Sophie

When we return to the living room, Lewis has returned and is sitting with Luna, speaking quietly to her. The girl has her mug clutched, almost possessively in her hands. But her shoulders are relaxed, and the faintest hint of a smile tugging at her lips. Her gaze flits to Katie and I as we re-enter. Her head tilts to the side, a small frown etching across her features as her attention settles on my daughter. Katie’s eyes are still stained red from crying. “Are you okay?” the Mer asks.

Katie remains silent as she busies herself with getting settled back on the couch next to Luna, while I claim the empty space in the arm chair perpendicular to the sofa. “Yeah,” she replies after a long moment. “Everything’s alright.” The whispered words seem to be meant as an assurance to everyone in the room, herself included.

I nod at her, pausing to take a sip from my hot chocolate and shift in my spot before I fix my gaze on the two girls. “Alright. Now we need to talk. Now, while I have no desire to make you both relive what I can guess is a painful experience, I do need to know the details and get a picture of what we may still be up against,” I point out, watching Luna shrink back and Katie’s shoulders sag. “So I need the full story, in as much detail as you both can manage without it being too upsetting for you.”

Katie nods and inhales sharply. “Yeah,” she murmurs. “I can do that. Luna, are you okay to be here or would you like to leave?” she inquires, her focus shifting to the child beside her who has paled significantly. “I know it’s not an easy subject. Especially for you.”

The tip of Luna’s tongue swipes out across her lips as she licks them and wrings her fingers. She’s quivering and I expect her to take Katie up on that suggestion to go elsewhere. I even start to rise, ready to get her set up in one of the bedrooms. “No,” Luna whispers, halting my motions. “No, I will be okay,” she decides.

Katie regards her silently for a long moment before nodding. “Okay,” she agrees. “I’m going to start where it begins for me, since that’s what I know. If you want to add anything, go ahead.” Katie’s eyes close for a moment, and she takes a deep shuddering breath before beginning to speak.

By the time Katie has finished speaking, the atmosphere in the room has changed completely. Her eyes are moist with fought back tears, her head bowed. She brings one fisted hand up to rub at her eyes. Beside her, Luna has paled even more, curled up into a fetal position with her arms clenched around the azure scales of her tail, now pulled to her chest. Her eyes are closed, but flecks of liquid still glisten on her lashes. Lewis has his own gaze lowered, jaw clenched tightly, as he picks at his fingernails with focused intensity.

I swallow thickly, lowering my hand from my mouth. Rising from my seat, I move over to the couch. My fingers brush against Katie’s skin as I sweep her hair out of the way. It’s not visible everywhere, which is why I likely didn’t notice it before, but on the back of her neck is the scarred mark left behind from the shock collar they had her wearing, and I’m sure Luna will have a mark somewhere as well. Beneath my touch, Katie stiffens and pulls away.

“It’s okay,” she murmurs. “It’s mostly healed. You can barely tell it’s there anymore. I’m fine.”

“No you’re not,” I retort, anger bubbling in me. “Neither of you are. No one would be after that.”

Luna sniffles softly from her fetal position. A suppressed sob bubbling from her lips. I glance at her, at the tears streaming from her closed eyes and the rigidness of her arms as she squeezes her tail. I chew my lip as I watch her. According to Katie’s story, most of the life that Luna can remember was spent in that laboratory, under the cruel hand of a sadistic man who ought to have been stripped of his title long ago. I really should have insisted she not be present for the recounting, would have if I’d known the severity of it for her.

Reaching out a hand, I rest it on the young girl’s tail. Her head jerks up, watery eyes focusing on me. “You’re safe now,” I assure her. “I know it was awful, and I can’t even begin to comprehend what it was like for you, for either of you. But I do know that I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure you never have to go through it again, okay?”

Tears are still leaking from the child’s eyes, but a twitch of a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth and she nods. “Thank you,” she whispers.

I shake my head and pat her scales gently. “Dry your tears now, sweetie,” I whisper, bringing a hand up to wipe at one of the liquid beads rolling down her cheek.

“So,” Katie’s voice is shaky as she speaks up. “Do we have a plan?”

I pause to ponder the question, feeling several eyes on me as I do. “Well, to start, I want to put tracers in the two of you. And Katie, I know that probably doesn’t sound pleasant given what we typically use them for, but I want a failsafe.”

Katie nods. “No, I get it. I don’t mind. Not like we’d notice it once it’s in anyways.”

“What is a tracer?” Luna inquires, her crystal orbs darting between Katie, Lewis, and I.

“It’s a little device,” Katie begins. “No bigger than say…half a fingernail? Maybe smaller? Anyways, it sends out a special signal that special computers can find, so that it can be located, no matter where it was in the world.”

Luna chews her lip, a ponderous expression crossing her face. “So you want to put one inside us so that your computers can find us, no matter where we are?” she clarifies, her attention now fixated on me.

I nod. “Yes. That way, if things go wrong and you do wind up back where you were, we can find you immediately and come after you.”

“Can you put it in now?” Luna begs.

I gently pat the smooth scales of her curled tail. “Tomorrow,” I assure her. “For now, let’s all just take a breather okay? We can put things on hold for one night,” I decide firmly. “Are either of you hungry?”

Katie nods. “Starved, actually. I didn’t have much appetite earlier, but now that things feel more relaxed, I’m more easily reminded that I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday morning.”

“Well, I guess I had best get to making some supper then. Any cravings?” I inquire, rising from the couch. “Luna, are you hungry?”

“A little,” the younger girl responds.

Katie, having been previously chewing on the inside of her cheek, finally responds. “You know what I want, more than anything in the world? Not that I don’t love your cooking, but I crave pizza. Or something greasy and bad for me. Doesn’t really matter what in retrospect.”

I frown. While experiences with Riley has proven that Mer can consume more than seafood, and even handle processed foods pretty well, I have no idea what sort of havoc something like that could do to their systems. Especially if Luna is as unaccustomed to our foods as Riley once was. “Katie, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. We don’t know how that might affect your systems.”

Katie’s brown gold braid flings out a bit, smacking against her shoulder as she shakes her head. “No, it’s just like with the hot chocolate. We can eat regular food, Soph, same as you can.”

“Are you sure?” I press. “Because food like that…Katie, I just don’t want to risk you two getting sick due to a bad reaction.”

“I’m sure,” Katie insists, then she sighs, clearly relenting. “But if it’s that much of a concern, we can just have something else, it’s fine. I wasn’t trying to stress you out over it.”

“No, Katie’s right, Soph. There shouldn’t be a problem,” Lewis pipes up finally, having been previously silent all through Katie’s retelling and the conversation after. “Besides, from what I gather, they’ve been consuming normal food for the few weeks they were with Olivia. They’ll be fine. And pizza is quick and easy, rather than having to scramble to get something ready now.”

At his words, I instinctively glance at the time. Six thirty. We’ve been sitting here for several hours already. The time just seemed to slip by, I hadn’t even noticed. “I guess you’re right,” I concede. “Well, we’ll get two pizzas then, and halve them. What does everyone want?”

“Peperoni, black olives, and onion,” Lewis pipes up immediately.

“Yuck,” Katie counters, sticking out her tongue. “That’s so disgusting.”

“Right, because yours is so much better,” Lewis quips back.

I roll my eyes at their childish banter. “So you’re usual then, Katie?” At her nod, I make the mental note. “Alright, so peperoni, black olives, and onion for Lewis, pineapple, mushroom, and feta for you, just cheese for me, and…oh…Luna, you have no idea what we’re on about, do you?” I inquire as I catch sight of her rather vacant, confused expression.

She shakes her head. “What is pizza?”

Katie begins to laugh. “It’s a little hard to explain. Kind of like a greasy, cooked flat bread with stuff on top. I think you’ll like it.”

This explanation doesn’t seem to alleviate Luna’s confusion, but she simply shrugs, accepting the explanation.

“And if you don’t, there’s plenty to snack on around here,” I add. “Katie, you know her better than us, any ideas on what she’d like.”

“I like pineapple,” Luna ventures quietly. “And mangoes. Can you put mango on it?”

Katie frowns. “I don’t think so, Luna. Sorry, I know it’s your favorite, but it’s not really a typical pizza topping. You might like anchovies though. They’re small, salty fish.”

Luna nods eagerly. “Okay.”

“Anything else?” I inquire.

Luna shakes her head. “No, I will try that, it sounds good.”

“Alright, then pineapple and anchovies for Luna. Okay, give me a minute to order. Katie why don’t you find us a board game or something and we’ll play while we wait. It’s been too long since we sat down to play something.”

We end up playing Sorry. At first, the consensus was for trivial pursuit, nature addition, but even with the animal and plant specific questions, Luna’s lack of knowledge about most things, along with her inability to read, would have put her at too much of a disadvantage. I promised to start helping her learn first thing tomorrow. Nevertheless, the game is fun to play, and Luna seems to have developed a mischievous side and a focus on Lewis, who she constantly goes after to take his piece off the board, even if the move doesn’t necessarily benefit her.

“Come on,” Lewis groans. “I just got back in, pick on someone else,” he protests as Luna draws another Sorry card and sends him back to his ‘start’. She sticks her tongue out at him.

“You’ve made a competitive enemy,” I tease, taking my turn and moving another piece into my safe zone. Katie is winning, but not by much. Lewis, as expected, is losing, and Luna doesn’t seem too concerned either way, happily maintaining her third place position.

The game is put on pause as the buzzer to the apartment doors goes off. I rise from the table and type in the code to let the visitor in, and minutes later, the deliverer is at the door. I pay him, thanking him, and take the pizza boxes into the apartment.

Katie is actually drooling at the smell and before I can even get plates, she’s thrown open the lid to the first box. Scrunching her nose at the sight of Lewis’s half, paired with mine, she pushes it aside, claims a piece of her preferred pizza, and nearly takes half of it off in one bite. I laugh, watching her eyes flutter in delight, and within seconds the piece is scarfed down. Luna stares at her in shock before leaning forward to give the pizza a sniff, staring at it curiously. I pass out paper plates and get Luna a slice of hers.

“Just be careful, it is hot.”

She nods and cautiously picks the slice up like she saw Katie do. Her bite is tentative, and she struggles as a long strand of cheese refuses to pull free. I watch her calmly for a verdict, ready to find her something else if she’s not fond of the food. “It is different,” she comments finally. Seeming to decide, she takes another bite. “But not unpleasant.”

And then we’re back to playing games, laughing, and enjoying the pizzas. When we tire of Sorry, we move to playing cards. Crazy Eights is a bit of a more difficult concept for Luna to grasp at first, but as soon as she catches on, she’s playing like a pro and winning rounds easily.

The experience is all in all, massively enjoyable, and I feel a bit lightheaded, as if this were a wonderful dream instead of the reality I’d hoped and wished for over the past several months.

After a while, when we’ve all become stuffed on pizza and tired of the games, I finally stand and begin to put the leftover pizza into one box and into the fridge while the others tidy up the games.

“I have some last minute filing I have to do before tomorrow,” Lewis announces, joining me in the kitchen. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes,” I agree. “There’s a few things you and I need to talk about.”

Lewis nods, his smile slipping and face becoming solemn. I know instantly that he’s well aware of the ‘chat’ we’re going to have about his involvement in this whole situation. “Yeah, figured that was coming,” he agrees. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

He fidgets slightly, seeming like he might lean in to kiss my cheek, then seems to decide otherwise and just offers me a soft smile before turning and making his way out of the apartment.

“Don’t be too mad at him,” Katie’s voice startles me. I hadn’t heard her approach.

“What?”

She smiles up at me and shrugs. “It’s not hard to tell that you’re upset. I don’t think it was because he didn’t want to tell you. Olivia wouldn’t let me call you either when I basically begged her. She made a good point. They would have looked at you and this place first when we went missing. You couldn’t know, or have any involvement. Lewis didn’t know anything either, besides that I was alive and there were plans being made to set us free. If you had known, you would have had to wait for goodness knows how long, unable to act. I know you, Soph, you don’t like sitting idle, especially if it’s something important to you. If I were Lewis, I wouldn’t have told you either. Even I agreed it was better that way, even if I desperately wanted to talk to you again.”

I sigh. “I guess you’re right, kid, but that doesn’t change the fact that he hid something this important to me, for months. Katie, despite the logic, it’s hard to be okay with that.”

“Everything about this is hard,” Katie counters. “But you like him, and it’s taken the both of you this long to finally admit feelings and get together, it’s pathetic actually, that it took so long. Don’t tear it all apart now by getting angry about something that’s in the past. I’m here now, and you knowing wouldn’t have let you see me or talk to me any sooner, so what difference does it make, really?”

I smile and ruffle her hair a little. “You know, I’m the one who is supposed to be giving you advice, not the other way around.”

Katie shrugs. “Well, I promise to do something soon that warrants a lecture and some guidance, okay?”

“Don’t you dare,” I laugh, leaning down to hug her tightly. “So, what’s your plan now?” I inquire. “It’s getting later. I have to turn in soon, as much as I’d love to pull an all-nighter with you, I have to be up in the morning. You and Luna just going to turn in?”

“I think Luna might appreciate being shown how to run a bath. She’s not as comfortable staying dry as I am. It won’t really give her room to swim, but a chance to soak her scales would probably be appreciated.”

I nod. “Well, I can help her with that, then. What about you?”

Katie shakes her head. “I don’t know, yet. I don’t quite feel ready for sleep. There’s some things I want to think about. I may just sit out here a while.”

“Alright. You know where I am if you need me, okay?” I search her face. With everything these two have faced, I don’t want her to be left with dark thoughts.

She offers me a weak smile. “I’m okay, Sophie. But I need some time alone, I think.”

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I tuck some stray hairs back behind her ear. “Alright. Just don’t exhaust yourself, okay? I’ll get Luna set up for the night, then. I’ll look into proper accommodations tomorrow, so she’s just going to have to share your bed tonight.

Katie raises an eyebrow. “Sophie, we’ve been sharing a tank for months. It’s not too big a deal. She feels so much like a little sister. I don’t mind at all…admittedly, her presence has grown comforting since we met.”

I nod, bidding her goodnight and moving back into the dining room to collect Luna. The younger girl seems rather enthusiastic about the chance to get in the water, and I make the mental note to remember to find some opportunities for them both to swim properly.