Chapter 122

Ringing. What was that ringing sound?

Why wouldn't her eyes open?

Why did it feel like cement was running through her veins?

Jenny. Open your eyes.

This chant to herself (and a lot of effort) helped her to succeed.

Jenny blearily opened her eyes.

Low lighting. Blue.

Her eyes closed again.

Come on! Keep your eyes open.

Blue. Water. She was underwater.

As Jenny came back to consciousness, the ringing in her ears started to fade. And as this happened, she realised her lungs were feeling tight. Not quite burning, but she was definitely uncomfortable. Oh and ow! Her upper tail hurt. A lot.

Survival mode kicked in and she felt herself wake up properly. She took in her surroundings.

Metal.

Cage.

Jenny's stomach dropped. She was in a cage.

A cage!

Okay, don't panic. She would take a deep breath in but she was underwater.

Oh no. How long had she been out? How long could she go without air?

Was everyone else okay?

Jenny moved in the cage, turning around to look behind her.

Ah, the cage was attached to a boat. They were moving slowly through the water.

Jenny looked up. She spotted a little camera in one of the top corners.

She would think about that later. Right now, she needed air. She would've liked some after the race – because that was a lot of energy…but she got kidnapped before she could.

Kidnapped. That is scary.

She shook her head as if getting rid of the thought, and focussed on examining the cage.

As the boat moved, the cage was moving up and down. If she timed it right, she might get a mouthful of air at the top of the cage.

Jenny gripped onto the bars of the roof of the cage and held herself in place, ready to take a gulp. If she was a human, she would have needed to worry about water going down the wrong pipe. Fortunately, mermaids were designed for the water – so she could gulp air along with water, and the water would go out of the lungs without issue. This was different to gills, her dad Lewis had explained, as gills take oxygen from water. Mermaids need to breathe oxygen from the air. Baby Fi with her gills being the exception to the rule.

As the cage lifted slightly, Jenny held her face to the top bars of the cage and took in a deep breath.

Oh that felt good. Jenny felt the oxygen rushing into her lungs, relieving some of that tightness (she definitely gasped in some water then, but it would be fine soon).

Jenny did it a few more times until the tightness in her lungs was relieved.

She was much more comfortable now. Well, she still had the sore tail and she was kidnapped by who knows who and had no idea where she was being taken – so that wasn't fun. She was still terrified but she relaxed and closed her eyes.

Mum! Jenny called over mindspeak, hoping that she would hear. I need help!

OoOoO

Ryan climbed onboard and took off his scuba gear.

"We're about 20 minutes from the warehouse," Katya called out. "Is the mermaid safe and secure?"

"Yep," Ryan called back.

"Hopefully it will remain sedated until we get them to the lab at the warehouse, but it is hard to know how quickly the tranquiliser will wear off,"

"I'll get the tranquiliser ready again just in case," Ryan said. He wasn't sure of this one's powers, but it would be risky regardless.

Ryan set up the tranquiliser gun so it was ready to go, and then set up the laptop for the cage observation camera.

There she was. The juvenile mermaid. Still fast asleep.

Ryan turned the laptop screen towards Katya.

"We did it," he said with a grin.

Katya looked away from where she was driving the boat briefly.

Her eyes widened and excitement bloomed across her face.

"Wow," Katya whispered. "Mermaids are real,"

OoOoO

Katya felt giddy with excitement. One of her life's works had been proving the existence of mythical creatures. And here they were. With a real, live mermaid attached to the boat.

Katya couldn't help herself. She keep looking at the cage feed.

15 minutes into the 20 minute trip to the warehouse, Katya noticed a change in the mermaid.

She was no longer unconscious.

As the mermaid became more and more awake, Katya was struck by how intelligent the creature looked. The mermaid really looked human. Like a human adolescent just with a tail.

Katya suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable. Morality. Ever the scientist's dilemma.

A few seconds later, Katya looked over again. The now very awake mermaid had moved.

What was it doing?

Was it trying to get out from the top of the cage?

No, that wasn't it.

Katya leaned closer to the laptop.

She saw the mermaid lifting herself up with the cage bars to move her mouth close to where the cage broke the surface of the water every few seconds.

Katya's stomach dropped. It was trying to breathe.

"Ryan!" Katya called out. "The mermaid can't breathe underwater!"

Ryan looked over at her.

"How do you know?" he asked her. "Wait, is she awake?" he said with alarm.

"Look at what she's doing," Katya said. "We need to lift the cage up a bit, to give her access to air,"

"She looks fine to me," Ryan said, pointing.

The mermaid was submerged again, and was sitting with her eyes closed. She looked terrified.

"Oh," Katya mused, "Maybe she just holds air in the lungs for a long time. Still, we need to adjust the tank we have for her to include a resting platform and space for breathing air,"

Ryan sighed and nodded.

"I'll get that sorted now," he said. Ryan grabbed his phone and called ahead, asking for the trusted team to drain some of the water from the tank to make sure there were spaces above water that the mermaid could sit, and so that she could breathe. Ryan secretly suspected that this might have been the case, but he did not want to give too much away, in case Katya decided to stop backing the project.

OoOoO

"Mum, can you hear me?" Jenny pleaded, projecting loudly. "Anyone?"

"Jenny! Where are you?" Cleo answered. "We were trying to reach you 20 minutes ago – the other kids couldn't find you at the house. Something about disappearing after a race?"

"I've been kidnapped!" Jenny exclaimed. "I don't know where I am. A boat is taking me somewhere in a cage,"

"Okay," Cleo said slowly. Jenny could hear the disguised worry in her mother's mind voice. "Hold tight, honey, we'll start looking for you. Just keep an eye out for landmarks that might help us find you and then let us know,"

"Okay," Jenny said. It was at this moment, that she felt the boat slowing.

OoOoO

Katya gently guided the boat into the dock outside the warehouse. Now that they knew the mermaid could breathe outside the water, it made the transfer to the tank much easier.

She was to be transferred from the smaller cage, to a large tank inside a larger cage (Ryan insisted on this for 'safety reasons' – really he was just scared of the potential powers).

They lifted the cage out of the water and gently placed it on the covered dock. No prying eyes could see. Ryan held his tranquiliser gun at the ready, for just in case.

Katya saw the mermaid holding onto the bars of the cage tightly, her knuckles going white. The mermaid looked around carefully, as if taking in every little detail.

Again Katya was struck by the mermaid's intelligence as they made direct eye contact with her.

"Alrighty," Ryan called out, "Let's get her into her new home,"

Jenny did not want to show her powers too soon. She saw the men holding guns. That must've been what hit her in the upper tail earlier. She knew that she had a better chance of achieving her goal if she gathered more information before showing all her cards. At least, that's what Uncle Ben always said when they played capture the flag mermaid style.

Jenny did not resist when she was transferred from the small metal cage, to a larger tank. The water was a nice temperature and there were some rocks to sit on. A pretty dreary 'new home'. Jenny knew she could probably use her powers to shatter the glass, but still in mermaid form, how far would she be able to go before getting shot by a tranquiliser dart?

"Jenny, are you still okay, honey?" Jenny heard her mother's voice in her mind.

"Yes," Jenny said. "I see men with tranquiliser guns. We are in a building near the water. It looks like a warehouse maybe? I didn't see any landmarks sorry,"

"What does the boat look like?"

"It's white with blue parts. Kinda looks like our trawler boat"

"Thanks, sweetie. Rikki and I are out looking for you, and that will be a great help,"

"I'll let you know if I find anything else out. I don't think I can escape right now on my own because of the men with tranquilisers,"

"Good plan, Jenny. Don't take any risks before we get there,"

Jenny perched herself on a rock in the tank. She felt much better knowing that her family were looking for her.

OoOoO

Katya approached the tank. She saw the mermaid perched on a rock, actively taking in everything happening around her.

"Hi there," Katya said. "I know this must be scary for you, but we were hoping that you might be able to help us with some exciting research," she smiled.

The mermaid's expression changed from guarded to apprehensive. Katya was surprised.

"Do you understand me?" Katya asked.

The mermaid nodded.

"Oh wow," Katya breathed. She was beyond excited. "Can you speak as well?"

"Yes," Jenny answered quietly.

"How?"

"I grew up speaking English, of course I can speak,"

Katya scribbled on her observation notes pad.

"Why am I in this cage?" Jenny asked. "I would like to go home, please,"

Katya looked up.

Jenny almost laughed.

The scientist looked absolutely flabbergasted.

A/N: Hello everyone! That chapter was so fun to write. I hope you enjoyed it :) Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks especially to YaleAceBella12, CrazyHayniac, Rock Mint Swirl 22, Skalo, CatGirl23, Guest, Guest # 2, and a noisy fan for reviewing. I love reading your comments :D

To answer a question of a guest, my favourite couple to write is zikki, because I always loved their dynamic.

Thanks everyone for reading!

See you next time!