The clock on the wall above the double doors read nine-thirty. It wasn’t that late, but Sophie found her head beginning to dip. It had been another long, stressful day, and she had barely eaten and was barely functioning as it was.

She jerked her head up once more and glanced around. Karina and Luna both seemed to be asleep, and Nero was pacing in his tank like an agitated shark. Rebecca was drooped on the floor of her tank, and her gills were working weakly. Sophie frowned with concern as she studied the emerald Mer. Her chest was heaving, and her head was bowed. Sophie wasn’t the only one who noticed her plight, and she made eye contact with Ixion. The grayscale Mer was looking down at his mate with one hand pressed to the glass separating them.

“Is she okay?” Sophie asked as she nodded in Rebecca’s direction.

Ixion glanced down again and shrugged, then slowly shook his head. He seemed concerned over the woman, but not frantic like Nero had been. Sophie didn’t like them being in any sort of distress, but whatever was going on was not yet serious. Sophie wanted to probe further, but Ixion’s means of communicating with her were essentially limited to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ inquiries.

She was just wracking her brain for a better way to ask when a shrill scream shattered the previous silence of the room. It jolted Karina awake and Sophie saw Nero pull up short while Ixion’s gaze whipped to the tank beside him. Rebecca stirred and glanced over as well, but the glossy, unfocused look in her gaze was incredibly concerning.

The scream was coming from Luna, who’s tail was jerking from a curled to a stretched position in a spasming manner, and she was thrashing side to side in the tank with her eyes squeezed shut and her lips parted wide as she cried out. Sophie would have been impressed with her lung capacity to penetrate the thick glass and echo loudly around the room if it weren’t so gut-wrenching to watch.

Sophie rubbed her wrists together and pulled, trying to find a way to slip at least one hand free of the restraints holding her to the chair. Luna was having a nightmare and an exceptionally severe one by the looks of things. She needed to be woken up before she hurt herself, and Sophie hated the idea of her waking in her small tank with no one to properly hug or console her. Her bad dreams wrecked her emotionally for hours afterwards.

The noise was enough to attract the young man who was standing guard outside. He frowned at the scene and walked up to Luna’s tank with a confused and annoyed look as though the sound was frustrating, but he wasn’t sure how to silence it. After a moment, he kicked the glass wall with a boot. “Shut up!” he yelled down at the young Mer.

Sophie gritted her teeth. This kid didn’t look older than twenty, and she didn’t approve of his total lack of empathy. “She’s having a nightmare,” Sophie hissed angrily. “She’s not awake, she can’t hear you.” She watched him kick the tank again, then saw Ixion strike the glass of his tank with his tail. Luna’s father had his fangs bared and his tail lashed as a warning.

Sophie wrenched at her restraints again. “Look, you want it to stop? Cut me free,” she demanded. “She needs to be woken gently or the situation will only escalate.”

The boy turned to her with a raised eyebrow and scoffed, but he was also glancing between her and the tank as if he were considering it.

“Quickly,” Sophie urged. “Before she hurts herself flailing around like that. You’re supposed to be keeping watch, right? I don’t think they’ll be very happy if she gets injured on your watch; especially if there was something that could be done about it. It’s not like I can go anywhere on my own anyway. You have keys to the tanks, right?”

The boy’s scowl deepened and a hand went to the belt loop of his jeans, where a ring of keys hung. He glanced at Luna once more, who was still sobbing and screaming, and then shook his head and walked behind Sophie. “Don’t try anything,” he hissed at her. There was a sharp tugging and then the band around her wrists snapped. Sophie leaned forward and pulled the ropes free from her ankles before hurrying over to the tank. The boy was fumbling with the keyring and pulled off one with a blue dot on it, and shoved it at her.

He backed up a few steps but continued to hover. It was irritating, but she acknowledged it was the best she was going to get. She jammed the key into the lock and then wrenched the tank lid open. Her arms sunk into the water up past her elbows as she reached for Luna. She grabbed hold of her under her arms and pulled her up to the surface.

Sophie looped an arm under Luna’s tail and hoisted the preteen over the lip of the tank and into her lap properly. Her actions soaked through her clothes in seconds, but that was a minor concern. She could feel multiple sets of eyes drilling into her as Luna continued to cry out and squirm in her arms. She pulled the girl close, wrapping her in a tight embrace and resting her chin on the crown of her head.

“Wake up, Luna,” Sophie prompted as she rubbed the girl’s arm.

Luna was thrashing in her grip and Sophie grunted as she held her closer. It seemed counterproductive, but Luna was always more likely to rouse if she was immobilized. “You’ve gotten stronger, kiddo. Come on, wake up; you’re having a nightmare.”

It took a bit more gentle consoling – and there was a lot more screaming in the meantime – but finally, Luna’s fit subsided and she fell limp in Sophie’s arms. There were already tears watering in her gaze when she finally opened her eyes, and she was quick to cling to Sophie like she was a lifeline.

As Luna’s shoulders began to shake and muffled sobs squeaked past her lips from where she’d buried her face in Sophie’s shirt, the woman carefully readjusted her grip on the young Mer to hold her closer. “Oh, Luna…” she murmured. Usually, she’d assure the girl that it was just a bad dream and that everything would be okay, but it wasn’t, and it might not ever be again, though Sophie loathed considering that at the moment. She struggled for something to say to the ailing child. “Luna. Honey, please don’t cry. Luna, look at me,” Sophie prompted. She guided Luna’s chin up until her bloodshot blue eyes were staring up at her. “You’re living a nightmare,” Sophie acknowledged. “And I wish more than anything I could whisk you away from it, but I can’t. But I need you to be brave, okay sweetheart?”

Luna’s gaze watered with more tears and her fangs poked out as she bit into her bottom lip. Sophie shook her head and wiped away a liquid crystal rolling down Luna’s cheek with her thumb.

She pulled the girl closer into a tight embrace so she could whisper in her ear. “You’ve been through so much, Luna. I know they hurt you; they hurt you very badly, so many times. And they’ve taken so much from you over the years. They stole your freedom, your identity and your memories, your voice, your safety, your trust, and your sanity. And they’re probably going to try to do it all again.”

Luna whimpered and shook her head. Her eyes squeezed shut and her lips parted with dismay, and it broke Sophie’s heart to see. The girl was shaking violently as Sophie drew her back close and wrapped her arms around her once more. “Listen to me, Luna; it isn’t going to be like last time, okay? This time, you’re not alone. You’ll never be alone again. You have me and Lewis, and Katie, and Riley, your mom and dad, and your brother and Karina, and we all love you so much. They can’t take that from you, Luna. They can try to isolate you, but they cannot take away from you how much you are loved or the love you choose to give. And you are not an animal, Luna. You’re not a beast, and you’re certainly not a monster, so I don’t ever want you believing that again,” Sophie instructed firmly. “You are a beautiful young girl with a massive heart and an addictive smile, and you’ve changed several lives for the better.”

“I-I want t-to go home,” Luna whimpered. She fisted her fingers into Sophie’s soaked shirt and clung to her while sobs continued to wrack her body.

Sophie tightened her embrace. “I know, sweetheart, I know. I’m so sorry, Luna. This all got so screwed up; you were never supposed to wind up here again. But Luna, listen to me okay, this is very important. Who you are, Luna, is a smart, beautiful, kind girl, not some freak science experiment for scientists to toy with. What they’ve done to you, they had no right, and you can’t allow them to cast doubt in your mind again. You are not a pet, Luna. Don’t let them have your identity again, they can’t take it from you unless you let them. So hold the people you love close to your heart and remember who you are to us, okay? Who you are to yourself, and who you want to be. They can’t change that. Be brave, okay?”

“Okay,” Luna whispered in agreement. “Please do not let go.”

“I won’t,” Sophie agreed. “It’s okay, I’m right here.”

Luna hummed softly, but it was a weak attempt. The poor girl was terrified, and Sophie hated Lemuria for causing this, yet again. She continued to sit there, gently rocking the young girl. When she looked up over Luna’s shoulder, she could see Ixion staring at her. There was a longing in his gaze, and she knew he probably wished he could be the one comforting his daughter, but when he caught her looking, his head dipped in appreciation. Sophie nodded back. She wished she could do something more.

“Okay, you should really put that thing back now,” the young guard said. He no longer sounded angry or annoyed, if anything there was a tinge of sorrow to his tone, mixed in with an anxious pitch. Sophie glanced at him and saw him shift from foot to foot. “You’re going to get me in trouble.”

Sophie shook her head. “You resolved a problem,” she told him. “If they want to get angry, they can get angry with me.” She buried her nose into Luna’s hair and kissed the girl on the side of her temple. The moment the boy had said something, Luna had clung tighter. She wasn’t going to let Luna go unless they made her.

She wasn’t watching the door, so when she heard it open, she assumed it was the guard walking away, but then she heard the click. When she glanced over, she found herself staring up at Jenny’s face, which was warped into a disturbingly maniacal grin. Her handgun was levelled threateningly with Sophie’s face.

“You shouldn’t have gotten up from your chair,” the woman mocked. “I’ve been looking for a reason to use this, are you seriously going to give me one? Honestly, I don’t know why you’re even still alive, you’re just going to cause us more problems. But I’ll take great pleasure in alleviating you of the burden of breathing, so just say the word.”

“What is your problem?” Sophie countered. She placed a hand to the back of Luna’s head to hold the girl against her so she couldn’t look. She didn’t need anything else to fear right now. “You’re acting as though I’ve personally offended you, but we’ve barely spent ten minutes in one another’s company, so what’s with you?”

Jenny shrugged casually and rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say I don’t care much for being showed up. I’ve worked far too hard for far too long to claw my way up to a decent job, and Bailey and her little runaway stunt nearly cost me all of it. Of course, she’s a star attraction, so there’s not much I can do to her. You, however, are a perfect scapegoat, and you’re dead anyway, so who the hell cares if I’m the one to pull the trigger or not?”

Sophie scowled up at the woman and shook her head. She didn’t know what to make of that, but right now, Luna’s trembling was growing worse again, and that mattered more.

“That’s enough, Miss Barnes.” Dr. Auldon’s voice cut through the tension in the room and Sophie glanced back up to see him place a hand on the flat of the gun and forcibly lower it. “There’s no need for violence, and Miss Brooks still poses a certain usefulness, so I’d prefer there be no accidents unless absolutely necessary…for now.”

“Of course, Sir,” Jenny replied, but there was a distinctive scowl to her face as though she were a child who had just been told ‘no’ to having a slice of cake. She stepped back and let the weapon hang at her side.

When Dr. Auldon cleared his throat, Sophie glanced up at him to find him frowning down at her. “I must admit, Miss Brooks, that I expected you to still be where I last left you.”

“Sophie!” Even as Dr. Auldon finished speaking, Lewis’ voice rose to nearly cut him off. He hurried around the scientist to crouch at her side. “Are you alright?”

Sophie nodded and cradled Luna a little closer. “She was having a nightmare,” she explained to respond to Lewis’ question, but then she redirected her attention to the scientist still standing over her. “She was thrashing around in her sleep and risked hurting herself. This isn’t the first time. Besides, I don’t imagine the screaming was subtle. It would have attracted unwanted attention eventually.”

Dr. Auldon grunted in acknowledgement. “Very well,” he agreed. Sophie sighed with relief that he wasn’t going to argue. Luna was still stuck to her like a barnacle, and the last thing she wanted to have to do was force the girl to let go.

“Wait, what’s wrong with Rebecca?” Lewis inquired with concern thick in his voice. He rose from her side and moved to crouch down in front of the green Mer’s tank. Sophie followed him with her eyes. Rebecca was still hunched over on herself with one arm propping her up. It was shaking and her chest was heaving.

Dr. Auldon must have been concerned also because he stepped around her so he could join Lewis. Ixion had a hand pressed against the glass floor of his tank, and when he looked up and parted his lips, Sophie gently jostled Luna.

“Luna, we can’t hear him,” she reminded gently. She hated to make the girl speak around one of the scientists, but Rebecca was truly looking unwell.

Luna took a shaky breath and nodded. “He says my mother has always had weaker gills. It has never been dangerous for her, but she sometimes has trouble being in water that is too still or if she gets sick. The tank is too small, and she is struggling to breathe,” Luna whimpered.

Sophie looked up with the intent of repeating what was said, but apparently, Luna had spoken loudly enough, because Dr. Auldon nodded his understanding. “Carter, bring that unit over here, please?” he instructed.

Sophie hadn’t noticed the employee that had followed them in, but he was pushing a large cylindrical filter with a hose attached. Clearly, they were already intending to drain one of the tanks.

Within seconds, they had it hooked up to Ixion’s and the machine began to whir noisily. The noise seemed to startle Ixion, who paced for a few moments, then chose the furthest corner he could from the sound and continued to watch his mate carefully. Sophie could see his lips moving, so she gently prodded Luna just in case.

The young girl shook her head. “He is just reassuring her,” she whispered. “She is going to be okay, right?”

Sophie frowned and didn’t respond immediately as she studied the situation. Ixion’s tank was draining, but it was likely to take at least ten or fifteen minutes to empty it. Rebecca was visibly in distress, but she didn’t yet seem to be bordering on suffocation, it was just getting difficult to breathe. Finally, Sophie nodded. “Yeah, I think so, hon. They just have to get at her tank and she’ll be fine.”

Luna was silent for a moment, then “Sophie? I am scared. I do not want to be here.” The words were broken with sobs as Luna nuzzled back against her. Luna always seemed a bit younger than her age, especially when she was distressed, but now Sophie truly felt like she was holding a five or six-year-old child that was terribly frightened and begging her to fix it.

Sophie’s eyes burned with tears of her own as she cuddled Luna. “I know, Luna, I know. I’m so sorry, sweetie,” she murmured as she stroked Luna’s long, dripping locks. Even with her daughter slowly recovering in one of the other rooms – and though it made her feel terrible to think it – Sophie wished she had heeded Katie’s desperate request for her to let go. She had made everything so much worse by contacting Lemuria and instead of losing one life, she was destroying nine. “I’m sorry.”

They stayed like that until Dr. Auldon’s shadow fell over her. He dropped something beside her and when Sophie looked down, she grimaced. It was a pale blue leather collar much like the one they’d pulled around Karina’s neck earlier. Except this one had a rounded dog tag hanging on a ring and the name Suzie was engraved on it. “If you’re going to keep sitting there, make yourself useful,” Dr. Auldon ordered.

Sophie growled in response. She wasn’t going to collar Luna like an animal. Not on top of everything else that was going on. It was too cruel, and Luna was already fighting too much resurfacing trauma. She didn’t need the physical reminder hanging around her neck.

Her hesitation didn’t go unnoticed, because Dr. Auldon nudged the collar closer with the toe of his boot. “Do it, or I will,” he warned.

As much as she wanted to protest, that decided for Sophie. At least she could be gentle and make sure it wasn’t too tight. Refusing would only mean Luna would likely be ripped from her arms and pinned down to have it tightened around her throat. With a sigh, Sophie reached down and gingerly scooped up the collar as though it was an aggressive snake poised to strike.

“You have to sit up a bit,” she requested. Luna moved slowly, and her wide blue eyes were deflated and filled with tears as she pulled away enough that Sophie could access her neck. The girl worried at her lip as Sophie fumbled with the catch on the collar. Once she had it open, she pulled it around Luna’s neck under her hair and buckled it off. She gave it a gentle tug just to ensure that there was enough wiggle room that the girl could breathe, but not so much that it would shift and rub constantly. She didn’t want Luna to get any rashes or blisters from it on top of everything else.

As soon as it was on, Luna collapsed back into Sophie’s embrace and her shivering resumed. Sophie’s heart squeezed. She had spent so much time trying to help Luna overcome her fears and assure her that her freedom was hers to keep, and now she had just sealed it away with a degrading and cruel symbol. It was for the best, Luna was too fragile to have one of the scientists be rough with her right now, but it still made a lump rise in Sophie’s throat. She felt like she had just betrayed the young girl who had been depending on her for months now.

In hopes of distracting herself before Luna picked up on her distress as well, Sophie kept an eye on what was going on with the tanks. They’d gotten Ixion’s tank over three-quarters of the way drained, and the male Mer was now flopped at the bottom of the tank without enough water to keep him buoyant. He was eyeing the scientist and his workers with a wary gaze as they moved about and fussed with the filter.

After a few more minutes, the tank was virtually empty, and Dr. Auldon unlocked it and pulled open the lid. Immediately, Ixion snarled at him and hissed loudly.

The scientist didn’t seem overly phased, however. Instead, he merely stared the furious Mer down. “We have to move you to get to her,” he stated.

Ixion’s growl was cut short and he glanced down at his mate for a moment before slumping.

“Dr. Patter, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Sophie grimaced at Lewis’ annoyed expression, but he didn’t cause a fight in approaching the tank. He did fix Ixion with an apologetic look before bending over and helping Dr. Auldon haul the adult Mer out of the tank. Unlike Nero, who was strong, but quite slender, Ixion had a much thicker, muscle toned torso and tail, and Sophie could only imagine an impressive weight to match. The two men strained a little to get him out of the tank, and then moved it off the top of Rebecca’s.

As soon as Auldon had the lid off, Lewis was reaching into the water. He hugged Rebecca’s shoulders from behind and carefully pulled her up to the surface. She seemed mostly limp in his grasp, but she gasped as soon as her head was above the water. A weak coughing fit ensued, and water splashed back into the tank from the rivets running down her neck. After a moment, she spat out water and began to breathe normally.

She squirmed and shrugged out of Lewis’ grasp, waving him away as she leaned bodily against the wall of the tank. “I am alright,” she rasped, though Sophie could see her body shivering.

Ixion had pulled himself over and stretched his head up until their foreheads touched. Rebecca’s panting was beginning to subside and she smiled softly and closed her eyes. Her lips parted and she crooned quietly to him.

“How long have you had breathing problems?” Dr. Auldon’s voice cut through their tender moment.

Rebecca merely gave him a side-eye glare and chittered something before returning to nuzzling her mate. In Sophie’s arms, Luna began to giggle quietly, and it made Sophie grin. She patted Luna on the back.

“Rebecca…” It was Lewis who spoke up next as he crouched down to be more at eye level with the two Mer. “Is it serious?”

Rebecca sighed and shook her head. “No. I have dealt with it since I was young. I can get laboured for breath if I push myself too far too fast physically, or if I get sick it gets harder. The water was merely too stagnant and compressed.”

“We’ll keep an eye on it,” Dr. Auldon decided.

Rebecca growled at him in response, but he merely stared back. “I do not need your help,” Rebecca warned. “I have taken care of myself and my own for cycles, and the only thing putting any of us at risk is you.”

Dr. Auldon ignored her entirely and stepped up to Lewis. Sophie frowned as she saw two more collars hanging from his fingertips. One was a soft green, the other a light gray. “If you would, Dr. Patter.”

Lewis stared up at the man with a dumbfounded look on his face. He hesitated, before taking the collars and inspecting them. “June? But her name is-”

He got cut off when Dr. Auldon coughed pointedly and fixed him with a glare. Lewis sighed, and then glanced between Ixion and Rebecca. Based on their posture, neither looked very thrilled about the situation. Then Dr. Auldon cleared his throat again and it spurred Lewis into action.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he opened the green collar and held it out towards Rebecca.

The woman looked furious, but thankfully her aggression was not directed at Lewis. It did look like she was going to refuse, however, but then she and Sophie made eye contact, and Rebecca’s gaze slid to Luna.

That moment, in the silence, a lot was conveyed, and Sophie’s heart went out to Rebecca. This was not how she should be experiencing being reunited with her daughter. Rebecca sighed and stretched her neck out a bit so Lewis could tighten the collar around her neck. Sophie saw him tugging on it a couple of times and assumed he was testing it the same way she had with Luna’s collar. It would only agitate them if the collars rubbed, but it was also important – especially with Rebecca, it seemed – that they were not too tight either.

After his mate caved, it didn’t take long for Ixion to accept the other leather circle, but Sophie hated the sight of them. Nero was now the only one of the five Mer in the room without one, and Sophie assumed it was only because they couldn’t get at his tank yet.

Dr. Auldon made his way back over to Sophie, and she frowned as he held up another collar. This one was a reddish-orange colour, but Sophie couldn’t see what was written on the ID tag. “What is that one?” she inquired.

Dr. Auldon stared back at her calmly. “Earlier this morning, I made you an offer, Miss Brooks. One that I still highly suggest that you take. At this point, you have an option. We are going to be draining the other tanks and moving these Mer to a better temporary setup. At this point, with Katherine still recovering, her on the verge of labour,” Dr. Auldon paused to nod at Karina. “And your other one incapacitated after hip surgery – don’t look so alarmed, she’s fine; it was causing her pain, so I fixed it and Dr. Patter helped – regardless, it would not be prudent to risk moving them all home now. I cannot operate on you until we’re back at my lab, but you will make your choice now. You can accept this,” he jangled the collar, “and accompany me down the hall to help move them, or you can go with Miss Barnes out around back to the docks. It’ll be quick, but this is the end of your line. What’s it going to be?”

Sophie could only stare back at him. She still hadn’t quite believed he was serious, and she at least thought she would have more time to figure out a solution, but she didn’t want to undergo that transformation. It wasn’t so much that she was afraid of the pain, but she was afraid of the life that would follow, and she would only be one more person to have to save, rather than someone helping.

But she was no good to any of them dead, and she’d made promises to both Riley and Luna that she would be careful, that she wouldn’t leave, wouldn’t let go. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she felt Luna’s grip on her shirt tighten. The young Mer whimpered and stared up with her with terrified eyes.

Sophie glanced at Lewis, who looked stricken and grim, but he nodded at her subtly. Her gaze accidentally slid to Jenny, who was grinning and patting the side of her gun. “I’ll make it quick,” she offered. “Much better than the other fate, that just might kill you anyway. Your daughter screamed quite a bit; I almost genuinely felt sorry for her. Bullet’s quicker.”

Sophie closed her eyes and ground her teeth together. She finally looked back up at Dr. Auldon with tears burning in her eyes. She hated him so much for everything he had done and was still doing to her family. She gestured for the leather band and sighed, her shoulders slumping with defeat. “Okay. Do it.”