Riley’s heart pounded in her chest as her ears were filled with a low cranking noise and the occasional panicked sounds from her entangled family. Nero’s tail was pressing her more firmly against the net as he squirmed, causing Riley’s fangs to slip on a tendril and slice her lip instead. She winced and adjusted herself. The net fibers were coated in a waxy substance that tasted foul – perhaps to dissuade chewing on it in the first place – but Riley merely grimaced and pressed on. She knew that her family was working at the same, given the occasional rasping gags they made at the bitter taste. Freedom was worth the temporary discomfort.

Even with their combined efforts, the net still held them fast and Riley felt her heart sinking to the pit of her belly as the cranking noise grew louder and they were brought ever closer to the hull of the ship.

Riley cringed, a soft whimper ripping from her lips as a deafening screech of metal grating on metal bombarded her sensitive ears. She cracked her eyes open again to see that the bottom of the boat had split open in the center, allowing the net to draw them up into the dark belly before the doors slammed shut again with a mighty booming sound that had Riley wincing all over again.

Finally, the net fell slack around them, and Riley squirmed until she could wriggle free of the opening at the top. She twisted and pulled at the net so her aunt and uncle could crawl free next.

“What happened?” Karina half whispered, half whimpered as she pushed her way free of the net next. Nero was not far behind, and he immediately swept her back up into a hug as if to hold her close and protect her from any dangers. It was darker than an abyss in the belly of the boat, but Riley could still see the dim features of her family. Nero’s obsidian eyes were narrowed and darting around, and Karina was curling up close to him with terror glazing her soft brown irises. Her aunt and uncle were gazing around their new surroundings with mixed grimaces.

“We are in a boat,” Riley murmured.

Her aunt was the next to speak, and her voice was grim. “This is no fishing vessel with nets to sweep up fish that caught us on accident. It was waiting for us, how did it know we would be here?”

“This area is supposed to be dead,” Riley agreed. “There are never boats here.”

A prickle of unease climbed up her spine as she looked around some more. There was an eerie silence in the ship – save for the low rumbling of the engine as it moved. She did not know where it was taking them, but she could not help but recall Katie and Luna’s recent past and their fear of those scientists finding them again. Had they somehow found a way to locate Riley too, or perhaps just were looking for random Mer?

It could have been coincidental, but these deep open waters seemed like an odd place to hunt for her people. There were no reefs and no real signs of fish schools in the area. No reason for a pod to linger, except to dwell at darker depths where the boat would never find them.

She wrapped her arms around her torso for a moment, then dove down to press her palm to the flat of the hull. It was solid. Whatever contraption had opened it for them, even their combined strength would have no hope of wrenching it back open to escape.

“Riley?”

She turned as her uncle laid a hand on her shoulder. Ixion’s eyes were full of worry as he regarded her. She shook her head. “We cannot get out the way we came in,” she murmured. She kept her voice low in hopes that the others – especially Karina – would not overhear. She did not wish to stress them out any further than they already were. “We are trapped unless we brave the surface and try to drag ourselves up and over the side. I do not imagine we would make it past the humans controlling the boat, however.”

“Karina could not do it anyways,” Uncle Ixion agreed, his voice equally lowered. The statement was true. It was not safe for Karina to put her weight on her belly right now, and gravity would make it impossible for her to keep off it above the water. “Have you ever been in a situation like this?” her uncle pressed. “We have to get out of here.”

Riley slumped and shook her head. “I have not,” she admitted. “And I do not think we have a way out. Not here, not right now. Our best chance is probably to wait for an opening if they try to move us. They are hardly likely to leave us in the dark gut of their ship. We are useless to them here.”

Her uncle nodded and then turned and darted back to Rebecca. He pulled her into a hug and when Riley squinted, she could see his lips moving. He was whispering to her, and her Aunt Becca’s gaze darkened after a moment.

“Does the water taste sweet to anyone else?” Karina’s meek, terrified voice dragged Riley’s attention away from her aunt and uncle. Karina was still wrapped in Nero’s embrace, and her lips were pursed in a wince as her wide eyes darted wildly.

Riley frowned at the odd inquiry, but quickly realized that there was a strangely sweet taste to the water. It was not pleasant to breathe, being cloying and sticky in her gills. It was as if something were polluting the sea water.

“I do not feel so well,” Karina continued. Riley watched the pregnant Mer’s head dip and her tail fall slack. Her eyes rolled in her head. Nero brought a hand to his head and – when Riley glanced back – her aunt and uncle were beginning to sink in the water.

Terror swept through Riley at the sight. It was quickly followed by a heaviness. Exhaustion crawled through her veins and made her limbs feel numb and her thoughts frazzled. She shook her head, trying to clear the sensation as she realized. They were being drugged. The humans were pumping the water full of chemicals to sedate them – she doubted to actually kill them – likely so they could move them.

“Get to the surface,” she said. “We have to stop breathing the water.”

Rebecca and Ixion did not respond, but Nero nodded and his grip on Karina tightened as he lashed his tail and started to rise with her in his arms. She was already down, slumped against him with her eyes closed. Nero made it about halfway up before he began to sink again, and his head lolled. Riley flicked her own fins, but they no longer wished to cooperate. Her head was spinning, and she was not sure if she was swimming up or down as she began to fall slack in the water’s embrace. Her erratic heartbeat began to slow, and her eyelids drooped as she fell victim to the sedative too.

***

Riley hated the feeling of clawing her way back to consciousness after being sedated. This time was rough. Her head throbbed and spun even though she had not opened her eyes yet. A soft moan ghosted past her lips as she shifted her tail, which still felt heavy and stiff.

Then, all at once her senses snapped to awareness in a jarring way as she remembered the reason for being knocked out this time. It was not Sophie or Lewis taking the pain away or encouraging her to rest; she was not in a safe place. Riley opened her eyes – her muscles tense in case she needed to attack – and she blinked rapidly to clear her vision until the dim, poorly lit room came into focus in dreary shades of metallic grays and whites, and rusted orange.

She was not in the water. Her hair and scales were dry, and she was sprawled out on the scratchy surface of a towel on the floor. They were still in the ship, and she winced as the dull roar of the engine made her headache pound all the harder.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. She was not alone, and her gaze snapped ahead. There was a chair positioned just out of immediate striking range in front of her, and someone was sitting on it. Immediately, Riley pushed herself up on her arms and curled her tail close so she could launch herself at their abductor if need be. She tried not to show how dizzy she felt and instead curled her lip and growled menacingly.

The woman on the chair glanced up with a quirked brow and an amused grin. Her dark hair was intricately woven atop her head and she leaned forward slightly with her elbows resting on her knees, fists propping her chin up. She gazed at Riley with curiosity and showed no concern over the threat display.

Riley’s gliders opened on instinct as she puffed up. Her growl deepened to a snarl and the spines on her arms flexed.

The woman’s grin only widened. “Hello Riley,” she greeted calmly. It jarred Riley that the woman knew her name, for she had never seen her before, and did not like the prickling sensation of unease that flooded her senses. It was telling her that this woman was predatory, and not to be messed with or underestimated. It set Riley on edge.

“You can relax,” the woman continued. “There’s no need for aggression. I apologize for the rather rude initial treatment, but I knew you wouldn’t trust me right away; certainly not enough to get on board, and I don’t imagine your family would have been too keen on the idea either. I wanted the chance to talk to you without stressing them all out, so I had you all sedated for a bit to get organized. Are you alright?”

Riley’s brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed further. Her snarl did not falter as she glowered at the stranger. The woman was behaving as though they were friends, but Riley held no confidence in someone she did not know. Though as she parted her jaws slightly to drink in the scents of the room and the woman, she did notice something odd. There were lingering scents on her, familiar ones. Katie and Sophie were faint, Lewis a bit stronger. There was no fear scent mixed in, but she found that tended to fade quickly with humans and wondered if Katie even knew how to emotion mark a scent, so it did not tell her much about the woman’s intentions.

The woman sighed and scooted her chair a little closer. Riley growled again, curling into a tighter ball. “My name is Lukshia,” she introduced. “I know you don’t know me, and this is an unorthodox way of meeting, but I’m a friend. I’m just here to help take you back to Sophie. We weren’t sure if your homing sense could find people, or just a home site and you can’t go back to the beach house; it isn’t safe anymore.”

Riley frowned and for a second, her growl faltered in her throat. She still did not totally trust this woman, but she supposed she had better at least hear her out before deciding how to react. It made her suspicious, however. If they were coming to get her, why was Sophie or Lewis not here to confirm that? Why send a stranger when they knew she would not trust them?

“They had to stay behind,” Lukshia continued as if she could hear Riley’s thoughts. “It was safer and easier that way rather than trying to drag Katie and Luna out here too, and we couldn’t leave them alone. The trip back should only take a day or two; you don’t have to trust me completely, but I do need you to bear with me until then, alright?”

Riley shuffled her fins. She did not want to trust Lukshia. If she did and it turned out to be the wrong choice, she could be putting her family in even more danger as well, and she would never do so willingly.

“I do not take the word of a stranger lightly,” she growled finally, her voice soft and low as she spoke. “Can you prove what you say is true?”

“Does it matter if I can’t?” Lukshia countered with a raised brow.

Riley bared her fangs and hissed. She did not care for the implication that she was helpless to stop the woman if she was untrustworthy. It might be true to an extent, but it was still the wrong thing to say to make her case. “It does if you intend to complete the journey uninjured. I am not a pet, and far from tame. I have no aversions to tasting blood to protect myself and those I care about. Sophie and Lewis would not have sent you without some way of assuring your affiliation.”

Lukshia was silent for a moment and pursed her lips as she seemed to mull over the threat. Then she sighed and shook her head, a soft chuckle shaking her shoulders. “I thought they were exaggerating, but you are just as they described. One moment,” she requested.

She pulled out a handheld device. It was black, and looked sort of like the ‘phones’ Sophie and Lewis had, but it was thicker and had a long black rod poking straight out of the top. Riley frowned as she watched. Lukshia raised the device to her face and called Lewis’ name. She paused and there was a strange static noise before she tried again.

After a moment, Lewis’ voice crackled through the device. “Yeah?” he grumbled. “Everything alright?”

“I need you to reassure the wild one,” Lukshia replied.

“The wild one…what? Wait, is that where you went, why you wanted to see the microchip data? I thought you just wanted to make sure it couldn’t be hacked!” he exclaimed. Riley winced at the staticky, graining feedback to his voice. It was definitely him, but the sound grated at her ears and made her want to duck away and dive underwater until the ringing in the hollows of her eardrums stopped.

“I did,” Lukshia soothed. “But this way, it’s one less thing we have to worry about. I didn’t want to risk them going back to the beach house. Everything is fine, Riley just needs some reassurances is all.”

“Alright,” Lewis sighed.

Lukshia leaned forward in her chair and held the strange little device out to Riley. Riley frowned as she eyed it wearily. “You have to take it,” Lukshia encouraged. “Hold the button on the side down when you talk, but you have to release it in order to hear him.”

Riley chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, then leaned forward to snatch the device quickly and then skootched back as if Lukshia was going to grab her. She shifted her weight and pulled her tail close to her body as she cradled the black box in both hands. After examining it for a moment, she found the large button on the side that Lukshia was referring to, and then pressed it down firmly. “Lewis?” she queried before releasing the button again.

“Hey Kiddo, how are you doing?” Lewis replied.

Riley pressed the button again. It seemed a bit tedious to her, but then, most human things were strange and seemed rather pointless or impractical. “What is going on?” she demanded, ignoring his former question altogether.

“Riley, you can’t go back to the beach house. We’re not there anymore; we had to leave. Lukshia just wants to make sure you get home safely. Did you make it to your pod?”

“Yes,” Riley agreed. She was suddenly thankful that she had, and that the woman and her boat had not tracked her directly to her family group. At least the rest of her pod was safe and their home undisturbed. She would have felt even more terrible if her family had no place left to return to, if or when they got out of this. “You promised me no one would ever see,” she accused. Regardless of whether or not Lewis felt she could trust Lukshia, she felt an incredible breach of trust that they had used the microchip inside her to track her down. The stress alone could have done serious damage; especially to Karina and her unborn child. Riley hated the idea that they were willing to spy on her like that, regardless of the circumstances.

“I know, Riley. I’m sorry. Things have gotten dire with trying to stay out of reach of Lemuria – the people to hurt Katie and Luna – we were worried that you might try to go back to the cove and fall into a trap. Sophie’s necklace was wired, so they could hear everything. They know about you and that you were going to bring your aunt and uncle back. I didn’t know Lukshia was coming out to you, but it would have been the next logical step. We couldn’t risk your safety for the sake of your privacy, you understand that?”

“Yes,” she admitted, though she did not like it. “How do I know I can trust her?”

“She brought Katie and Luna home, Riley. She just wants to help. I know you’re not overly comfortable with strangers, but just this once I need you to keep the peace and come back safely, alright? Your aunt and uncle are with you?”

After a moment of hesitation, Riley nodded before remembering he was not there to see. “Yes,” she confirmed. “But they do not know all the details. They would not have come if I had told them. They are frightened.”

“Then you’ll have to reassure them. Riley, I have to go for now, okay? Are you going to be alright?”

Riley sighed and chewed her lip. She glanced up at Lukshia again and once more, unease prickled down her spine. “I do not like this; I do not trust her,” she admitted into the device. “I trust my instincts, and I do not like the feeling I am getting.”

There was a long moment of silence before sharp static had her wincing again. She brought one hand to rub her ear as she tried to listen as Lewis began to speak again. “Lukshia can be a bit intimidating, Riley, I know. You’re probably sensing that, but she’s done nothing but help us. If you can’t get over that feeling enough to trust her, then trust me,” he pressed. “If anything happened, I would come after you. Not that you really need me; you’ve proven that you can handle yourself in a pinch. Stick with your family and you’ll be home soon, alright?”

“Okay,” she agreed reluctantly. She shuffled her gliders and flexed her spines. She wanted so badly to cave to her instincts and rip into the woman just in case. But she did trust Lewis, who frustrated her and poked at her, but cared and supported her and didn’t taunt her for her flaws. She enjoyed ribbing with him and his company in general. He treated her like a kid, but a capable one. It felt like having a father, something she had never known. And he was asking her to be patient. She did trust him.

As she decided that, she lowered her spines further until they slipped into the pocket of her arm, beneath a fold of skin and out of sight. Her earlier snarl faltered and she forced herself to relax as she reached out to hand the device back.

“Keep it,” Lukshia said with a shake of her head. “You can’t get it wet, but if it will make you feel more comfortable to be able to contact him, keep ahold of it. Just don’t twist any of the other dials or buttons, or it will change the settings and you won’t be able to contact him.”

Riley nodded, then gazed around herself properly. She was in a much smaller room and could no longer see the large pool they had initially been trapped in. “Where is my family?” she inquired with a frown.

Lukshia jerked her head to the door. “Still back in the main chamber of the hull. They should be waking up now too. Do you want me to take you to them?”

Riley shook her head. She would keep a temporary truce for Lewis, but she was not keen on having the woman carry her. “I will do it,” she decided. She lowered herself down onto her front so that her belly was brushing the rough fibers of the towel she was still sprawled on. It was a little slippery, but she decided that it would make an ideal means of sliding more easily over the rough floor of the ship.

Lukshia shrugged her shoulders and stood from her chair, and Riley had to swallow a growl of unease as the woman now towered over her. Lukshia barely seemed to acknowledge her discomfort, however, and waved her wrist in a ‘follow’ gesture.

Riley placed her palms flat on the ground and began the tedious process of hauling herself across the floor. When she finally cleared the threshold of the doorway, she found herself in a much larger space. There were hanging chains and nets and contraptions she did not know the names or purposes of, all of which were swaying slightly as the boat rocked. There was a long perimeter of flooring surrounding the large basin of dark sea water that Riley assumed was where they had been dragged in before. The water was relatively still, but she could pick out the occasional flash of iridescence that indicated one of her family members was awake and pacing.

She glanced at Lukshia who nodded. “I’ll leave you all be for a bit, and come down with something for everyone to eat later, alright?”

“That was would be appreciated,” Riley agreed reluctantly. She would have much rather left to catch her own food and simply followed the boat back, but she knew Karina would not be able to keep pace with it, and did not imagine Lukshia would be inclined to agree.

She waited until the woman disappeared up a flight of metal stairs before dragging herself into the water. It was a little chilly, but she relished the feeling of the water over her dry scales. She always felt better getting back in the water after being up in the air for a while.

Riley had barely sunk completely beneath the skin of the surface when her aunt was there, dragging her forcefully into an embrace that stole the breath from Riley’s chest and pulled an involuntary squeak from her.

“Thank goodness you are alright,” Aunt Becca murmured. “When we woke and you were not here, we feared the worst. Where were you? What happened?”

Riley gently pried herself free of her aunt’s grasp and met her worried gaze evenly. She had no idea what to say to assuage her aunt’s fears. “We will be okay,” she stated finally. “It is best we stay in the water, and be on our guard; but there is no intent to cause us harm.”

“Are you certain?”

Riley’s eyes narrowed and she bared her fangs. “Trust me, if the fragile peace is betrayed, I shall be the first to rend flesh as retribution.”

Rebecca nodded. “Are you going to tell me now what is going on? Why did they take you out of the water? They knew we were here, Riley. How?”

Riley shook her head. “I do not know the human woman who was waiting for me to wake, but I do know some that she associates with. I do not like the situation – it sets my scales on edge – but I have been promised of her good intentions by those I do trust.”

Her aunt’s frown had deepened. “By those you trust,” she echoed. “Riley, having contact with humans is a massive risk. I want to trust you, but you have to be honest with me now,” she begged.

Riley sighed and gestured to her hip. “They saved my life. No healer could have repaired the damage that shattered the bone and gave me this scar. They helped me and offered me a home, Aunt Becca. I found a family on land.”

“You are a pet,” her aunt hissed. “To parade around. Did they send you to collect more?”

Riley shook her head. Her aunt’s words stung and offense prickled along her scales, but she understood where the worry stemmed from. “I am not a pet, Aunt Becca. I am not shown off or put on display or treated like some lesser being. I am free to come and go as I please, my desires are encouraged and my thirst to learn indulged. My opinion matters and I am asked to participate in decisions,” she recounted. She crossed her arms over her chest to rub them and give herself a partial hug. “I did not mean to get mixed up with them, but that control was taken from me when I was injured. Sophie…she took me in and took care of me and I owe her and Lewis my life.

“I had to spend a full moon with them before I was okay enough to consider going back in the water, and in that time…they made me feel loved and wanted, and were more than willing to let me go, while offering a home to come back to if I wanted. At first, I did not imagine taking it, but I grew lonely very quickly. I missed them. It was my choice to go back, to stay. You used to be willing to accept anyone for who they were so long as they intended no harm. Will you judge my family now merely for having feet in place of fins?”

Her aunt twisted her head away and hissed, her fins lashing through the water. “Look around, Riley,” she growled. “We are in a cage with no way out. We are in the dark, in the belly of a ship, after being dragged up in a net and forced into slumber. We are trapped like mackerel in a fisher’s hold awaiting slaughter at the shore, and you ask me not to judge those responsible?”

Riley opened her mouth to protest, but her aunt cut her off, her dark eyes glowing with poorly concealed hurt and anger. “And what of Karina, Riley? The rest of us can fend for ourselves if necessary, but you have penned in a girl who cannot, and you have put her unborn child at risk,” she snarled. “You promised me, Riley, that I would not regret coming.”

She broke off and shook her head. Uncle Ixion had come up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. She leaned into him; her distress blatant. “We never should have left our reef,” she decided in a defeated tone that stabbed into Riley’s gut.

She wanted to defend herself, but her aunt had already twisted out of Ixion’s grip and swam off. Her uncle glanced between the two of them and Riley bit her lip. “I am sorry,” she offered to her uncle. “I did not know about the boat and I never intended to make anyone feel unsafe.”

Her uncle frowned and shook his head. He did not say anything and instead merely turned and pursued his mate. Riley slumped in on herself, feeling a burning sadness clawing its way up her throat.

Riley longed to go after them and plead her aunt’s understanding and forgiveness, but she knew that she would not get either without allowing Rebecca the chance to calm down.

She turned away from the direction they had both gone and started, her gliders flaring with alarm. Nero was practically in her face. His dark hair and tail – combined with his grayed skin – made him blend very well in the darkened waters. She had not noticed him approach, but his rage filled gaze and snarl-warped expression almost made her wish he had not. “You said nothing of humans,” he hissed, his inky tail lashing. “Was everything a lie then?”

Riley shook her head. “I spoke no lies to you, Nero,” she countered. She wanted to rage and defend her family and her actions, but she knew it would only make the situation worse. “She did not make it out of a well secured, land-based facility without the aid of those on land, Nero. I would never, ever have brought you, or Karina, if I thought for a moment that anyone was in danger, please understand that.”

“I want to believe that,” he growled. “But I have something more precious than I expect you to understand, and I have to protect that first.”

“I do understand it,” Riley pressed. “And I understand if you cannot believe me or trust me, or if you choose you want nothing more to do with me after this. I have my family, Nero. But there is still a young girl who needs hers.”

Nero sighed and ran his hands through his hair, his fingers curling to yank at the roots. “Nothing is ever simple with you,” he hissed, though this time it was more from defeated acceptance, than anger.

The water shifted as Karina drifted up over to them. She leaned bodily against Nero – her gills working hard – and one hand curled around her enlarged middle. Nero was quick to pull her into his arms and nuzzle the side of her neck. “You need to rest,” he murmured. “The stress is not good for you or the baby.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I just feel better here with you.”

She glanced at Riley, and Riley’s heart squeezed with guilt at the way Karina’s eyes were sunken in with exhaustion and worry.

“It is going to be okay,” she said, though she was not sure how reassuring her words would be. She moved up to Karina’s other side and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You should get some sleep. I will keep an eye on everything else.” She glanced at Nero and nodded. He needed no further prompting to gather his mate properly in his arms and drift down with her to the floor of the basin so she could sprawl out on him. He had one shoulder half turned so that his weight would not completely crush his dorsal. It did not look comfortable, but he made no move to shift or complain as he cuddled Karina and stroked her hair.

Watching them, Riley better understood what it meant for mates to be so protective of one another. She knew Sophie and Lewis would never seek to harm her biological family, but she could not help but chew her lip and fret. She did not like the boat any more than the others did. She took a breath and swam up to breach the surface. She folded her arms on the cold metal deck and stirred her fins through the water. She was tired too; sedatives seemed to have that effect, but she was determined not to sleep. Whether there was something to worry over or not, Riley refused to be caught off-guard. Her aunt and uncle, and her cousin and his mate; they had all taken an enormous risk on a leap of faith for her, and she would do everything she could to keep them safe on the journey, even if things had taken a turn out of her control. She only hoped they would reach home swiftly and safely. This had been too much of an adventure, even for her.