by Maya Nicole
My heart pounded as none of them resurfaced for air. I saw movement under the water but it was almost dark and they hadn't turned on the lights.
I took my phone out and set it to record. It was so hard to see anything in the dim light. A solid five minutes passed and I turned off my phone and crept back to the door.
What if they were in trouble? Would I be able to jump in and save them?
I exited from under the bleachers and walked toward the pool, which was dark, but I saw shadows moving. My brain didn't quite process the movement. It was much too fast to be human, but it had to be. I had seen them get in the pool.
All of a sudden, a shadow that had been darting through the water burst through the surface and landed on the other side of the pool.
I gasped and stumbled back, luckily correcting my footing before I fell. Had I not been a dancer and quick with my feet and balance, I would have.
It was so dark in the room now that I could only make out his shape. His head snapped around and his eyes met mine.
I'd seen those eyes before.
I screamed and took off toward the nearest door, which was the women's locker room.
I ran through to the outside exit, bumping into a bench on the way. "Fuck," I hissed, grabbing onto my knee. I limped the rest of the distance, the pain from my knee pulsating along with my rapidly beating heart.
I yanked the door open to find Morgan blocking my path, his hands gripping the door frame. Water was dripping down his body and his chest heaved.
How had he made it around the building so fast?
"What are you doing here so late, vixen?" He walked toward me and I backed up.
"I had-" My back hit a wall and he caged me in with his arms. "I forgot something in my locker. My mom is waiting for me in the parking lot."
It was the first thing that came to mind and I cringed. They didn't know for sure that my mom hadn't returned.
He leaned forward so his mouth was by my ear. "You and I both know your mom isn't waiting for you."
A feeling of dread filled me and I tried to duck under his arm, but he put his arm across my upper chest, pinning me against the wall.
"Let me go." I kicked his shin, but he didn't flinch.
He cocked his head to the side and then leaned in close to my ear again. "What did you see?"
I gasped as his lips brushed against the shell of my ear. "What do you want from me?" I choked on the last word.
He ghosted his lips down my jaw until his face was hovering right in front of mine. He was a mere inch from kissing me.
"What do we want from you?" His voice was deep and breathy, and I bit back a whimper that threatened to escape. "Where's your father?"
"I d-don't know." I stared unblinkingly back at him. "I told you, I've never met him."
He laughed. "I find that hard to believe." He brought his other hand up to my face and cupped my cheek. "Don't make a sound."
Not a second later, one of the doors on the other side of the locker room opened. "Male custodian, any females?"
I opened my mouth to scream, but Morgan had already anticipated it and clamped a hand over my mouth. My screams were muffled and I tried to bite into his hand, but it was impossible.
I pulled at his arms to try to get free, but his upper body was built solid and he didn't move a muscle as the man whistled.
Morgan moved us toward the door and quickly opened it, shoved me outside, and had it shut before a scream could leave me.
I took off at a sprint toward the parking lot, trying to dig my keys out of my bag while running. They wouldn't really physically hurt me, would they?
My car lights blinked twice as I unlocked it and threw the door open, only to have the door slammed before I could get in.
"If it isn't the little minnow, trying to get away from the sharks." Jax made a disapproving sound. "You better run. Morgan likes to play hide-and-seek."
Fear pulsed through my veins and I ran back toward the gates. My bag slipped off my shoulder, but I ignored it. A bag wasn't worth them catching me.
I heard them laughing, and then the laughing faded away as I came to a stop around the corner of a building in the middle of campus.
I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. "Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?"
"Three guys are chasing me. Please help." I was panicking and peeked around the side of the building. "Please hurry, I'm at Salinity Cove High School."
The operator went through a series of questions and told me to stay calm. She suggested I try to find the custodian, but I was glued to my spot.
I could hear sirens in the distance and a sob escaped as relief flooded my body. They came to a stop in the parking lot.
"Ma'am are you still there? They say to stay where you are and they'll find you."
They found me sitting on the side of the building, shivering uncontrollably. It wasn't even that cold outside, but the adrenaline dump had left me feeling worn out and freezing cold.
An officer sat me in the front of a police car with a blanket wrapped around me. My bag sat on the pavement in front of my feet, tire marks covering it. I didn't know how I was going to explain to Mr. Garcia that a car had run over it and smashed the expensive camera to smithereens.
"Do you know who was chasing you?" An officer squatted down in front of me and handed me a water bottle.
I took a long drink and shut my eyes. "The Tritons." A deadly calm like I'd never felt before washed over me. "They chased me from the aquatic center."
"The who? The dad from The Little Mermaid?" The officer scratched his head.
I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Were they mermaids? They couldn't be. Morgan had jumped out of the pool and landed on two feet. But his eyes had been the same as the ones I saw the day I almost drowned.
"Jax West, Blake Huron, and Morgan Wade."
"Those boys? Why would they do this?" He stood and gestured for a man dressed in plain clothes to join us.
"Where is Detective Wilson? I'd been in contact with him about one of them breaking into my house."
"Leave of absence."
"I think I'm going to be sick." I rushed out of the car and made it to the planter just in time.
Chapter Eighteen
After a weekend of eating too much ice cream and watching the video on my phone from the swimming meet on repeat, a few things had become clear to me: they were on some crazy type of performance enhancers, or they weren't human.
I found myself giggling like a mad woman anytime I thought about them being something other than human. Humans were it. There were no other lifeforms with our level of intelligence.
Or was there?
I didn't want to believe what I had seen in the aquatic center. It could have just been my nerves playing tricks on me. It had been so dark that when Morgan had looked at me, his eyes had flashed to something non-human. Unless it was just a trick of the light or a side effect of taking drugs.
Things were too quiet at school on Monday. I'd come to anticipate something happening and was on edge. I was pretty sure I was developing an ulcer; my stomach was constantly in knots.
Added to that was having to go to yearbook. Every Monday we did a debrief of any photographs taken from the week before and shared the best shots with staff. I had considered sharing the video on my phone, but I didn't have enough evidence to accuse them of anything yet.
As soon as I entered the room, I walked over to Mr. Garcia, who was already powering up his computer and connecting the projector.
"Mr. Garcia. There was an accident over the weekend with the camera." I kept my voice low so no one would hear me. He looked up and waited for me to continue. "I was chased after the swim meet on Saturday night and I dropped the bag. It was run over."
"Chased?" The room behind me fell silent and I felt all eyes on me. "We can always send it to the repair shop."
I pulled the camera bag out of my bag and opened it. "I'm afraid it's damaged beyond repair."
He took the bag from me and loo
ked inside. "This is our best and most expensive camera, Riley."
I guess he had missed the part about me being chased. "I know. I... they were going to hurt me."
He put the camera off to the side and looked up at me. "Did the surveillance get them?"
"The cameras were conveniently rebooting." I turned and looked over my shoulder at Jax. He was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at me. I turned back to Mr. Garcia. "I identified them though."
"Did you press charges?"
I twisted my mouth to the side. "No. They said being chased wasn't a crime."
"I can find out how much a replacement would cost and see if we have enough money in our funds to replace it."
"Thank you. I-"
"Mr. Garcia, shouldn't she have to pay for the camera since her negligence broke it? That money is supposed to be to update old equipment." Ashley needed to shut up and go away.
I didn't take my eyes off Mr. Garcia. "I'll take that under consideration. Go sit down. We need to get started."
I kept my eyes down as I went to my computer and sat down. Tory nudged me. "Are you okay?"
"No."
If I had to pay for the camera, I was going to have to start selling furniture.
"Where's my car?" I stared at the empty space where I had parked my car. "This is where I parked it, isn't it?"
Ivy stood next to me and looked around. I had parked right next to her like I normally did. "Do you think they could have..."
I didn't know what to think. So far, the things they'd done to me had been childish. Stealing my car would be stooping to a new low.
"There's only one way to find out." I turned back toward the school with Ivy hot on my heels.
I was angrier than I had ever felt. If I'd had my knife, there was no telling what I'd have done with it. I stopped short and Ivy almost bumped into me.
"What is it?"
I shut my eyes. "I need to calm down."
I took a few deep breaths and then continued to the aquatic center where the swim team was holding practice.
"What are you going to do?" Ivy was struggling to keep up with me. I told her that wearing wedges wasn't a good choice in footwear. I don't even know how she managed to make it to some of her classes on time. A few were across the campus from each other.
"Confront them." I flung open one of the doors and marched inside. I was still angry, but my stabby feelings had passed, at least for the time being. "Embarrass them."
"Girl, I don't know if it's you that will be embarrassing them." Ivy pulled me to a stop once we were inside the facility. The pool area was only being used by the women's swim team. "They are getting worse. I don't want you to get hurt anymore."
I turned to face her. "My mom is missing and they are tormenting me. What do you want me to do? Just lay down and take it?" I shook my head. "They have souls, Ivy, I've seen it. I just need to make them see that I'm not going to break."
I headed across the facility to the doors leading to the weight room. "You've kind of got the whole angry chick vibe going on right now."
I snorted and pulled open the door. "I have a reason."
"Holy hotness." Ivy's eyes widened as we came to a stop in the doorway.
Most of the guys were shirtless and sweaty. Had I not been pissed off and on a mission, I would have appreciated the view. My eyes were set on finding three assholes that were probably just as shirtless and sweaty.
It was as if I was beckoned by them because I found them clear across the room in the squat racks without skipping a beat. There were some stares as I crossed the room, but most of the swim team was focused on their workouts, or pretending to be.
"Where's my car?" I put my hands on my hips and stood right in the middle of the squat platform.
Morgan had just come out of a squat and walked forward to rack his weight. He wiped his brow with his forearm and I watched him in the mirror.
"Your car?" Blake added a plate on one side of the bar. "What do you mean?"
"My car is missing from the parking lot. Where is it?" I clenched my fists at my sides and reminded myself that I was a calm and collected individual.
"We don't know what you're talking about. Are you high?" Jax stepped up to the bar and settled it on his back. "You shouldn't be standing there."
I moved to the side as he backed up and started squatting. I didn't know much about squatting, but it looked like it was a lot of weight.
"Maybe I should be asking you that same question. You are the ones taking secret pills."
Jax cursed, and the bar rolled from his back and hit the floor. I backed up a step right into Morgan, who had somehow, in my distracted state, moved right behind me. The heat radiated off his body but sent chills across my skin.
"What are you talking about?" Jax stepped closer and Morgan grabbed my arms, holding me in place.
I looked down at his sweaty chest and gulped. He was too hot for his own good. Maybe I was experiencing something similar to Stockholm syndrome because they were hot.
"The pills in your bag." I lifted my eyes from his chest and looked between him and Blake.
"You've gone crazy." Jax and Blake lifted the bar to re-rack it. "You aren't allowed in here when the team is working out."
"My car. Where is it?"
"We didn't do anything to your car, Riley. We aren't stupid." Blake laughed. "I take that back. We're a little stupid when it comes to you."
Jax hit him across the chest. "Morgan, get her ass out of here before someone drops a weight on her foot."
I opened my mouth to say something back, but Morgan was already moving me toward the back exit like I was some kind of livestock being herded. Ivy jogged across the room and took my hand, leading me the rest of the way out of the building.
"They're lying," I said through clenched teeth.
I slid into Ivy's car the next day, and she gave me a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She was worried for me and what the Tritons would do next if I didn't locate my father.
I had to find him, but how? So far everything I had tried was a dead end. He didn't have social media and calls to his company went unanswered.
After stopping for coffee, we drove to school in silence. Coffee was growing on me now that I wasn't getting seven or eight hours of sleep every night. It also made me more alert.
The cameras in the parking lot still weren't working. I had filed a police report about my missing car, but so far, they had turned up nothing. The Tritons were going to get away with stealing my car.
"I think something is wrong with Aiden." Ivy unbuckled her seatbelt and turned toward me. "He hasn't been himself, even last week. Then yesterday..."
It was unlike Aiden to miss school. He had texted us on Sunday that he didn't feel well and would be absent.
She looked out her front window and then leaned forward a bit. "Holy shit. Look."
Aiden was standing with the Tritons and their groupies. "What the fuck?"
I pulled out my phone and sent him a text. He looked at his phone, but instead of responding, he put it away. My stomach twisted.
"This isn't good." Ivy gripped the steering wheel. "Why would he be hanging out with them?"
"Maybe he just wants to be near Miles." I looked back in their direction and met Jax's stare. "He wouldn't just..."
Would he?
In English, I turned to Aiden, ignoring Blake's glare from across the room. "What's going on, Aiden?"
Aiden looked at Blake and then down at his notebook. "Later."
The word was barely audible, but I tried to focus on school. This was the exact reason I stayed away from drama; it was distracting. Instead of focusing on what literary devices were being used in a poem, I was thinking about my mom, Aiden, and the three assholes.
The bell rang and snapped me out of my inner turmoil. Mrs. Williams walked over to my desk as everyone else was exiting. I had missed her telling everyone minutes earlier to pack up their belongings.
"What's going on with you?" S
he looked around the room to make sure the last student was out and sat down in the desk Aiden had vacated. "I see that you're struggling."
"Everything is kind of falling apart right now." I put my notebook in my bag and then looked over at her. "Any adult I tell about it seems to suddenly go on a leave of absence."
"Are they hurting you?" She reached over and put her hand on my forearm. "If they are then you keep telling until someone does something about it."
"They want me to get into contact with my father. They aren't physically hurting me... yet."
"What would three teenage boys want with your father?" She leaned back in the chair as the first student from her next period entered. "I think we should contact their parents."
I frowned and stood, grabbing my bag. "I can't have another adult who cares go on leave. Thank you though."
I left to my next class, wondering if I should contact their fathers somehow. I checked my phone as I went into Psychology, ignoring Blake's stare.
Aiden: I slept with Miles and he filmed it. They are threatening me with it.
I nearly tripped over a chair and half fell into my seat.
Me: That's illegal!
Aiden: I know, but they have threatened to send it to my parents.
I had only met Aiden's parents a few times because he avoided them at all costs, but from what he had told me about them, they were very traditional. If they found out he was gay, especially through a sex tape, they'd kick him out.
Me: What are you going to do?
Aiden: I'm trying to figure it out. Maybe it's good I play into this and see if I can find out things before they do them. I can be undercover.
Me: Be careful.
The last thing I had wanted was for them to drag any of my friends into this.
Chapter Nineteen
It turned out my car wasn't stolen, it was repossessed. It was almost laughable what was happening to me.
It had been a week since they'd blackmailed Aiden, and we were waiting for the next thing to happen. I had managed to find contact information for Trident Industries and sent an email detailing what their sons had done to me. There had been no response.