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Chapter 18

Mercedes retrieved her phone from her pocket. Once again, she forgot to remove the silent mode, that always happened to her. She gaped when she saw four unread texts from Kurt.

Kurt: I've found Rachel. She is in the main hall

Kurt: Finn is also with her. Why didn't he tell us?

Kurt: Someone is coming. I'm in the main office on the first floor

Kurt: hlp

Mercedes frowned. Kurt barely uses abbreviations. If he did, then something had to be wrong. Suddenly, she heard footsteps. When Mercedes was about to turn herself invisible, she heard a voice. -Can anyone hear me?- The black girl recognized Santana's voice. -I'm here, Santana-, she answered and went to the corner when she suddenly bumped into someone else. -Mercedes? Oh thank god, I thought it was one of these hunters-, Pamela said, relieved. Santana headed to the two other mermaids. -Did you hear anything from the others?-, she asked . Mercedes nodded. -Kurt sent me a text, telling me that he found Rachel and that Finn is with her. And then he sent me another text, saying that he needed help.- -If that's the case, then we have to split up again. I'm going to check on Finn and Rachel and you two go and help Kurt. Artie told me that the others are on their way, so please try to be careful until they arrived here-, Pamela ordered her protégées. Mercedes and Santana nodded and headed to the direction of the staircase whereas the blonde headed to the main hall.

"If I were you, I would let that be", Brody said to Finn. He had easily dodged the attack of the former quarterback. -Finn, please, don't do this. Brody is dangerous, he could seriously hurt you-, Rachel pleaded. But Finn didn't listen. He was about to leap to him again when Brody retrieved an oddly looking weapon from his belt. "What is that? One of these fake weapons I used as a child?", Finn asked him, one eyebrow cocked. Brody smirked evilly and pulled the trigger. A sharp dart flew to Finn's direction, but he quickly ducked down and the dart missed its target. "Not bad, Hudson", Brody said. "Leave him alone!", another voice called out. Rachel, Finn and Brody turned their heads. Pamela was standing on the doorway, hands on her hips. The mermaid hunter smirked mischievously. "Today seems to be my lucky day. You are a mermaid, aren't you?", he asked her. Pamela cocked her eyebrow. "How could you tell?", she wanted to know. "Call it my sixth sense. That's also how I knew Rachel was one." Brody turned back to the brunette. "No offence, Rachel, but it was really obvious to me you are a mermaid. Your constant fear of water or wet things, you being cautious on full moons…the list goes on and on." Pamela glared at him. "You are unbelievable! How can you do that to your girlfriend?" Brody shrugged. "I feel bad, to be honest. But what can I do? I really need the money and continuing with my old job was out of question", he explained and lifted his weapon. "But enough small talk. You are starting to annoy me, so I have to do something about it." -Why don't you use your powers?-, Finn asked Pam. -I can't. Other than Artie, I need an electric source, but that guy doesn't have anything like that neither does the hall. Those mermaid hunters are really smart- , she answered. Brody shot another dart, but both of them dodged it. -Get out, Finn!-, Pam thought. -No way! I won't let you and Rachel down!-, he answered. -It's okay, Finn. I will find a way out. Obviously, Brody doesn't know about you and we have to use it to our advantage. I don't want him to hurt you!-, Rachel said insistently. Finn went over to her tank and touched the glass. -I will never let you down again. Never!-, he told her. -Oh Finn…-, Rachel said softly, affectionately touching the other side of the glass. All of a sudden, her eyes widened. -Finn, watch out!- ,she warned him. Brody was shooting at his direction, but Finn saw it too late. Suddenly, someone pushed him to the side and Finn fell to the floor. Shortly after, he heard a scream of pain. "Pamela!", he shouted. The blonde had pushed him aside and as a result, the dart had hit her. After her scream, the blonde immediately passed out and fell to the floor. Brody pulled the trigger again and Finn prepared himself from the impact. But it never came. "What the heck? I ran out of darts!", Brody frowned and laid the weapon down next to him. "But that's no problem. I can take on you without weapons as well", the mermaid hunter said, grinning diabolically.

Santana and Mercedes headed up the stairs to the door. The Latina wanted to enter, but Mercedes motioned her to wait. -We have to be careful. We don't know who that person is and what he or she is able to do-, the black mermaid reasoned. The two of them carefully opened the door and eavesdropped.
"You still didn't answer what you are doing here, Kurt", Adam said, crossing his arms. Kurt crossed his arms too. "I could ask you the same. Why are you keeping Rachel a prisoner?", he asked. Adam sighed deeply. "I'm not supposed to tell you this." Kurt snorted. "And I thought we were friends…" The British student lifted his hands defensively. "We are, that's exactly why I don't want to drag you into all this mess", he confessed. "Well, too late. I demand an explanation, or else, I will go to the police and tell them everything I know", Kurt threatened. Adam sighed. "It's a long story, actually. Do you want to sit?" "No." -Kurt? Can you hear me?-, Mercedes asked him. Kurt flinched slightly. -Mercedes?- -Yes, and Santana. We are waiting outside in case you need us, Lady Lips-, the Latina informed him. -Thank you, guys-, Kurt answered. "Kurt? Are you okay? You look thoughtful", Adam just said to him. Kurt smiled to himself. If Adam only knew..."Yes, yes I'm fine. Now spill", he demanded. Adam sat down at his desk. "Long story short: the Crawfords, my family, have been mermaid hunters for centuries. I've been trained to be one since I was ten. My parents have a lot of HQs all over the world and since they can't be everywhere at the same time, they sent me to the US to manage this one", he explained and leaned back on his chair. Kurt glared at him. "Does that mean Brody is working for you?" "Exactly", Adam nodded coyly. "You see, all of this empire could've been yours too if you gave me a chance." The blue-eyed student was visibly fuming. "And you think I would want that? This horrible scheming? These people you hunt down have feelings too, you know", Kurt spat. -Crawford is dumber than a sack of hammers. He is the boss of a bunch of mermaid hunters and doesn't even notice that one of his friends, who is standing right before him, is a merman- , Santana laughed. "Let Rachel go! She is my friend. I give you a chance to solve this peacefully: You let her go and we forget all of this ever happened", Kurt offered. -You serious, Hummel? You want to let him get away like that?-, Santana asked. -Be quiet, Santana. We have to trust Kurt, I think he knows what he is doing…- , Mercedes retorted. Adam laughed. "You really think it is that easy? You think I enjoy what I'm doing? Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I'm sorry about Rachel, I really am, but I have to prove to my parents that I'm good enough as their successor. They are disappointed enough that I want to become a Broadway-artist, I have to make up for that", he explained bitterly. Kurt snorted. "If that's the case, then I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore." Kurt wanted to pass by Adam, but the latter one gripped his arm. "I'm afraid I can't let you go like that. You know way too much", he said. "Let me go, Adam", Kurt said in a dangerously low voice. He tried to rip his arm away, but Adam was stronger than he looked from the outside. "I'm sorry, Kurt. I really like you, but you are a threat", he explained apologetically. Kurt could already feel his anger well up. All of a sudden, all vases and water bottles in the room exploded, and the faucet sprayed water. Adam, surprised, let go of Kurt, who carefully navigated the water away from him. "What was that?", the Briton asked, astonished. He looked over to Kurt as realization dawned on him. "I'm so stupid. It was you! You are one of them!", Adam called out. "Damn, are Europeans always so slow?", Santana scoffed, finally entering the office with Mercedes. Adam turned around. "What are you doing here?", he asked, surprised. "Our intention is to kick your ass", Santana grinned. She stomped her foot and the ground underneath Adam trembled so that he fell down. The mermaid hunter looked up. "Let me guess: You two are also mermaids?", he frowned. "You got that damn straight, white boy. But in addition, we are very pissed off mermaids", Mercedes answered in a sassy tone. She squinted towards the vase and its flowers started growing incredibly fast until they turned into gigantic tendrils. Those tendrils tied Adam up and he couldn't move. Kurt went over to his friends. "Well, thank you. But that wasn't necessary. I had everything under control", he said coolly. Santana cocked her eyebrow. "Yeah, we could see that", she answered sarcastically. All of a sudden, the water sprinklers on the ceiling started to sprinkle water to the whole office. "What the hell? There is no fire, so why the sprinklers?", Kurt wondered as he fell down. Adam, who somehow freed himself from the plants, grinned. "This is a hideout for mermaid hunters. Do you really think we are not prepared in case merpeople decide to break in here?" He showed the trio the display of his phone. "With my phone, I can set off the sprinklers anytime. If you excuse me, I have to sort things out." Adam carefully avoided the tails when he went to the door. "Not so fast, Prince William!", Santana shouted and flicked her hands. She frowned when nothing happened. Adam amusedly looked over to her when she repeatedly tried to use her powers. "Why is it not working, you son of a bitch?!", the Latina screamed. "You see, I have certain materials inside the walls that block your powers as well. They are active now, so have fun drying off in my now humid office", Adam winked naughtily, went out the door and locked it. "Come back, you son of a bitch!", Santana screeched, but the British student was already gone. "Well, this is just great!", Mercedes huffed and frustratedly flicked her soft pink tail. "Yes, tell me about it", Kurt muttered.


A/N: Doesn't look so great for our heroes right now...