I know it's been forever since I last updated this thing. I kept putting off getting my hands on a copy of Genius Squad. I apologize to anyone who was anxiously holding their breath for the next chapter. I'm sorry it took so long.
Disclaimer: I do not own Genius Squad or any of the books.
Anna stayed with Sonja through the afternoon. They sat and talked about innocent things, completely avoiding the reason why the house was so silent. She read a few passages out of a worn paperback copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, her favorite book. She regaled Sonja with tales of close encounters with shark, killer whales, octopi, and told her about some of the underwater marvels she had seen, including a sunken city in the Mediterranean Sea. Cadel walked in during her story.
"They were calling it Atlantis for a little while, before they found the ancient records. Turns out it was a tiny town that slid into the ocean when Vesuvius went off and buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. A foreshock weakened the ground under it, and land collapsed into the sea, which was why the town escaped the pyroclastic flow. While it's not the fabled city of Atlantis, you can see why people might have thought that." Anna said. "Interesting, isn't it." This comment as directed at Cadel as he came in the room. "Are you alright? You look a little white."
"I'm fine." Was his automatic response.
Saul appeared in the doorway behind Cadel. Anna sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Everyone has been evacuated. It's time for you to leave." Saul said distractedly.
"The only way I'm leaving," Anne said slowly, in an overly patient voice. "Is if you have people bodily drag me out. Now, how many of your men do you want to have concussions when night comes around?"
Saul gave her his full attention. "It would be better for you if you left."
"And it would be better for Cadel and Sonja if I stayed. Aside from knowing rudimentary martial arts, I'm very distracting. You guys look like you need it." Anna said patiently. "I'm also and abstract thinker. It's always good to have one of us around." Cadel snorted, and Anna beamed.
Saul hesitated, then switched topics. "I've been receiving reports. They haven't found Prosper yet, but they think he's headed south. Do you know if he has a boat stashed near Wollongong?" The question was directed at Cadel, but Anna answered anyway.
"I know one is gone for certain." Anna said. "It made a lovely localized earthquake when the gas tank caught fire." She remembered the alkali bomb she had made with a smile. "And he did have one around the area you mentioned. I half wish he'd try to use it."
Saul looked alarmed. "And why is that?"
Anna grinned. "Because it has more holes in it that Swiss cheese. Of course, it doesn't look like it. I patched them up nicely. But as soon as the engine starts…" She whistled. "That thing will take on water faster than a parched elephant."
"How-fast-is-that?" Sonja asked.
"Pretty dang fast." Anna winked. "I got to experiment with my new drill. It was fun."
Saul looked a little nonplussed, but he quickly shrugged it off and left.
"I don't think he likes me." Anna mused.
The rest of the afternoon dragged on, even with Anna demonstrating her back handspring in the living room. Finally, She tucked Sonja into bed and was able to look after Flitter, who she never went anywhere without. She hung around the ground floor, sitting perfectly still and listening intently. She could hear Cadel tossing and turning, and Sonja's light snores.
Her mind was beginning to itch. She was so used to being in the water for most of the day, that it was disconcerting to stay dry for more than twelve hours.
Her condition wasn't a physical one. It was mental, a habit that she had formed. Like an alcoholic craving a drink, her mind was craving the silvery feel of water through her fur.
Anna checked the time. Two in the morning. She stood, shaking a few kinks out of her legs. She crept up the stairs, as silent as a shadow. The bathroom on the second floor was open, and equipped with a full sized bath tub. Anna smiled and snagged a towel out of the closet.
She sank into the warm water, biting her lip against the pain of the change. She looked away, not wanting to watch the change.
Leaning back in the tub, Anna closed her eyes. Her fingers felt the dark chocolate fur, rich and thick like a coat. It ended at her hips, where the fur grew sparser until all that was left was smooth skin. She peeked an eye at the brown tail, the flippers at the end hanging over the edge of the tub. She seven feet long with her tail, gaining more that a foot of length.
The warm water, so different from the ocean, lulled her into a light doze.
She awoke to three sets of footsteps going past the second floor landing. The water had lost its heat, becoming lukewarm. Anna slowly began to lift herself out of the water.
She stopped when someone whimpered on the landing outside. Temporarily losing her sanity, she called out.
"Cadel? Is that you." The footsteps paused. Anna frowned, listening intently. Sure enough, there were three distinct heartbeats. In her seal form, her already good hearing was elevated, like she was in the water. So not only could she hear the heartbeats, she could tell that one was higher and faster, probably belonging to a child. But it was abnormally fast.
At her voice the heartbeat skyrocketed.
Her common sense came back to her with a crash. Anna swore, not longer bothering to be quite. She tried to jump up and out of the tub, and ended up falling on the floor with a loud thud. She reached up to grab the counter. Her fingers slipped, pulling her towel down onto the floor.
Anna scooted forward as fast as she could, reaching for the lock on the door. In some lapse of sense, she had left the door unlocked, probably because everyone had been asleep.
She heard footsteps begin to move toward the door. Anna made a desperate lunge for the lock. The tips of her fingers brushed the metal, but she fell short, crashing back down to the ground with a thud. The handle turned. Anna tucked her tail under her and clutched the towel around her.
Saul looked down at her, eyes wide in surprise. It took her a minute to see through the disguise and recognize Alias. She swore again, louder.
"Prosper. Look at this." Alias turned to talk to someone over his shoulder. Even though she had already guessed that Prosper would be here, her heart skipped a beat. Then she remembered that her tail was showing, and her heart stopped.
She looked past Alias to see Prosper, dressed as Zac, holding a gun to Cadel's head. Her breath caught in her throat, and she decided this wasn't a good day for her cardiac system. At this rate she was going to have a heart attack.
Prosper took the gun away from Cadel, who was as pale as a ghost and trembling, and pointed it at her.
"Annabelle Mallan." He said.
"Prosper." She responded in an equally even voice. "I'd say it's nice to see you again, but I'd be telling a horrendous lie."
"What should we do with her?" Alias asked.
"Put her downstairs with the others." Prosper said, not moving the gun. "Come on, Annabelle. I really don't want to hurt anyone, but I will if you push me."
Alias grabbed her arm to haul her to her feet. Anna tried to pull away, but she wasn't in the best position to fight back. She closed her eyes and Alias pulled her off the ground.
There was complete silence on the landing. Anna peeked through her eyelashes. Both Prosper and Alias were staring at her tail. Anna sighed in resignation.
"Is it real?" Alias asked.
"As real as it gets." Anna responded. She reached out and hooked her tail around his legs and pulled hard. Alias's legs flew out from under him and they both fell heavily to the ground. Anna began to crawl back towards the bathroom, but she was hampered by her tail.
Alias scrambled back to his feel and stepped on her tail, hard. Anna bit back a scream of pain as she heard something crack.
"Let me guess." Prosper sounded bored. "Your father did this." Alias held her up by her tail, so she was hanging upside down in a very undignified manner. Anna's torso was still resting on the ground. She propped her chin on her elbow, looking equally as bored.
"Yep, the sadistic-" She went on to add a few colorful adjectives.
"If you wouldn't mind holding your tongue in front of my son." Prosper said, leveling the gun at her again.
"Oh, stop waving that thing around. The safety's not even off." Anna complained. Prosper looked annoyed. Cadel looked surprise.
Prosper met Alias's eyes and jerked his head toward the ground floor. Alias began to walk down the steps, dragging Anna by the tail the whole way.
Let's follow normal procedure here.
If you liked it, tell me so and why.
If you didn't like it, tell me so and why.
And if you're somewhere in the middle, tell me that anyway.