Kyle shook his head, returning the receiver to his ear. “Now, what are you talking about?"
"What! Do you have water between your ears?” Daniel let the question hang before he continued, “You really ought to get out of that research center occasionally."
"You called for...?” Kyle refused to debate his dedication to his work. He found spending time around marine life and researching them more comforting than being with people. Some marine biologists at the park swam with the mammals and fish for entertainment purposes. Kyle did it to understand the animals and their nature. His research aided in designing their habitat aquariums and interpreting their behavior for others who worked with them.
"Oh, yeah. There is something hush-hush going on at the old seal exhibit.” Daniel's voice lowered to a whisper, as if he were conspiring to learn top-secret government information. “You're the expert. I figured they might have come to you."
Curiosity nipped at the back of Kyle's mind. “I haven't heard about anything new. If it's a new seal, I've documented plenty of things surrounding them to give them what they need. Besides, placing them there would be temporary. That exhibit has been closed since the new aquariums were built. He'll join his new friends soon enough.” Half-heartedly paying attention, he walked over to his computer and began uploading the data he'd collected from his recent whale tagging expedition that morning.
"No, Kyle. It's not talk about another seal...” Daniel's voice drifted away.
Kyle paused, sighing with exasperation. He pinched his eyes toward the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. He could feel the exhaustion seeping into his body, but he would have to suck it up and focus; still a few hours remained before he could head home. “What then, Daniel?"
"I don't know, but it's something big. Mr. Crane was headed in that direction. You know if he left his ivory dome then it's gotta be huge."
'The ivory dome', the employees’ name for the igloo shaped structure that stood at the back end of the park where the owner and other executives worked. Only once a day did Mr. Crane and his cohorts venture into the park and then only by golf cart.
"Well, I'm sorry to say, Daniel, I don't know anything.” Kyle needed to cut this short and get back to work. “Talk to you lat—"
"When you find out something, call me,” Daniel interrupted.
"Later."
"Call—"
Kyle hung up without responding. For a moment, he sat back and wondered what could possibly be going on to require Mr. Crane's presence. Unfortunately, as he told Daniel, he had work to do and no time to play spy.
* * * *
Lialani felt nauseated as she awakened. Her stomach churned. She tried to remember the dream she had been having but couldn't. The most she could recall was that it was pure fantasy. Her head ached as if someone had screamed in her ear all night. Her mind tried to make sense out of the flashes of fish fins and visions of swimming through water as clear as crystals. She refused to open her eyes until her body balanced out.
I'll just stay in bed. Maybe try something new and call in sick. It would be the truth because she definitely felt out of sorts this morning.
She didn't even have the energy to tell her neighbor to turn down the loud ... beautiful music? The melody called to her, an orchestra of ocean waves mixed with a cornucopia of marine life. It soothed her senses.
She settled more comfortably into her bed, but something was wrong.
Smooth. Hard. Wet? Why can't I feel my toes? Lialani shot upright, her eyes popped open, and she glanced around her room. But it wasn't her room.
Everything flooded back to her as she glimpsed her surroundings.
Her heart raced while pure fear spread through her body as if she received an injection of poison.
Where am I? About fifteen feet above her, the ceiling appeared to be a black blanket sparkling with diamonds. She knew the ceiling was open by the tingling sensation across her skin from the soft summer night wind. Her gaze lowered to the walls, and she noticed the slick rock surface covered with kelp, coral, sponges and other oceanic plant life. She could see water trickling down the sides and over the plants to keep them alive and flourishing. One of the sides stuck out like a ledge, and stones were stacked in a circular formation as if hiding a cave entrance. Even though it seemed barely past her fingertips, there was no way she could reach the ledge.
Continuing her observations, she stared down at the small pool of water as it swirled around her hips. The twitching of the lower part of her body caught her eye. A tail, broad and sweeping, flicked out of the water as if having a mind of its own. The colors in it were captivating. My tail. A giddy feeling bubbled up inside her in spite of this being an unknown situation. Watching the appendage as it swished in the water felt similar to reacquainting herself with an old friend. Compelled, Lialani reached out and touched it.
Rough, sharp scales pricked at her fingers as she dragged her hand gingerly from tail to hip, stopping below her navel. She noticed other changes in her body. Her hips were more rounded. They flared as women's hips do, emphasizing a narrow waist. No change in the shape and size of her breasts, but it appeared as if her areolas had darkened from brown to deep mahogany, almost black. She blushed as she looked, glad that her hair covered them. That was another change. The last time she'd looked in the mirror, her auburn hair touched her shoulder blades. Now it reached her waist, a bright coral red.
As she fingered the silk tresses of her hair and arranged them more strategically over her bare breasts, her hands caught her attention. Holding them in front of her face, she inspected the difference. Webs stretched between the lower parts of her fingers to the bottom knuckle.
Better to swim with, my dear. She smiled at her paraphrasing of the old fairytale.
She stopped, feeling a tell-tale tickle to the back of her neck. Someone stared at her. Turning her head slowly, she glanced over her shoulder, stunned. Behind her, ten foot of plate glass left her no privacy. She was nothing more than a fish in a bowl. Her eyes rested on the two men standing on the other side observing her.
One stood with his hands in his pockets, wearing a white polo shirt with the aquatic park's name embroidered there in black. She recognized the younger man as the one who aided in her being transported here. The captor.
"She's a beauty, isn't she?” The captor's voice carried over the top of the glass in the calm night air.
It gave her chills, made her flesh crawl and caused her hairs to stand on end. He watched her as if he could see more than the back she kept toward him.
The short man's raspy voice followed. “She'll bring us a pretty penny, Jim. Tomorrow morning I'll meet with the board and marketing department, and we will design a theme surrounding her."
Lialani was glad the dollar signs in the older man's eyes kept him from ogling her. One man's sleazy observation was bad enough.
Captor Jim stepped closer to the glass. His eyes traveled along her body. “When do you foresee the opening, Mr. Crane?"
Mr. Crane must be the man in charge.
Lialani picked up something in Captor Jim's tone. She wasn't sure what, but instinct told her to be leery of him.
"Three weeks,” Mr. Crane's voice chimed in.
Captor Jim's head turned sideways with military precision toward Mr. Crane, breaking his examination of her. She noticed the startled look before his head snapped around toward Mr. Crane.
"Why so soon?” Captor Jim inquired.
"Several reasons, but, most important, the sales always taper off around Labor Day. She will spike up the sales and keep them rolling through the winter months.” Mr. Crane chuckled with glee as he clapped his hands together and rubbed them greedily. “A mermaid. An actual mermaid."
Captor Jim turned his sights on her, saying, “Yeah, she'll surely do that. Men would hock their children's school clothes to get a peep at her.” He punctuated his words with a wink in her direction.
Bile rising from her stomach at his facial expression, Lialani glanced u
p at the ledge, wishing the water level high enough for her to swim up to the rock alcove and hide from his lecherous sight.
She heard the echoes of their laughter and footsteps as they walked away. She cast a glance over her shoulder, happy to see that she was alone once again.
* * * *
Picking up his logbook, Kyle scanned the recent whale observation data and compared it to his past chronicled information. Something wasn't right. The behavior patterns were off, not by normal variations, but significantly. Changes similar to these happened around mating season but not to these extremes.
He checked and re-entered his data and still the numbers remained inconsistent. Maybe a shift in the sea floor caused it, as if an underwater earthquake might be about to happen or had happened. Usually he received a courtesy call from the National Earthquake Information Center. NEIC was helpful in assisting marine biologists in tracking oceanic shifts.
Before he could dive through his archive of marine life response to earthquakes and other elemental variables, he recognized he needed a break. After reviewing the information for over an hour, he stood up from his workstation and extended his arms above his head. The base of his neck and shoulder blades burned, begging for release. He rotated his neck and shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension.
A walk was what he needed to rejuvenate before the remaining hours of work. Saving his data and locking his office, he strolled out of the building and into the night.
He wandered for a while without thinking where his feet led him; it was this time of night he enjoyed the most when the park was vacant, dark and silent except for the welcoming calls of the mammals.
When his feet finally stopped moving, his lips tilted in a lopsided smile at his own innate curiosity. He wasn't so different from Daniel after all. Maybe the underwater happenings of the sea life free in the ocean consumed his thoughts, but subconsciously he wanted to know what was going on in the park. In the old seal tank, more specifically.
Moving toward the employee entrance, he noticed the new signs posted warning people to stay off the premises due to construction underway, but he ignored them and continued his trek. Reaching the door, he pulled his key ring out of his pocket and located the one he needed, unused and forgotten for months. He placed the key into the lock, relieved to hear the bolt slip easily out of its latch.
Quietly, he pushed open the door and entered the dark room. There was no fear of being in the dark. Having walked these floors many times, he knew every step leading to the tank. The air felt cool around him as his loafers made soundless pats against the tile floor. When he reached the corridor leading to the tank's observation window, he noticed a soft glow ahead of him.
Why is the tank lit? He pondered this as he moved forward. From experience, he knew all the lights weren't on because they would have been evident from outside. Not to mention the interior would have been flooded with a sharp brightness from the multiple bulbs. Now a dim illumination filled the area.
He took the final steps leading to the observation room, and his heart slammed against the inside of his ribs, stopping him cold in his tracks.
At first sight, he thought a woman had fallen inside the tank and drowned in the small pool of water at the bottom of the tank. She lay supine in the water, unmoving, with her hair floating around her like seaweed.
Then she moved, and something flickered in the water. Like a mystical creature, she sat up, her face tilted toward the night sky as if bathing in the moonlight. Her red-as-ripe-cherries hair cascaded down her back in vibrant waves. A black woman with red hair was rare and unique. Her breasts were bare and sat up ripe and full, lifting as her arms rose above her head gracefully. Her arms twisted and turned sensuously as if caught up in a rhythm of an internal music only she could hear.
Kyle's body responded instantly. His heart raced, and his breathing became shallow and audible to his own ears. He watched her like a spectator, captivated beyond resistance by the sight.
She was beautiful, her skin kissed by the night appearing brown as toffee. Her nipples were puckered and colored deep as dark chocolate temptations begging to be tasted. She was a dream. A fantasy come to life.
He had to shake himself. What is wrong with you, man? This was not his nature, to ogle a woman as if a sexual toy. Maybe he was working too hard. His job was demanding and didn't leave much room for a social life. He had stopped counting years ago the last time he considered being with a woman.
Sex was something he couldn't take lightly, and being a science nerd who preferred immersing himself in the water to study fish was no way to attract two-legged creatures. Being a thirty-year-old virgin was not the desired state of most heterosexual males in the year two thousand and seven.
As he moved his gaze from her breasts to her face, he noticed her eyes were closed. Something flickered under the water, causing him to glance down. That's when he saw it. A vivid tangerine and canary-yellow tail. His eyes traveled up the length of what should have been her legs, sliding up double patterned shimmering scales until he reached its end at her full hips.
"She's a mermaid.” In his amazement, Kyle uttered the words in hushed tones.
His voice must have been louder than he thought since the mermaid dropped her arms and turned toward him, piercing him with her silver eyes.
His heart paused, skipping a beat. Arrested by her tearful gaze, he noticed her eyes full of despair, as if her soul rested in them.
She was beautiful and sensuous, that was evident, but at that moment, he had no desire to act on his initial urge. Instead, the wish to see her freed overwhelmed him. No one that enchanting deserved to be held captive.
She would die. Some mammals could not survive imprisonment. Every fiber of his being told him she was one of them.
* * * *
Lialani could see him as he stood in the dark. She heard his voice when he spoke. Instantly, she had known it wasn't Captor Jim. She could see him standing quietly now. How long had he been there?
Unlike the other man who had placed her here, she saw kindness in his eyes. She did not know why; it was something she couldn't explain even to herself. Maybe it was just her heart hoping he wasn't like the others.
She wanted to speak, to yell and plead for him to help her. However, she refused to try to speak again after recalling the dolphin-like sound from earlier. Helplessness washed over her.
His movement broke her train of thought. She watched as he took tentative steps into the single light's beam that reflected from the side of her tank. He wore olive-colored khaki pants and the park's polo shirt like the other men, except his was tan. His hands were stuffed into his pockets. Curious, she wondered what they looked like. Were his fingers long and well manicured? Did his hands echo the strength apparent in the broad set of his shoulders? Whether callused or smooth, they would be strong, judging from the width of his shoulders.
Her heart fluttered, leaping and beginning to race, as if something were coming over her. Desire? She couldn't explain it. It was as if something inside her shifted. She couldn't look away from him. Not even when she felt the fin of her tail lifting out of the shallow water, expanding and shimmying as if it were a fan.
"I will not harm you."
His voice, calm like the sea after a storm, pulled her attention back up to his face. Short blond hair like spun gold accented his eyes. Those compassionate hazel eyes spoke to her. Implored her to trust him. Could she?
"Forgive me for startling you.” His eyes cut away from her face and focused on her fin. “Wow..."
She followed his gaze and was impressed herself to see the spectacle her fin exhibited. It almost screamed ‘Look at me. I'm dancing.’ The shimmer began to move internally from her fin, up her scale-clad body, intensifying the quivering in the pit of her stomach.
The man's eyes grew round and his voice comforting. “Don't be afraid."
Afraid? Stark raving, paralyzing fear at times could not be helped.
But this. She glanced back down her b
ody at the brilliant display. This was something altogether different. Her breathing became labored as she refocused on her visitor.
He took another tentative step, bringing him within a few feet of the glass. The light from the tank clarified his features. His thin lips held a small smile. Warm. Inviting. A peace offering of sorts.
She was tempted to return the smile, but remembering where she was removed the thought. She took several deep breaths in an attempt to relax. She wasn't sure what being a mermaid entailed, but she'd had enough embarrassing moments to last a lifetime, and she wasn't going to have another one in front of this man. Her body settled down slowly. She couldn't help the sigh of relief when her fin slid back into the water.
"My name is Kyle, and I want to help."
Kyle. It fit. He said he wanted to help. Turning her head from side to side, she wondered what could be done to get her out without a rope or crane to lift her through the top. Now that would cause a spectacle. She imagined it wouldn't be any different than the one she caused when they placed her in here.
"I did some research on merpeople years ago, but I don't recall much about them."
She watched him drag a hand through his hair, mussing it. He looked adorable. Quickly, she turned her sight back to his eyes, not wanting to start the fan display again.
"So, I don't know how much you can understand."
Lialani tilted her head to the side. Understanding you, Kyle, is not the problem.
Advancing closer to the glass, he began to mouth precisely, “Can ... you ... talk?"
Only if you don't value your hearing. She wasn't sure if parting her lips to mouth words would cause the porpoise sound to come out again. Not willing to risk it, she kept her mouth shut and shook her head.
"You can understand me. Good."
She smiled at that. He appeared so excited. She nodded her confirmation.
He pointed above her head. “The ledge. There is a door up there."
A door? Whipping her head around toward the alcove, she careened her neck trying to see past the rock, but her vantage point on the tank floor prevented it. Her heart leaped with excitement. Was it possible? Could she get out of this aquatic hell?
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