After my lunch had settled and the others thought that I was sufficiently calm, we all got down to work. The first order of business was to discuss our escape plans. Unfortunately, Maddie had gotten a good look at the security in place when she arrived and she was worried that trying to get us out while we were still in our current location would be a problem.

To do that the rescue team would have to enter the grounds, then Pierce’s house, followed by making their way down here into the bunker. The pool room itself wasn’t monitored but every step between it and our freedom was, by both electronic means and people. You would almost think that he was up to something fishy down here. The team could likely deal with the electronic security measures easily enough but there would also be a ton of guards to deal with.

If they had to do it that way, we were most likely looking at an extended firefight on both the way in and out. From what she had learned, and what Kara had mentioned, it sounded like Pierce also had someone high in the chain of command for the police department and several officers in his pocket as well, so we could probably count on police involvement on our way out. It could be done but it would be messy, and it was practically guaranteed that there would be casualties on both sides.

Maddie was fairly certain that there would be high security at the marine park as well so we would face similar issues there at night. Pierce would not want to risk losing his investment and his one-of-a-kind mermaid exhibit, so that place was going to be guarded like Fort Knox when business hours were over. It would be near impossible to free us during the day with crowds of people constantly watching us.

As Maddie had guessed before, the best time to free us was likely going to be when we were being transported from Pierce’s home to the marine park. Depending on how Pierce decided to transport us, they could either strike on the road between Miami and Orlando, or on the way to the airport. Maddie was hoping that by making themselves instrumental to our care and training, she and Nat would be kept apprised of the transport date and hopefully be with us. My sister would keep our parents apprised and they would make several plans on when and where to strike based on the information that we could gather from the inside.

Until then we would have to keep up the act, and it would have to look like Maddie was actually training us in case Pierce sent someone or came in person to check on our progress. We had no doubts that that was going to happen sooner or later since he wanted weekly status reports from our new trainer. With that in mind, Natalie loaded up various videos of acts involving dolphins and other forms of marine life on her tablet and we watched as Kieshala tried to figure out what we might be able to do or adapt in some way to impress Pierce when he eventually checked in.

It wasn’t easy since Kieshala’s English was still very limited and Jenny, Kara, and I ended up having to act as translators between the pair of humans and our fellow Naethari. Kieshala was able to find or improvise a lot of showy tricks that we would all be capable of with a bit of training from her, we would just need to work on learning to do them and work on the timing. It would also have to look like ‘Erica’ was calling the shots, so we were going to have to come up with various prompts for Maddie to use to let us know which trick she wanted us to do.

The planning lasted until dinnertime with Nat going out to get dinner while Maddie and the rest of us tried to come up with things that would be entertaining for others to satisfy Pierce while being somewhat fun and not impossible for us. My sister tried to defer to Kieshala’s knowledge and experience as a Naethari as much as possible in terms of what we might be able to pull off. The elder Naethari had been warming up to Natalie over the past few days and seemed to be accepting Maddie fairly quickly.

When Nat returned with our regular dinner and a pair of medium pizzas, work was put aside so we could all eat together. One of the pizzas was Maddie’s favorite, Hawaiian with olives, while the other was a meat supreme since Kara and the others seemed to enjoy it last time. Unlike when we had pizza a few days ago after my torture session, this time I was able to enjoy it, and we Naethari quickly polished off our shares before going back to our regular seafood, kelp, and fruit.

I was still not in the best mental state, and I knew it, but I did my best to try to shove and dark thoughts or memories of my torture aside and just enjoy this time with the people that I cared about. I was nervous about what had happened with Hart earlier though too and worried that she might retaliate in some way, she was not the type to take this lying down. Realistically though, there wasn’t much that I could do about it except to remain on guard.

I was understandably distracted as we ate our seafood and I was munching on some shrimp when Kieshala interrupted another round of grim thoughts. ~ She is your sister? ~

I once again shoved my dark thoughts aside and followed her gaze toward Maddie. ~Not biologically, but she is in every way that matters. We grew up together and we’ve always tried to be there for one another, ~ I replied as I gazed at my sister. She looked so different with that makeup and long blue hair.

~ I like her, ~ Kieshala said with a nod and a faint smile. ~ She and Natalie treat us as people but they acknowledge our differences. Some humans are not so bad, perhaps she and the others you mentioned will be able to help us after all. ~

~ They’ll do everything they can, or die trying, ~ I promised.

For the next month, it seemed like we were working non-stop between training our aetral and learning the various performance tricks that Maddie and Kieshala had decided on. Kara, Jenny, and I had gotten used to our new bodies enough that we could swim as well as Kieshala now and the constant training had really helped our endurance. Some of the things that we were trying to perfect for our ‘performances’ were challenging but we were managing to get better each day and even having fun doing it.

Pierce had checked in on our progress weekly with a platoon of guards and seemed satisfied with how we were coming along. I wouldn’t say that he was happy with it, but then he wouldn’t be happy with us until there was more money lining his pockets. He was still terrified of us too, especially Kieshala. We could smell it every time that he came to the pool.

We mostly tried to ignore Pierce when he came and just focused on Maddie’s signals and what we were supposed to be doing, otherwise one of us, probably Kieshala, would have tried to kill him regardless of the guards around him. He had made no secret that he loathed us and that he thought we were just dumb animals who had better turn a profit if we wanted to live. I didn’t know how Maddie and Nat could keep the act up, there had been a few times where I thought my sister might just kill him then and there.

I was still getting the occasional flashbacks and nightmares about my special time in the lab with Hart. I was also worried about retaliation of some sort from her but so far, things had been quiet on that front. I wasn’t sure how strong the geas that I had placed on her with my Soulsinger ability was but I had a feeling that it was both permanent and powerful. If she couldn’t communicate with others, then any plan for revenge that she did come up with would be mostly dependent on herself.

Speaking of my Soulsinger ability, Kara, Jenny, and I were all gradually improving with our aetral as well. Jenny was getting plenty of practice healing, what with all of the minor injuries that we were getting as we worked to perfect the tricks we were learning. Even Kieshala had ended up with strained muscles or other minor injuries once in a while. Kara was able to consciously summon her aura sight as well, though it still strained her using it for long periods. She was able to hold it a little longer each day though and was working on projecting her own emotions in addition to sensing those of others while her aura sight was active.

As for me, I was working hard on training both of my aetral. Now that I had used it, my Soulsinger ability seemed to be the most natural to use though. It was easy to do things by accident if I happened to get lost in the music and magic. As a result, what I needed to work on the most for that was my self-discipline. The geas I had placed on Hart had happened because I got lost in not only the music and my magic but in my anger and desire for vengeance as well. I needed to make sure that kind of thing didn’t happen again and remain in control of my thoughts and power.

Training my shapeshifting ability was going better, probably because I was training with it instead of going back to sleep whenever I had nightmares, which was often. I had really improved at both partial shifts and full-body shifts but I was having issues with strong emotions sometimes affecting that gift as well. When I kept myself calm and had a clear picture in my head of what I wanted to do though, I had very good control over it. Just after the four-week mark of our captivity, I was able to put my shapeshifting to the test.

Kara had made the mistake of telling Maddie about my first change while I was half-asleep into ‘little Naiya’ and, of course, my sister and Nat had wanted to see it. I only slightly strained myself by doing such an extreme shift and much to everyone’s surprise, I had been able to hold it for nearly an hour and a half. Maddie and Natalie gushed over me nearly the entire time and, after putting her spare t-shirt on me to protect my modesty, my sister took a bunch of photos with her phone to send to our parents.

Kieshala seemed impressed that I was able to hold such a shift for that long only a month after becoming a Naethari. She thought that I was becoming a natural with my magical abilities now that they had shown themselves and Maddie figured that they would be useful if for some reason we had to go to Plan B for our escape. Kieshala did feel that I needed to work on controlling my emotional states though with how they could affect both of my abilities.

Kieshala was doing well too. With Maddie and Natalie speaking English so much around her, Kieshala’s was quickly improving. She was even starting to contribute to conversations as she gained confidence in using the language. She had the rest of us Naethari working hard on learning Porpoise too and we were getting to the point where we could understand almost everything she said and respond in kind.

Overall, things were going well for us, if you didn’t count still being captives and having to deal with Pierce on a weekly basis. Kara, Jenny, and I were comfortable and happy with our new selves, Maddie and my parents had gathered volunteers and were finalizing our escape plans, we were doing well with our magic training, and Kara and I had passed out of crush territory and into full-on love for one another. Then, three weeks before we were due to be sent to the marine park in Orlando, the unexpected happened.

Camille Hart was furious. While that wasn’t exactly something new for her, this was a boiling fury that had been simmering for nearly a month, an anger that she couldn’t give voice to. She couldn’t give voice to anything, and it was all the fault of that freak. Jonathon Chan, the name alone made her want to kill someone, especially the boy-girl freak itself. Dr. Natalie Emerson was the second name on her shit list and the name infuriated her nearly as much as Chan’s did.

Teaching Chan a lesson for disrespecting his betters had been the most fun that she had had in ages. The freak was under her control, he feared her, and she had loved every moment of it. She had been looking forward to further sessions with her new toy but then that Emerson bitch somehow convinced Edward to ensure that wouldn’t happen. He had been furious at her and Dr. Harris for ‘risking the success of his business venture’ and had forbidden her from physically tormenting the freak any further.

Emerson actually cared about those creatures but Edward was willing to see past that and listen to her because she was able to control them. He might be able to look past her disrespect for the promise of profits but Camille had been furious with her interference. Then she got the opportunity for a little payback when Edward was busy with meetings and needed someone to escort the mermaids’ new trainer to the pool.

That had been an unmitigated disaster. At first, it was going well. Emerson had stared in horror at her new jewelry and Chan was terrified of her. Then that bitch Emerson started yelling at her and treating her like something she had found on the underside of her shoe, the mermaids looked ready to attack her, and then during her shouting match with Emerson, she heard that song.

Harris had told her that Chan and the other mermaids couldn’t possibly remember their past lives but then that freak started humming a familiar song that she just couldn’t put her finger on. It was hypnotic, and she couldn’t look away from the pink-scaled creature. Not until she felt that strange sensation and heard that musical voice speaking to her in cold fury. It was Chan, she knew it was, and the freak had dared to claim a price for wearing his scales. That price was Camille’s voice.

At first, she had just stared in disbelief. She wanted to shout, to point out to the guards with her that the beast had spoken but nothing had come out. The freak had cursed her and she would make both him and Emerson pay, even if it was the last thing that she ever did. She might not be able to speak but she would find a way to tell Edward that the creatures were smarter than they were letting on, that Chan had cursed her.

Since that day, she had tried everything. First, she had tried to use her phone to text Edward. She could still read and recognize letters so she felt that surely she must be able to write as well. As soon as she tried to form those letters into words, it was like they all looked the same and she couldn’t think of what to say or how to form the words. She had tried for hours before throwing her phone against the wall in frustration.

She had the same trouble with writing and every other attempt that she had made to communicate with others. She had even tried learning and using sign language or Morse code but the results were the same no matter what she tried, things that she recognized while on the receiving end were impossible for her to replicate. If she tried to use them herself, her mind would just draw a blank before she could. Even answering simple yes or no questions seemed to be beyond her now. She would hear the question but as soon as she thought to answer it with a nod or shake of her head, she just ended up staring at the person in confusion.

The doctors couldn’t explain her loss of speech except to say that she had suffered some sort of trauma. Edward thought that the incident with Emerson and the mermaids had made her snap though he didn’t truly care one way or another, in fact, he made it clear that he preferred her this way. He felt that his woman should be seen and not heard. She was pretty and good in bed and that was all that concerned him. If she couldn’t talk back or nag him, it was all the better in his line of thinking.

And so she hid in her room, avoiding people who could speak while she couldn’t and alternating between crying jags and unbridled fury. She only ventured out when Edward wanted her in his bed. It was disgusting, but such was the price of luxury. Besides, she would need to stay with Edward if she ever wanted to get her revenge on Chan and Emerson.

In her thoughts, she planned out various ways to make Emerson and Chan suffer for what they had done. She killed them a thousand times in her mind, pulled out every last scale on that freak’s body, and took everything from them that they held dear. It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t real. She would make it real, no matter what she had to do. With that thought in her mind, Camille began to plan.