I spin helplessly in the water as Delmara yells crazy bullshit about my father. Then I feel a pressure change, and see a magenta blur in the corner of my eye. “Erie, no!”
Delmara screams and tries to lift the shocker to block the mermaid coming at her, but Erie’s already out of the water and slams her into the wall. They tumble sideways, roll down several steps, and slip through the railing, falling the rest of the way to the cement floor with a sickening thud.
“Aunt D!” Sergio yells.
“Erie!” I scream and pull myself from the tank. Erie rolls off Delmara, water seeping through her gills to mix with the growing puddle of blood on the ground.
I run down the stairs as Sergio presses one hand to the back of his aunt’s head and the other to her neck. “She’s still alive. Call an ambulance.”
“Call your own ambulance—she tried to kill me.” I’m more concerned about Erie right now. I kneel next to her and touch her face. She cracks her eyes open, but she can’t speak because she’s holding her breath.
“It’s okay, sweetness. I’ve got you.” I shove one arm under her shoulders and the other under her tail, and grunt as I try to stand. Holy fuck, is she heavy. There’s no way I can climb the stairs with her.
“Hold on to me,” I say. She digs her claws into my shoulders, which doesn’t help, but does let me use one arm to grab on to the railing of the stairs and leverage her up. Her tail drags across the floor as I stumble toward the transport tank and dump her in. She claws my shoulders as she gasps water.
“Erie.” I wrap my hands around her wrists. “You need to let go.”
She releases me as if I’ve shocked her, and I turn to survey the scene. Sergio’s on the walkie-talkie, calling for an ambulance. Maddy floats face down in the tank. Niku stares at us from the other tank, and I think he’s finally smiling. Not for long—I don’t have time to get him out now. Not with an ambulance on the way for Delmara—they’ll euthanize Erie for sure.
“Serge, call Munchkin down. I need help with the tank.”
“My aunt is fucking dying!”
“It’s her own goddamn fault! Get Heather on the radio—now!”
He hunches his shoulders and grabs the radio again. I reach into the tank and run my hand over Erie’s hair. “I’ll be right back, okay, sweetness? I have to open the door so we can get you out of here.”
She grabs my wrist and winces. “Don’t leave me.”
“Only for a second, love—I need help to move the tank. I promise I’ll be right back. You believe me, don’t you?”
Her wide eyes bore into mine for a moment before she nods. I brush my thumb over her cheek before I head to the “restricted area” door to let Heather in.
“Finn.” The surprise in her voice is clear when she sees me. “You’re soaking wet.”
“I need you to help with the transport—and don’t freak out at what you see.”
Heather shoots me a suspicious glare that falls right off her face as she walks into the room. “Oh my god.” She puts a hand over her mouth as her eyes widen. “What happened?”
She’s about to freak out, so I grab her arms to make her focus on me. “Maddy tried to kill Erie, and Delmara tried to kill me, so Erie attacked both of them. It was self-defense, okay?”
She peers out of the corner of her eye at Sergio, who has his hand pressed to the back of Aunt D’s head. “The ambulance is on the way,” he says.
Heather leans back and gapes at Erie with wide eyes. “Is it safe to go near her?”
I drag her to the transport tank. “Munchkin, this is Erie. Erie, this is my sister, Heather.”
Erie glances between us. “You never told me you had a sister.”
“I thought it would upset you.” I turn my back on her to show Heather how to power the transport. I steer; I have more experience trying to maneuver this thing around corners.
“Finn,” Erie says as we get into the hallway. “What about Niku? He’s supposed to come to China, too.”
“You aren’t going to China, remember? You’re going home.”
She grabs my hand, winces, then pulls away and waves it through the water. “But—is Niku going to China?”
We don’t have time for this right now. “Niku’s going home, too. I’ll come back for him. Right now, I have to get you out of here before the cops show up.”
“He’s not coming with us?” A note of panic tinges her voice, but I can’t console her right now. I’m trying to steer the transport around a corner.
“Erie, listen to me—they won’t hurt Niku. I’ll come back in two days and release him, but he has to stay here for now.”
“No!” She thrashes in the tank, spilling water everywhere. “We have to go back. We have to save Neek. Niku!”
She starts yelling Mer words, and it breaks my heart. It’s just like the first time we separated them, but we can’t go back. By the time we reach the outside door, she’s reduced to sobbing loudly, foam streaming from her eyes. I repeat over and over to myself that she’ll be okay soon. We’ll have them both home soon.
I open the door and nearly run into Jen and Hilley.
“What the hell is going on?” she says. “EMTs just rushed through the front door.”
“No time to explain. Tell Shaun to start the boat.” When she doesn’t move right away, I yell. “Now!”
Jen runs to the boat, her backpack bumping against her side. We follow with the tank, faster now that we don’t have corners and doorways to contend with.
“So,” Hilley says as he follows us. “You want to tell your lawyer what the rush and emergency vehicles are for?”
I look him straight in the eye. “It was self-defense. I’ll explain in two days.”
We reach the dock, and I power on the crane. Luckily, the net’s already draped over the bottom of the transport, so I don’t have to try to get it under Erie. “Sorry, sweetness.” I grab one edge, pulling it out of the water to hook up to the crane. “Heather, get the other side.”
The blood drains from her face. “You mean, stick my hand in there with your murderous mermaid?”
“Just do it!”
Erie grabs at me as Heather sticks her hand in the water up to her shoulder. “Not the net, Finn. Please.”
“We don’t have time to get anything else.” I bought a dolphin transport stretcher, but it’s on the boat. Heather hands me the other side of the net to hook up, and once it’s on, I kneel next to Erie.
“Hold your breath, love. Jen’s up there waiting for you. I’ll be there in a moment.” I give her cheek a quick caress, then run to the controls. “Heather, make sure the net pulls up smooth,” I yell as I hit the button to start the crane.
The extra netting slides from the tank, then goes taut. Erie whimpers before it pulls her from the water, raining drops as she moves higher and higher. Once she’s high enough, Jen sticks her head over the side of the boat. “You’re good!”
I move the net sideways—probably a little faster than I should—until she holds up her hand. Erie swings back and forth over the tank until Jen runs up the platform and grabs the net, almost falling into the tank as it swings back the other way. I hit the button to lower it, and once Erie’s in the water, I release the rest of the net with a splash.
“Gotta go, Munchkin. Good luck.”
“Be safe, Finn!” she yells as I run up the ramp to the boat.
I wave to her and yell at Shaun. “Go! Now!” We pull away from the dock as police run out of the employee entrance. They swarm Heather, pointing at the boat and yelling for us to stop. Fuck that—I’m not stopping until Erie’s safe.