Page 35 of Midnightsong
A perplexed shadow crossed the mermaid’s face, and she darted away, vanishing from sight.
Angie stared at where the mermaid had been. Her heart was constricted, and the weights in her BCD felt like they’d grown even heavier. Her family must be looking for her.
The questions danced in her head as she ascended. When she broke the surface, she left the cleaning equipment in the bucket on the ledge and climbed out.
A half hour later, her damp hair pulled back and dressed in her street clothes, Angie strolled into Grayson’s office. He was working silently on his computer. He looked up when she opened the door, creaking on its hinges.
“Heading out?” Grayson asked, running a hand through his gray-streaked combover. His eyes were as gray as the streaks in his hair, his gaze intense. “You can go. You know you don’t have to let me know as long as you sign out.”
“Uh, yeah. I wanted to ask about the mermaid in the main tank,” Angie started. How was she to begin? “When did you get her?”
“About two days ago. She was stranded on Whidbey Island, wounded. She was bleeding all over the sand,” Grayson replied. “Someone from SMOSA found her, sent her here, and we had our vet look at her. She seemed weak.”
Angie had seen the marine vet once or twice since she started working here, and she vaguely remembered the vet’s name. It started with a K—
“Kathryn said it looked like she’d been attacked by something. Shark maybe,” Grayson filled in.
Angie chewed her bottom lip. The two mer that were with Dr. Williams had also been attacked by a shark. What was happening that there were more shark attacks on mer now than in the last two years she’d known of their existence? Overfishing—if she had to broker a guess.
“Then why would you put her in the main tank where everyone can see her? Why not put her in the private treatment area?” Angie narrowed her eyes. Of course, it was also a ploy to attract more visitors. And the crowds seemed much larger today.
“Kathyrn and I also wanted to study her,” Grayson said, leaning forward and resting his elbows atop his desk. He stroked his mustache, as if deep in thought. With Grayson being a marine researcher himself, it didn’t shock her he wanted to study the sentinel. And perhaps make more money for the aquarium in the process. “And what are you planning to do with her once she’s healed?”
“Keep her around a little bit, study her behaviors. We found amermaid, Angie. Doesn’t that fascinate you considering you’re in school for marine biology?” Grayson sat back in his office chair, folding his arms loosely over his chest and raising one of his thin eyebrows.
Angie’s mouth went dry. She would have loved to study the mermaid too, humanely, but she didn’t want to draw the mer’s ire. “You should release her once she’s fully rehabilitated, back to the sea. Look how human she is. She must have family looking for her.”
“I’ll consider it.” Grayson’s rigid sitting posture hadn’t shifted. “Have a good evening, Angie.”
She stayed where she was, putting her hands on her hips. “Look, if this was your son, wouldn’t you want him home?”
That got his attention and he put one ankle over his opposite knee in a figure-four position. “If you asked me a few days earlier, I would have laughed you out of the room. Who would have thought we would have alivemermaid here? I’ve heard the rumors they were found in Alaska, saw the videos online, and your university had one for study, but I thought it was just that. Rumors. And now that we have one, you want me to throw it back?”
Angie twitched at him calling the mermaid anit. No surprise, considering how her colleagues at the docks, classmates, professors and own family saw the mer as less than human.
Angie sighed, exasperated. If she hadn’t seen the mer for herself, and loved one, at that, she would have laughed herself out of the room too.
Thanks for the confirmation, prick.
“It’s the right thing to do. Now that we know merfolk exist, we can study them in their natural habitat. Isn’t that what we stand for? Ocean conservation? Preservation of species?” Angie stood straighter. “How would it look that we have a mermaid captured here against her will?”
Grayson groaned, but he didn’t disagree, and Angie gave him her most charming smile. “Like I said, I’ll think about it, okay? That’s the best answer I can give you right now.”
She stepped back out, but a deep, firm voice on the television mounted in the office caught her attention, and she looked up.
A local newscaster graced the screen. “Citizens are expressing concern about merfolk research and whether the methods are humane. In tonight’s segment, I speak to some Seattleites about their thoughts on the ethics of research.”
Angie lowered her head and left the office walking to the main tank. The mermaid had come out again and she seemed to be watching her.
Once their gazes met she disappeared again behind the tank’s maintenance hatch.
Fifteen
Angie
The mermaid hadn’t left her mindwhen Angie returned home. Lulu slunk out to greet her, and after grabbing her seaflute from her nightstand, she sat on the floor, letting the cat nestle in her lap while she rolled the instrument around in her fingers.
She hoped Grayson would reconsider keeping the mermaid and release her. Her thoughts traveled to Kaden again. She hadn’t talked to him in over a week, though when she tried to call him, he didn’t answer, and since there was no way to leave a message with the seaflute, she didn’t know if he had tried to call her, either.
