Chapter 15: Overboard

Crispin was busy typing away on his laptop. It was late, dark, but he didn't care. He had to get these files organized before work tomorrow or his boss would kill him. He was outside, sitting on the curb of 5th street, his blonde hair tousled from where he had kept dragging a hand through it. He was tired, he wanted to go home.

The streetlights were his only companions. He had been bothered twice now by a couple of would be thugs trying to take him for anything they could get but he had sent them on their way.

Crispin was a siren and his voice had powers over others. That's why he tried not to use it. It wasn't fair for him to speak and have any one do what he wanted them to do. However, he really needed to finish this mountain of work before morning and he just didn't have the time to make it home. So he had spoke, gained power over their minds with his voice, then sent them away.

Other than those two, he had been completely unbothered.

Until now.

"Hey, buddy. Excuse me." a guy came up behind him. "Buddy, you got the time?"

Crispin held up two fingers, raised one, then put down two. 2:31.

"You a mute, buddy?"

"Yes." Crispin signed. It was easier than explaining that he chose not to speak.

"Liar. You a siren, ain't ya?"

Crispin paused, then turned to look at the man. He couldn't see him because of the streetlight behind the guy. Sirens, while usually attractive to humans, weren't ever really distinguishable until they spoke.

"I saw you send those guys away." he said and Crispin heard the smirk in his voice. "You're powerful for a siren. Most can't get others under their control so easily."

A bit creeped out, Crispin opened his mouth to send him on his way.

The guy's movement was so fast, Crispin didn't realize he had a chloroform rag over his face until he had already taken a deep breath of it.

"That's right." the man said as Crispin fought the sudden unconsciousness that threatened to overcome him. "Hey, Boss. I got him!"

"Good." Crispin heard another man say as he fell down and his eyes closed. The last thing he heard before he slipped into darkness was, "Put him with the others. We'll send him out with the next shipment."

XXXXXXXX

Joe was concentrating, sketching what she had seen beneath the sea. But it was difficult, Joe had no talent for any kind of arts. She might has well have been drawing stick figures in boxes. She couldn't quite capture what she saw but she still wanted to get it down.

There was something haunting about the image. Something sinister.

The shadow hadn't really done anything. Walk, bend, walk away. That was it.

And still it sent shivers down Joe's spine.

Beside her on her bed was another sheet of paper, this one finished. She had traced the lights, then played connect the dots. She ended up with five circles, four smaller than the center one.

An underwater base, exactly what Jack had feared it might be. And, considering the placement on the bottom of the sea, Joe felt safe in assuming that they were all connected and had drawn 'halls' connecting the circles.

It was a rather simple looking thing, but still it was just as sinister as the shadow.

It was that it had been sunken.

There was no where on Earth quite so unreachable, quite so hidden, quite so secretive as the bottom of the deep sea. And anyone who had the resources to put it there must be extremely powerful. That kind of power would make Jack's teeth grind, she knew. It kind of made her stomach ache a bit, thinking about anyone who could do something like this.

And then, there was that even more burning question of 'why'.

Why would someone sink something down there?

The only reason she could think was to keep it hidden.

So what did they want to keep hidden so badly?

And who was they?

Questions ran rampant in her head, chasing and tumbling over each other as Joe considered her badly drawn sketch.

She needed more information, but she didn't exactly know how to get it. The only road open to her now was to wait until they could retrieve the tapes.

She felt oddly like a dog gnawing on an old bone, desperately searching for the smallest scrap of meat.

She sighed and set the sketch on top of the other one.

She needed air.

Joe stood and left her room.

It was late at night, most everyone was asleep. So she was quiet as her bare feet padded up to the top deck.

She thought for a moment of seeking Ilia's company. But the fea had been getting more and more undiscriminating in her...activities lately. Joe was sure she would come upon her doing something that Joe would rather not see.

She thought about going to see Kai. That tempted her more than anything. But he was sleeping in the scuba room at the moment. Disturbing him meant disturbing every merperson who chose to sleep there. Which was only about three because the others were all in the ocean.

Still, it was probably better not to wake anyone up. Not when fresh air would serve to clear her mind nicely.

She reached the top deck that was mostly in shadow. The only people that were up were the night crew and they were busy keeping the ship steady in the water, not worrying about who was up on deck. The only light burning was the main one on the ships's front leaving the back firmly in shadow.

So she went there.

She kind of wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

She went to the very back rail and leaned against it, looking out into the ocean.

The ocean was beautiful. During the day, it would be just a bit darker than the sky. Waves traveling across it, rippling the surface. Quite, tranquil.

But at night?

At night, the ocean was an abyss.

Darkness, the horizon blended with the sky with the only difference between them being the tiny points of light that lit the sky. The water was dark, open, vaguely threatening. And still, one of the more beautiful things Joe had ever seen.

She took a deep breath of the sea air she couldn't quite get tired off. Slightly salty, always fresh, a bit cool.

The ocean was always cold out here. It, in turn, cooled the air. So even though it would be hot from the sun, now at night, it was cool.

And Joe had been right. This fresh air was exactly what she needed to clear her head.

She leaned her head back a bit, letting the breeze play on her face, enjoying the quiet and solitude.

Suddenly, there was a force at her back.

Joe was pushed forward, over the rail, off the ship.

Her scream was cut short as she hit the icy water.

Her head broke the surface and she looked up, but the ship rail was empty.

"Hello!" Joe called out. "Hey!"

No one answered.

She swam back away from the ship a little.

But the darkness of night swallowed her up, leaving her almost alone in the water, no one could see her.

The merpeople were sleeping, the people on the ship that were awake weren't watching the water, she was wearing shorts and a tank top in icy cold water in the dead of night.

And she was already shivering.