Metal island, rock island, all islands.
“I see,” Storm mused as they floated near the surface of the water.
The sun was beginning to descend in the sky, and the young dolphin knew that the white coats would be back with their boxes for their evening “chat” sessions.
“Where?” Storm asked as he observed the empty platform.
They come soon, the young one chirped. You hide!
Grunting his agreement, Storm sank below the surface of the water and waited.
After a few moments—no more than half an hour—the doors opened and two men appeared on the metal deck.
“Doctor, we have to report this,” the younger, long-haired man decreed. “This is unethical. If this is the real Dr. Richfield, we are guilty of kidnapping.”
“We will do no such thing, Shelby.”
“But…”
“Listen to me, young man! We are scientists! If that creature really is Dr. Richfield, she would understand what we are doing. Drs. Manda and Port agree. We have to keep this discovery a secret until we know more. Can you imagine what can happen, Shelby, if word got out? There would be Mermaid hunters all over, destroying their way of life before we got the chance to study them! That I cannot allow.”
“What about her, Dr. Woods?” Shelby bitterly growled, looking down as his guilt and his professionalism vied for dominance in his tortured mind. “She has a mate and wants to go home. What will happen to her? She is going to pine herself to death.”
“There are always casualties, Shelby. You know this.”
“But she is a human being!” he hotly argued, eyes coming up to stare at the doctor’s face.
“Whatever she is, she is not human, not anymore.”
“So you do believe that she is Dr. Richfield!” His eyebrows rose up to disappear almost into his hairline.
“I didn’t say that!”
“But you implied it!”
“Just do your job, Shelby! And no one will get hurt!”
Shelby started to protest, but the look in Dr. Woods’ eyes more that scared him. He began to realize how vulnerable he was here on this platform, how easy it would be to dispose of him and say that the sharks had gotten to him or that he had had some other accident. Wisdom shadowed his actions and he stood down.
“Yes, sir,” he said quietly, any respect that he had for the world-famous marine biologist evaporated in that moment. “I’ll go and see to our guest.”
He turned on his heel and stalked away, brushing past the other doctors who came up onto the platform, carrying the black tone box.
“What’s eating him?” Dr. Port asked, pushing back her long blonde hair as she watched the intern’s retreating back.
“Excited about our discovery,” Dr. Woods answered. “Worried about her care.”
“Well, so am I,” Dr. Manda added, pulling down his glasses as he examined his colleague, Dr. Woods.
The man was obsessed, had been for years, about speaking to the dolphins. Now that they had this Mermaid, this living creature of legend, he became almost unbalanced about learning her secrets.
“I didn’t get a good look at her,” he said, “but she seemed healthy enough. I assume she needs a diet of fish and the like. It seems to be the main staple in the seas, anyway.”
“I think she looks sad,” Dr. Port suddenly put in. “I mean really sad. We should worry.”
“How do you know that she has feelings?” Dr. Woods sneered. “Not every creature does! Most live by instinct alone!”
“And we know,” she stated calmly, “that dolphins, whales, and other mammals often sicken and die when separated from their partners! Those are feelings, emotions, John. We need to take that into consideration.”
“And do we know that she is a mammal?” he sneered, but the conversation was cut short.
A young dolphin, possibly the same one who had carried in their Mermaid, surfaced and began to chatter.
Hello, shark-face! Chipper squeaked and laughed, and the humans seemed delighted.
One ran to turn on the box and another eagerly stripped out of his coat, exposing his tight black fake skin.
Chipper winced as the box was turned on, its piercing sounds making no sense, but gamely moved closer.
Where is the human kindred? he chattered cheerfully. I have brought her mate and he promises death.
The humans smiled at each other and turned the knobs on the box, sending out more of the loud noise into the air.
“They were speaking of my bonded one!” Storm growled softly, as he listened so he could learn all he could before he made his move.
“I think the dolphin is looking for her,” Dr. Port said as she adjusted the knobs. “Maybe they have a connection.”
“Different species,” Dr. Manda said as he lowered himself into the water, yet held onto the platform. “But maybe he acted as a guide. We will have to find out what relationship they hold.”
“I will examine her later after she recovers,” Dr. Woods said, a snide smile on his lips. “In fact, I will go now and see to preparations.”
He turned and left the two fools with their pet fish and went to see to bigger things. Like what made this woman tick. Even if it was Dr. Richfield, he would not have cared. He deserved some answers and was determined to get them.
* * * * *
“Why did you come here?” Shelby asked as he walked into the room with the woman, who still huddled on the floor in the corner.
“I wanted to help,” she answered, deciding that he could say that much. Shelby wasn’t that bad, she decided, as he drew her tattered mental facilities together. “To help my people.”
“There are more like you?”
“Humans,” she sighed as she lowered her legs, but kept them crossed to cover her nakedness. “Can I have some clothes?”
“No.”
She stiffened as he settled on the metal table still in the center of the room, staring curiously at her.
“Doctor’s orders.”
“The doctor can go to hell,” she snarled. “I refuse to be naked around a bunch of strangers!”
Shelby thought for a moment, then shrugged out of his lab jacket.
“Thank you,” Elanna said as she snatched the offered coat and quickly, with as much dignity as she could muster, slid it on.
“I don’t think this is right,” Shelby said, finally, ashamed to his bones to be party to this.
“And still you help them.” She shook her head. “What? Is he going to take away your research privileges?”
“No,” Shelby sighed. “But both of us may be dead before this is over.”
“What?”
“I think the doc is a few donuts shy of a baker’s dozen,” he said as he got to his feet and began to pace in the small room.
“What?”
“Crazy!”
“Well, tell me something I don’t know!” Elanna said as she climbed to her feet, and almost fell as legs, unaccustomed to walking after so much time below the water, fought to hold her weight.
“Here, let me help!” Instantly, Shelby was at her side, helping her to stand.
“Thanks,” she breathed as her legs wobbled like overcooked noodles.
“I am thinking that we have to get out of here! If I try to help you, I have a feeling that I just may become chum for the next shark cage experiment!”
“Then we both have to get out of here,” Elanna said, leaning heavily on the man. “We have to make a break for it and fast!”
“I…I… My people would be ashamed,” he said finally. “I have had mixed feelings about this for some time, well, since he shot you with that dart. Dr. Woods is going insane and he is going to take a lot of people down with him in his madness.”
“Oh, come on,” Elanna said as she motioned that she wanted to try and take a step. “We have to get out of here! Think of a way!”
“I could slip you out at night, when no one is up, but I argued with him today. He is going to be watching my every move.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if he came up with some cockamamie story about you killing me with poison darts while trying to escape to protect himself.”
“That is a good one!” a voice from behind said, startling them both. “I have to remember that!”
“Dr. Woods!” Shelby gasped as he turned to face his mentor.
“Shelby!” he tsked as he stepped deeper into the room. “I am so disappointed, but not surprised. You Polynesian natives could never separate yourselves from the legend. Too bad.”
As he stepped forward again, he lifted a syringe from his pocket.
“This is plain old everyday tap water,” he said when he saw he had both of their attentions. “I can stick this in Shelby here and watch as all of his red blood cells explode or I can add a few air bubbles and see what his heart does. Then I can blame it on you, my fine little Mermaid. That would give me all the time I need to experiment with you and see what makes you tick. How does that sound?”
Without waiting for an answer, he lunged at Shelby, making Elanna scream in anger and fear, her voice echoing through the metal platform and flowing out, magnified, towards the sea.
* * * * *
“Elanna!” Storm bellowed as he broke the surface of the water, scaring the doctors and the dolphin that had begun to chatter at the sound of Elanna’s scream.
“What the fu…!” Dr. Manda gasped as a blue-haired, blue-skinned man exploded from the water.
“Jesus!” Dr. Port screamed as she reached for the dart gun, always at her side.
“Where is she?” Storm gritted out as his wet hair began to flow wildly around his body and the seas began to boil. “Where is Elanna?”
Dr. Port quickly aimed at the crazed blue man. She pulled the trigger, letting the dart fly, but it never made contact.
She screamed as the dart blew back towards her, as the sea came up to circle the man, as his pale eyes, the eyes of death, locked on to hers.
“Where is my mate?” he snarled softly as the waves began to rock the platform.
“I… She…” Dr. Crystal Port stammered as she scrambled backwards on her hands and stared in horror at the creature that exploded angrily from the water.
“If she has been harmed, you will all die! She is mine!”
So intent on his demands and his anger, Storm never even noticed Dr. Manda pull his dart gun from a pouch at his side and quickly fire off one round.
Crystal watched, heart banging in her chest, her eyes wide and breathing all but non-existent, as the man jerked, then turned to face James.
Her skin had begun to crawl as she had tried to fire off the shot, but somehow, the wind seemed to aid the creature.
And who was Elanna? Was she the Mermaid they had pulled from the sea earlier?
Not for the first time, she began to have doubts about what they had done! But it was for the betterment of humanity.
Right?
Storm growled as he cursed himself for taking his attention off of the male. He had stuck him with some stinger that burned as its poisons entered his skin.
He reached down, pulling his eyes away from the frightened woman, to face the man again as he pulled the dart from his side.
“If she is harmed, you will die!” he gritted out as the substance in his veins began to make his vision blur. Shaking his head he growled as he reached for the man, now hanging onto the platform and trying to scramble to safety, the gun dropped and floating away in the rough water.
“She is fine!” Crystal screamed, trying to distract him and save James. “She is inside!”
“Why?” he growled turning to face her, leaving James to scramble onto the platform and race towards the inner doors for help.
“We had never seen… We wanted to study…”
“You stole her,” he snarled as the water surrounding him began to slow and the winds to die down. “She wanted to help her people and you stole her!”
His hair settled around his body as his eyes began to droop.
“The dolphins told me. She wanted to help you and you are killing her!”
“We… We are…” But she could think of nothing to say as she watched the pain in this man’s eyes.
“I want her back! She wants to go…home! She is screaming. What are you…doing…to…her?”
With his last words, Storm cursed himself a fool as he began to see black. Instead of helping Elanna, he had wound up captured himself! Love did strange things to a man, like taking away his common sense, but he at least would see Elanna. Then together, they would make it out of his mess!
Crystal sighed as the man dropped forward into the water, unconscious.
Still shuddering, she moved forward slowly, trying to see what he was or how he had done that thing with the wind and the water.
But as she neared the edge of the platform, she gasped! The man had no legs! Just a very large fin that was colored a darker blue than his skin or hair!
This was a real live Merman! They were real! But if he was a Merman, who or what did they have below?
* * * * *
James raced into the lab, frantically searching for Shelby and John! Crystal needed help and they needed to get that creature away!
He was looking for the female, so they should just give her to him!
Racing into the specimen chamber, he saw John and Shelby facing off, the Mermaid leaning against Shelby.
“John!” he called, not noticing the syringe that was quickly hidden in his pocket. “Come quick! There is a strange blue man outside! He has Crystal!”
Blue man? Elanna thought. “Storm!”
“She speaks English?” James’ mouth dropped open as he looked at the woman. “Elanna Richfield?”
“Crystal!” Dr. Woods called as he turned and darted from the room, leaving a confused James and Shelby to follow.
When they reached the deck of the platform, Crystal had already hauled the man up.
“Jesus God!” John gasped as he saw the man, his tail, and his complete blueness.
“He wants his mate,” Crystal stuttered, still in shock by what had transpired and the discovery she had made.
“She called him Storm,” James said, realizing what the woman who had so looked like the missing doctor had said.
“He called her Elanna,” Crystal said just as Elanna herself stumbled onto the platform.
“Storm!” she screamed as four pairs of eyes watched her stumble across the deck to drop to her knees bedside him. “What did you do to him? Answer me!”
Her piercing brown eyes speared each one of them, placing blame, marking them for death.
“He is…” Crystal began, getting over the shock of seeing the Mermaid speak English and fawn over the fallen Merman. She reached out to them both.
“Don’t touch him!” Elanna yelled, making Crystal take a step back, disturbed by the anguish on her face.
“This is all my fault,” Elanna breathed as she lowered her face to burrow into his long blue hair. “I did this to you! This is all my fault.”
She struggled to flip him over, laying his head in her lap as her eyes traced every feature on his beloved face.
She let out a tortured groan as she hugged him to her breast, wetting the lab jacket with seawater and tears.
“We are together, my love,” she sobbed “We are together and we will make it out of here! We are together and nothing will tear us apart.” She crooned softly to him as she rocked his limp body back and forth.
Four pairs of eyes stared down, four pairs of eyes with four very different thoughts. And only one had thoughts of setting them free.
Chapter Thirty
Chipper took off the moment Storm exploded from the water. He had to find his pod and let them know what had happened. There was no time to spare!
The elder two dolphins had already intercepted Amadala and Sting by the time Chipper showed up.
The others turned to face him, curiosity and horror on their faces.
They have him! They have the King! Chipper chatt
ered, as he rose to the surface on a quick breath.
“Who?”
The white-coats! Chipper nearly sobbed, though his voice sounded happy and gay. Human kindred was screaming and now they have them both!
“Screaming?” Sting snarled as he turned to face Amadala. “Then it is to be war.”
His cold black eye bore deeply into hers, and for once, Amadala was in total agreement.
* * * * *
Storm came to by degrees, his discomfort making itself known in his confused brain.
He was dry, too dry, and it was beginning to get painful. And he was flat on his back on something hard! Had he fallen asleep on a rock somewhere?
He tried to move, to shift his head but was met with resistance.
Groaning, he struggled to open his eyes a small crack, but that move was met by blinding pain as bright light seared his sensitive eyes and shot white-hot pain to his brain.
“Don’t move, love,” he heard Elanna whisper to him, and again struggled to turn his head towards the sound of her voice, ignoring the straps that cut across his forehead. “And don’t struggle so. You’ll only make it worse.”
Storm sought to open his eyes again, just a hair, and managed to catch a watery glimpse of his mate, strapped to a table beside him.
“What goes…? Who…?”
“The white-coats.”
With her words, memories began to pour into his mind.
He remembered confronting the humans, the two on the metal island, and the two that joined them.
“They all die,” he whispered, his voice rough with the effects of the drugs. “Every last one of them.”
Elanna said nothing, but she stared intently at her lover’s face, feeling the pain that he must be feeling as well.
“How long, Elanna?”
“Hours, days, weeks. Does it matter so much, Storm? They have us and they are not letting us go.”
“How long, Elanna?” he repeated, opening his eyes more as he grew accustomed to the light.
“A day or two, Storm. They locked us down here and haven’t showed their faces at all.”
Storm grunted, then began to twist his wrists, trying to loosen the straps which held him.
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