It had been a few days since the incident and although Skye had been fine at home so far and at school...she hadn't seen Ward anywhere. She had expected him to show up, be angry, get back at her and finish what he had accidentally started, but she hadn't heard even a peep out of him. He wasn't in class and he didn't show up at her house or at the beach and this worried Skye more than seeing him everywhere. At least if she could see him, she knew where he was. This was some ghostly weird ninja shit and she didn't like it. It made her more anxious than if he would just come confront her. Something had to be up, but she didn't know what.
The pier had been busier than normal, full of boats, so Skye had made sure to tell Jemma to steer clear from that side of the island all together. The pod still hadn't let her go back so she was resolved to spend every night there on the beach with her till they did. She couldn't afford to leave her alone. She even had blankets and things stashed up under the cliff at their new meeting place. It broke the wind well, as they had discovered, and the blankets kept them even warmer and hid them pretty well from anyone should someone else come along. There hadn't been anyone so far though, so Skye felt pretty confident that their new place was just as secluded as their old one.
Ward hadn't been in class again and just the fact that he was missing was enough to set her on edge as she unlocked her bike from the rack after leaving campus. The sun was almost in their position and Skye got happy again, knowing she would be able to see Jemma soon. It was quite a bit further to go to their new place, but Skye didn't mind. Further meant safer and she was absolutely alright with that. She had some new sketches for Jemma today. She was sure that she had gotten the pattern of her tail closer this time, if not perfect and she was excited to show her.
The last few days hadn't been so bad, at least not for Jemma. She had noticed that Skye was anxious, but Jemma had just been trying to enjoy that nothing bad seemed to be happening. She wasn't naive enough to think that Ward just decided to leave them alone, but she could certainly hope. The thing that was getting to her, however, was that the pod still hadn't called for her. Even if they had decided to banish her, they would have told her. There must be a huge debate going on for it to take this long to get to the vote. The thought of getting banished did scare her, she'd been living with her pod her entire life, the possibility of never seeing them again was terrifying. At least she had Skye, though, and she would never leave.
Jemma had been spending the time Skye wasn't on the beach in the water just beyond it, too cautious to go any further. If she got anywhere near the caves, it wouldn't help her case, and she didn't want to go anywhere else for fear of Ward. It wasn't terrible, though, she mostly gathered up all the sea glass and interesting shells near the shore for Skye, dumping them into the sand in piles for her when she got back. Skye had been taking them home with her every morning, and Jemma couldn't wait to see what kind of project she would do with them.
Maybe they'd been pushing their luck staying in this new place. They hadn't seen anyone the first few days, but today Jemma was surprised. When her head came up out of the water near the beach, a bag full of shells at her waist, she had to duck back under immediately. There'd been men there. She didn't recognize them, but they were wearing blue shirts with an image of a whale on the shoulder, the one Skye had told her to watch out for. Apparently it meant they worked at the marine park Ward's father owned.
If she hadn't already been terrified, she definitely was when she turned to swim out further into sea and saw boats. The bottoms of boats were in the water, and there were several of them. Apparently she'd actually picked a horrible place for them to stay. The tiny area that was hidden from the public was like a small harbor, and the boats were between Jemma and the open ocean. What was even worse than that was that nets- nets big enough for her to see from far away- were strung between the boats. She was trapped.
She swam down to the ocean floor, but Jemma wasn't stupid enough to think that she could stay there forever. She could only hold her breath for thirty seven minutes, if they were here for her they would wait, and they would see her when she came up for air. Jemma was already quivering, sitting on the sand at the ocean floor, looking back and forth between the boats and the shore. Skye didn't swim, but Jemma knew that humans did have the capability to, so she was watching carefully.
Eventually her worst nightmare came true, and there were a few splashes from shore, and a few splashes from the boats. Jemma looked wildly back and forth between them, and adrenaline surged through her lungs. They didn't even look like people, all of their skin was covered up in some kind of suit, and their masks were large and daunting. They had all kinds of equipment, none of which Jemma knew the purpose of. It didn't take them long to see her, and when one of them pointed, Jemma finally shot into action. She took off towards the nets, hoping to find a weak spot, but another swimmer jumped into the water from a boat and cut her off.
A few cries of terror escaped her throat and she backed away from the person only a few meters away, and she didn't think to turn and look until her back touched something rough. A net. Her eyes widened and she swam directly upwards, straight to the surface. Her head burst from the water and she stared at the beach in hope, but she didn't see Skye, only a few more men, and the trampled remains of the seashells she'd gathered.
Something touched her tail and Jemma lashed out with it, feeling a thump as she hit her mark, but that alone wasn't enough to save her. She dove under the water again, veering to the right and almost smashing into the wall of rocks to slip past them. There was no escape. One of them had prepared for this and got directly in her path. Jemma barely stopped before crashing into him, but her lack of movement for just a split second may have caused her loss.
Jemma barely had time to register that something had passed in front of her face before the wire tightened around her neck. Suddenly thrashing around, Jemma spun and got a look at what had trapped her. One of the divers was holding a pole with a loop at the end, the loop over her head, and one end of the wire came out on his side, which was what he pulled to tighten it. Jemma tried to pry her fingers under it and rip it off, but another one of them managed to snag her wrist with the same device.
Wide eyed, Jemma tried to look and find some form of escape throughout her thrashing, but there was nothing. All of the humans had gotten closer, no matter how much Jemma squirmed or how many of them she managed to hit with her powerful tail. They just kept coming back. Jemma recognized the device one of them was holding as a camera, and she tried to block her face, but her dominant hand was the one caught and she was left to be blinded by a flash.
Jemma let out a call for her pod, but she wasn't sure if they would help her, or even if they could. Even if Skye showed up, what would she be able to do to stop this? She couldn't stop Ward, so how could she stop all of this? It was over, and Jemma knew it, but she didn't resign herself to defeat, not just yet.
With a powerful jerk, Jemma yanked her arm and the diver lost his grip on the pole. Now with both hands, she tried to free her throat. The diver had other ideas, though, and jerked on the pole before she could, causing a sputtering cry.
Jemma was horrified. Her heart was beating so quickly it was about to burst out of her chest. Her eyes were wide, and she was so shaky she wasn't sure she could even do anything for herself at this point. Another flash went off and Jemma's vision was suddenly bright, too bright for her to actually see. She couldn't see and there was something wrapped around her throat, and soon another on her tail. Jemma could feel more than see or really register that a net, thicker than the one Ward had used, was being thrown over her head. It tightened at the same time that another flash went off, and Jemma couldn't help it. A shriek ripped out of her lungs and into the water, so loud and high pitched that every single diver stopped what they were doing for a moment and put their hands over their ears. She'd never used it before, and she found that it hurt her own vocal chords. It was a scream reserved for emergencies, and Jemma had neither used it or heard it once in her life. It was instinctual, and her entire pod would hear it. Skye might even be able to hear it, being linked to her now.
Jemma was out of energy, the call took all of it out of her, as it was a last resort cry for help. The net tightened again and suddenly she was out of the water, being tossed onto the hard deck of a boat. She'd always been curious about them, but this was not how she wanted to be on one for the first time.
"Hi again, Mermaid." Jemma covered her ears when she heard the familiar voice, as if not hearing it would make it go away. "It's so different, seeing you with a tail." Jemma could practically hear the smirk on his face, and she squeezed her eyes shut so she didn't have to see him. She was perfectly still, all of her muscles frozen, at least until she felt something she never wanted to feel. Like any person, Ward was curious, and his rough hand was on her tail. Jemma wailed and began thrashing again, desperate to get away from him. It was wrong, so wrong. Jemma wanted to die. She would rather die right here, right now, than find out what Ward planned to do with her and continue to be harassed by him. He was doing something that was only meant for Skye, and it made Jemma sick. It physically made her sick, and Jemma's throat burned for a few seconds before her stomach expelled its contents onto the wood. Jemma coughed and gagged, trying to curl in on herself and shaking violently.
"Cut it out, we don't want it to go into shock and die before we get back." Another booming male voice invaded Jemma's sensitive ears. This one was new, and Jemma presumed it was Garrett, Ward's father, according to Skye, by the way he swiftly pushed Ward aside. She was almost grateful to him, despite his being a completely terrible person, and the fact that he was only helping her so she wouldn't die before he could do whatever he planned with her.
Jemma cried and screamed, struggling against the net, writhing on the ground. Garrett silenced her with a quick kick to the stomach, and Jemma whimpered in pain and longing for Skye.
"Shut her up." Garrett ordered, and Jemma heard his heavy footsteps move away. Her vision was blurry and she felt weak, but she still had some fight left in her. Ward dragged her a few feet so he could kneel in front of her without coming into contact with her vomit. He grabbed at her face and jerked her head to the side, but Jemma didn't put up with it and bit his hand, using as much force as possible and tasting the disgusting, coppery blood in her mouth before Ward brought his hand up and threw it back down, knocking Jemma's head into the wood.
"Careful with it, you idiot!" Garrett yelled from somewhere behind her, and Ward glared at her, like this scolding was her fault. He grabbed at her again, his palm against her forehead, and turned her head to the side. Only then did Jemma notice the sharp object in his other hand, and she let out a scream before he stuck it into her neck. The spot stung, and Jemma felt fear slice through her heart like a knife when she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and everything faded.
Skye's face was scraping against the concrete of the sidewalk, the skin on her hands already cut having tried to stop the fall. Her arms buckled with the force and her right arm and shoulder got a good grind along the sidewalk as well before the momentum was gone. Her bike had landed on her legs and she would have tried to get up, except she couldn't. It was still happening.
Her chest was tight, muscles strained and tense. She had one hand curled up to her chest but she couldn't breathe. It had come so suddenly. First she was coasting down the hill, almost to the place she had been leaving her bike to go through the woods and come out at the beach just beyond the rocks, when everything had stopped working and a blinding pain slammed into her chest and sent her heart into overdrive. The shriek as she hit the ground was her own, but something else was ringing in her ears that she was too disoriented to distinguish.
She was too young to be having a heart attack, but that's what it felt like…it couldn't be anything else. Skye was rigid against the ground, eyes wide and straining to breathe…and then all of a sudden it passed and her entire body relaxed. She let out a loud gasp and began to breathe again, quickly, sucking in as much air at once as she could manage. Her face and hands and arm stung and her legs ached, all tangled up in the bike, but she forced herself to sit up.
She had never felt anything like that before and when she looked at the sidewalk, she saw her blood stains the crash had left. Her hand now instinctively went to her necklace thumb and pointer finger rubbing the small scale between them as she staggered up to stand. She had thought it was over, but suddenly she felt sick, and not just a bad feeling in her gut sick, but actually, legitimately sick. She barely had time to stumble to the grass before her hands were on her knees and she was leaned over, expelling her sparse breakfast and the granola bar she had eaten for lunch. Her throat burned but it was over as quickly as it had come and it only took her a few minutes to recover, wiping her mouth off with the towel she was bringing to lay on with Jemma.
At the thought of her name she felt her chest tighten again and she grabbed for her bike to steady herself. What was going on?! Her hand was on the scale again and the pain suddenly stopped. The sick feeling remained, but Skye was more anxious than ever. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. Something was terribly, horribly wrong.
She was back on her bike, peddling fast and she almost fell off again when she barely stopped upon reaching her hiding place for her bike. She didn't even hide it. She jumped off and let it fall to the ground, already into the forest and sprinting through the underbrush. She didn't think she had ever run so fast and suddenly in record time, she burst through the trees and her feet fell onto sand. The beach was deserted, as it always was but the closer she got the sicker she felt and Skye couldn't understand why.
She was making a beeline for the overhang now, lungs on fire and throat burning. She didn't stop at the rocks. She flung herself at them and was climbing over, sliding down once in her rush when she lost her grip, but soon she was over, landing hard on her feet and hitting down in the sand, falling face first into it again when she felt the tightening in her chest. It was like there was a hand wrapped around her heart and it was periodically squeezing it tighter and tighter.
There were shells all over the shore. Jemma left them in cute little towers, but these were scattered and crushed. The tide wasn't strong enough here to wash them up, so Jemma must have been here, but just the sight of them crushed was wrong.
"J-Jemma?!" She brushed off her face, spitting out the sand as she forced herself to get back up and spring to the water. When the mermaid didn't immediately come out, Skye's pulse spiked.
"Jemma?!" Something is wrong. Something is wrong. Something is wrong.
"Skye!" It wasn't Jemma, but Bobbi that suddenly appeared on shore. Bobbi pulled herself onto the beach, still within reach of the waves, but the furthest on land she'd ever been. She too had come here in search of Jemma. The whole pod had heard her scream, and it wasn't something they took lightly. They'd only just made the decision to let Jemma return to the pod when they'd heard it, and Bobbi had grabbed a few potions before being sent off, swimming directly here, where the call had come from.
"Is Jemma here?!" She asked with hope. It was highly unlikely, but she had to be sure.
"Bobbi?" Skye almost jumped at the sound, although she recognized the voice. She was down towards the water, closer to her partner's sister in an instant, not caring that her shoes were getting wet. If Bobbi was here what did that mean? Maybe it was good news from the pod, but then that still didn't explain why Jemma wasn't here…or why she had practically almost died trying to get here.
"No, she's not here. A-at least I don't think so. I only j-just got here. I called for her but…" Skye shook her head, looking past the mermaid now and scanning the waters, but she still couldn't see Jemma. She supposed if Bobbi hadn't run into her on her way, then Jemma wasn't here…and it was their time to meet. She was definitely starting to panic.
"What happened? She's always here before me and she always comes out immediately when I call for her, sometimes even before!"
"This can't be happening." Bobbi grabbed at her own hair, tugging on it and wishing this was just some sick dream or prank instead of actual reality. When she finally did look up at Skye again, she saw true fear. Skye hadn't done this, whatever it was. She did see something else, though, fresh cuts and scrapes and the way her chest was heaving.
"You felt it, didn't you?" Bobbi asked. Whatever trouble Jemma was in, it was bad. If it was enough for her to use that scream and enough to do this to Skye, it was bad.
"She- she used a call for help. Not the normal one, the..." Bobbi couldn't finish. Something terrible had happened to her sister and she didn't know what. She was missing, probably no longer in the water if she was still alive. The only person who could help now was Skye, so Bobbi had to tell her. "It wasn't just a call, it was a scream... We use it to project the most important message... It's only used when we're in mortal danger." Bobbi explained.
"Felt it…?" Skye could feel the tightness creeping back up on her and as Bobbi spoke she would see her get more and more tense until she delivered the news. Skye was shaking and her knees and hands hit the water. She had felt it. She had felt it. She had felt the moment that Jemma screamed. She had felt the moment she had gotten hurt? Gotten taken? Both?
"M-mortal danger…" She almost couldn't comprehend it. She had never felt anything as bad as this. She had thought finding Jemma in the net was bad. She had thought realizing she was dying and leaving Jemma alone was bad, but the fact that Jemma could be hurt, could be leaving her alone was worse.
All of her anxiety from the past few days was coming to a head and Skye couldn't function. She couldn't breathe again and to Bobbi it might look like the human was dying again right in front of her but Skye couldn't focus. All she could think about was what had happened. There really couldn't be any question. Ward must have found her again. He must have set a better trap. He had somehow struck without her knowing.
"H-he wasn't in class…" Her hands tightened into fists in the sand and fire shot through her veins as her blood started to boil, making her whole body shake. She had been in class while Ward was off hunting for Jemma. If they got her…and obviously they had by the sheer amount of panic they were both in…there was only one place they would take her.
"I'm going to kill him. I swear to god, I'm going to strangle the life out of his shit face," she was back up, her hands in her hair just like Bobbi's had been a few minutes ago. What was she going to do? She couldn't really take Ward, and if she was right, she couldn't take his father or whoever else had helped.
"I think I know where she is…" Skye confessed dryly and looked at Bobbi, biting her lip and so many apologies she couldn't get out stuck in her throat.
"You do?" Bobbi couldn't help it, that intense explosion of hope in her chest. It sounded like Skye knew what had happened and who'd done it. Skye was a human, she had to have some influence. She could do something.
"You have to save her." Bobbi wasn't even looking at Skye as she said it, she was already digging in her pouch for two vials, and once they were in her hand, she held them out to Skye, palm up. One was recognizably blue, the same one that had saved Skye, and the other was green, the one that would give Jemma legs. Bobbi assumed both would be useful and had brought them along. "Please." She begged.
Skye nodded, taking the vials and putting them into her satchel where they would be kept safe. She was already forming a plan and it enraged her to know that she wouldn't be able to act on it until nightfall. She would have to wait till knockoff sea world was closed and all the guests had left…that meant late at night. That meant Jemma would be with them all day and Skye was fairly certain one of her teeth almost cracked she was grinding them together so hard.
"I will. I-I'll do my best…" She almost moved to stand up, before she squatted back down, swallowing hard as she thought of what would have to be done. If she could get to Jemma, she couldn't bring her back here. They knew where it was. She couldn't take her to their old place because they knew where that was too. They needed another place to meet, another place that she could get Jemma safely to the water.
"On the east side of an island there's a rundown fishery. It's used more of a museum now than anything. People won't be there at night and it has access to the water. I can get Jemma there when the moon is on its way back down. Can you meet us? I don't want her to swim alone?" Skye asked quickly, not even waiting for a nod before she continued. She couldn't hesitate, not when Jemma's safety was on the line.
"And when you take her, you take her back to the pod. I don't care if they say she can't come back, you take her back and you keep her there and you leave. I can get her back but Ward and his fucking father are going to keep searching for her, and you, all of you, and they're not going to stop. You all have to leave. Swear it." Skye stared her right in the eye. She knew Bobbi would agree. It was the safest option for them, especially with Jemma having been caught. Skye would do her best to destroy all the evidence and get Jemma to safety, but she couldn't do it all. They would be better off leaving…forever if necessary, and although it hurt like hell, Skye knew it needed to happen.
"I swear it." Bobbi nodded furiously. She would do anything to keep Jemma safe, and Skye's terms were easy. Well, maybe not easy, since she might have to physically drag Jemma away from Skye, but she would have done it anyway. It was just too dangerous and the whole pod needed to leave, not just Jemma. If humans knew they were here they needed to migrate, move on, probably never come back.
"Skye," Bobbi grabbed the human's attention one last time before she pushed into the water. Even though Bobbi had warned her about this and still blamed her, she admired how far Skye was willing to go to keep them safe. She was going to get Jemma back and let her go, even if she didn't want to. "I misjudged you. I'm sorry." With that, Bobbi was gone, speeding back to the pod to tell them everything she knew.