Authors: Felicia Jedlicka
She dipped the stick in. After a few tries she managed to tip the ring up and hook it. She towed in and grabbed it. With the ring safely in hand, she checked the tank once again.
Empty.
She set her hook on the ladder and slipped the ring into place on her right thumb. The moment of admiration was disrupted by a flicker in her peripheral.
There was movement in the tank below. The tiles that lined the bottom of the tank started to move. Before she could understand what was happening, the eyes of a chameleon creature fluttered open followed by a razor-toothed mouth. It shot up through the water at her.
The chameleon’s male torso emerged from the water. There was barely time to gasp before he had her. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into the tank. His fish body kicked away from the surface, dragging her deeper.
She struggled and pulled one arm free. His mouth opened, revealing shark-like rows of teeth. She pushed on his neck to keep the teeth as far away as possible, but she knew he could just wait out her air supply. She was about to die.
Killed by a flipping mermaid. What a lame death.
As she struggled to push him away, she felt the creases of gills on the side of his neck. She shoved her fingers into them. He shrieked at this torture. Encouraged, she pulled her legs up around his neck and placed a vice grip hold on the gills, then yanked at them as if she intended to pull his head clean off. The creature screeched and bit her leg. Tiny sharp teeth dug into her like a miniature bear trap. She ignored the pain. Her desperation for air was outweighing the pain.
He pushed up off the floor of the aquarium and shot out of the water. She rocketed out right along with him. They landed on the floor out of the tank and broke apart. His slick body slid across the floor, while she took the brunt of the impact to her back. Despite her urgent need for air, her lungs negotiated with her brain before letting her take in a full breath.
The alarms sounded from the sudden change in water volume. Help was on the way, in the form of heavily armed guards dressed all in black. Accompanying her saviors would be her enraged owner and boss, Danato.
The merman shrieked angrily at her. He wasn't ready to give up. He was now more or less a paraplegic on the floor. He flopped forward, getting surprising speed with just his upper body. He lunged for her and tried to get at least one more bite before his meal was interrupted. She scrambled back, missing his grasp by only inches. She jumped up and grabbed the hook off the ladder just as he made it close enough for another swipe at her. She swung it at his head, hoping to knock him out, or at least daze him.
“No!” Danato’s voice bellowed over the alarms, but his objection came a second too late. She hit the creature’s head. The hook stuck with a sickening splotch. His skull wasn’t firm like a human skull, and her hook buried deep into his occipital lobe. He fell flat against the floor, dragging the stick away from her as he did.
She had killed the merman.
She stared down at the scene trying to rewind the last few seconds. She felt herself sweat with panic and she felt disconnected from of her body. She looked up at Danato.
He stared back at her. A mixture of disappointments filtered through the rage on his face. The half dozen guards that were lined up behind him looked at the body. A few of them exchanged looks before lowering their unnecessary weapons.
She opened her mouth to speak, something in the way of a profuse and abject apology, but she was cut off by a piercing screech that forced everyone to cover their ears.
“Contain her,” Danato yelled over the ear-splitting sound. He pointed to the adjacent tank. Long black wet hair matted to the cheeks of a mermaid as she hoisted herself from her tank with the strength of her arms. The loathsome anger in her eyes, visible through her parted hair, was directed at Cori.
The mermaid landed with a smack on the floor below the tank. The impact did nothing to slow her down. Her wet body glided easily on the floor as the she clawed her way closer. Cori backed away, not wanting to
defend
herself again.
Two darts lodged in the mermaid’s neck. She seemed unaffected, but after a few more feet she slowed down. She lowered her torso to the ground, still emanating a muted version of her pitched shriek, even after her eyes closed.
The alarms stopped and the scene unraveled into awkward silence. Cori felt eyes on her. Danato stared her down, preparing his own attack. Two men gathered the mermaid, while the other four waited to hear her explanation. What stupidity had caused this scene of murder to occur?
In a moment of irrational thought, she considered making a run for it. She needed to escape, before Danato arrested her for murder. He was going to lock her up with the rest of these reject nightmares.
“Come with me!” Danato’s voice boomed. It always boomed. The man couldn’t ask her to pass the salt without taxing her eardrums. Today was no exception to that, but today his voice had the added effect of making her legs shake.
Danato moved away from her toward the west elevators where he had come from. She didn’t follow. Her legs had turned to jelly and the only thing keeping her breakfast down was the hard knot in her throat.
He turned back slowly and examined her immobile body. There wasn’t room for any more anger on his face, but something changed to make him that much scarier.
She ran.
She couldn’t understand it. Her legs only moments before were useless, but now she was running at full speed to the east elevators.
She hadn’t run from the merman that attacked her, she hadn’t run from the mermaid that was going to attack her, but she ran from him. She could face all the horrific monsters of this prison day in and day out, but she couldn’t face him.
She hit the elevator with wings to spare on her shoes. She looked back, but he wasn’t following. She considered hitting the button for the main floor, but the sluggish antiquated elevator wouldn’t beat anyone going down a flight of stairs, cane or otherwise, so she went up.
Cori didn’t have permission to go into the elemental section, but she could get access to the roof stairs without going into the area. The elevator doors opened to reveal a brick wall. Against the brick wall was a solid metal door that required a code to access.
She didn’t know much about the elementals, but she knew not to go through that door. She swung around the corner of the elevator and went into the stairwell to take the final flight to the roof.
When the door opened, she felt the stinging cold wind, but she didn’t care. She ran out onto the roof. The brick rim surrounding the edge reminded her again of a castle. However, the multitude of heating vents, air ducts, and fans lining the roof had the opposite effect. Several guards walked the perimeter of the roof. More than one noted her sudden appearance and ignored her. Cigarettes and rifles in hand, they continued to survey the grounds below.
She found two tall air returns and crouched down into a ball to protect herself from the cold. She was crying already, but even if she hadn’t the brisk wind would have forced her eyes to water. She tucked her head into her knees and sobbed for a moment.
She felt ashamed on too many levels to count. She even felt ashamed for how ashamed she felt. She could have asked for help with the ring. She could have run when the merman released her. She could have taken her punishment instead of running onto the roof to cower.
She could hear voices and footsteps coming toward her. She covered her ears. She didn’t want to hear his voice. She didn’t want another lecture.
She was always the one who failed. His impractical expectations made it impossible for her to be the person he seemed to think she was. It only reminded her of how much she didn’t belong here.
The footsteps scuffed to a stop beside her. The body looming over her blocked part of the arctic gale. She pinched her eyes shut and waited for the booming voice to crush her into a pathetic wailing child. As it was, she didn’t have far to go.
“Missy.” The voice wasn’t booming. It wasn’t Danato.
She looked up, blinking away the bright sun to identify her seeker. “Ethan?”
She had hardly seen him the last few months. Nearly every bit of his day was spent working out in the gym and every evening he worked late in the prison studying the many documents he had to learn before he could start his guard duties.
His shoulders seemed broader; his face and body had filled in. He was no longer a gaunt, starved boy. He was a young man with budding muscles and a great deal more poise than he had the first week here.
“Where is he?” She peeked around the corner of the air duct.
“Danato?" he asked, looking around himself.
“Yes.”
“Back in his office. He said you’d had a bad day and I should take you home.” He crossed his arms, rubbing the cold out of them.
She shook her head. “This is a trick to get me off the roof isn't it?”
Ethan moved between the air ducts and crouched down against the opposite duct. “Trick you? If he wanted you off this roof, he would come up and drag you off himself.”
“Why did he send you then?”
“He didn’t tell me anything more than to come get you. Why, what happened today?”
She cringed and shook her head.
He reached over and smacked the side of her leg. She noticed that he was making an effort to keep all of his contact with her, brief and unmistakably chummy. “Hey, talk, what is it?”
“I killed one of the inmates.” Her voice cracked and she buried her head in her knees to hide her tears.
“What? How did you… Why?”
She looked back at him. He looked confused but sympathetic. “I didn’t even… he lunged… I hit him. I didn’t know his skull was made of papier-fucking-mache!”
Ethan’s lips disappeared as he bit them back. He looked down as he tried to warm his hands between his legs. “If it was self-defense—” he started.
“I got my stupid ring out of the tank. I didn’t think anything was in there. He’ll yell at me for being stupid, arrogant, and foolhardy. I just can’t take it anymore.”
“He might just be mad that you didn’t trust him enough to come to him for help. All that anger is just his way of showing his concern for you.”
“Bullshit, he doesn’t care about me,” she grumbled.
“Yes, he does.” Ethan scoffed. “That’s why you’re not in some rich man’s harem right now. That’s why you have a bed, instead of a cot. That’s why he yells at you when you put yourself in harm’s way. What bothers you more? That he’s going to yell at you, or that you’ve disappointed him?”
“Oh, shut up with the psychology stuff.”
“Face it, Missy; our dysfunctional little trio has the makings of a distorted family psychosis. He’s the father figure we can never entirely be good enough for. You and I have the sibling rivalry that borders on abusive. And this…” He swirled his finger at her. “This is regression, if I ever saw it.”
“Seriously, how many shrinks have you seen?”
His mouth twisted in a resistant smile. “Too many. Look, I know he’s tough to take some days, but he must have sent me up here for a reason. Maybe he could see that you weren’t in any condition to deal with him. Or maybe he just didn’t want to come out onto this freezing cold roof. Crap!” He stood and jumped up and down, rubbing his arms and covering his reddened ears. “Let’s go, I’m taking you home.”
He put out his hand for her to take, but she just stared at him. He waved both hands for her to join. When she still didn’t stand, he knelt back down in front of her. “Hot cocoa with marshmallows.” He stuck out a finger on his shaking hand to count off his offers. “A blazing fireplace, a soft warm blanket.” He chuckled. “I will even rub your feet.” He looked her over, then thrust his five splayed fingers in her face. “I won’t let him yell at you.” She saw his chin thrust as he made the statement. “I promise.”
Whether he could keep that promise was moot, but judging by the resolution in his voice, he did intend to try. She raised her hand and he stood.
He gripped her hand firmly and pulled her up. He shook his head at her as he tucked his fingers under his arms. “Next time just hide in the stairwell. You know he hates stairs.” He walked on, and she followed behind him.
After warming by the fire for a while, Cori slipped into Danato’s favorite chair and sipped on the hot chocolate that Ethan had made for her. He stayed by the fireplace and watched the flames. His floppy blond locks glowed in the fire light.
“I recall an offering of a foot massage,” she mumbled into her cup.
He looked over at her as if he were surprised she was still there. “I was just saying that to get you off the roof.”
She pulled her socks off and thrust her feet at him, wiggling her toes.
He grimaced but slid over to lean against the chair. He took one foot under his arm. As an afterthought, she grabbed a fist full of his hair, making him grunt. “No tickling.”
“No tickling.” He conceded and began rubbing her feet. She released her grip, allowing the soft locks to fall from her fingers. She combed her fingers back through his hair to settle the ruts she had created. And then again just because she wanted to.