The Professor and the Siren

15. Mariana

Woo! Final batch of chapters is going up NOW. Hehehe... I hope you guys like the ending!

Much love,

Robin

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Mariana

It was starting to get dark outside and Orly hadn't come back yet. I was starting to wonder if something had gone wrong. A small part of me wondered if he'd just done a disappearing act after all but mostly there was this growing pit of worry in my stomach. Orly wouldn't have broken his word after saying he'd come back.

Something had delayed him.

I contemplated my phone for a moment, eyeing the innocent text I'd dared send him an hour ago. Asking if he'd let me know when and if he was still coming back over. There was no reply, no sign he'd even read the message. Then again, we'd only exchanged numbers that morning and hadn't checked if it worked. What if I'd made an error with his number?

Unable to sit still I paced across my tiny cabin in three steps, rubbing my hands against my jeans as I did so. Was I being irrational and stupid for feeling this growing dread? Should I just get over it and head over to the Undaunted to check?

From my porthole window I could only just make out the stern of the ship, they hadn't sailed off or anything. If Orly wasn't aboard the ship, would his dad Thomas be able to point me in the right direction?

The longer I paced the more convinced I got that something had gone wrong. It was crazy to be this head over heels for someone I'd just met a day ago but what I experienced with Orly was special. It was something amazing and I wasn't alone in that, he felt it every bit as strongly as I did. Orly hadn't forgotten about me. Something had to have happened or he'd be here by now.

Mind made up I got out my light jacket and headed for the exit. I'd check the Undaunted first, surely his father would know something, and if not he'd probably help me look.

Out on the deck I discovered Anita and Neil, much to my surprise. They were lounging on chairs, each with a beer in hand and looked up the moment I stepped on deck. "Hey girl, didn't know you were in or we'd have asked you to join us!" my friend said and she jiggled her bottle my way. "Want one?"

I shook my head, "No I'm looking for Orly, have you guys seen him?" Unable to hide my unease I looked around, craning my head to look at the Undaunted where only a few lights glowed from the portholes. Was he in there or somewhere else?

Anita smirked, "What, can't go another minute without loverboy? He that good in bed?" Despite my worry I felt my cheeks heat and Anita started laughing, "I'll take that as a yes." I shrugged, "He's amazing, blew my mind, rocked my world... Blah blah..." I told her, "But I really need to find him. He was supposed to be back by now, I think something happened..."

My friends eyes softened and I knew she was about to launch into some pity spiel about how he'd stood me up. Except I knew with absolute certainty that he hadn't. I purposely looked away from her, eyes landing on Neil by chance and I caught a guilty expression on his face. Why was he looking guilty?

Now he was shifting his eyes away from me, hunching his shoulders. "Neil? Did you see him?" I asked but my colleague just shook his head, "No sorry. Didn't see a thing."

I eyed Anita who was frowning at Neil as if she also thought he wasn't being truthful but I wasn't sure how to proceed from here. "Come on Neil, if you saw something tell me! I'm a big girl, I can handle it." If he had seen Orly do something shifty... No, no way.

He looked at me, then at Anita who had donned a fierce glare, always ready to jump to my defense. Then he sighed and shrugged, "Fine, but you didn't hear this from me! I want nothing to do with it."

My heart jumped into my throat, do with what? "What are you talking about?" Neil put down his beer bottle and started pacing across the deck. "I didn't actually see anything alright? But I was just coming back, when I heard Hybach and Ted talk in the parking lot over there." He pointed to the area most colleagues still present with a vehicle had parked.

"They were next to Hybachs van and didn't see me..." Neil continued. "Heard Hybach say that Ted better be right about your boyfriend or this was a waste of time..." He shrugged again, it clearly made no sense to him what he'd heard but at the same time he'd heard enough to feel like something was going on he wanted nothing to do with.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Anita demanded. But unlike them, I had all the facts and I knew what had happened, not that I could believe it. I'd caught Ted's strangely intent look as I'd talked about going crazy when I saw Orly that first time. Then I'd just gone off with Orly and Ted must have put two and two together somehow.

Not that I could understand that entirely, it meant Ted had believed in merfolk to begin with and what did Hybach have to do with anything?

"Shit, they took him..." I murmured, unable to think of any other conclusion. The fact that Neil had seen them next to Hybach's van. Where would they have taken him? How was I going to rescue him?

I was barely aware of thanking Neil for talking before I was rushing down the gangplank toward the Undaunted. Only one person here could at least offer help, Thomas would know where to start.