Warning: This chapter makes reference to possible sexual abuse (amongst everything else). It is non-graphic and very small, but it is there. You have been warned.
H2OOOO
Leaving the police station for the third time in as many days Zane collapsed on a bench with a huff. He resisted the urge to walk up to the nearest tree and bash his head against it, but only barely. He was so frustrated that he wanted to just stand up and scream, however, being in front of the local station it probably wasn't the best of ideas. Especially as he'd frustrated a few of the officers in there to the point that they'd probably throw him in jail for the night just for twitching awkwardly.
He sighed and let his head fall back.
This was another reason he hadn't made it in the academy. Aside from not taking orders well, he hated the idea of turning away people who needed help because of 'technicalities.' Technicalities!! His friend was missing and first off he couldn't file a missing person's report because the local police had contacted Lewis's family and his family had disagreed that Lewis was missing. Without actual family concern apparently the police were unwilling to do anything, having too much work to burden their overloaded shoulders with already. The second thing being that Lewis, having moved out from home to go to school, was considered as living in a different policing district altogether. And that district was unwilling to search because a) Lewis's family denied he was missing and b) There was no real record of Lewis being there in the first place which effectively tied their hands.
The number of hateful things Zane could say to Lewis's family for being so selfish and short-sighted were reaching unlimited proportions. Unfortunately they had threatened to call the police on Zane if he continued to contact them insisting that Lewis was missing. It was a bloody maddening circle. Even Zane's contacts through the academy couldn't do anything until he had more evidence. It all came down to bloody evidence. It was maddening.
"Any luck?" His dad asked, as he took the empty spot on the bench beside him. Zane cracked an eye open and looked over at him in surprise.
"Dad?" he asked, and made an effort to sit up and face the guy, confused. "How'd you know I was here?" He asked, and his dad gave him one of his patent looks. This one said: You really don't know that? I thought you were smarter. Zane bristled but kept his temper in check.
"Wilson gave me a ring. Said you've been hounding the officers at the front desk three days running now," his dad explained anyway, and looked out at the ice cream parlour across the street. Zane sighed. He should have known his dad would know what he was up to; the man had ties everywhere in the community. "So," his old man cocked an eyebrow, "are you going to tell me what's going on?"
"Wilson didn't already tell you?" Zane answered immediately, and then grimaced at the look his dad gave him, feeling like a child again. Which he supposed he was acting like at the moment. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes before flopping his sunglasses into place over them. "A friend of mine's gone missing, and I'm trying to track them down."
"One of the girls?" his dad asked instantly, concern apparent in his voice and Zane looked at him with a frown.
"No, they're all fine," he told him. "Is there a reason I should be concerned for them?" He asked carefully, and his dad shook his head negatively.
"No, not that I'm aware. It's just that, after that time I almost handed them over to science, I've been concerned for their well-being. It became abundantly clear to me, a little to late after the fact, that I would never wish the existence I was going to place them in on anyone."
"So that's what this concern is now? Dated guilt?" Zane asked, because he was well aware that his dad had been trying to apologize (in his own unique way) for that ever since. They'd all decided long ago that it was water under the bridge.
"It's not concern really. I just wanted to know if something was wrong. We don't get a lot of chances to talk these days, what with you having a place of your own now."
"Yeah, I guess." Zane shrugged and sat back in his seat. He'd only been in his place for a little over two weeks now. He still had boxes of things piled against the walls to be unpacked. It hadn't been on his mind much these last few days.
"So who's gone missing then?" His dad asked, which brought Zane's worry right back to the foreground.
"Lewis. McCartney," he added his last name on to make it clear.
"He was that tall bloke you hung out with right? The blond one who liked to fish?"
"Yeah," Zane snorted a little laugh. "Him. He was supposed to head off to university over three months ago now, and he never showed up. His family refuses to agree that he's missing and as far as I can tell there's no trace of him.
"Didn't you all have a big blow up just before school started?" His dad asked and, at Zane's look, he shrugged. "I hear things, especially in relation to you. Was it true?"
"Yeah, sort of. He was acting weird for a few weeks before then. I remember thinking there was something off about him, but that he was hiding it. And he was saying things that would make the girls furious with him."
"Did he say things to you?"
"Not so much, but I have a thick hide," he grinned a little and glanced sideways at his dad to make his point. "The point is he was acting strange, and then instead of going off to school he disappeared."
"Maybe he went travelling?"
"Without telling anyone?" Zane didn't think it was reasonable.
"How much do you really know about him?" his dad asked and at that Zane had to pause and consider. He knew Lewis was brilliant, and fiercely loyal to the girls (or he had been up until those last few weeks). He enjoyed fishing and boats and such, and he had a sharp, witty tongue when he wanted to, which is probably why Zane had finally gotten around to liking him. Zane had thought they'd known each other well, especially as they'd gotten on fine after a year or so of working around each other. But now he wasn't so sure, especially not after meeting the guys family.
"I know enough that I doubt he'd just pick up and disappear," he concluded firmly, and felt that he truly believed that to be the case. Whatever secrets Lewis might have, he wasn't someone who would desert them easily.
"So you're going to keep looking then?" His dad asked and yeah, of course he was. The look he gave his father must have been enough of an answer because the man held his hands out in submission.
"Easy there, I was just asking. What's the girls stance on this?" He asked, and Zane's gut churned at the thought.
"They don't have one yet," he replied and his dad snorted.
"If you don't think it's serious enough to tell them, then I doubt you really believe Lewis is in trouble."
"It's not that," Zane instantly defended himself, glaring heatedly at his dad, and then glaring at the woman who looked about ready to sit in the empty space on the bench just beyond his father. She quickly decided to find a seat elsewhere. "It's just-" how could he explain why he hadn't told them he thought Lewis was in trouble yet, when he wasn't really sure himself. "I don't think they should be involved in this," he decided, and at his dad's look pressed on. "It's not that I doubt they'd be a great help, because they would be, but I just don't feel right about involving them. My gut is telling me to leave them out of this."
"You're gut?" his dad said sceptically.
"And maybe the fact that Lewis was trying too hard to push them away before he disappeared. Look, it's not a perfect theory, and as I've been told countless times already I have no proof that he's even missing."
"Other then the fact that you can't find him."
"Yes." He quickly agreed with his dad. They sat in silence for a few long moments.
"Do you have any leads?" His dad finally asked and Zane felt a flood of relief that, while his dad might not completely believe that Lewis was missing at this point, he was willing to hear Zane out. It was something.
"The only thing I could possibly think of," he dropped his voice and his head, in case any one where near enough to eavesdrop, "is Dr. Denman." He hissed out and his dad looked at him in surprise.
"Linda Denman?" he asked and at Zane's nod he frowned even more. Because he knew, as well as Zane did, that Denman was far from the honest, sweet woman that most people saw her as. "What could she possibly have to do with Lewis's disappearance?"
"I don't know. All I know is that she was around the time Lewis disappeared. Hell, Lewis even told us on several occasions to keep an eye out for her, despite the fact that she doesn't still know the girls are…the way they are."
"And when she left…"
"It's a thin lead dad. I know Lewis has a past with her, and that it isn't the easiest of pasts, but I don't know what she'd possibly need him for, or why he'd ever consider going anywhere with her. He's made it clear more then once that he despises her."
"It is a thin lead," his dad agreed, but he was wearing his thoughtful face now, rubbing his chin with his hand. "I'll look in to where her base of operations is now. I haven't had anything to do with her since…that time. But I know people in the business who can tell me where she is, and then I'll let you know."
"Thanks dad," Zane slumped a little in relief. He had his own connections, of course, but his dad's were better and wider spread. Money helps with that, and while Zane was far from poor (especially after having investing much of the money his father had given him over the years while spending nothing but his fathers own money), he had yet to make a real impression on people within the community. Clearly he was going to have to change that if he ever wanted to get things done in this town.
"Zane," his dad started and he looked over to see him looking as though he was actually struggling for words. He didn't have to say anything though, the look on his face said enough for him.
"I know dad," Zane cut him off instead, and turned to stare at the ice cream parlour another minute, before abruptly pushing to his feet. "I'll see you later," he called out and then he was moving away quickly, in case his dad decided to try and say what was written all over his face anyway.
Zane was all to aware of the fact that Denman might have absolutely nothing to do with this. Anything was possible in the world these days, and Lewis could be missing for an insurmountable number of reasons. Running away, alcohol, drugs, money, kidnapping, rape, murder…it wasn't worth thinking about. Zane refused to believe that it could be something so horrible could have happened to Lewis, he trusted the guy to have enough street smarts to not get kidnapped or killed.
Still. He'd been missing for a long time.
Zane shook his head. No, his disappearance was too neat, too planned. Zane wouldn't give up on him. He'd find the idiot if it was the last thing he did.
H2OOOO
He sat on the starched white sheets of his cot, leaning against the wall with his legs pulled into his chest, glaring at a spot on the opposite wall. It was one of the rare occasions that they let him out of his fish form, giving him hospital scrubs to wear like it was a gift and not a right to have clothes. This room that they usually shoved him in was no better then the tank though, despite the fact that he at least had a layer of material between him and their hands. Because while it was a room, one of the walls was a massive mirror, and you'd have to be completely brainless to think that people weren't on the other side, watching him whenever they felt the urge.
But he'd been in here two days now, because the cuts on his back hadn't been healing properly in the water and they'd decided that the air was better for him. His skin felt dry. He'd much rather be outside, sitting on a rock and baking in the sun then being locked away in this sterile environment.
"It's been long enough don't you think Lewis?" Denman asked from her chair, seated only a few feet from his cot with her legs neatly crossed and her back straight. Behind her shoulder Gil stood, ever present and silent and Lewis was weary of the fact that he was so close. Of all the people here, he hated that man even more then he hated Denman. As far as he was concerned that was saying more then enough about his character.
Lewis swallowed thickly but didn't answer.
"Oh come now," she uncrossed her legs and sat forward in the chair. Lewis couldn't help instinctively shrinking away, pressing closer into the wall and pulling his legs tighter into his body to protect himself. It was ridiculous, she was a small women that he would easily be able to overpower if he really wanted to. But Gil was another story, and while Lewis thought he might have a chance against that man one on one, there were always people around to step in and help him. Still, she watched Lewis's reaction and sat back with pursed, unhappy lips.
She sighed, as though the weight of the world rested on her shoulders.
"Lewis, I understand how miserable you are here I really do. I would love to make it more comfortable for you, but you keep trying to escape and we can't have that." He'd almost succeeded too, on two separate occasions. He choose to remain silent, but he did grace her with a look of disgust before focusing back on the wall.
"Things might be less unpleasant if you co-operated a little more," she insisted, like a broken record and this time he kept glaring at her when he looked her way. "Look, I just want to know what your power is," she insisted imploringly. "I will found out eventually, you can't hide it from me forever and it is in everyone's best interests if you just tell me."
"It's in your best interests you mean," he said through clenched teeth. "I fail to see how my telling you that will benefit me in any way." He challenged her, his eyes cutting quickly to Gil as the man shifted behind her, but remained at his post.
"The sooner we know everything we can about you, the sooner we can get you out of here." She said it with such insistence too, but he knew that 'out of here' meant to a different lab, or maybe some private aquarium somewhere. He'd heard some scientists talking about how much money they could make off of selling him to rabid exotic fish collectors. Tens of millions they'd estimated. Sadly enough, it was probably true.
"I can't help you," he said instead, and saw her eyes flash in anger. One thing he'd learned over the months was that she had little patience.
"Lewis-" she started in her disapproving school teachers voice. The voice that, last time she'd used it, had ended up with people holding him down and taking bodily fluid samples from him. Samples he would never have voluntarily given up, which had involved hands in places he never, ever wanted anyone's hands without his consent. He wouldn't be forgetting the humiliation and degradation of that experience anytime soon, which had maybe been part of her point.
"I don't know!" He cut her off, edging away from her in spite of himself. "I do not know what my powers are," he insisted with a softer voice and her eyes narrowed in contemplation. "I probably don't even have any," he added for effect.
"I don't believe you," she retorted and he resisted rolling his eyes, because of course she didn't believe him. Why should she, it's not as though she's given him any reason to trust her.
"There's nothing I can do about that," he sniped back.
"All three girls exhibited some form of power when they had been mermaids, and it stands to say the same should apply to you."
"Well it doesn't," he insisted. "I don't know what else to tell you. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm a guy. Maybe male merpeople don't get powers or gifts or whatever it is you want to call it. How should I know? All I can tell you is that I don't have any powers!" The sad thing was that it was true. Up to this point he hadn't discovered a single ounce of special skills within himself. He couldn't evaporate water or make it rain or control lightening or anything like that. Honestly, the only thing he could say was remarkably different about him from the girls, was that his tail was exceptionally strong.
But they were already aware of that. It had been hard to ignore when, weeks ago, his temper had gotten a hold of him while he'd been forced, once again, into a massive glass tank. It hadn't even taken an overly powerful kick of his tail to the glass to actually shatter the thing. It had cracked, and splintered and then burst wide open in a matter of seconds, spilling out the water and himself all over the floor. He would have been more thrilled at the discovery and consequent ruin it caused, except when he'd been poured onto the floor the tanks sharp edges had spared his back no mercy.
He hadn't really been aware he could bleed so much.
It was perhaps the only time the scientists around him had ever tried to help him with something, namely saving his life. Regardless of the fact all the glass had been quadrupled in thickness and some tanks were even made of stainless steel now, with nothing but little portholes for viewing purposes.
"Look, if it hasn't become clear by now, if I'd had powers I probably would have used them to get out of this place. Which means you'd know about them."
"I will find out of you're lying to me Lewis," she purred at him, and then stood swiftly, moving towards him. He was off his cot and backing up into the corner before she could take two steps. She froze at his reaction, however, her gaze drifting to his clenched fists a moment before tossing her blonde pony tail over her shoulder and turning to head out of the only door instead. "I'll see you in the morning Lewis. Try and get some rest, we've got a long day tomorrow."
The second she was out the door Gil's uninterested mask slipped and the creep grinned at him. He made a fake lunge, which had Lewis jerking in response, the cold wall making his one arm tingle as it pressed into it, his other arm coming up, ready to defend himself. Gil laughed and then slipped out the door after his boss, shaking his head in amusement.
Lewis sighed and pulled away from the wall, frowning when his right arm continued to tingle strangely. He absently scratched at it, and then jerked his hand back in surprise at a sharp pain. His finger tip was bleeding. What in gods name…he bent his arm to look at its underside, and almost staggered in shock. The fin that ran along the underside of his arms when he was in merform had appeared, at least it had from his mid forearm to just above his elbow. It was it's familiar dark grey with deep blue and black undertones, looking ridiculous on his pale skin. The spines of the fin were flared widely, sticking several inches straight out of his arm, like they did whenever he was feeling defensive in the water.
He stared at them. How the hell could they be there? This had never happened before, not to him, and the girls had said the only time they ever had any of their 'mermaid parts' showing was when they were actually in mermaid form. Then again, they didn't have fins on their forearms or their back like he did, which he assumed was, again, a difference between being male and female. He sucked in a worried breath, and looked over his shoulder, hoping like hell this was one of the times that nobody was behind the mirror, observing. Still, he pressed himself into the corner to keep his arm out of view. His other arm seemed perfectly fine.
Hesitating a moment he finally brought his hand up, ignoring the bright red smear of blood that covered their tips, and pressed against the spines. They held stiffly, rigid and set and he puzzled at it. Normally they were soft and flexible. He gently scraped a finger over the edge of one and actually gasped when he realized that it was as sharp as a bloody knife. He swallowed thickly at the revelation, stared another moment, and then calmly told himself that things were okay. With another breath he willed the sharp spines to go away.
Like magic they disappeared back into his forearm, not even leaving a mark on his skin. The tingling was completely gone.
The door to his cell opened and he whirled around, to see one of the lab techs coming in with a tray. Dinner. The woman looked at him with wide eyes and he stared back. He'd never seen her here before, she must be new. She looked him over carefully and he willed himself to not react, really not wanting them to know about this latest development, but he didn't know exactly what it was yet and feared he couldn't control it. Thankfully, it seemed to be perfectly willing to steer clear for the time being as there was no tell tale cold tingle over his skin.
"I brought you dinner," she finally announced and he made no move to step anywhere near her. Her eyebrows furrowed at that and she took a step further into the room.
"Just leave it there," he insisted, not wanting her anywhere closer to him. She paused, and then nodded, actually abiding by his wish and placing the tray on the floor before backing out. The door shut with an ominous click behind her.
Huh.
He brushed a bloody fingertip on the underside of his arm once more, before going to get his meal. If he could will his fins to appear and disappear, did this mean he could control his transformation?
It was something worth considering.
H2OOOO
Tbc
A huge thanks goes out to MermaidRaven and Fanficfemale for your continued reviews. I'd also like to give a shout out to Bella. It's nice to know people are reading and still (hopefully) enjoying this fic.
I think I realize that it's not the usual cup of tea for this fandom (mainly due to the lack of girls and 'ships), but I do hope that it's interesting all the same.
Thanks again!