There had been much longer stretches of time they’d been separated for before, but to say that Katie missed her mom and Lewis was a massive understatement. She was lying on her belly at the bottom of the pool with her tail stretched limply out behind her while her fingers tapped absently at the tiled floor of the basin. Her gills were working fine, but each breath she took was lazy; an afterthought she only remembered once her chest began to tighten at the lack of oxygen.

Everything had erupted into chaos once Lewis was discovered missing and then got worse when they learned her mom was gone too. The volunteer had been dismissed. Katie had felt a little guilty that he’d gotten fired after he’d been kind to them, but she knew they’d made the right decision. Her heart still ached when she thought of Lukshia, but the woman had taught her one very valuable lesson; the safety and well-being of her family had to come first now. They were in too precarious a situation to take risks on strangers.

It seemed like Lewis and Sophie had successfully gotten away. They hadn’t been brought back and nothing had been said, and the Lemuria workers were still rushing about like a disturbed hornet's nest. She was glad they’d gotten out safely, but she missed them terribly, especially now that she didn’t know when she’d ever see them again.

Dr. Auldon had come in not long after. She had never seen him more furious. He was red in the face and though he didn’t yell, his voice had been laced with so much venom that Katie still felt sick to her stomach. As much as she wanted to be brave and fully intended to fight this time, he still terrified her. Luna had been in an even worse state. He’d wanted to know where Sophie and Lewis had gone, but they’d all made sure not to know so that the information couldn’t be pried from any of them.

He’d interrogated Katie first. Asked her the same questions in as many different ways possible in a clinically cold tone that had sent shivers up and down her spine. She only had the same answer to give him, even when he’d pressed her to speculate where they might have gone. Katie could think of a place or two that Lewis and her mom had talked about in the past that she would try, but she kept the information to herself.

When he’d gotten nowhere with her, he’d turned on Luna, who had nothing new to offer him, but he’d been just as emotionally rough with her until she had been reduced to tears and Ixion had interrupted.

After that, the man seemed to lose a lot of steam, but he still had a staredown with Riley, who’d merely raised a brow and shook her head as he regarded her. He’d asked if she could track them and she’d merely shrugged and refused to indulge him further. Katie still admired her resolve. Riley had her weaknesses and she felt pain and fear like the rest of them, but in the face of intimidation, she only seemed to grow more bolstered and brazen. Unless Dr. Auldon was prepared to go to war with her physically, he’d get nowhere, and he hadn’t been willing at that moment, because he’d left them not long after that.

He hadn’t left them alone, however. Katie tilted her gaze toward the surface where she could see a shadow falling over the pool. Dr. Auldon had placed two guards in the room with them. Both were impassive and hadn’t spared them more than a passing glance, but each had a cattle prod and one also wore a tranq gun strapped to his back.

So far it seemed as long as they didn’t make any sudden or aggressive movements and stayed relatively quiet, the guards just stood by the wall and ignored them, but Riley had already made the mistake of getting too close and had narrowly dodged the prod that had been jabbed at her.

It was an incredibly tense atmosphere and none of the Mer felt the need to converse in English now that Sophie and Lewis weren’t around to require a translation. Katie was getting better, but it still felt strange to be the only thing she was being exposed to; the guards weren’t chatty.

Ixion had taken Luna into the water first. Katie wasn’t great yet at reading emotions, but even she could taste the tension rolling off her younger sister. She was now curled up against Ixion’s side and while Katie doubted she was sleeping, Luna was quiet and still. Karina and Nero were still in the smaller tank – Dr. Auldon had taken one look at them and then ignored that breach of his previous rules, to Katie’s surprise – and Rebecca was still above the water, waiting and watching. Everyone was anticipating Karina’s labour any time now.

Katie had stayed up for a while, but then the tension had gotten too much for her as well, and she’d sought refuge at the bottom of the pool to be alone with her thoughts.

She sighed and smacked her lips so she could watch the large bubble that popped away from her lips as it fluttered towards the surface. It was easier for boredom to creep in when she was feeling down, and the quiet was beginning to feel suffocating. She dropped her chin down onto her folded arms and closed her eyes. She was familiar with homesickness from the last time Lemuria had separated her from her home and family, but it felt twice as powerful now. Katie bit her lip and tried to take steady breaths so that she would not begin to cry.

She was wrapped up in her wallowing, so when a hand fell on her back, it startled Katie out of her wits and she barely managed to muffle a shriek. The new sail on her back flared in response to her surprise and she heard the sharp, wet, ripping sound as it tore the shirt she was still wearing open. It then connected with something soft and meaty before the hand caught it and held it still. Katie’s heart was hammering in her chest as she twisted onto her side to see Riley hovering above her.

The blonde was no longer holding onto her sail, but she did have a hand pressed to her reddening cheek. There was a twist of a grin and a wince on her features.

“I am sorry,” Katie apologized. “I did not mean to hit you. Are you alright?”

Riley chuckled and nodded before dropping her hand away from her face. “I am fine,” she agreed. “I have merely learned a lesson about sneaking up on you now.”

“Not to do it?” Katie inquired.

Riley shook her head. “No; to dodge when I do.”

Katie scoffed and swung her tail. Riley ducked under the violet appendage and popped back up with her tongue between her teeth. Katie shook her head. “You’re terrible.” At least, that was what she intended to say. Instead, her voice jumped painfully in her throat and a shrill squawk left her lips instead.

Instantly, Riley’s face scrunched in on itself and she brought her hands to her ears. Ixion glanced over with a frown creasing his lips and brow, and Luna’s head shot up and she looked around in confusion.

Katie felt her face flush and she hunched lower to the ground with her cheeks feeling like they’d been lit on fire. “Sorry,” she called timidly. Contractions and other certain words and terms didn’t exist in the various oceanic languages, so whenever she tried to use them, her voice darted away from her and strained her throat. It was painful to hear as well. She knew this already, but speech habits were hard to break sometimes. It was just another thing she was having to adjust to.

“I was not even trying to sneak up on you,” Riley complained. “I do not feel I deserved that.”

“I am sorry,” Katie sighed. “I did not mean to. It is hard to remember sometimes.” She bowed her head and picked at her thumbnail.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Riley sink down beside her and curl her tail beneath her. She leaned forward and placed a hand on Katie’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “I was only playing, Katie. I did not mean to upset you. You are adjusting really well.”

Katie shrugged. “I know you were only joking…I guess I am just not in the mood right now,” she admitted. Her heart still ached and she chewed on her lip. She didn’t want to start crying again. Not in front of everyone, not to Riley. The other girl was sweet for caring, but Katie hated appearing so weak around all these Mer who were survivors. They knew how to fight and hunt and take care of themselves, and she already felt like a burden on them, she didn’t want them to start thinking she needed full-time coddling too.

But Katie couldn’t read emotions or hide them, and Riley seemed an expert at both sometimes. The blonde wrapped her arms around Katie and hugged her tightly. At first, Katie thought it was just to offer comfort, and she tried to squirm away until Riley’s grip tightened to a desperate cling. “I miss them too,” Riley whispered against Katie’s neck. Her voice now had a quiver to it. “I feel like I just got home.”

Katie clenched her jaw and brought her arms up to squeeze Riley back. “I know the feeling,” she admitted. “I was so certain I was never going to see them again, that coming home was everything to me. Now it just feels like a toy on my emotions. The separation is worse this time.”

Riley didn’t respond, but Katie felt her shiver under her hands and her heart went out to Riley. It seemed like she’d anticipated always being alone. Finding a place with them probably meant as much to her as it did to Katie, and while Riley seemed to hide her pain better, Katie wasn’t surprised that she was hurting too.

“We will find them again, right?” she prompted.

Riley extracted herself from the embrace and dipped her head. Her frosty gaze was glistening with sorrow, but there was still a flicker of her ever-present determination. “Yes,” she agreed. “We will deal with our current situation, and then you and I will hunt down our family again.”

“Katie?” Luna’s voice was soft, but it still carried through the water and Katie leaned sideways to meet Luna’s gaze from behind Riley. “Is everything okay?” Luna asked once they could see each other.

Katie took a breath and nodded. “Yes,” she replied. “Everything is fine; there is just a little bit of homesickness going around. Try to get some rest, okay?”

“Okay,” Luna caved. Katie watched her settle herself back down against her father’s side and close her eyes, but Luna still seemed tense.

Ixion’s gaze was fixated on the younger girl, and his features were gaunt with sorrow. He glanced back up and momentarily met Katie’s gaze, so she raised a hand. She curled her fingers close to her palm and then stretched them out into a splayed position before drawing them back in again. Then she jerked her chin in Luna’s direction.

Ixion didn’t immediately react. He was silent and stared at Katie with furrowed brows. When his attention shifted back to Luna, he seemed to realize because he lifted a hand and placed it on his daughter’s head. Luna’s eyes flicked open as he did, but as soon as he mimicked the motion Katie had made, Luna’s eyes rolled back in her head and her eyes slid shut once more. She wiggled once and then a deep purr began to emanate from her as her father massaged her skull.

Katie smiled. Luna was a ball of stress and anxiety most of the time, but she had a few magic buttons that could be pressed and this was one of them. She loved having her head rubbed and Katie had taken advantage of that many times over the last year to soothe Luna out of a panic attack or get her to sleep.

There was a content smile on Ixion’s features now as he repeated the motion and Luna’s purr grew louder. He shifted so that his tail was draped over the base of her fin and his tail tip curled up so that his fins were shading her side and belly. She looked so tiny next to him, curled up in the coils of his scales, but Katie knew it was mostly because Ixion was a larger Mer and Luna’s growth had been stunted. She looked younger and smaller than she was, and it contrasted sharply. But Katie imagined Luna didn’t mind in the slightest. She always seemed to love being held. So long as she felt safe, physical contact was something she craved and Katie couldn’t blame her after all the pain she’d known over the years.

Ixion glanced up at Katie just long enough to dip his head in thanks before his attention returned to Luna. Katie smiled and nodded back anyway, despite knowing he probably wouldn’t see. It was heartwarming to know that Luna’s parents cared for her as deeply as they seemed to. Luna was going to need a strong support circle to get through this and heal from everything that had happened.

Riley leaned closer to Katie. “Does that actually feel good? It looks like it should tickle and itch.”

“It does not seem to bother you to have your spines rubbed,” Katie countered.

Riley sighed and brought a hand to one of the metal cuffs still locked around her arms. “I suppose not,” she agreed. She rubbed over the bracelet and then looked away, allowing her hand to fall into her lap as she did.

Katie didn’t appreciate the sight of the bands either. It felt wrong. She bit her lip and then shifted so that she was almost shoulder to shoulder with Riley. “Here, find out,” she offered.

“Wha-hey!” Riley protested as Katie tangled her fingers in her hair. “Do not…oh…actually, maybe just a little more,” Riley caved as Katie began to rub her scalp. She scratched her nails gently over Riley’s head and Riley began to hum with content. “I suppose it does feel nice,” she agreed.

Katie continued the scalp massage until Riley was slumped against her and murmuring happily under her breath. Katie couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess the truth comes out,” she taunted. “The rough and tough warrior is actually just a big softie; how cute!”

Riley growled playfully and ducked out of Katie’s reach. Her hands came up to pat her hair back into place before she fixed Katie with a glare that only made Katie giggle harder.

Riley huffed and lunged. Katie’s laugh morphed to a cry of surprise as she found herself pinned in a headlock against Riley. Her tail lashed and she squirmed, but she was in a bad position to get any leverage to strike out, and Riley was a lot stronger. “What was that?” Riley inquired.

“I said ‘you are cute’, like a little puppy begging for attention,” Katie laughed. She tried to twist from Riley’s grasp, but it only tightened. She wasn’t choking Katie, but Riley was holding her firmly.

“Is that so?” Riley hummed. Katie felt the other girl shift, but when Riley’s free hand began to tickle Katie’s sides, she jumped and couldn’t stop the squeal that ripped from her lips.

“Riley, no!” she protested as she tried to wrench herself away. She was laughing hard enough to feel breathless, and it was a strange sensation while breathing water. Bubbles were shooting from her gills, but no matter how she wiggled, she could not break free, and Riley was merciless in her assault. “Okay, you win!” Katie wheezed. “Let go, stop it,” her pleading was strangled by more laughter as Riley continued to tickle her. “Mercy.”

The assault finally halted and Katie fell limp in Riley’s grasp as she tried to catch her breath. “That was cheating,” she complained.

“Aww, what is the matter, Katie?” Riley teased. “No fun on the receiving end?”

Katie hissed grouchily in response. “Says you,” she threw back. She couldn’t keep the grin off her features as she spoke, however. “I was being nice!”

Riley scoffed and Katie tensed when she saw Riley’s arm move again. Instead of tickling her, however, Riley placed her hand on the scaled arm running down Katie’s back. Her fingers landed right where the scales met the skin of Katie’s back and her new sail flared at the sudden contact. Katie wrestled with it for a moment to get it to lie flat once more, and in that time, Riley began to rub over that spot where Katie’s back and sail connected.

It was like a shock of static electricity that shot through Katie’s body. An instant later, she found her entire body falling slack and a hum began to build in her chest. It felt like ripples of pleasure were shooting along every nerve in her body and soothing an itch she didn’t know she had. Even she could taste the smug glee radiating from Riley and she wanted to protest and pull away, but she couldn’t make her muscles respond. It felt incredibly good and her hum deepened into a rumbling purr.

“Now who is the cute one?” Riley teased.

Katie couldn’t even muster up a verbal response and only ended up humming with further content. It made Riley laugh heartily. “Feels nice,” Katie finally murmured. She had to bite back a whine when Riley stopped and finally released her hold on Katie.

She reluctantly sat up and flared her new sail. She was getting a better feel for how it moved and worked, and she opened and closed it a few times before settling it back down against her spine. She shook her head and shoved down her disappointment as the sensation faded away. “Wow…we are not actually hard to subdue as a species, are we?”

Riley grinned and shrugged. “If you know how, then no, I suppose not. But you would not have been half as relaxed if you were not already comfortable and trusting around me. Our instincts would overpower any pleasant physical sensation if you were truly in any danger.”

“That is good to know at least,” Katie agreed. “Why does that feel so good?”

Riley shrugged and opened her mouth to reply, but then paused. Katie frowned as Riley’s attention jerked towards the surface and her jaws parted wider. “They are coming back,” she reported before she pushed off the bottom of the pool and swam back up into the air. Katie hastened to follow her.

As soon as she broke the surface, she knew what Riley was talking about. The doors to the room swung open and two people strode in. One was a woman with a buttoned lab coat and dark hair pulled into a tight bun. She was carrying some towels in one arm pressed to her chest and had a bucket in the other. The sharp tang of fish cutlets permeated the air and made Katie’s mouth water. She hadn’t had much of an appetite and her stomach was now reminding her that she needed to eat at some point.

Behind the woman was a bald man with an open white coat and a simple pair of well-worn jeans and a maroon sweater underneath. He was wheeling in an ultrasound machine.

A bitter taste spread across Katie’s tongue as she watched them. These two had been in and out consistently through the day, hauling Karina out of her shared space with Nero to look at the baby. Karina was being far more tolerant of their presence, and Katie knew it was out of hope they wouldn’t separate her and Nero, but the constant jostling and attention looked like it was beginning to take its toll. Karina’s every movement was lethargic and she looked weary and small against Nero, who was keeping her in his arms as much as possible. She’d picked at the food they left for her, but Rebecca had been saying that more than anything, Karina needed to sleep. She needed to be well-rested if she was going to have a successful birth, and these veterinarians – or whatever they were – were interfering with that. Rebecca had tried to tell them that the second time they came in, but they hadn’t so much as reacted to her speaking. It bothered Katie how easily these Lemuria technicians seemed to find pretending the Mer couldn’t talk, but there wasn’t much Katie could do about it.

The woman set the bucket aside and began unfolding two of her three towels on the floor, one on top of the other, while the man began setting up the ultrasound machine.

Katie glanced around at the others. Rebecca was glowering at them with her teeth bared. Katie understood her fury; she was the one meant to be helping Karina through her pregnancy and not only was her patient being put under frequent duress, but she had been reduced to little more than an informant that was barely listened to. Dr. Auldon had seemed open to everything she’d had to say on the pregnancy matter, so Katie couldn’t understand why his underlings were behaving this way.

Once they were situated, the woman rose and stepped up to the tank. The lid was still secured on, but she lifted it with ease.

Within, Karina and Nero both had pained expressions. Karina hugged Nero tightly and nuzzled him with her cheek before carefully pulling free from his grasp. The wide fins growing from her chest had gotten even darker and had noticeable veins standing out along them. She had them wrapped tightly around her chest as she swam slowly to the surface.

“That’s it, good girl, Willow,” the woman praised as she dipped her arms into the water to grab ahold of Karina. These two had been using the names engraved on each of their collars the entire time and Katie had resigned herself to being addressed as Bailey for the foreseeable future. Karina slumped in the woman’s grasp as she hauled her out of the tank. A moment later, she was setting Karina down on the towels and pushing her into a reclined position. Karina turned her head away and closed her eyes. Katie had heard about the first ultrasound she’d had, and how Lewis had worked to ensure it was a positive experience, but these two seemed to have sucked any joy Karina could have gotten out of it.

“You have to stop this,” Rebecca growled. She lashed her tail and bared her teeth. “Can you not see that she is on the verge of giving birth? She needs to rest and you are only wearing her out.”

Neither of the vets so much as looked up from their tasks, and Rebecca’s growl deepened into a snarl. She pulled herself forward and one of the guards stepped between her and her path to Karina. He had the prod out in his hands and waved it threateningly in her face. Rebecca pulled back in surprise and then her growl returned.

“Rebecca,” Karina coughed and shook her head. “Please, no. I do not want anyone to get hurt or things to get worse. It is okay.”

“You are exhausted,” Rebecca protested. She slipped back into a language the Lemuria workers wouldn’t understand to match Karina.

“Please,” Karina begged.

Rebecca sighed and shook her head, but pushed herself further back away from the guard.

Katie glanced between them all, but no one seemed to make a move for further conflict. The female vet was currently drizzling blue-green gel over Karina’s swollen belly.

“Hey Bridget, Willow’s losing scales,” the male vet reported as he pulled the lid of the tank shut, sealing Nero back in. He barely seemed to notice. He was fixated on Karina.

“What?” the other vet looked up from her task.

The man shrugged and gestured into the tank. “There’s a bunch of orange scales on the floor. Think she might be getting sick like Bailey was?”

Bridget shook her head. “Dr. Auldon reported that was a fluke unique to Bailey. It wasn’t contagious or something the others could come down with.”

“Well, there’s a lot of them. How’s her tail look?”

“Solid,” Bridget replied. “She’s probably just been shedding over the past several days, Markus. They used to have to pull Bailey’s and Suzie’s scales from the filter all the time.”

“These weren’t here two hours ago,” Markus replied. “Don’t the females have scales on their torsos too?”

Bridget frowned and Katie watched her return her gaze to Karina. “I can’t see, these fins are in the way. They’re getting really dark now. Let’s get a look then, just in case.”

Karina looked distinctly uncomfortable as the woman began trying to pry her fins away.

Rebecca hissed in frustration. “Just show them, Karina,” she growled finally. “The sooner they get this over with, the sooner you can rest. I am worried for you and it is not like they are going to listen to us.”

Karina’s face coloured and she chewed her lip, but then her fins rippled and opened away from her body.

Katie blushed and averted her gaze. Karina still had plenty of scales around the top and bottom of her chest, but she’d lost most of the ones in the center and it felt wrong to stare at her when she was exposed. Katie’s own scales had finally grown most of the way back, which was good because Riley’s scare earlier had ruined the shirt she was wearing.

After a moment, Karina refolded her fins and looked away.

“They nurse their young,” Bridget reported. “She’s fine. It looks like her body is just preparing for the baby. I don’t think we’ll have much longer to wait.”

“We should check on the fetus then,” Markus replied as he made his way around Karina’s other side. Her face was blocked from view as he crouched down and began to swirl the ultrasound wand through the gel on her belly. Karina wouldn’t be able to see the screen, but Katie could from her position.

Despite how horrible their circumstances were, it was still an amazing thing to see. Karina’s infant was nestled in her womb. It was a little hard to see against the black and gray shadows on the picture, but it looked like it was ready to be an actual baby, held in someone’s arms. It was curled up, with its fins by its head, but it was twitching. Little fingers were clenching and unclenching from fists and every few seconds, the tail jerked and jostled, and Katie could see the impression of the heartbeat going fast and steady in the center. She couldn’t tell if the infant was male or female, but she did know they were beautiful either way.

“The baby is much more active this time,” Bridget reported. “It definitely won’t be long now. This is going to be amazing. No one’s ever witnessed a mermaid birth before.”

Katie rolled her eyes. Plenty of people had witnessed Mer giving birth before. Most – if not all – just weren’t human. She continued watching the ultrasound. She didn’t like how they were treating Karina, but she was incredibly curious about the baby.

It was amazing to watch the unborn infant move within Karina, but then the image changed. It flickered and expanded before condensing. Karina’s tailfins jerked and shuddered and a strange salty-sweet smell filled the air. It faded quickly, but a barely muffled whimper whistled from Karina and then the picture jerked away as she shuddered and rolled to her side. Her tail lashed and Katie could see blood, diluted in a thick clear fluid rushing down her scales from midway down her tail.

Karina’s whimper became a shrill cry of pain and her tail jerked spastically once more.

“Karina!” Nero called. He lurched forward against the glass with a heavy thump.

Rebecca shook her head and hissed. “No, not now.”

“Oops, Willow, what are you doing…” Bridget trailed off and then her hand reached out to wipe some of the fluid off Karina’s tail. “Markus…I think we’re going to witness it now,” she reported.

Instead of replying, the man leaned forward and slid his arms beneath Karina’s quivering body. She cried out as he lifted her, and he grunted as her tail flailed again. He nearly stumbled under her weight as he carried her. Katie thought he was going to bring her to the water, but instead, he lowered her onto the cot still left there from Riley being on it earlier.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Bridget inquired. “Shouldn’t we get her back into the tank?”

Markus shook his head. “It’ll be easier to tend to her out here. Besides, labour can take a while and this is a unique opportunity. Get the ultrasound over here. We can observe the entire process for future reference.”

Nero snarled at them and smashed his tail against the glass as Karina’s agonized scream filled the room. She shuddered and flailed her tail once more.

“Easy, Shade,” Markus called. “Don’t worry, bud, we’re going to take good care of her…What an odd name choice for this pair, huh? Willow and Shade? What do you think they’re going to name the baby? Root? Breeze?”

Katie frowned as the man worked himself into a chuckle. Bridget merely shook her head. “I’m not sure, but we should focus on what’s going on right now.”

Karina cried out again.

Rebecca, who had been dragging herself closer, finally seemed to hit her breaking point. “Put her in the water!” she shouted in English. “You are going to listen to me this time because I am done being peaceful; what you are doing is going to kill her and the baby. They need the water. The baby cannot be born in the air!”

Likely attracted by his mate’s shouting and Karina’s cries, Ixion broke the surface in front of Katie and hauled himself out of the water just in time for Rebecca to lunge at one of the veterinarians.

One of the guards reacted just as quickly and jabbed her away with the end of the cattle prod. It sparked noisily and Katie gasped as Rebecca cried out. She hit the floor heavily and winced as she pushed herself upright. A nasty-looking burn was blistering along her shoulder and she clapped a hand over it and gritted her teeth against the pain. The smell of burning flesh rose through the room. The guard stepped closer and was still fiddling with the prod as a warning.

Ixion’s thunderous growl made Katie cringe. He was by Rebecca’s side in a heartbeat. He put on arm over her so that he was covering her and glowered at the guard with his tail lashing. Ixion was not someone Katie wanted to mess with.

“Touch her again and your shock stick will not be enough to prevent me from ripping your throat out,” he roared. Though they’d been pretty stoic up until now, Ixion had spoken English and the guard actually took a step back. It didn’t take him long to recover and maintain his composure, though he made no move to further antagonize Ixion.

Ixion had bowed his head to fuss over Rebecca, who waved him away. Her voice was terse as she chirped to him. “I am fine. But Karina…” she broke off as another wail from the pregnant Mer cut her off.

Nero was throwing himself against the glass at full force, and while it was holding up, for now, the tank was shuddering and each thump sounded more brutal than the last. Katie was certain that he would succeed in breaking through it eventually.

“Why is Karina doing that?” Katie asked Riley as she watched Karina buck her tail again. It seemed like a heavy weight to be throwing around at the moment, and she wasn’t accomplishing hitting anyone or anything, it just seemed like it would tire her faster.

Riley’s eyes were wide as she turned back to Katie. “It is how Mer give birth, Katie. I am not sure how humans do to compare, but Mer must swim their infants out. It is the thrashing motions of our tails that guide the infant from the womb to the water. It is exhausting, so there is a small period when a Mer can successfully give birth before their energy wanes. They are wasting what time Karina has. Her weight above water will only sap her strength faster.”

“Markus, I don’t know if we should have her above the water. Willow’s been pretty calm for us and she’s far from settled now. Maybe we should just let nature take its course; we’re not really equipped to extract the baby properly and…”

“This is what Dr. Patron wants,” Markus shrugged. “For us to observe and report in as much detail as we can about the birth. She’ll be fine, look,” he pointed to the screen Katie now couldn’t see. “The baby is already moving into the birthing canal. You know he wanted to be here himself.”

“Katie…” Katie turned when she heard Rebecca call her name. She was glad they had a means of conversing that Lemuria couldn’t comprehend because none of them reacted when her name was called. Katie pulled herself out of the water and over to Rebecca and Ixion.

Once she was close, Rebecca continued speaking. “Katie, you know this place, yes?”

Katie dipped her head. “I grew up here. Why?”

“If Karina is not taken to the water, she and her baby are going to die. Successful birth without the water is impossible, and on instinct, she will expend her energy until her heart fails to try to save her baby.”

“They are not going to listen to me either,” Katie sighed. “If Dr. Patron has ordered this…”

“You must go find the other scientist,” Rebecca urged.

“Dr. Auldon?” Katie inquired.

“It is not easy for us to move around on land, but you know this place better than the rest of us. He is the only one of them now that seems at least willing to acknowledge that we speak, and he was prioritizing the safety of the baby before. Even if we attacked them, we cannot get her safely down from there and into the pool, and she is going to need Nero with her now.”

Katie nodded. “I can try, but we are also under watch now,” she reminded.

“Do not worry,” Riley stated. Katie jumped and turned to find Riley pulling herself over. “Those two scientists would not notice you now if you turned rainbow and began to glow. They only have eyes for that screen of theirs. I can bait the guards long enough if you go quickly.” Riley puffed out her chest and grinned smugly.

“Be careful,” Katie urged. “They mean business with those prods.”

Riley scoffed and waved a hand. “They have to tag me with one first,” she countered.

“And you will have help,” Ixion agreed. He nodded at Katie. “Go now.”

Katie rolled onto her belly and hauled her weight up onto her arms as she began to drag herself along the floor in a wide skirt around the guards towards the door. She’d gotten a lot stronger since her transformation, but it was still hard work dragging herself across the floor.

It took less than a heartbeat for Ixion and Riley to cause a ruckus. They growled and snapped at the guards’ heels and lurched out of the way of the prods. They’d successfully diverted the attention of everyone in the room and Katie was able to reach the doors and quietly push her way out.

The halls she once called home now felt like a prison and Katie’s heart was hammering in her chest as she dragged herself further down the hall. Though she would never leave without the others, this felt like a poorly planned escape attempt and while she was surprised how easy it was to leave their ‘pen’, she couldn’t help fretting being caught at any moment. With any luck, she’d run into someone from the park who might be in a position to help. She’d never met her mom’s new manager, but surely the employees from her childhood wouldn’t simply stand by and watch this all happen. While she didn’t want to put anyone else at risk, she knew she would take the chance if it presented itself to her.

It felt like an eternity before she managed to drag herself to the end of the quarantine hall. These floors were not smooth like the wood of the cove house. They were tiled and rough and harder to drag herself across. She was panting and paused long enough to wipe the sweat from her brow before she shouldered her way through the double doors.

She wasn’t sure where to find Dr. Auldon, she just had to hope that the first person she ran into wasn’t someone who would react poorly and not listen to her.

She made her way down further until the first intersection and real choice. One way led to the admin offices, the other out towards the public science center. She wasn’t sure which way she was more likely to find Dr. Auldon.

Katie paused to think about it for a moment. She hated to delay, but a wrong choice would take too much time to backtrack. Then she remembered. She may not be very good at it yet, but Mer seemed to be excellent trackers, and she had been around Auldon enough to discern him from the dozens of people who probably walked by in a day. She closed her eyes, took a breath, parted her jaws, and inhaled.

Just like the last time she tried it, it was a sensory overload, and she winced. She took another breath and forced herself to focus. All the different scents of sweat and chemicals, deodorant and shampoo, and mud and raw fish made her head spin, but she finally managed to sort out the scent she was looking for.

Reopening her eyes, she grimaced and turned left before continuing her slow but steady pace across the floor.

***

Katie’s arms were shaking and the center halls were desolate, she hadn’t run into anyone. She was beginning to lose hope, convinced that maybe she’d misunderstood the smells around her and gone the wrong way. She couldn’t stop thinking about Karina and how poorly she had to be doing.

But Katie knew she couldn’t give up. If she did, Karina was going to die. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to keep going.

After a few more minutes, and she was rewarded with the sound of voices, though it made her heart pound in her chest.

Dr. Auldon did round the corner though, and he was alone. He was focusing on a clipboard, but he noticed her pretty quickly and frowned. He gazed around and sighed. After lowering the clipboard, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “If this is some sort of attempt to run off, Katherine, it’s an incredibly poor one, though I am impressed you got this far.”

Katie shook her head. “I’m not…trying…to escape,” she puffed. “I was trying…to find you.”

“Find me,” he repeated with a quirked brow as he stared down at her. “Why?”

Katie sucked in a breath and forced herself to continue speaking despite how winded she felt. “Karina’s in labour,” she reported. “And your damned goons have her up on a gurney trying to use the ultrasound to watch the birth progression from the inside. They won’t listen to Rebecca when she tells them that Karina can’t give birth out of the water, and your guards are no help with the matter. We didn’t know what else to do.”

Katie felt desperate tears burn her gaze as she stared at him. He still frightened her and had been so angry the last time, and if he refused to step in…She bit her lip and watched as his frown deepened with a fury that made her cringe. He was silent for a moment before he set the clipboard aside on a stack of equipment boxes.

“Alright,” he sighed. He stooped down and reached out towards her. “Let’s go.”

It felt weird to be picked up by him, much less willingly, but Katie sighed with relief that he was going to help and reached out to grab ahold of him as he lifted her off the floor.

As they made their way back, Katie could only desperately hope that there was still enough time for Karina to safely give birth to her baby.