Riptide

Blue just sank down to the bottom of her tank, level with the floor of the adjacent room. All she did was stare at them, nothing to attract note or attention, but she was sure it wouldn’t last long. She was most likely the first merperson to get captured in the history of the sea. Not the first to be seen, clearly, as shown by thousands of myths and paintings, but she was the first to be stupid enough to get caught. Idiot, she cursed to herself. This is what I get for trying not to be practical. After about a minute or so of Blue remaining motionless in the tank, one of the men—the princely one with the journal—glanced up at the tank. Behind his glasses, his eyes widened at her. He tapped the tan boy with the laptop in rapid hits, one hand grabbing at his hair. “Parrish,” he said, “Lynch! She’s awake!”This was not good, this was so far from good.