She slammed the jeep into park, knowing well enough it was bad for it, and ran into the lab she called her second home. She barely had the nerves to use her badge to unlock it but her frantic hands still pa.s.sed under the scanner making the door unlock. She rushed into the room and found Marty with his fathers sitting in the office chairs she rarely had to use for guests.

"Did anything happen since you last spoke to me?" She asked in a rush before Michael guided her to a chair to take a seat. Her hands were shaking and when Ramon gave her a cup of water she sipped on it until someone told her what was going on.

"The only thing that"s happened in the last hour or so since you"ve gotten here is that we"ve worked out a plan. But we need your help to move it along." Marty took the lead as it was his idea for how they would save Darya and her father.

"Anything, I"ll go along with anything you have planned." Marty nodded his head but didn"t smile. His stomach churned with anxiety and near hopelessness at the plan he literally threw together.

"It"s going to involve my father taking something of yours into Tyler as a prize he found while free diving. We found where he"s located and if he thinks you"re one of them, he won"t refuse another find like this." Marty spoke with his head hanging low as if the plan he created wasn"t going to work and they were about to walk into a horrible trap. "Let"s do it," Denise spoke up after drinking the last of the water from the cup and swallowed her nerves along with it.

When Darya"s eyes landed on the man lying in the large tank of water in the back of the room she knew that she made the right choice. Seeing her father, even in this state, made her heart swell with familiarity. She missed him more than she thought. She was shoved to another tank that was slowly but surely filling with the same water that was held in Raj"s tank keeping him turned into the being he was born as.

When he opened his eyes and saw that his daughter had been taken as he had his heart sank. It wasn"t enough that the wretched humans took him but now his daughter. He wanted to talk to her but they had fed him something that cut off his connection. When he heard her crying out his name only a week ago he tried so hard to reach out but only her name slipped past his link.

Before Darya could test out the link in her own mind someone latched their hand around her mouth.

"Before you think about using that link of yours to talk to your father I need you to take something." She looked at Tyler who pulled out a plant Darya was only too familiar with.

It was the pink algae her mother created and this p.r.i.c.k got his hands on it somehow.

"By the glare on your face, I can tell you"ve seen this before. Your mother, she is very brilliant, creating an entirely new species of algae. And this one is even better than just being new!" He was becoming more excited and Darya didn"t like that. With the hand over her mouth, she couldn"t do much but listen and watch him brag about her own mother.

"It"s a strain that can turn me into just what I want to be. To have the ability to breathe underwater, swim faster than a great white shark, and possibly so much more." Tyler spoke as if he was in love with the algae he was holding in his hand. Darya knew her mother was making the strain to help her with her change should she need it. But she didn"t think it could turn someone that was apart of that world into one of them.

Darya struggled against the man holding his hand over her mouth. She knew it was fruitless, she wasn"t very strong and the six foot something man had about a hundred pounds on her. But even with the news, Tyler gave her she still didn"t regret her decision. She could see her father was alive and that"s all she cared about.

Before Tyler said another word, Darya"s hands were brought behind her and a second man bent over and grabbed her ankles allowing the two of them to lift her up effortlessly. She squirmed and wiggled trying to get out of their gasps. She didn"t scream or cry out but she didn"t want to be manhandled. Suddenly she was dropped into the cold water of the fish tank. It was definitely big enough for her to lay in but that was about it. She held her breath and watch as Tyler stared at her through the thick gla.s.s of the tank.

"Well...What are you waiting for?" He asked her and Darya knew what he wanted but she wouldn"t give him everything. Slightly painfully, she let the skin on the side of her throat split into three thin lines on each side. She took in water into her mouth and let the water flow through the slits on the sides of her throat. When she did it in the opposite direction she consumed the oxygen in the water that the gills converted for her.

Tyler watched her in wonder. She didn"t even need her tail to breath underwater!

"This is better than I could have imagined. Not only will I be praised for finding the rarest fish in the sea but also discovering algae that could allow me to do the same thing. Darya asked herself, was he really doing this for just the praise and glory? There had to be something more to this.

Tyler"s attention was brought away from her when his stepfather came through the door with not only Darya"s mother but Marty and his fathers as well.

"Tyler, I found these four snooping around the outside of the building. What do you want to do with them?" Johnson had finally made an appearance and Darya couldn"t be more confused. Was he really letting his teenage stepson do all of this while he was just a glorified henchman?

When her eyes met with Marty"s she wanted to jump out of the tank and tell him to run but once the lid they provided was in place she wouldn"t be able to move it from her point of laying at the bottom of the tank. The only thing strong enough would be her tail and she didn"t want to give them more of a show.

"Wait!" Denise shouted making everyone look at her.

"I have something you will want to trade both of them for. It will make you a very rich man..." Darya thought her mother was bluffing because the words that she read on her mother"s lips couldn"t be true. She wasn"t going to trade her most prized possession for them. Was she?

"I highly doubt you have anything more impressive than two merpeople." Tyler squared his shoulders and walked closer to Denise. Staring her down there was something in his eyes that was curious enough to ask her what she brought him. Denise saw this, the childlike curiosity that couldn"t ignore a rare find. "What did you bring?" He asked, finally giving in.

"Eucheuma arnoldii. One of the rarest algae you can find. Funny though, it"s hidden in plain sight. It takes on a hard look of coral but it"s soft to the touch. A lot of people would pay high dollar for even a little piece of it. I use it for research, but you could see it and fund your other activities." Denise spoke as if she knew what this kid did when he wasn"t in school.

"Or, I could sell your lovely pink algae and display your ex-lover and his daughter. Constant revenue and I still keep up with my "other activities" as you put it." Darya tried to make out what they were saying by reading their lips but she wasn"t having an easy time. She watched her mother bring a bag out to face Tyler and when she pulled out the Eucheuma arnoldii algae Darya knew what she was willing to sacrifice to get them back.

"It"s a lovely piece but not better than the two people behind me." Denise was afraid of that answer, but luckily, they had a backup plan. "Well, I"m afraid you"ve made me show my hand. Michael, call it in." Denise spoke over her shoulder to Michael and Ramon who were standing behind her. The second Michael hit speed dial three on his phone, Johnson grabbed his gun and shot it straight at Michael"s center chest. But it never made contact.

"Marty!" A high pitched wail came from behind Tyler and when the shot flooded the room with a bang just as the gla.s.s of Darya"s fish tank shattered around her from the near-sonic boom of her scream.

Water flooded the room as Marty"s body fell into the arms of Ramon who was still in shock with what just happened. Denise fell to the floor to Marty"s aid as Darya"s body fell from the shattered tank. Pushing herself back up to her feet she sealed her gills up again and set her sights on Tyler and his stepfather. She wasn"t sure how she shattered the fish tank but when she screamed the crack formed and the next thing she knew she was on the floor and breathing air again.

In a rush of gla.s.s and water, she didn"t even notice that her father"s tank had cracks in it as well. Her eyes were too focused on the two men in front of her. One holding a responsible gun and the other a shocking fear-filled expression. No one moved, no one made a noise, no one knew what was about to happen next.