but they will.”
“Nope. Not a chance. I’m under strict orders to make sure you stay alive. I’m still your bodyguard, only now I’m guarding your body for Olivia. In fact, I’ll be right here to supervise the sci-boys and move you out of here when they’re finished with you.”
“Move me where?”
“Wherever she wants me to.”
“What if she orders you to kill me?”
He paused, considering, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” The look on his face told me everything I needed to know.
I closed my eyes again, “Leave me alone.”
I heard the chair scrape and footsteps walk away. I was on my own. I knew how ruthlessly efficient Paul could be. I doubted he’d make any mistakes that I could exploit to get away, and he couldn’t be turned. He was to Olivia as Boris was to Evie; he had somehow imprinted on her, and belonged to her, body and soul.
I belonged to Ethan, and when I looked down to see my engagement ring, still sparkling on my finger, I wanted to cry. I twisted it around on my hand, protectively clenching the stones in my fist, a talisman against the darkness and despair that was closing in on me.
I heard footsteps, and looked up to see Doctor Neuman advancing on me with a syringe full of something, and I panicked, rattling the chair with my struggles. Paul looked up from where he was lounging on a chair with a magazine, rising to come and observe.
Once again, the doctor spoke to me as if there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary going on, “I’m a great admirer of your father’s work. He really is a brilliant scientist.”
“Then how can you do this to me?” I spat out, “He’d be disgusted if he knew what was going on here!”
He looked at me calmly, “Science is everything.”
“No it’s not,” I cried. “Science is only science. What you’re doing is wrong!”
He looked at me like I was being horribly naive, reaching for my arm with the needle in his hand.
“You don’t have to do this,” I begged, cringing as I felt the sting of the needle.
“Of course I do,” he replied, “I’m going to need you to keep perfectly still in order to get the optimum scan.”
“Goodnight, Marina,” Paul called out in the most ironic tone possible, just before I plummeted through the depths of despair into a numbing sleep.
~
Chapter Twenty-One
CAPTIVITY
~
Muffled voices murmured nonsense as my mind clawed its way through a black tunnel, fighting back to consciousness. Confusing stamping sounds surrounded me, and I struggled to open my eyes, grasping to remember where I was. The awful memory returned before my ability to move did, and the whirring of machinery told me that I was inside the cylinder of an MRI scanner.
As my head cleared, the terrifying reality of my grim situation started to sink in. I was completely on my own, and no one was going to come looking for me. I would probably end up like the poor mermaid in cold storage, once they finished poking and prodding at me enough to satisfy their curiosity. Pangs of fresh sorrow and agony tightened my chest when I realized that I’d never see Ethan again.
My head started to ache ferociously, and I wondered if the machine was causing it. It wasn’t.
~
Nixie was swimming close to the surface, and I could see shafts of late afternoon light reaching down into the blue-green water. She was agitated, swimming back and forth fearfully. She circled around the boat, listening to the sounds of Nerissa crying out in pain and fear. With each turn around the vessel she drew closer and closer, until she was dangerously near the research vessel…
~
“Noooo!” I screamed, “DON’T DO IT!” The voices outside the machine grew louder and more excited, picking up in tempo.
“Get her out of there right now!” I heard Paul commanding. “It’s doing something to her!”
The mechanical sounds stopped, replaced by the scrape of metal rails sliding. I could feel the gurney I was strapped onto moving, and the rush of cool air on my face as I was extracted from the device.
My head ached, and my eyelids fluttered, struggling to open. I could see the outline of both scientists standing alongside Paul, looking down on me with frightened faces. I closed my eyes with a groan, waking up from one nightmare only to be plunged right back into another.
I knew enough about my visions to realize that Nixie was in trouble, and I hoped