Sophie’s hands were shaking and she curled her fingers into fists at her sides. She had half a mind to push past Carson and walk out the door. “This feels like another game,” she growled. “I’ve no more patience for this run-around.”

Carson nodded. “I assure you, this is no game to us either; we are taking your situation very seriously,” he assured her. “But we have a lot to talk about and a lot of it is easier to show you than to try to explain. If you’re willing to indulge us with a few more minutes of patience, I promise it will be well worth your time and effort.”

Sophie glanced to Lewis whose lips were pressed and his brows were furrowed. He winced openly when she met his gaze and shrugged. He had no more insight into what they should do than she did. She directed her gaze towards the ceiling and sighed softly. She wanted to know what was going on. There had been a lot of effort put into getting her and Lewis here and she needed to know why, needed to determine where all possible threats were coming from. But she was also concerned about walking into another trap. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Fine,” Sophie snapped after her moment of silent consideration. “I have about two minutes of patience left, so you’d better convince me to find more in that time.”

Carson nodded and gestured towards the door. “Then let’s not waste a second of that time,” he agreed. He pulled open the door and gestured them out.

Devin fell in step with Sophie as they walked, and Sophie frowned when she saw Lukshia get up to follow them. She stopped and shook her head. “No,” Sophie refused. She ground her teeth together and glowered at Lukshia with all the fury she could muster. “I’m willing to hear the two of you out, but I’ve had more than enough of her to last me a lifetime.”

Lukshia sighed. “Now Sophie-”

“No,” Sophie snapped. “No, you don’t get to try to placate me. My daughters are in the hands of monsters because of you. You stay here or we’re done.”

Sophie refused to bend on this. She had been tolerating much more than she felt any reasonable person should have to and she had reached the end of the rope. Lukshia was a traitor who had gotten a lot of innocent people hurt, and Sophie was not willing to set that aside without a much better reason.

Devin pursed her lips and gestured to the door. “Lukshia, why don’t you wait for us down the hall? We’ll still need the rest of your report later, so we’ll all meet back up after.”

Lukshia didn’t respond and Sophie half expected the woman to argue. However, instead, Lukshia simply walked past them. She paused long enough to pat Sophie on the shoulder. “Good on you for finally utilizing your backbone. That’s what’s going to keep your family alive, not the blind faith you’ve been utilizing in the past.”

Sophie shrugged the woman’s hand off and huffed. “Don’t pretend like you’ve done me any sort of favour. The only thing you’ve caused is harm.”

Lukshia pursed her lips and smiled grimly. “Actually, I think you’ll come to find that I’ve done both,” she replied. She didn’t offer anything further before slipping out the door Carson was still holding open and disappeared.

“I really hate her,” Lewis growled after Lukshia was gone.

“I’m sorry that her involvement has caused any hostility. I don’t know the full story of what happened between you all, but Lukshia has been crucial to everything we’ve been trying to do, so perhaps you’ll both be willing to give her a second chance when this is all over,” Devin suggested. “But we never meant to brew any further hostility or make either of you feel uncomfortable.”

Sophie sighed. She hated being unreceptive, but there was too much on the line for her to afford the luxuries of freely-given trust. “Frankly, I’m still deciding on whether to give the two of you a first chance, so maybe don’t try to coax me into second chances with a woman who put everyone I love in a lot of danger, okay?” she suggested.

“Consider it dropped,” Devin replied.

Sophie nodded and then left the room at Carson’s gesture. What greeted her was not the home hallway she had been hoping for, but instead a large square foyer with multiple hallways branching off in other directions. Sophie frowned as she studied the soft, pastel yellow walls and glossy swirls of the vinyl floor tiles. “This is not a house,” she stated without thinking.

“No,” Carson confirmed. “But it is a secure compound. You are very safe here, I promise.”

“Given I was just held captive in my own place of business, a secure compound is not the most comforting of locations,” Sophie replied dryly. “I’ve had a bit too much experience with people trying to keep us in, rather than others out lately.”

“We’re just accidentally checking all the negative boxes for you, aren’t we?” Carson gave a halfhearted chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.

“All of which can be forgiven if you give us a good reason,” Lewis reminded. Sophie nodded in agreement. She was beginning to feel antsy.

“Right,” Devin agreed. She clapped her hands together and rubbed them before gesturing down a hall to the left. “Come this way and we’ll talk. There’s a lot to tell.” The younger woman wasted no time in heading down the hall. She was walking with her body turned partway back to keep her attention on the group. Sophie reluctantly followed her and Lewis fell in step. She took his hand as they walked after Devin with Carson taking up the rear.

“Lemuria has resources and allies all over the globe, and their funding is immense-”

“Is that an attempt to brag?” Sophie inquired. She was instantly on edge. She’d had more than enough of Lemuria’s goons, even if these ones seemed a bit more decent than most.

Devin frowned and her brows furrowed as she shook her head. “No,” she replied. “Just a fact. Anyway, Lemuria is actually only a branch of a much larger organization known as the Zentiac Corporation. Zentiac is multi-national and massive. There’s not a honeypot in the world they don’t have their fingers in, from pharmaceuticals, education, technology, tourism, real estate, entertainment, sciences, imports and exports, financing, weaponry, mercenary contracts, the works. And they dominate in a lot of their fields, making them virtually unrivalled, though they’re not well known. They operate primarily underground, under shell names, such as Lemuria. Until last year, Lemuria was primarily a science branch. They dabbled in many research fields such as marine biology, physics, genetics, and space research. Then they took a stab in the entertainment industry, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

“Yes,” Sophie growled. “Look, this is a very fascinating history lesson, but it’s not really helping your case. Answer me two questions right now before we go any further. Do you work for Lemuria – or this…Zentag organization as a whole – and what do you want with us?”

Devin smiled and shook her head. “Zentiac,” she corrected. “But no, we don’t. And all we want is to help you, Sophie, and hopefully get a little help from you in return.”

Sophie stopped walking. She supposed Devin could be lying, but it wasn’t the answer she had been expecting. “Then who are you?” she inquired.

“We’ll get to that,” Carson called from behind. “If you can muster up a little more patience for a continued history lesson, that is.”

Sophie paused and glanced at Lewis, who shrugged. “I’m a little intrigued,” he admitted.

Sophie sighed and nodded. “Alright,” she agreed. “Carry on.”

Devin nodded and the four of them resumed walking. “The Lemuria Oceanarium and Marine Research Center is presented as a search and rescue organization dedicated to preserving and studying wildlife in a safe, educational manner to help raise public awareness and provide proper homes for marine life too injured or otherwise disadvantaged to continue surviving in the wild…it’s a joke,” Devin spat. “Their conditions for most of their animals are mediocre at best and that’s not even considering how they treated their Mer.”

Sophie frowned. “Wait…you know about the Mer?” she inquired.

Devin grinned and rolled her eyes. “Miss Brooks, most of the world knows about the Mer now, thanks to Lemuria’s unwanted efforts.”

“The world is aware of the existence of mermaids,” Lewis piped up. “Not too many people know of the Mer themselves though.”

“Exactly,” Carson agreed. “Lemuria doesn’t know the Mer, they only seek to exploit them. We’d like to remedy some of their wrongs as best we can.”

“How exactly do you intend to do that?” Lewis inquired.

Devin held up a hand as she led them further down the hall. “We’ll get to that, but there’s a little bit more to the story that you need to hear first.” She paused outside a mostly closed door and rapped two knuckles on the flat surface.

“Come in,” a voice called back from within.

Devin pushed the door open further to reveal a semi-darkened room. There were glowing lights everywhere from monitors, towers, and modems, with cables running all over the tall metal shelving units and the extra-large desk that sat in the center of the room.

From behind it, a young man glanced up. “Oh, hello Devin,” he greeted. Sophie examined him curiously. He had long dark brown hair pulled into a short tail at the back of his skull and some sweeping bangs that dipped beneath a pair of glasses with tinted lenses. They weren’t so dark that she couldn’t see his gray eyes from behind them.

“How’s it going in here?” Devin inquired.

The man inclined his head towards the computer screen in front of him. “The hard part is done, the program is just finishing up now. It should not be long now.”

“Any chance I can pull you away for a few minutes to meet some guests?”

The man nodded. “Of course. Just a heartbeat longer and…done.” The man swivelled away from the table and came around the side of the desk.

Sophie had to take a deep breath to keep from having a noticeable reaction. The young man was perched in a powered wheelchair and wearing a slightly crumpled button-up plaid shirt. Below the waist were shimmering scales like melted copper. His wheelchair had a special padded protrusion that looked almost crescent in shape. His tail was resting in it, with the lower half of the tail tucked beneath, out of the way of the wheels. He had a pearl-pink fin with three tips in a clover pattern. A ruffled fin ran down the front center of his tail as well.

As he left the room into the hallway with them, Sophie shook her head and forced a smile. She took a step forward and offered out her hand. “Sophie Brooks,” she introduced. Lewis stepped up beside her and offered his name as well.

The Mer grinned widely and reached out to take Sophie’s hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you Sophie, and you as well, Lewis,” he replied. “I am Azmexyoulnus.”

Sophie blinked and blushed as she shook his hand. “Umm, could I perhaps hear that one more time? Perhaps a little slower?”

The Mer chuckled and shook his head. “You can just call me Az. Most everyone here does.”

Sophie sighed with relief and nodded. “Thank you, that’s going to be a little easier.”

Az took his glasses off and folded them before tucking one arm into the pocket of his shirt. “Well, after Devin and Carson mispronouncing it in several painful ways, I figured it was best to find a nickname. It has become second nature now.”

“Your name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, Az,” Carson protested.

Devin merely shook her head. “Carson and I met Az when we were still young. Carson and Az were both twelve, I was fourteen and that was thirteen years ago now.”

“You say ‘met’ as though I was not violently thrust into your lives,” Az replied.

Devin chuckled and shrugged. “Well, why don’t you tell the first part of the story then?” she suggested. “Take a walk with us to the conference room; you should be a part of the meeting anyway, so it makes the most sense to all go together.”

Az dipped his head. “Yes, that seems the most logical,” he agreed. As they resumed walking, Sophie found her mind reeling. There was another Mer here. One who seemed happy and adjusted to people and they had presumably known one another a long time. For the first time since getting here, Sophie began to wonder if perhaps Devin and Carson were genuine. She still wanted the rest of the story, but she was slightly less hesitant to listen to them and hear them out now. From what she’d come to learn, the Mer were incredibly intuitive and not easily broken in or manipulated. People could instill fear in them as they had with Luna, but Sophie didn’t believe they could manipulate one into giving a cover story, not unless the Mer in question was perhaps born and raised and led to believe that was the truth. She was not quite ready to give Devin or Carson her trust, but she was willing to give them enough benefit of the doubt to hear the remainder of what they had to say.

Az startled her from her thoughts as he began to speak. “In a way, it was my own fault. I had gotten into a disagreement with my fathers and I swam off in a huff that night.”

“Fathers?” Lewis inquired.

“Mer possess both reproductive organs and are capable of both conceiving or impregnating,” Carson supplied. “Single-gender couples are far from uncommon and it is equally common for them to have children.”

“Really?” Sophie queried. She turned to Az when she posed the question. She hadn’t known that.

The Mer grinned and nodded. “It was quite the conversation we had when Devin and Carson found out. I had not realized humans were not the same.”

“It does make sense,” Lewis mulled. “Plenty of fish species are capable of changing gender under the right circumstances; it’s not unreasonable to consider that the Mer are just ahead of the evolutionary curve on that front…Not that I think you’re a fish,” he added hastily.

Az threw back his head and a short series of barking laughs ripped from his throat. He waved a hand. “It is fine, Lewis. I take no offence to your speculation. I do not know why my species is this way and yours is not, but you are welcome to mull it over.”

Sophie couldn’t help a smile as she watched the Mer. He was certainly more laid back than most of the other Mer that she had met thus far. Luna was skittish and slow to trust, and her parents seemed equally wary – with good reason – and Riley was beautifully wild and energetic, but quick to lash out if she felt threatened. And Nero’s natural aggression she understood, he was protecting a frightened mate. But Az conversed as though he’d been coexisting with humans for years. She was becoming more and more interested in the rest of his story. “We interrupted you,” she reminded. “Please, continue what you were saying; if you’re willing.”

Az’s gray eyes twinkled and he dipped his head. “Gladly. When I swam off that night, the ocean was restless and I was in a blind fury. I was not paying my surroundings the attention they warranted and I ran into a drift net that had been torn loose from its buoys. The fine wiring ensnared me quickly and within heartbeats, I could not move. I was at the mercy of the turbulent waters which tossed me about and pulled the night tighter and tighter. I had not known such pain or panic as I did then.”

“That’s terrible,” Sophie sighed. She hated to hear of anyone, especially a child, suffering. There was never a good reason for it, but this felt like a horrible reason.

“Eventually, I passed out,” Az continued. “I woke on the shore, but Devin and Carson know more about that part of the story than I do.”

“Devin?” Carson volunteered, eliciting a chuckle from his sister.

“Carson and I come from a very wealthy family. We were staying at our summer condo and running around on the beach just shortly after dawn. Carson had quite the shell collection when we were kids and I always went with him to help him look.”

“Though we found a little more than we bargained for that morning,” Carson added.

“It was pretty terrible,” Devin continued. “Blood all over the sand, so much trash and gunk caught in the netting…we’d thought it was a kid – a human kid, rather – and it was pretty traumatizing. We hauled the net back up to the house and our father helped us cut Az free. His injuries were serious but, thankfully nothing that would kill him because we couldn’t exactly take him to a doctor and we didn’t know a vet.”

“Serious as it was, we did almost have fun playing nursemaids and helping take care of him though,” Carson threw in. “Az didn’t know English at first, so we had no idea he was anything more than an aquatic dog. Certainly acted like it sometimes.” Sophie watched him bump Az’s shoulder with his elbow and wink at him.

Az nodded. “Well of course,” he agreed solemnly. “You two had the cookies and the berries.”

Devin chuckled and shook her head. “Yes well, when we discovered your taste for fruit and baked goods, we spoiled you more than we probably should have. Our mother scolded us that we were going to make you sick. But, at least she agreed to allow us to keep you. I hesitate to consider what might have happened if they’d tried to sell you off someplace.”

“Az was like a pet for the first month or two before he started speaking to us and we realized the truth,” Carson continued. “I think we tried to name you Rudy, didn’t we?”

“I do remember that,” Az agreed.

“We were like family after that,” Devin murmured. “It was like having two little brothers instead of just one, and my parents accommodated Az as best they could. Got him a traditional wheelchair, helped him learn to read and write, tried to give him a life as best we all could.”

Sophie nodded as she absorbed the information. It sounded like they were strong childhood friends and it was heartwarming to meet others who truly seemed to care for the well-being of a Mer. She hated how people tended to get hung up on the fact that they weren’t human; they were still people. Still, there was one thing gnawing at her. “Az…forgive me for being forward but, why did you never go back to the ocean? Your family must have been very worried for you.”

Az’s smile slipped and he shrugged his shoulders. “I am sure they were, but it was not possible for me to return. My injuries were not fatal, but they did cause a lot of damage.” He lifted the end of his tail straight out and Sophie got a good look at his fin. The pointed, clover shape of three fins had a natural merge, but he had additional cuts in his fin. There were gnarled scars of previous lacerations that had only partially closed. It was gruesome and looked painful. “The drift net cut deep into my fin. It did heal over time, but not without pain. I cannot swim very far. We are adaptive, but there are limits. I spend most of my time out of the water now.”

Sophie’s heart sunk. “I’m so sorry, Az. I can’t imagine what that has to like.”

“It is no one’s fault and I am not unhappy,” Az replied.

Devin paused their trek to come back and place a hand on Az’s shoulder. “It was only four months after we found Az that our lives were dumped upside down. Our mother had been battling leukemia and she lost the battle. In our father’s grief, he sent us to live with our uncle. He was grieving and did not handle it well. But our uncle was eccentric and I don’t think he ever truly realized Az wasn’t human. Pretty sure he still thinks Az is just an adopted kid with a physical disability and an obsession with mermaids.”

“He knows,” Az corrected. “Perhaps not at first, but certainly now. He kept up the ruse for my benefit. I was not very comfortable with more people knowing the truth when we were younger. After that, he just never said anything.”

“Uncle Ben took good care of all of us,” Carson agreed. “Our father passed just before my sixteenth birthday. He’d turned to alcohol to cope with mom’s death and it was the drink that got him in the end.”

The mood turned sombre between the three and Sophie pursed her lips. She knew what it felt like to lose loved ones and she also knew how easily the sharp, raw pain returned, even after many years. It was a wound that never fully healed. “I’m sorry,” she offered.

“We both are,” Lewis added.

“It’s okay,” Devin stated. She cleared her throat and shook her head. “It was years ago now, and besides – in a twisted turn of fate – it allowed us to do all of this.” She paused to gesture around them. “When dad died, I was eighteen and I became the sole inheritor of the family money. We each had a trust fund that kicked in after a while as well. I took a couple of college courses in humanitarian studies and Carson went to school for veterinary medicines.”

Lewis clapped the younger man on the shoulder as Devin announced that and nodded at him. Carson grinned.

“We learned more than we anticipated from Az. The Mer brain processes and retains information almost fifty times better than the human brain does. It’s how they learn and adapt to languages so quickly, but it’s not just languages. After a few months of teaching, Az began to read my old textbooks, and a month or so after that, he was helping Carson with his homework. A year later, me with mine. We bought this place as a sanctuary. Az is not the only Mer to have had an unfortunate accident that brought them to shore. We always try to get there first whenever someone is washed up or caught in a net or otherwise discovered. We rehabilitate who we can and provide a home for those we can’t. Many choose to come and go, come to visit those here for life or just looking for a safe place; we’ve had quite a few infants born here.”

“Devin and Carson helped me find my family group a few cycles ago; they come to see me every cycle when they pass close on migration,” Az supplied.

Devin nodded. “And we offer as much education as we can provide and might be wanted. Through online courses, Az holds two separate degrees and while he’s unrecognized and therefore untested, he very well may be one of the best computer specialists in the world. There is very little he cannot do in the digital world. Do…or hack,” she announced.

Sophie glanced at the Mer as they resumed walking. He blushed and shrugged. “I would never use the skills to cause harm – unless absolutely necessary – but it has helped over the cycles.”

“All of this sounds amazing – if it’s true – but I still don’t understand what that has to do with Lewis and I?”

Devin turned back and smiled. “Don’t you?” she pressed. “Sophie, you’ve been on our radar since last year when you beat us to a wash-up. I’m sure you remember.”

“You came after Riley,” Sophie realized.

“Yes,” Devin agreed. “But you beat us there and we were seriously concerned when you did. Forgive me, but while your business seems quite legitimate, the last place we wanted an injured Mer to end up was a marine park. We were planning to approach you with a purchase offer, but when nothing ever came of the event and you never opened a new exhibit…we assumed the worst and that the Mer had succumbed to their injuries. We did keep tabs on you from a distance after that, but there was never any reason to pursue and we have to be very careful. The reason we’ve operated for so long without trouble is that organizations like Lemuria don’t know we exist.”

“That makes sense,” Sophie admitted. “Riley didn’t die if you still think that. She made a rather impressive recovery.”

“Until the next life-and-death injury she came back with,” Lewis scoffed. “It’s never quiet with that one.”

“Well, imagine our surprise when Lukshia approached us with a wild tale of the whole family you’d been protecting.”

“Wait…Lukshia approached you? She told us she was just working a job; made it seem like you hired her,” Lewis replied.

Devin shook her head. “We were already looking into the situation, admittedly. Az is usually the one keeping tabs, but we try to watch as much of Lemuria’s movements as possible. When they suddenly started renting space at a park we knew had been in contact with Mer before, we got suspicious. But we weren’t expecting to hear the story Lukshia had to tell. I was a little alarmed when she met up with me and seemed to know as much as she did about what we do, but she hasn’t shown malicious intent so far and we did need her help. You scrambled a few of the plans by taking off the way you did, but the Mer family you’ve been protecting are all here.”

“They’re here?” Sophie repeated. She felt her heart stall and a lump rose in her throat. There was suddenly a ballooning pressure in her chest and she glanced up and down the hall. She needed to make sure they were all alright.

“Yes,” Devin confirmed. “And they’re all fine. You’ll get to see them shortly. We’re having everyone congregated in a conference room just down the hall. There’s a plan in place to help ensure Lemuria can never touch any of you again.”

Sophie glanced at Lewis, who seemed equally stunned by her words. Sophie licked her lips. Her mouth felt dry and her eyes itched, but she wanted desperately to believe that this was all true. She needed it to be. To finally stop running, stop worrying, stop looking over their shoulders. To just live her life with the people she loved and the Mer all free to live their lives as they pleased; it would be perfect and long overdue. But first, she needed to make sure everyone else was alright. “I need to see them. Please, I…Lewis and I ran to get some help, but I have not been able to stop worrying about them since we left.”

Devin nodded. “I know how you feel. Let’s go, then, shall we?” They resumed walking, only for Sophie to stop dead in her tracks as a shrill, inhuman scream began to echo through the halls. It was a terrible, gut-wrenching sound that had Az covering his ears and the rest of their group looking around with varying levels of confusion and concern scrawled across their features.

Sophie’s heart pounded in her chest and her throat closed. “What is that?” she demanded.