Something in the Water

Chapter 1: The Arrival

'Slowly…. Slowly….' A scuba diver was very slowly approaching an ornery dolphin that had somehow stolen some marine equipment from her shelf. She finally had him cornered and was about to wrestle with him to get it back. That was until there were little thumps against the glass paneling. 

"THUMP THUMP THUMP!!!" 

She turned her head for a second, but that was enough time for the darn thing to escape. She sighed tiredly as rough air bubbles puffed from her mask. She then ascended to the top to see who distracted her.

She saw two little girls. About the ages of ten years old. One girl with a blue bow in her puffy brown curly hair looked sheepish while the other girl, who had honey brown straight hair, had a mischievous look on her face but eagerly smiled and waved to her energetically.

She took her scuba gear off. A long bright ruby red haired woman with pale white skin and emerald green eyes looked to her two adopted daughters.

"Hello Harriet and Beau. I thought I told you not to disturb me while I'm working." She said with a tired smile and a scolding stare.

"Oops, sorry but we just saw you and wanted to say hello." Harriet let out a small smile while Beau let out a small giggle. "Well it's nice seeing you two but I am exhausted after trying to get back the equipment from that dolphin." She let out a sigh while looking back into the water hoping that she would see that dolphin again.

"Well I guess since we're here now do you want to join us?" Beau asked.

"I would, but some coworkers of mine said that they caught another Mer earlier this morning. For some reason they want my input on it." Lydia said tiredly, still glaring daggers at the water. The kids then looked elated.

"Oh, can we come with you?" Both of them plead with the puppy eye treatment.

Lydia tried hard to resist…. And she failed.

"Okay, but if it proves to be too violent, then you're leaving. Okay?" 

Both kids nod in agreement while hopping around excitedly.

Lydia shook her head and smiled tiredly while rolling her eyes at them. "C'mon my little sea urchins."

Both kids followed their mother to the place where the new Mer was kept.

As they walked out of the dolphin area, they walked back to the main area and asked the front desk if the doctors were ready to see her. 

"Yeah but be careful! This new Mer is a bit…. aggressive. It already took out some of our field investigators. In a rather… gruesome way…" the clerk lady shuddered at the thought.

Lydia was then debating on bringing her kids. But she saw the desperate looks in their eyes. She knew that they loved the Mers. Heck, Harriet had already made friends with a blonde haired lionfish mermaid who looked to be her and Beau's age. They're currently making good progress with a dolphin Mer and trying very hard to make friends with the Mako Shark Mer.

She grabbed her kids hands and carefully led them in the back area behind the Mer section of the building.

A quick introduction should be in order. A few years back, mankind had discovered a whole new species of aquatic creatures. The Mers. They showed that they had intelligence but they also showed primal instincts and aggressiveness towards mankind. Which, if you think about it, makes sense considering all the crud that's dumped in the ocean and how much of their food is being taken away. Regardless, in order to learn more about them, they, upon discovery, are to be captured and taken to the nearest Aquatic facility that tailors to Mers. Which, leads up to now. Lydia is one of the workers that attends to the Mers' needs and also helps the other aquatic animals that look either sick or injured. She's what you call a jack of all trades person that works there.