet hit him well enough, dropping the man with a loud scream. It probably wasn’t fatal, unless he bled out. Hm. Parker won’t like coming home to two dead men bleeding in his backyard. Sucks for Parker.  Shrugging, I dropped the dead man I was still holding and after switching the safety on for the gun, set it down on one of the chairs they left outside. 

“Stay inside, Fri.” 

Of course you’d ignore me and come see what was going on. 

Shaking my head after sending him a glare from where he stood a few feet inside the home, I stalked through the large hole the now-dead man had cut in the screen and headed for his friend, silently thankful that I at least had shorts on. As if the dead man wouldn’t cause enough of a scene if someone happened upon us. I didn’t need to add being naked to the situation. He was clearly still alive when I stopped next to him, though, and surprisingly awake, too. 

“I don’t appreciate being shot at. I believe you humans find it rude, so why do it to something that can easily kill you?” I asked, kicking him in the side I’d shot him in because I felt like it. These idiots had been stalking us for days. I needed to take a little bit of my anger out and unfortunately, his friend was already dead, so that task fell on his shoulders. 

“We were sent here as a warning, Hice.” The man gasped, making me dig my foot into his side again. I wonder how hard I have to kick him to make him black out. 

When he went limp, I frowned. “Done already?” 

“I hope you’ve said your goodbyes to your little friend, because you’re all going to die soon.” The man said, barely whispering as blood began to come out of his mouth.

Little friend? 

Jerking my head up, I looked toward the house. “Fri! Get out here now!” I yelled. 

My heartbeat picked up every second I didn’t see him, but after a few moments he stumbled outside. I saw him jump, startled by the dead man I’d left, then hop over the blood likely pooling  on the ground to make his way toward the cut hole in the screen. Ocar was right behind him in a pair of loose shorts. He looked wild and had several marks around his shoulders and neck, but I wasn’t going to even think about what, or who, they were from. 

Satisfied that Fri was fine, I glared back down at the man near my feet. “Well, my little friend is perfectly fine, human.” 

The man laughed, spraying blood before coughing some into the grass. “You really are just a stupid fish.” The man forced out. 

“Enough of this!” I yelled as I leaned down and grabbed his ankle, then began dragging him back toward the house. He struggled to grab at the grass, but he was already half dead. 

Without a second thought, I threw him into the saltwater pool, grinning the whole time he squirmed on his way down to the bottom as the salt burned in his wound. 

“That’s unsanitary.” Ocar noted as he watched, completely uninterested in trying to help the human. 

When the man stopped struggling, I turned to Fri and pulled him into my arms with a frustrated growl. No one threatens what belongs to me. 

“It would have helped if we knew what they were here for.” Ocar added, looking up at me. 

“What do you think? They clearly wanted to have a picnic.” Mellac said as he leaned against the broken patio door, scratching at the line his boxers cut across his waist. 

Wait, he was here the whole time? 

“I can’t say I’m surprised you didn’t come out when you heard the gunshot.” I stated. 

Mellac just shrugged and yawned. “I figured I’d let you have your fun. If you died, then I would have gotten out of bed.” 

Wait.

“So you only came out here because you were hoping I was dead so that you could have a turn to play?” I growled. 

When he just grinned, I thought about adding his body to the corpse at the bottom of the pool, but Fri wrapped his arms around my chest, keeping me still. Rolling my eyes, I put one of my hands on top of Fri’s head, then blew out a breath to keep calm. 

“I don’t think we’re going to be safe here anymore.” Ocar said, taking the words right out of my mouth. Yes, the two humans sent after us had been idiots, but it only takes one lucky idiot with a gun to get the job done. 

“We need to go to the Cal-Waves facility and end this.” I said as I walked out of Fri’s arms, taking his wrist before heading inside. “The director is there. I know for a fact that he returns each night after working at the hospital in town.” 

“I’d rather not waste my time in that place again.” Mellac mumbled on another yawn as he began heading toward his and Jay’s shared room. 

“I guess you can just enjoy thinking about the look that will be on your human’s face when you end up dead, then. Because the director won’t stop until he has the bodies he wants for his experiments. With the females gone due to some weird tracking problem with their chips from what he’s said, he’s given up on breeding. He wants us now, dead or alive. But Preferably, dead.” 

Mellac scowled at me, but I didn’t care what he did. We were likely evenly matched, though I knew Ocar would probably help him over me in a fight. 

“Why would he want us dead? There is more to study with a live mer.” He asked, not understanding. 

Biting my tongue on a curse, I tugged Fri back into my arms out of habit and growled. “Because, human rules are much simpler with a dead thing. There is no upkeep such as health or wellness, for a corpse. The only thing he’d likely have to prove is that he didn’t cause our death… which wouldn’t be hard for him.”

“Come to think of it.” I added, looking at Ocar. “That’s probably why he let you out. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had sent someone there to try and kill you, or at least make you sick. He must have gotten tired of trying to kill you and just decided to get us all together for something big.” 

Ocar crossed his arms over his bare chest and glanced out to the pool area before returning his attention to me. “So those two men?” 

I scoffed. “Idiots. They might be useful against humans, but considering how they came at us, he didn’t intend for them to be of any use. I bet we just killed them for him so that he didn’t get his hands dirty.” 

“So, does that mean he’s going to try and lock us up again for what you just did?” Ocar asked, a hint of worry sneaking into his voice.

I laughed outright at him. “No. That was a waste of his time from the beginning. He’s going to come get us if we don’t go after him.” I said. 

“Then we need to go find him.” Ocar said with a tired sigh as he ran a hand through his messy hair. 

When I nodded, Mellac growled and turned toward the hallway. “I’m not dealing with this right now. Talk to the humans. I will do what mine wants and help my brother, and that is it.” 

Before we could reply, he was gone. 

“I suppose it would be best to wait. Even if we leave, the humans will probably send someone after us or try to get us themselves. Or, at least, you.” I said, feeling a slight hint of frustration from that statement for some unknown reason. 

Nodding, Ocar turned toward the patio. “Alright. As soon as everyone is home we’ll decide what we’re going to do and probably get right to it if they aren’t tired, since waiting too long is clearly going to be dangerous. Can you keep an eye on outside? With the back door broken and a hole in the screen, we need to be more careful until we’re out of here.” 

Was already going to keep watch, like I have been. 

“Yeah.” I mumbled as I headed for the kitchen and he headed outside, likely to at least clean up the blood. Grabbing mine and Fri’s fish, I passed him the plate before tugging him into my lap on couch. He curled into me immediately and nibbled at the pieces of fish I tore off for him, but I knew that he was likely not going to eat much tonight after what had happened. 

Don’t blame you. 

“Get some rest.” I whispered when he had finished only one piece of fish and refused to pay any attention to the others. 

“Not until you eat.” He said while yawning. I could easily outlast him until he fell asleep, but… Rolling my eyes, I grabbed the piece I’d gotten for myself and ate it in a few bites. When his lips turned up into a smile at that, I reluctantly grabbed the other two and downed them, too. 

They sat like rocks in my empty stomach, but when he snuggled in against me with a soft “Thank you,” I realized that I was fucking whipped, and couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

Turning the Corner

(Time to try and start pulling things together :3)

Callem-

I wish I could have told him not to come, but staying at the house was likely far less safe and he wouldn’t have listened anyways. 

Still, staring down at Parker, I felt my heart shiver with an anticipation I didn’t want to occur. Why could humans not just leave us alone? 

“The tracking device is showing that they’re getting close.” Oliver said as he slowed his truck to a stop a short distance away from the Cal-Waves building and unhooked his cell phone from the holder above the steering wheel. 

Seeing the building again didn’t bring back any kind of positive memories, but I knew that we had to go back inside if we wanted to get rid of the director once and for all. 

“About time.” Kipper said as he hopped out of the small back area and climbed out of the passenger’s side window before I could grab him. 

I’d told him to stay in the truck a thousand times before we left the house, yet he was already walking toward the building. 

Wait. Does he have a gun in his hand? How? He’s only wearing shorts! He couldn’t have hidden that so easily! 

I jumped out of the truck to try and catch up with him, only to be jerked back by my shoulder. Without thinking, I whirled around, baring my teeth until I realized that it was my brother who had grabbed me. 

“Let him go. He knows how to use it, and wouldn’t you want your son to have the best chance he can to get out of this alive? That gun is going to help him, not hurt him.” 

You tied Jayson up in a closet at work so he wouldn’t be able to come, yet you’re wanting my son to run in with a gun?

Not to mention seeing all of those horrible news programs about kids killing each other by mistake with weapons didn’t make me feel any better, but I knew that now wasn’t the time to think about humans. My son was extremely young in human years, but he knew a lot more than any human children I’ve ever met. 

I’d rather he have it in case he needs it, then not have it and get hurt because of it. 

Still, it was hard to not take it from him as we all hurried to catch up to him with his short but quick steps. We ducked around to the side of the building as Parker’s phone chimed with a text message from Micah, who was left at Oliver’s house with Fri and a rather large array of weapons. The tone was set differently for him so that Parker knew exactly who was messaging him. 

Pushing our backs against the wall, he pulled out his phone and silenced it as he read the message. 

“He said to beware of this guy.” Parker whispered as he held the phone up for my brother and I to look at. Oliver hadn’t joined us and was waiting in the truck in case we needed a fast get away, since his handicap wasn’t going to be any kind of help. 

“Looks like one of those doctors I saw at the hospital when I was visiting Fri.” I said as he tucked the phone back into his pocket and we continued our way around the outside of the building. 

There was a faint splash a little ways off in the distance, drawing our attention to it right as a dark fin slipped through the surface, then disappeared back beneath the choppy waves. 

“I think they found the entrance Hice was talking about before.” I said as I looked around quickly, then darted for the water. 

I heard the others following, and grinned when Kipper sprinted ahead of me and jumped into the ocean. I waited right on the edge of a rock jutting over the water for Parker, then took his hand as we jumped in together. 

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders the second after we hit the water, and even with the added weight I easily got us over to where the rest of the group was waiting. Hice lead the way as Ocar and Mellac followed close behind. I moved a little slower, needing to look over my shoulder several times to help Parker breathe. 

I watched as Hice and Ocar disappeared through some type of dark hole in the rock before us. Mellac was gone a moment later, leaving me to use the location I’d last seen them to guide myself until I managed to find the small opening as well. I waited a few moments, refueling Parker’s air supply, before ducking inside. 

The tunnel was completely black, but thankfully the walls were smooth enough to feel my way along and keep up a steady pace. It wasn’t long before my head broke the surface and I heard Parker gasp for breath right behind me. 

To my surprise, the room was completely dark besides a few emergency lights like the ones they had at Parker’s work. Seeing Hice climbing out of the far end of the small pool, I hurried over. Mellac and Ocar were already out, too, by the time I got to the edge. 

“Wait, where is Kipper?” I asked as I climbed out, then easily lifted Parker’s wet body from the cold water. 

The group looked around before Hice shrugged and turned toward an open doorway. “That door is normally locked and only opens with a code. I bet he’s already off to get things done.” He said as he started walking. 

Wait. He let my son go ahead of him? 

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but still! Growling, I shoved past him, but then stopped when I entered a long hallway that stretched almost further than I could see in both directions. 

“Want to lead the way, dolphin?” Hice asked with a raised eyebrow as he leaned near one of the emergency lights fastened into the wall. 

As if I know where we are. 

“By the way, why hasn’t he sent people after us yet? He must see us on the security cameras.” 

Hice chuckled as he sauntered down the hall, seemingly not caring that someone might jump out and shoot at us at any moment. 

“Why should he bother? He already has Micah and Fri.” 

Everyone stopped walking suddenly besides Hice, making him turn around with a raised eyebrow. “What? You think Micah wouldn’t have shown us what the director looked like before we left if he had a photo of him? The man is just taunting us now. He wants us to know who’s got our friends, and the face of the person who’s going to kill us.” 

My blood boiled at the thought of him hurting Micah or Fri. Neither of them were healthy enough to put up any kind of fight, yet they’d been dragged into the fight before we could even find the director. 

“Getting mad about it isn’t going to change anything. I know where he’s likely waiting for us, so hurry up and shut up.” Hice growled as he stalked ahead, picking up his pace. 

“But doesn’t that mean we’re just walking into a trap?” Parker asked. He didn’t get a response, but what was there to say? We could try going another route, and doing so could possibly lead to the director killing Fri and Micah. 

We followed Hice about half the length of the hallway before turning into a room that he had to unlock. There were a few normal lights on overhead in that area as we made our way up a flight of stairs that circled a large pool. I barely spared it a glance, noting a few random fish swimming here and there. 

We stepped into what Parker called an observation deck at his own work place, though the windows just made me feel more exposed… besides the fact that all the mers present were already naked from having shifted. 

“Good evening, my gorgeous cadavers.” Came a voice from above our heads. 

I looked around for a moment, then noticed the speaker boxes spaced out around the area we were walking in, fastening up near the ceiling. To my surprise, while most of us did slow down at the sound of the director’s voice, Hice only sped up. 

“You know me so well, Hice. It’s a shame you had to go and break our deal, making me have to wait all this time to retrieve what belonged to me to begin with.” 

He’s talking about Fri. 

His words made my own feet move quicker, allowing me to catch up with Hice as he ducked into another hallway. This one was shorter and much more brightly lit, and as soon as he decided on the direction he intended to go, he broke out into a run. 

I followed behind him, but made sure that I heard Parker, Ocar and Mellac close behind me. 

“I see no one’s in the mood to talk. Well, let me just invite you in then. I’m sure once we meet face to face, you’ll all be much more interested in the situation.” The director said as a chime sounded from down the hall. 

I saw a door slowly begin to open a few yards ahead, and sure enough, Hice stopped in the entryway. He didn’t look surprised by what he saw, but then again, he never really did show much emotion besides hatred and seething rage. 

When we all stopped in the doorway, I knew that we would, indeed, be much more interested in talking now. Before us lay a large in-ground pool. I didn’t have to take more than a few steps toward it to see that it was teaming with creatures. The shark fins were a bit of a give away, and considering the blood I could smell in the air, they’d likely already been baited. 

Right above them on two small platforms suspended above the tank, were Micah and Fri. From what I could see, Fri was tied up with a thick rope, but Micah was left alone. He was sagging against the thin steel railing encircling the platform, clearly not able to do anything, anyways. 

“Hello, my finned friends. I do welcome you to my wonderful home.” 

Following the voice, I looked up right as a slightly older man stepped out of the shadows on one of the upper decks built into the wall at the far side of the room. 

It is that doctor from the hospital… Hugh, or something of that sort. 

My eyes narrowed on his form and I was already trying to figure out a way to get up to him. It seemed the rest of my group was, too, but there didn’t seem to be any ways to access where he was from the room we were standing in unless we could suddenly learn how to fly. 

We need to go around and find a way up there, but if we leave, he’ll likely drop them into the pool. 

The man wasn’t dumb, he’d pretty much forced our hands to stay where we were, even though it wouldn’t help us. 

Wait. 

Stealing another quick glance around, I realized one important thing that made my heart calm just the slightest amount. “Now then, which one of you wants to die first, hm? It’ll be a simple bullet to the head, so you won’t suffer and I’ll have a great specimen to study… but only to the first two volunteers, so hurry and speak up now.” The director said as he gestured behind himself, bringing two humans forward to stand beside him with what looked to be high powered guns of some sort. And of course, they were aimed right at us. 

As we all tried to appear a little less stressed while our minds worked overtime to figure out a way out of the room with our lives, and Micah and Fri’s, I silently began praying that my son, who was the only mer absent from this stand-off, knew exactly what he was doing. Ocar was contemplating the water, while Hice and Mellac were sending each other glances as their eyes flew about the room, likely taking in details that might possibly be of use. I knew that Parker had a gun in his back pocket, but that would only get him shot if he reached for it. I wasn’t holding my breath for any of us at the moment.

I’ll never condone this again, Kipper, but please use that gun and make your daddy even prouder than he already is that you didn’t walk right into this ridiculous trap.

Courage Lies Beneath

(Final Chap and Epi combined)

Callem-

My fingers twitched with nerves as Mellac and Hice began slowly moving opposite each other. The director watched them and his humans trained their guns on them, but besides that, they didn’t react. Perhaps they were curious about what they were going to do, but I was just worried that their stunt was going to kill one of them… and while I didn’t like Hice, I definitely didn’t want my brother dead, either. 

There was a loud boom from overhead that sounded like thunder, then the lights flickered once. Mellac and Hice looked at each other once, then gave a faint nod before darting to the tank, giving themselves cover from the possibility of being shot. 

“If you continue to hide, I’ll just have them shoot your friends, instead.” The director said, drawing my attention back up to him as he raised his hand again and pointed straight at Parker and Ocar. 

I immediately placed myself in front of Parker, though he tried to fight me on it, I easily held him back. 

“Too bad we have no friends, right, Hice?” Mellac said from where he slowly moved around the edge of the large tank. 

“Correct.” Hice agreed, drawing silence from the room before the lights flickered again. 

“Alright, shoot the mer shielding Parker.” The director said right before the lights flickered again, then went out. 

Things happened in a blur from then. The loud sound of a splash came first. I could just barely make out that it had been Hice who had jumped into the tank full of sharks. My brother had disappeared, but I didn’t waste time wondering where to as I grabbed Parker and bolted for the door behind us, only to find that it had been sealed shut. 

Grabbing the edge of the small window built into it, I yanked it as hard as I could, but the door didn’t budge. “We need to find another way.” Parker said as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from the door. 

We found a wall to duck behind right as the lights flickered back on. 

“What the hell!” The director screamed, making Parker and I peak around the corner up at him. 

Noticing he was leaning over the rail, staring down toward the pull of sharks that Hice had jumped into, we lowered our gazes. 

“I can’t say that I’m surprised, but wow.” Parker whispered next to me as we stared at the dead or nearly-dead bodies of all the sharks littering the floor. 

But where’s Mellac? 

The sound of a gun going off jerked my eyes back up toward the director. The sight they took in hurt my heart. Mellac stood before the two humans with guns. One of them was slowly dropping to the floor while the other, having just fired, was grabbed and his gun forced to point upward toward the ceiling. 

They shot him. 

Blood dripped from his risen left arm, but I couldn’t see the bullet hole from behind. 

“Careful, Callem. Don’t distract him. It doesn’t look like a serious wound.” Parker said, his voice grounding me enough to keep me from acting without thinking. 

The sound of people running and yelling stole my attention to the door we’d previously tried to leave out of. With the power back on, several chimes sounded from it, then it slid open. I shoved Parker against the wall, but humans easily saw us anyways. 

Four of them pinned us where we were with their guns while two more ran toward Mellac. I couldn’t see him, as my attention was focused on the humans in front of us, but I heard several shots ring out, making my body grow cold at the thought of my brother lying dead above us. 

“I suggest you all drop your weapons and get away from my dad.” 

Before the first of the four humans could turn around at the sound of my son’s voice, he was dropping to the floor. 

“Not fast enough.” Kipper said, sounding far too much like Hice for my liking. 

I grabbed the human closest to me and easily snapped his wrist, making him drop the gun he held as my arm went around his neck. I considered not killing him, but if he managed to regain consciousness and grab the gun, I would never forgive myself. Parker copied me, though he grabbed the gun with both hands and had to wrestle it from the man, then turn around and shot him at the same time my son shot the last human and I snapped the neck of mine.

Kipper turned and aimed the gun he had up toward where Mellac was holding the director over the pool by one arm. 

Surprisingly, the guy didn’t seem worried. He hung there, glaring at Mellac. Wait… he’s looking at something. 

“Jump!” I shouted as I ran out from behind the wall. 

Thankfully, my brother listened to me immediately without question. He dropped the director and jumped. The bullet meant for his back clipped his hair as he dove into the pool Hice still occupied.

A new person appeared from the entryway behind him. I remembered seeing him at Parker’s work, but I couldn’t put a name to his face. When he redirected his gun to me, I grabbed Parker and Kipper and shoved them back behind the wall. I felt something sting in my back as I moved, but I kept them both against the wall as I heard more gunshots ring . 

When everything finally grew silent, I slowly lifted my head and checked over my baby and Parker. They were both shaking, but none of them appeared hurt.

Thank heaven.

Peaking out from behind the wall, I looked up and saw Ocar standing over the body of the man who had been shooting at us. He was holding his left arm and blood was running down it. 

“Stupid Bart. Should have known not to get involved with such a stupid name.” He said as he dropped the gun he was holding, then winced before looking over the railing. 

I followed his gaze to see Hice slowly lifting himself over the edge of the pool. His left hand was bleeding badly, but I didn’t see any other wounds on him. When he dropped down, he yanked the director out of the water with him. The man Ocar had just killed, Bart, must have just shot anything that moved, because the director even had a bullet wound in his left leg and possibly another one in his left foot. 

My brother appeared a moment later, dropping down from the pool, thankfully without any additional injuries. 

“Good timing, whale.” He said up to Ocar, who gave him a pained grin before diving over the railing to land in the pool. He surfaced a moment later and climbed out to join the rest of us. 

I was a bit lost on how him and my brother had even gotten up there, but when they both turned and began scaling the pipes that ran along the wall, I realized that Mellac had just climbed, likely when the lights had gone out. Ocar probably had ducked out the door when the group had come in and found some way up, though, since he came through the open door behind the director. 

Ocar carefully got Micah into his arms and my brother untied Fri before picking him up, too. They both jumped down into the pool, Hice meeting them at the edge after dropping the director’s ankle and taking Fri from my brother. Thankfully, he just appeared a little confused and tired as he snuggled against Hice. 

Micah was unconscious, but we couldn’t worry about him yet. We had to find a way out before we could get him any kind of help. Ocar seemed to understand that as he climbed from the tank with Micah. Once he was back on the ground, he shifted the man easily in his arms and picked up the director’s ankle to drag him along before walking over to where the rest of us had gathered. 

My attention turned to the director when my brother stopped near us. “Is he going to live?” I asked.

“Yes. With any luck, he’ll be even more crippled than Oliver, though.” Mellac said as he dragged the bawling man behind them as they hurried out of the room and headed toward the front entrance. 

We stopped at a large set of double doors that seemed to need a password to open. Kipper lifted a small device I hadn’t noticed he’d had and pressed a black button on it. The lights flickered, then went off. Well, that answers why the lights were going off and on. Man, my son is amazing. 

With the help of my brother, we managed to force the door open. We walked out into the main entrance of the building after he grabbed the director again, but it looked rundown compared to the last time I’d been in it. Dust coated everywhere and the chairs were all over the place. Most of them were knocked over or broken, and the main large greeting desk, which looked different from the last one I’d seen, was also in pieces. 

“Oh, he passed out.” Mellac said as he looked down at the director, who was leaving a nice trail of blood behind us. 

Hice tilted his head as he stared down at him, then landed a strong kick to his side, waking him up as the man screamed. 

“Not dead yet. Shame.” He muttered as he stalked forward, nuzzling his nose against Fri’s hair, likely unintentionally, and easily broke the chain locks holding the front doors closed with his uninjured hand. 

Unsurprisingly, the police were waiting for us outside, guns drawn and at least a dozen car lights flashing. Parker stepped in front of everyone after tossing the gun he’d been carrying off to the side after turning on the safety function. 

“We get that we look like the bad guys, so arrest us, but we need medical attention, and so does the asshole my friend is dragging.”

My son stepped next to him then, thankfully, he tossed his gun aside, too. “There is a recording in the office of the building behind the destroyed desk inside that recorded everything. Get that and go through it, and you’ll understand what happened.” 

That’s my boy! He had been busy before coming to save us!

We waited a few moments for a few of the officers, likely the ones in charge, to talk among themselves before being gestured forward to get into different cars. The director got an ambulance, but thankfully two officers went with him, too. 

I don’t remember much of what happened after that, because the pain in my back flared and I couldn’t manage to keep my eyes open long after getting into the back of one of the police cars. 

Epi-

It took me two weeks to be able to come home. Everyone else received stitches, bandages, and medicine, but were allowed to leave right away, except for Hice, who had to stay late in order to wait for his hand to be X-rayed to check for broken bones from the bullet. He was lucky and only broke a piece that would heal on its own after being put in a cast. Surprisingly, Kipper was the one to visit me the most, since Parker had to deal with the legal stuff as well as work. He kept me updated on what was going on as far as what the police were doing about what had happened. They’d retrieved the video file that thankfully recorded everything that had gone on in the room. To our surprise, it also had audio from hidden microphones around the building. 

At first, the police had been mad about us having used deadly force, at least after I had disarmed one of the four humans that had come in and aimed their guns at myself, Kipper and Parker, but the lawyer Oliver had gotten us managed to argue away that possible charge as self defense. 

There was extra footage, too, that the lawyer had said would put the director away for life. It was a relief, and while I wasn’t too happy that he’d survived his injuries, I was glad that he was going to be put away and could never get close to us again. We still had to go to court eventually, unfortunately, but our lawyer was very positive about no charges being filed once we had explained everything in front of the judge. 

“Callem, are you daydreaming again?” Parker asked as he walked over and sat beside me. He set a plate in my lap, the fish fillets stacked on it making my stomach growl hungrily. 

I hadn’t been eating much since I came back, but slowly, I’ve been getting hungry again. Parker said that it was likely because of the pain medicine I was given. 

“He just wants you to baby him.” Oliver said as he limped into the room, Ocar hot on his heels. Both of them looked mussed up, even though it seemed like Oliver had at least tried to make his shirt sit normally and pressed his hair down with his hands a few times. 

Can’t hide the bite marks, though. 

“I’m going home, by the way. You guys have driven me crazy, and honestly, my ass hurts because of a certain whale that is starting to remind me a lot of Mellac.” Oliver grumbled, making Ocar smirk as he snagged him around the waist and pulled him close for a surprisingly adorable hug, including a nuzzle against his neck. 

“Don’t you dare try to act cute in front of them, you horny orca.” Oliver said, nudging  him away so that he could pick up his medical bag and head for the front door. 

I couldn’t help but smile when Ocar took the bag from Oliver and hefted it over his own shoulder. The two quickly disappeared after that, the door shutting quietly behind them. 

With the director no longer looming in the hospital, Micah was admitted. The cost was something we were still working out among us all, but he was finally responding to the treatment he was receiving, along with the blood we were giving him off and on, so we were hopeful that he’d finally be able to heal from his sickness. 

Fri was making much better progress. He had a decent appetite now and never left Hice’s side. They tended to live in the ocean more than in the house, but they were around often enough for Oliver to check on Fri regularly. 

“I saw the strangest thing when I went to try and wake up your brother and Jay for breakfast earlier.” Parker said, drawing my attention from my thoughts. I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead, then leaned back. 

“What was that?” I asked, loving the faint pink that colored his cheeks. 

“Well, I knocked on their door, then listened for a while to be sure that they weren’t, well, busy. When they still didn’t answer, I hesitantly cracked the door open.” 

His pause made me curious and drew me a little closer. I wanted to kiss his mouth, but then he couldn’t tell me what he saw, so I bit my lip instead. 

“They were cuddled together like they were actual lovers, and not just enemies with benefits. Mellac had Jay in his arms and their faces were barely an inch apart on the pillow they shared.” 

The idea that my brother had actually fallen in love with someone was hard to believe. He’d always been a loner, even when we were together he liked to do the hunting alone and was always standoffish to others. When he met Jay and became possessive of him, I never imagined that he’d actually think of the man as his real mate. 

“I think… that we should never mention you saw them that way. My brother might throw a fit and broken bones are bad.” I said, earning a quiet laugh from Parker and he leaned against me, resting his head on my shoulder. 

“Okay, we can keep that as our secret.” 

After eating another piece of fish, I leaned over and kissed him. He made a face and stuck his tongue out at the salty taste I left on his lips, but I could only laugh before kissing him again. 

“I love you, Parker. Thank you for finding me that day.” 

I was just moving in to kiss him again when I heard someone walk in, then stop near the sofa. 

“Ew, get a room, dad.” 

Kipper. 

Parker pulled away from me, but I just grinned and offered my son the plate I had on my lap with the remaining fillets on it. 

“Go relax by the pool for a bit?” I said, winking at him. 

He stared down at the food, licking his lips before taking the plate and heading for the patio doors. “Enjoy, dad.” He said before disappearing out the door. 

Oh, don’t worry. I will. I thought as I pulled Parker into my lap and pressed my lips to his. He was trying to hide a smile, but I knew him better. He was my love. My mate. 

“What’s that look for?” He asked before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to my hair. 

I sighed contently and leaned back against the couch, gently tugging him closer until he was resting against my chest. 

“Everything, Parker. That look was for everything.” 

-End

(Um, I think I covered just about everything <.> If I missed something, please let me know (nicely), and I will try to fix it. Thank you for reading my random fishy stories, it’s been a wild ride :) )