Sirena's POV
I tap my foot impatiently against the brown wooden flooring. "What going on down there?"
"I'm not sure," Rita replies. "But we'll find out soon, just relax." She sits down on one of the stools surrounding the countertop table. The employee apartments are small and simple. There a bedroom with a bed, a dresser, and a small closet; A bathroom with the necessities and a connected kitchen and living room. Lyla and Nixie are seated on the couch.
"This sucks," Lyla states. "We're hiding like criminals! Or like little fishes from a bigger predator. We are neither; we should face the problem at the source."
"We can't do that," Nixie says. "You know it's better Janice not know we're here."
Footsteps echo down the hallway and pause in front of our door. Everyone tenses at the sound of a key slipping into the lock. Rita slips from her seat and silently walks to the door, blocking us off from whoever is behind the thick door.
The lock clicks and the handle turns. Rita raises a hand.
"It's just me," Diana's voice echoes from behind as she slowly pushes the door open. I relax and Rita moves out of the way to let her in. Diana closes the door behind her and relocks it.
"What's going on?" Rita demands.
"Janice is here. To stay," Diana sighs.
"What?" Nixie exclaims.
"Apparently because I didn't have any proper training as a manager, my boss thinks I need some. Unfortunately Janice is the only available person with the experience to train me, so she's here for the next month," Diana explains.
"Does she know about my sister?" I ask.
"Yes, but not who she is. Look, you all really shouldn't stay here. You should be fine to stick around town, but not here. Janice has already been threatened, our boss was not happy about the paperwork that the mermaid thing brought him and he doesn't want any more of it. But she won't keep quiet if she knows you're at the center."
Rita nods. "I agree. We'll have to stay away for now. I have to go back. I left Poseidon alone and he needs to be fed." She turns to face the three of us. "You all should go back to my house and lie low. I'll be back in a day or two and we'll go from there. Don't get into any trouble."
"We won't," Nixie promises.
"Can I still come see Aquata?" I ask. "I don't want to leave her."
"It's not a good idea," Diana replies. "But if you give me a number, I'll call frequently and keep you updated on her progress," she offers as she checks her watch. "Look, we don't have much time. We'll go out the back entrance, but we have to hurry. I have to go meet Janice."
"Alright let's go," Rita agrees.
A while later the three of us are in Rita's grotto.
"Want to go for a swim?" Nixie asks. "We should check on mako."
"Okay," Lyla agrees.
I shake my head. "I want to go to the café. I promised David I'd tell him if we came back."
"We don't know how long we're staying though," Nixie points out. "Do you really want to get his hopes up?"
"We're staying long enough," I argue. "I'm not leaving until Aquata is better," I say. I decide not to mention her offer to take me back to the pod. I'm still not sure if I'm going to take her up on the offer. I don't want to leave my new pod any more than I want to be away from my old one.
"Perhaps one of us should come with you, just in case," Nixie suggests.
I shake my head. "No, I think I'd like to go alone…I need some time by myself to think," I admit. "I'll be careful, I promise."
Lyla sighs and tucks some hair back behind her ear. "Alright, just be careful. Nixie, I want to go to mako, make sure our seal remained intact. Do you want to come?"
"Sure," Nixie agrees.
The café hasn't changed since I last saw it a few months ago. After a moment's hesitation, I step through the doorway and glance around. It's pretty empty, with Evie's shop closed and only one or two customers sipping juices and munching fries. Carly is behind the counter blending a juice, her blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail. I move to the counter and smile. "Hey Carly," I greet. "I don't suppose David's around is he?"
Carly frowns a moment before replying. "Sirena…you're back."
I nod. "For a little while at least," I confirm.
"Well, David's stepped out for his break… I think he might've gone down to the docks. Joe's late on delivery again and David mentioned being ready to hassle him about it."
"Alright, thanks," I reply, twisting on my heel and hurrying down to the docks. I find David, but he hasn't noticed me, his back is turned and he's muttering to himself about something or another as he walks. I catch up and practically jump him, covering his eyes and laughing, "guess who?"
He jumps, startled, and spins around to face me. "Sirena! You're here, you're back!" he exclaims.
I nod. "Uh-huh, for a little while at least, definitely the next month. It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too," David agrees. "You look good. I have to get back to the café now, but do you maybe want to come and get a juice? On the house."
"Sure," I agree, beaming at him. "I've really missed you."
Diana
I toss the keys onto the table along with my purse and collapse into a kitchen chair and sigh, dropping my head to my hands. After a moment, I push my hair back off my face and rise to make myself something to eat. Despite only having to deal with her a few hours, Janice has made a point to be as insufferable as possible, pointing out the most basic of tasks for me to do while she supervised, giving obvious tips as though I'd never run anything a day in my life.
What I hate the most is despite never messing up or having her point out something I didn't already know, Janice has succeeded in making me feel incompetent and I despise the feeling, especially since it's far from the truth. I mutter a few profanities to myself as I unwrap leftovers from last night and shove them into the microwave. I pour myself a large glass of water and dip it back, filling it again and doing the same before taking my dinner from the microwave and tucking into it.
By the time I'm halfway into my plate, I've begun to calm down. While the thought of dealing with Janice looking over my every move, seeing her condescending smile and listening to her disapproving tone makes me want to tear my own hair out, I know I have to do it. There are other lives counting on me and I won't squander that. I won't give Janice any material she can warp into negativity for her reports. Finishing my meal, I dump the plate into the sink, rinse it and leave it, climbing the stairs to shower and climb into bed. I'll be going in early tomorrow, get extra things done and put on a game face. I've done it before, bore through Janice's tough to crack walls and tests she rings new scientists through. I passed once and made it out alive, I can certainly do it again.
Wow, it has been far too long since I've touched this story, it's shameful and I apologize. But I'm back, I haven't fallen of the face of earth or been hit by a bus and neither has this story. We're back and I apologize to all who I've made wait. Any of you still with me on this story, thank you so much for your support, I promise I'm going to finish this. And the chapters will be better from now on too. My writing, I feel, has improved drastically and I'll be showing that off it future chapters as this one was actually mostly complete when I left it. I have a few plans on where this will go, but I'm open to suggestions as well, so let me know what you thing J. I'm also on FictionPress now, under the penname Fantasy Ocean if you all want more Mer fun with new characters. Anyways, thank you again for the support, let me know your thoughts and give me your freak outs about me being so irresponsible and leaving you all, I deserve it…Just don't hate me too much okay?
-Mermaid