She had consented to it, but now that it was on, Sophie could not stop fiddling with the tight leather circlet. She had worn the locket for months because it was a thin, long chain, but this was short and close to her throat, and it rubbed when she moved. It had taken her seconds to begin loathing it.

She winced and pulled at it again, hoping that twisting it would eventually cause it to rest in a less irritating fashion.

“You will forget about it faster if you stop playing with it,” Dr. Auldon called over his shoulder.

Sophie scowled and glared daggers into his back as she followed him down the hall. She knew they weren’t concerned with people seeing; most of the staff and all of the visitors would have long departed by now, but she hadn’t anticipated the scientist would make her wear it so soon. It felt wrong.

Luna was still tucked up in her arms as she walked, and she gently rubbed the young Mer’s back. “Are you alright?” she asked the child.

Luna shrugged. She was fiddling with the round metal tag hanging from her collar. She looked as unhappy as Sophie felt, and the simple gesture conveyed enough. Luna was terrified and putting on a brave front. Sophie hugged her closer.

“It’ll be alright,” she murmured to the girl.

Luna didn’t respond, but Sophie felt her fingers brush over her throat as Luna fiddled with the tag on Sophie’s collar. The girl’s eyebrows knitted together and her lips pursed as she began sounding out the word. “Br..br-oh-ick?” she whispered.

Sophie frowned. “Spell it for me, hon?” she requested.

“B-R-O-O-K-E,” Luna replied.

Sophie’s frown deepened and offence prickled in her gut. “Brooke?” she echoed. “Isn’t that just a little too on the nose?” she called out to Dr. Auldon. She was a little annoyed about having her name changed at all, but to that? Essentially her last name? Something about it didn’t quite sit right with her.

Dr. Auldon stopped walking and turned around. Sophie pulled to a stop as well, but his attention was not on her, rather on Luna. He reached out a hand, grabbed the Mer by the chin, and dragged her gaze to him. “I heard she was teaching you letters, but I believed it a pointless exercise. You can read?” he demanded.

Luna’s eyes watered with tears and she whimpered as she tugged away from him and curled closer to Sophie. Sophie cuddled the girl closer and gently kissed her brow. “It’s alright,” she assured the girl. “Only a little,” she reported to Dr. Auldon. “A few words and sounds.” She was lying, Luna’s reading was progressing well. She still struggled with certain sounds and letter combinations, but she was reading young reader level books by herself now. Her progress had been amazing, but Sophie didn’t want to make things any harder for Luna by letting the scientists know that.

“What about writing?”

“We haven’t started,” Sophie lied. “I wanted her to be comfortable with recognizing words first before we began working on that.”

“Keep it that way,” Dr. Auldon warned.

Sophie bristled as the scientist turned away after the dismissive comment. “She has a right to learn,” she argued. “They all do. They’re people too and should be allowed to access any knowledge they wish.”

The scientist kept on walking as though she hadn’t made any comment at all, and Sophie growled under her breath.

She was about to snap something more at him when a hand was laid on her shoulder. The fingers squeezed tenderly and Sophie glanced back into Lewis’ concern filled gaze. He shook his head. “It’s not worth the argument right now. You’re not going to change his mind.”

“But-” Sophie’s protest died in her throat before she’d even voiced it. Lewis was right, and she needed to toe the line with the scientist and focus her attention on the fights that truly mattered. She imagined there were going to be quite a few of them. “Let’s just get this over with,” she sighed finally.

Lewis nodded and readjusted his passenger. Dr. Auldon was having them move the Mer down the hall, and Lewis currently had Rebecca in his arms.

The green-tailed woman looked far from thrilled about being carried, but she said nothing. When she met Sophie’s gaze, however, her chocolate eyes softened, and she dipped her head. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For all that you have done for my daughter, and for speaking up for us. After everything, it is at least a little comforting to know there are decent humans too.”

Sophie offered the woman a smile and fell in line beside Lewis as they walked. She kept a bit of distance, not wanting to bump into Rebecca’s fin. The lime green appendage was drooped over Lewis’ arm and was flopping about as he walked. It did not look comfortable for the Mer, and Sophie didn’t want to make that any worse.

She did take a moment to observe the veiny fluke. It was flat and rounded around the sides, with a scale line that travelled up half the length for extra stability. It didn’t look very much like Luna’s – who had no scales progressing up her fin – or Nero’s – who had a thick cartilage fluke – but it did remind her of Katie’s. Her daughter’s was wider and the scaled sides extended all the way up her fin, but it was not dissimilar to Rebecca’s. “I wonder if…” she trailed off in a quiet murmur, but both Luna and Rebecca’s eyes fixated on her.

Sophie flushed when she realized she’d been caught staring. Rebecca’s brows dipped into an inquisitive furrow and Sophie shrugged. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to stare. I was just wondering about your tail is all. You, and Luna, and Nero don’t look very much alike when it comes to those physical features, but your fin shape is actually quite a bit like my daughter’s. I was just wondering aloud if that had anything to do with them using Luna’s DNA.”

Rebecca stared at her with a blank expression and then shrugged. “Mer children can inherit the hair and eyes of their parents, and sometimes there are similarities in the scales and fins, but not always. We are born as we need to be to suit our homes and our lifestyles, and it is not unheard of, or uncommon, for Mer to develop further to their survival needs as they age, particularly from youth to maturity; like Riley,” she offered. “Her ‘gliders’ as she calls them used to be quite tiny. I believed they would shrivel with reduced blood flow because they did not grow with her as she aged, and were little more than fist-sized the last I had seen her. It was an interesting surprise to see her with oversized wings now. I have not met Katie, but Luna speaks very fondly of her. I doubt it is a connection to me through Luna. Your daughter is as she needs to be.”

Sophie sighed. “I just hope she’s okay,” she admitted.

Rebecca hummed in the back of her throat, and Luna nodded in Sophie’s arms. Sophie cuddled the girl a little closer as she walked. She knew Luna was still terrified for Katie and had to miss her terribly. The two of them had looked out for one another in captivity the last time, and Sophie imagined that this situation was making Katie’s absence all the wider a hole in Luna’s heart.

“It’ll be alright,” Sophie murmured to Luna.

Luna didn’t respond, but her grip on Sophie’s shirt tightened. With a strained sigh, Sophie carefully adjusted the Mer in her arms so she wouldn’t drop her. She didn’t mind carrying Luna, but the Mer all had a density to them – most of which Sophie imagined was gathered in the tail – and Luna had thankfully put on some more weight in the last several weeks. She was still quite scrawny, and the bones still showed a little around her wrists and hips, but she no longer looked dangerously thin, and her ribs were no longer as defined. Sophie was thrilled with the development, but it made trying to carry Luna further distances just a little bit harder than she’d anticipated.

“Are you alright?” Lewis inquired.

Sophie nodded and shifted Luna’s weight again. “Hon, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to shift and help me out a little,” she requested softly. At the request, Luna reached up and hugged Sophie around her neck with her chin resting on her shoulder. Once again, it made her shudder as the Mer’s tail coiled around her waist, although Luna’s grip was far less wrapped than Riley’s had been, so it wasn’t as intimidating.

Sophie hugged under Luna’s tail to continue supporting her, but it was now much easier to hold her. “Thank you, hon,” she murmured as she hugged Luna close.

The young Mer hummed in response, but it was weak and shaky. She was too frightened. At that moment, Sophie wished she could purr like Riley had done so she could offer Luna better comfort. Instead, she settled for nuzzling Luna’s cheek.

They had left the primary area of the science wing behind and were now in the back end north halls where the search and rescue offices and rehabilitation pools were. She frowned when she caught up to Dr. Auldon holding open one of the double doors with QUARANTINE stamped in bold red letters across it, with a sign mounted on the wall beside warning of restricted access. “This area is meant to be employees only,” she warned the scientist with a scowl.

Dr. Auldon nodded and held up her keychain. He twirled in between his fingers and shrugged. “Your access keycard has been very helpful, yes,” he agreed. “I do appreciate your cooperation on that.”

Sophie growled as she stared him down. “Don’t be interrupting the work that goes on here. The rescue team has enough to handle on the day to day without tripping over your lackeys and equipment.”

“Relax,” he soothed. “Lemuria has already volunteered extra hands and finances to the department in exchange for the use of one of the quarantine rooms.”

Sophie sighed. There wasn’t much else she could do to argue, but she hated how quickly and efficiently Lemuria had taken over her park, and she was a little saddened that no one seemed to be asking questions about it.

But at least they didn’t appear to be interrupting the day to day workings, or else there probably would have been a few complaints by now. “Which room?” she inquired finally. There was no sense continuing to linger and argue with him. It would get her nowhere and there were still other Mer to move.

“Twenty-Three,” Dr. Auldon supplied.

Hugging Luna more tightly, Sophie shrugged past the scientist and continued down the hall. She didn’t expressly remember what was in each of the quarantine rooms or what their setup was like. But twenty-three was a short walk down the hall, and then she carefully shouldered the double doors open so that she couldn’t bump Luna against it.

The room was large and open and well lit, and half of it was taken up by a large pool of water approximately one and a half meters deep. The room was tiled, as was the basin, and the embedded filter and heater were already burbling softly, though she imagined it would be louder for the Mer. Hopefully, they wouldn’t find it too grating. They used this room for injured or quarantined seals and sea lions, and occasionally turtles and crocodiles so that they could pull themselves out of the water more easily. There was even a sloped ramp in one corner for better ease of access.

The area around the pool was sectioned off from the rest of the room by a temporary but sturdy-looking metal bar fence just taller than Sophie’s waist. It had a gate with a latch, but only offered the Mer a small bit of room to pull themselves out of the water if they wished. It made Sophie’s frown deepen, however.

Though it would certainly be more space than they had now, the pool was not designed to be inhabited by five medium-sized marine mammals, and especially not seven if Katie and Riley ended up joining them. She would have at least liked for them to have some room to get out of the water if they wished.

Also in the room, just off from the doors, was a tank level with Sophie’s shoulders. It was much deeper and wider than the ones the Mer had previously been kept in, but she couldn’t help wondering what it was for, considering it had a filter going and had clearly been prepped for an occupant. Shoved into the opposite corner beside the pool were a medical cot and a singles mattress with nothing more than a sheet on it. Sophie’s heart skipped a beat for a moment as she gazed at them. Dr. Auldon had said that he couldn’t operate on her until they were back in the States, but she wondered if it was a bluff to affect her choice. The medical cot and the separate tank made her wonder, however. It gave her no consolation that things might start right away, and even less that – if that was the case – it looked like they planned to do it here in the same room as all the other Mer.

Sophie swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head to clear it. Lewis had already entered the room and she could hear Dr. Auldon’s approaching footsteps. She would have to face what came as it came, and there was no sense in fretting over it until then. Not when they had bigger problems.

Lewis had opened the gate already to access the pool deck, and he squatted to set Rebecca down. Sophie made her way over so she could do the same for Luna, and Lewis stepped back to make room.

“Luna, you can let go now, sweetheart,” Sophie encouraged when the girl remained clinging to her. “Come on now, it’s okay.”

Instead of loosening her grip, Luna’s fingers squeezed tighter around the fistfuls of fabric they were clenching and she shook her head.

Sophie met Rebecca’s gaze, who’s eyes were sparkling with concern and sorrow. The emerald Mer leaned closed and began rubbing up and down Luna’s spine with a hand. She shoved her tail across the floor to slide closer, and she gently took Luna by the shoulders while chirruping something in their natural language, or at least that was what Sophie assumed it was.

After a moment or two of coaxing, it worked and Luna let go, only to twist around and cling to her mother instead. Rebecca held her close and twined their tails, and continued rubbing Luna’s back. Their lyrical language floated up from her lips once more, accompanied by a gentle purr, and gradually Luna’s shaking began to lessen, though she showed no signs of releasing her hold on her mother.

“Thank you,” Rebecca finally whispered in English. “I could not get to her earlier, and she needed comfort. I have her now, she will be alright, but I appreciate how willing you were to rush to her aid. You are not as I first judged you to be, and my niece was correct about her opinions and her request that I remain open-minded. I would not have my daughter again if not for all you have done.”

Sophie shook her head. “My choices haven’t all been good; you wouldn’t be in this position if I was emotionally stronger. I should have listened to my daughter when she asked me to let her go.”

Rebecca pursed her lips and shook her head. “As a healer, I would agree. I have had to deal with many cases where illness or injury will take the afflicted life, and have had to be the one to make that decision to stop treating, both to end the suffering of a patient and preserve the resources another, less doomed Mer may need. If I was in your place, I would have ended it for her long before she got to the point Lewis described to us. But as a mother, I cannot truly fault you for your choice. I fought for her because I could not accept the loss for what it should have been,” Rebecca admitted as she gestured to Luna. “Sometimes the risk is worth the odds it goes against and sometimes it is not. In this case, I do not know, but you never truly know until you have made your choice. It cannot be changed now.”

Sophie nodded. She felt incredibly torn. She was glad Katie was alive, but she had put so many people in danger to accomplish that, and she still had no idea if her daughter was going to wake or face further complications, so she couldn’t help wondering yet again if she had made the wrong decision.

She glanced back up when the doors opened once more and two more people – the young kid they’d had standing guard and the other man who’d accompanied Dr. Auldon – entered the room. Ixion was suspended between them and looked incredibly uncomfortable, but he wasn’t giving them much of a hard time. Sophie didn’t blame him; if they dropped him, he’d land flat on his back with no way to catch himself.

Sophie had to rise and step out of their way as they carried him through the still open gate. Instead of lowering him down, they carefully tossed him into the water, and the sudden displacement near them sent a wave of water sloshing up over Rebecca and Luna’s tails.

Despite their efforts, Ixion immediately broke the surface and hauled himself out of the water beside Rebecca. He pulled her and Luna into an embrace and Rebecca hummed as she leaned against his chest. They whistled at one another, then Ixion glanced down at Luna and stroked the top of her head. She was still limp and clinging to her mother. When Ixion gave Rebecca a concerned look, she merely shook her head and smiled softly as she resumed patting Luna on the back.

Sophie sighed. It was a far clingier and prolonged reaction to a nightmare than Luna had ever had with her, but she supposed the current circumstances were weighing heavily on the girl and increasing her stress. It was easy to forget sometimes that – despite her actual age of thirteen – Luna was still very young mentally and emotionally. In addition to all the trauma she’d faced, Lemuria had also stunted her mental growth and in many ways, she was still a terrified little girl that needed consoling. It broke Sophie’s heart because she knew when the girl was calm and relaxed, she could smile so brightly and be so playful and carefree. She hated seeing Luna so downtrodden, especially now.

She tore her gaze away from the scene and instead glanced at Dr. Auldon. Her hand came up as she fiddled with the uncomfortable collar once more – in part because it itched and rubbed, and in part because seeing him now reminded her of her fate – and she shifted her weight as she held his gaze.

“What now?” she inquired. She swallowed the heavy lump in her throat and hoped the scientist wouldn’t notice the way her voice trembled as she posed the question.

“Now you remain here,” he replied. “The other two tanks are still being drained and I will have those two brought in once they are. This is where you will all be held until we’re ready to ship out properly.”

“What about Katie and Riley?” Sophie pressed. She wanted to check on her daughters and ensure they were alright.

Dr. Auldon shrugged. “They are both in recovery and will remain where they are for the time being.”

“But can I see them?” Sophie pressed. She didn’t like being separated from the two as it was. They were both incredibly vulnerable at the moment – especially if Riley had just undergone an operation – and Sophie knew she would feel a lot better if she or Lewis were there to look after the two and ensure nothing happened.

“Not tonight, Miss Brooks,” Dr. Auldon refused. “Perhaps tomorrow, provided you continue to cooperate.”

Sophie gritted her teeth and smothered the desire to argue. It was late and Katie and Riley both were probably resting. It would do them no additional good to disturb them right now.

Dr. Auldon didn’t seem inclined to continue speaking with her, as he instead brushed past and made his way over to the three Mer.

Ixion’s eyes narrowed as the scientist approached. He bared his fangs and growled low in his throat. It was a guttural sound, and as it rose in volume, it made a shudder crawl up Sophie’s spine. He was certainly a vicious predator protecting his mate and child. She didn’t doubt that he would be able to rend flesh from bone with little trouble if pressed. She almost felt sorry for the scientist. His arrogance was going to get him severely injured.

If he was fazed by the warning at all, it did little to actively deter him. “Suzie,” he called. Luna flinched as he spoke, but didn’t move from where she sat curled between her mother and father. Dr. Auldon cleared his throat. “Suzie, you’re going to stop moping now and give me your undivided attention or there are going to be consequences. I have need of you, so are you going to behave yourself like a good little mermaid should, or do you need some incentive to comply first? I’m sure you remember your last collar. Nothing has changed.”

Luna whimpered and shifted in her mother’s grasp. Her crystal blue gaze was bloodshot and wide as she turned to look at the man. Sophie’s heart clenched.

As Luna tried to sit up away from her parents, Rebecca’s grip tightened and pulled her back close. She snarled at the man looming over them and hissed furiously. “Leave her alone,” she warned. “Or there will be consequences for you.”

Dr. Auldon pulled a small black remote from his pocket and levelled it at Luna, who fixated on it with a terrified whine. “The two of you had best get in the water before the situation escalates. You will all behave, or I’ll ensure young Suzie pays the price for your collective disobedience. All it takes is the press of a button. I won’t ask again.”

Ixion and Rebecca exchanged a look, then both growled at him again. “Hurt her, and you will not see the next sunrise,” Ixion warned.

“Go.” It was Luna’s soft, broken voice that shattered the building tension in the group. She pulled away from her mother with a shake of her head and tears brimming in her eyes. “Please, just go. It is okay. I do not want anyone to get hurt.”

“Lu-“

“Please,” Luna pressed, cutting her mother off. Rebecca sighed, then hissed and twisted to slap her tail into the water, though she looked incredibly reluctant as she slipped into the pool and prompted her mate to follow. Both of them hovered close by, and Sophie took a step forward. She didn’t like where this was going any more than the others did.

Dr. Auldon snapped his fingers and Luna fixated on him again. He pointed to the mattress on the floor on the other side of the fence penning the pool in. “Go,” he instructed.

There was a moment of hesitation before Luna lowered herself down onto her belly and began to pull herself across the tiles. As soon as she left the threshold of the gate, Sophie moved to pick her up and expedite the process.

“Leave her be, Miss Brooks. You won’t be able to carry them around for much longer, may as well learn to back off and let them do it now,” Dr. Auldon warned. Sophie bit her lip and reluctantly stepped back. Luna was doing well enough on her own anyway, and it only took her a few minutes to pull herself around and up onto the mattress. She sat up and stared with an apprehensive expression on her face.

Dr. Auldon made his way over and knelt to plug in a small machine that was situated beneath the medical cot and beside the mattress. There was a small bag there, and he pulled it out and onto the bed. “If you wish to help, Miss Brooks, come and pull her hair back. A braid, preferably.”

Sophie frowned at the odd request but there was no real harm in tying Luna’s hair up. The girl didn’t always care for it, but also seemed to like it once in a while to have it out of her face. She walked over and knelt on the edge of the bed and patted the spot in front of her. Luna shifted backwards and turned her head so Sophie could get at the still wet locks of hair. She didn’t have a brush, but Luna’s hair was usually pretty compliant, so Sophie simply gathered it up and began to weave it together.

After a moment, Dr. Auldon tossed her a simple black hair tie, and then pulled out a pair of brown coverings. They looked almost like gloves or mitts, but there were no slots for her fingers.

Luna hissed in surprise and tried to pull away when he grabbed her by the wrist, but he held her firm and stuffed her hand into the opening, and then pulled a buckle at the base tight around her wrist to secure it. It only took him seconds to have both her hands sealed inside, and Luna whimpered and shook one hand as she tried to dislodge the sack.

Sophie swallowed a rising lump in her throat. “What are those for?” she asked while fretting about the answer. She finished braiding Luna’s hair and tied off the ends with the elastic before letting it fall against Luna’s spine.

Dr. Auldon didn’t so much as glance at her as he met Luna’s gaze with a stern expression. “We’ll have no more of that nonsense with sign language. These are just for now, but when we’re back home, if I see it so much as once, you’ll never use your hands again, do you understand?” he warned.

Luna was pawing at one hand with the other, and Sophie could see the tension in the girl’s shoulders, but she nodded with a faint whine as the scientist levied the threat.

Sophie scowled. “Is that really necessary?” she protested.

“Yes,” Dr. Auldon replied. “I’ll give your daughter the same warning when she wakes properly, but I trust I don’t now need to make it to you?”

Sophie fixed him with a glare but didn’t respond. She didn’t hold his attention long either, because he reached back into the bag and pulled out a tangle of interwoven wires and lights. The contraption stretched between his fingers, and he pulled it wide and lowered it down over Luna’s head. The young Mer whimpered again and was ignored. “Pull the braid through the larger gap in the back.”

Sophie complied, gently teasing the braid through the gap and then laying it flat against Luna’s back once more. Dr. Auldon was busy pressing the nodes on the ends to Luna’s temples and across her forehead, while the Mer’s fin quivered with anxiety.

“What are you doing?” Lewis inquired as he walked over.

“I want to get a better understanding of these panic attacks,” Dr. Auldon replied. “They’re violent and dangerous, and detrimental both to her and to the future of our aquarium if allowed to continue. I want to know if they can be dampened or stopped, but I first need to know what sort of activity goes on in the brain while she sleeps before I can get medication in place.”

Lewis nodded as Dr. Auldon pulled a long wire from the back of the machine, forcibly turned Luna’s head, and plugged it in at the back of the wire cap. Once it was in place, Dr. Auldon turned the machine on, and the various lights atop the cap flickered.

“You will stay here, and sleep,” Dr. Auldon ordered the Mer. Then he looked at Lewis. “If she begins to panic, do not wake her immediately. I’m going to need at least five minutes of data to properly understand what is going on, so keep her asleep even if she thrashes and screams. After that, you can get her up so she doesn’t injure herself.”

Sophie didn’t like the sound of leaving Luna in such a state like that, but she did know that the dreams were dangerous and if Dr. Auldon could find a way to stop them without harming Luna, then it was worth looking into.

Dr. Auldon stood up and stepped away from the mattress. “I’m going to go check on the other tanks. Dr. Patter, you will accompany me. Miss Brooks, I will be locking the door, but I am showing a fair bit of trust allowing you the freedom to roam the room. She is to stay on that bed or I will get a leash to keep her there, and the others are to remain in the pool with the gate closed. There are no exceptions.”

Sophie wanted to hit him. He had just effectively separated Luna from her family once more, and she needed their comfort now more than ever. She remained where she was seated on the mattress with the young girl though. “Just go,” she growled finally. “You’ve done enough harm here for now.”

He didn’t argue with her and instead made his way out of the room. “Dr. Patter!” he called behind him.

Lewis hesitated and stepped up beside Sophie. “Are you alright?” he pressed. He crouched down and pulled her into a hug.

Sophie cupped his cheek with one hand and pressed a kiss to the other. “We’re alright,” she assured him. “Go, don’t stir up the water more than it already is. We need to keep the peace right now.”

Even as she urged him, Sophie yearned to hold tight to him and had to fight not to call him back as he rose and left the room. She knew it wouldn’t be long before she could no longer be with him properly. In the coming days or weeks, she was either going to die or be put in a tank on display like an animal and their contact would likely be restricted to an absolute minimum.

She heard the lock on the doors click into place behind him, and as soon as they were gone, Luna collapsed into Sophie’s arms again. Sophie rubbed her shoulder and held her as close as she could. “It’s alright,” she assured the young teen. “It won’t hurt you, okay? It just reads your brainwaves is all. So if you have a nightmare, they’ll be able to see how it affects you and try to prevent you from thrashing around and being tormented like you are. Hopefully, it’ll just mean they’ll give you medicine to suppress your dreams altogether and you won’t have any more nightmares. But you should lie down, okay? Get some rest. I have a feeling we’re all going to need it.”