Page 44 of Midnightsong
The clicking of her clogs on the marbled floor came to a stop, keeping the merman and Dr. Williams in her sights, but far enough away so she didn’t have to see inside the merman. Once was enough. “Uh, what are you studying?”
“I was studying their anatomy for our next class. Particularly their spines and muscles. Utterly fascinating. When it comes to their bodies, they have ten more vertebrae than we do. Forty-three to our thirty-three. I haven’t learned the significance of this yet. But it’s their tails that arouse my curiosity the most. Thousands of tiny muscles. They could probably curl and bend them like snakes.” His words held reverence and wonder.
Where the lab had already felt cool when she walked in, now the air had become like ice, clawing at her bare face, hands, and neck. The formaldehyde’s pungent stench had become overpowering.
Okay, she was done easing him into what she wanted to ask. “I came to ask you if you would help my friends and me with a project.”
“A project? I’d love to encourage my students, but I’m not sure I have the time.” Dr. Williams turned his back to Angie, engrossed with his studies. He blocked Angie’s view of the merman.
Angie angled her head so she could only see the rest of the merman out of her peripheral vision and launched into what she had asked Reesa and Leo despite Dr. Williams’ unwillingness, and in a bid to change his mind. When she was finished, Dr. Williams stood ramrod straight, eyes open so wide behind his glasses she could see the whites. “You–you’re friends with the mer?”
Angie nodded and Dr. Williams pursed his lips, tapping one foot on the ground. “Very fascinating. I already have a lot on my plate with two jobs and my own research. Tell me more about what you’re thinking in terms of methodology and your goals.”
She had to convince him, and she organized her thoughts before speaking them aloud. “I’m thinking a mer education outreach project. Teach the public how to coexist peacefully with mer. And I would gladly share my knowledge of them with you for your own research.”
Dr. Williams paused, his eyebrows drawn together as he appeared to mull it over.
For a moment, Angie was afraid he would decline.
“This sounds like a worthwhile project,” he finally said, and Angie breathed a sigh of relief. “Do you want to ask around in class and see if anyone else wants to come on board?”
“Definitely.”
The existing knowledge of mer likely made her friendship with them much easier to believe, but whatever their reason for jumping in to help so easily, she was grateful.
“Wonderful.” He clapped his hands together. “I’ll talk to my colleagues here and at SMOSA, they might know someone who can help us get the word out.” He beamed at her. “Thank you for taking the initiative on this.”
He stepped away from the worktable, leaving the flayed merman in Angie’s full view again. She took that as her cue to leave, after saying goodbye to him, and texting Reesa and Leo of her and Dr. Williams’ conversation. She left the lab with the sensation of being taller, bigger, and stronger than when she came in, and she flipped her loose hair over her shoulder.
She stood outside the door when her friends’ replies came through.
Reesa replied instantly, thrilled their project was a go, complete with multiple exclamation marks.
Leo was slower in his response, and all he wrote was ‘great’.
Behind her, Dr. Williams was on the phone with someone, and Angie stayed to eavesdrop outside the door frame, out of his view.
“I told you, after two years, we might finally be able to make progress with our research and help with mer conservation. One of my students is friends with them; she was there during that war in Alaska.” A pause. “Yeah, this would be a boon to our careers and also for the mer and keeping them safe.”
Two years? Shén me gui?
Her chest caved as she deflated.
The mer had been discovered in Alaska, and SMOSA, and larger government entities above them, knew.It was coming together. They had been studying the mer this entire time.
Was that why they had refused to help Creston when they were being attacked? Worse, had the Coast Guard been ordered to ignore them? Because they were too busy investigating the bigger ports for mer and capturing them?
So, the government was helping now when it involved catching mer for study—for their own gain? But when it came to her little town suffering and starving from merfolk attacks, they did nothing?
Resentment bubbled in her chest and the thoughts turned her guts into a rollercoaster.
She kept walking, out of the department, and out of the building. She needed fresh air, and she breathed it in and closed her eyes to fully take in the passing breeze, carrying with it the scent of a west coast winter, rainier and less snowy than Alaska, and the air was temperate here, not painfully cold.
As Angie walked to her car in the designated student parking lot, her phone pinged. It was Bàba and Mia’s group chat where Mia shared some new photos of Jack and Rosie.
The first photo was of Rosie on her way to her second-grade class, dressed in her jacket and long thermal pants and with her hair tied back into a neat ponytail, with a unicorn backpack donned.
Jack was the star of the second photo, dressed in a bear one-piece and holding onto the couch as he stood on two wobbly legs, bent at the knees, grinning and surrounded by toys. He was the perfect mix of Nick and Mia, with Mia’s wide, soft smile and Nick’s light hair and eyes.
