-Oliver-

I would have thought that they'd put me in a similar cell like the one Ocar had been in when I'd been brought to him, but evidently there was something going on and they needed me to stay put while they went to deal with it. Connor was already gone, and after fastening my wrist to a random door handle with a new pair of handcuffs, Mark also vanished. Slipping down the wall beside the door, I took a few calming breaths and then lifted my gaze to skim around the hall. It was pretty big and there were also a few computers near some of the doors.

If only there was a computer near me.

It was a long shot even if there was, because they were likely passworded. Not that I couldn't crack a code, but it would take a while. I thumped my head back against the wall, wincing when the bump I'd gotten from Marilyn's gentle handling stung.

"Oliver!"

My head jerked up, eyes widening as they stared in shock at Ocar.

"How in the hell...?"

My words trailed off as he got closer, stopping in front of me a moment later before going straight for the cuff around my right wrist. I couldn't stop staring up at him, utterly confused. When I felt the handcuff fall away from my wrist and clatter to the floor, he finally looked into my eyes and actually smiled.

"They must not have other whale mers... their doors in the new place they put me were much weaker than I thought they would be."

He seemed so sure of himself, but beneath his awkward smile was definitely a jittery need to get out of this disturbing place. The ocean. He needs to go back to his home. I thought as I let him help me up. I knew he wouldn't let me just hop around, so I kept my mouth shut when he picked me up into his arms and instead wrapped my own around his neck so that I could hold on. He hesitated once I was settled, turning several times before going farther down the hall and pausing.

He's lost.

We both were, but I knew he would just begin to worry worse if he thought I was having just as much trouble. I was the human, after all, I should know how to get out of human dwellings.

Yeah, well. This place looks like a damn maze.

Instead of saying that, though, I swallowed my unease and looked around until I found a glowing EXIT sign. "There," I said, pointing at the sign so that he would turn and look. "Follow those signs. They should lead us outside."

He nodded and quickly followed the sign out into another corridor. The place really did seem like a maze as we stepped through another doorway a minute later. Every single place looked like the last, minus a few cosmetic changes involving machinery or door sizes. Ocar carried me through two more before we came across a giant, circular room that was evidently two stories, with us being on the second floor. The lower area was sealed-off with glass but as Ocar walked closer and we looked down, I couldn't believe what, or who, I saw.

"Oh my god. They're here!" I whispered in a rush of relief, watching as Parker pulled a gun on Hice. The others were getting up off the floor or already standing. All except Marilyn that is. One demon down.

My gaze roamed over the second floor across from us. The door we had come from was right next to a cement wall, so it was pretty obvious that the second floor didn't loop all the way around like one normally would. In fact, there was another impassable wall about halfway around from what I could see, along with a staircase next to it that likely led down. As I thought, Ocar began to move, heading for the stairs. By the time we got there, I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen... but not too sure what should happen.

"Ocar?"

He stopped at the bottom of the steps and turned his attention to me.

"Do you think we should let them kill Hice?"

His response was immediate, and a little upsetting.

"Yes. He is on their side, just like Eight is."

I didn't bother to correct him on Kipper's name as he pushed his way through another door and out onto the first floor. All eyes were instantly on us, but when the clicking sound of a gun sounded twice, everyone's attention was jerked over to the only other entry doors.

Of course.

Mark and Connor stood in front of the closing set of doors, pistols in their hands, raised and pointed at the group. They were specifically trained on Parker since he was the only one with a gun.

"Drop it," Connor said. I honestly thought he might do it, but to my surprise, he handed it over to Callem's kid when he walked over with his hands up in a gimme gesture.

He did not just give a one-year-old a gun!

I wanted to run over there and snatch the deadly weapon away from Kipper before he hurt himself, but when he lifted it and squinted slightly, then pulled the trigger, I about had a heart attack. Connor went down. His gun clattering to the floor, going off from the impact but only embedding a bullet in the wall off to the side instead of hitting anyone.

Silence followed the gunshot. From Ocar and I, it was mainly because of shock, but judging from the others' reactions, they already knew what was going to happen. At least that meant that Kipper was on our side... I think? Either way, Parker snatched the gun back the second Mark ducked behind the heavy steel door and aimed, waiting for the guy to appear again. That, of course, left Hice without a weapon trained on him, but Mellac and Callem were both closing in on him. Ocar began walking again as well, moving straight toward the shark.

"Don't kill him."

They paused, glaring at me for a split second before turning their attention back to Hice. "There is no reason to keep him alive. There are no other shark mers, and he is only going to attack us if we let him live."

What they were saying was true, but I couldn't just let them kill something so important. Hice might not ever be friendly, and if he ended up being intent on hurting people, he could just be housed at the new holding facility at our lab. I was just about to tell them that when Hice actually spoke up, his back straightening as frustrated words hissed from his mouth.

"There is another shark."

Silence immediately fell for a second time.

There's another? So there's nine? But is it even a female?

A gunshot snapped me out of my thoughts, but when I looked over toward Parker, he was still standing, the gun in his hand pointed toward where Mark had been. Well, was. The man lay on the floor, a small pool of blood forming from somewhere in the middle of his belly.

Damn good aim.

Since Mark obviously wasn't going to be bothering us any longer, everyone's attention returned to Hice. His eyes moved to Parker, holding his gaze without worry as my friend finally spoke.

"Where is it?"

I expected Hice to scoff and flip him off, if he even knew that gesture, but he actually seemed to be thinking the question over. When he looked back up at Parker, it was only for a brief moment before he turned and eyed me.

"He's sick."

They didn't mention anything about a sick ninth mer... and neither had Ocar.

I looked back at him and got a frown in response. Obviously he didn't know about it, just that it was there.

Returning my attention to Hice, I heaved a frustrated sigh and shook my head. "I'm going to be of no use in helping him get free and I doubt Ocar will leave me alone."

Ocar growled not a moment after I finished my sentence, answering without words. Figured. "Anyways, Park, I think you and Mellac should go with Hice and see about that other mer. For some reason, this place doesn't have very high security, which might be because they are so secretive. Either way..." I narrowed my eyes on Hice. "I am an aquatic doctor and will gladly help the other mer if you cooperate and help get him out. I'm sure you already know that the people here aren't particularly concerned about your best interest."

He slowly nodded before speaking. "The director knows what is going on. This whole facility will flood when we start heading toward an exit, so I suggest we refrain from doing so right now. If you humans would like to live."

At first, I agreed with him, but then I realized that we had plenty of mers with us to share air. Of course Ocar needed to breathe since he didn't have gills, but he could still hold his breath far longer than I.

"We've heard of him but haven't met. Hopefully we never will. I think we'll be okay even if we head for the exit, but I suppose we should stay together until we're ready to leave."

He gave me another nod, then headed for the doors where Mark's body had fallen, leaving one of them slightly ajar. We followed him only a few short yards to another door farther down the hall. Hice typed in a code on the keypad without pause. When the door slid open, my heart lurched in my chest.

"Holding cells," I whispered, not even sure my words were loud enough to be audible.

Hice was already stalking toward the two occupied cells. He typed in a code for the first one that had two females, then nearly ran to the others'. Inside was a male that was definitely not in good condition. He was hunched in the back corner of the cage with his hands tied with thick twine rope. No food or water was present in either cell and it was very obvious that all three mer were suffering.

No wonder they only labeled eight but had known of nine. They obviously didn't care if the male one lived or not.

Mellac grabbed the females, ignoring their struggles. Hice was far gentler with the male shark mer. It was pretty surprising, actually. With him being such an aggressive killer, it was truly awkward seeing him gently scoop the wounded male into his arms as if it were a small child. I wasn't going to question him, though, because quite frankly, he was now the least of our worries.

"Alright, let's get the hell out of here. Mellac, Callem." I paused, looking at Ocar as he turned his attention to me. "Ocar. If this place starts filling with water, we're going to need you guys to help us breathe."

Ocar nodded, his expression serious as he turned and headed back out the door. It was no surprise when water began to trickle down from the sprinkler system above our heads. Everyone sped up, but pretty soon the devices were on full-blast, raining torrents on us with far more pressure than normal fire sprinklers should have. I had to admit, it was a good plan on the director's part since the halls were obviously built with flooding in mind, but he hadn't planned on us having mers that could help breathe for us.

When the water got too high, that's exactly what happened with Callem and Parker, and Jayson and Mellac. The other mers had gills so they didn't need any help, leaving Hice without the added hindrance of needing to breathe for the one he was carrying or us having to worry about the females. I waited until the water was completely up before accepting help from Ocar, knowing that he could only take one deep breath and had to make it last.

We went down the long, circular corridor, the mers pulling us along with ease. I took the time to observe where we were going and also the sickly male mer. He barely showed signs of life, but his legs had transformed and gills were present and flaring along his neck, taking in water to acquire oxygen.

When we finally got to an exit, Hice got busy pulling out bolts holding the door in place. There was a tiny window near the top of it, allowing me to see that water was indeed slipping out from beneath the door to pool on the other side, but it looked like nothing more than a small spill. People won't question it. It was a disturbing thought, but all too clear an advantage to Cal-Waves. Any visitors would hardly even notice it, let alone question it, especially because the glass was tinted.

The size of the puddle suddenly grew as the door in front of us jerked once, then twice. Hice darted back and then rushed it, slamming the metal enough to force it to fall. The pressure of water built up on it probably helped, too, but I honestly could care less what really did it because we were finally back on solid ground, even if water was shoving us along the slick tile floor to the middle of the room. We all gulped in a fresh breath of air and stumbled to our feet when given the chance. I knew we weren't out of the woods, or the facility yet, but as Ocar finally got back on his feet with me, I'm sure he was as surprised as I was to see that there were no guards or even a single normal person present in the large lobby.

No one else seemed to complain about the lack of people, though. They were all carefully running over the slippery floor toward the door, only stopping when they realized there were nearly twenty patrol cars just beyond the glass doors with their lights flashing wildly.