Chapter 121

"Will we need to find and capture a living mermaid to prove the findings?" Ryan asked Katya.

"Not necessarily," Katya replied. "If there is enough evidence we can present the findings. However, if we did have a specimen, then there would be no doubt that mermaids exist,"

"I can't afford for this to fall through," Ryan said with a frown. "I have noted a route that the mermaids regularly take – if we set a trap there, we could get the specimen needed,"

"Okay. It would need to be a safe trap – so that there is no damage or risk to the mermaid caught. Since we believe they are intelligent, we will need to be very careful about their health and wellbeing," Katya rationalised. "The RAD - Rotary Actuated Dodecahedron, would probably be the safest way to catch them, but it might be hard to find one large enough quickly – and if mermaids are intelligent and quick swimmers, they may see it, and it may not be fast enough to get them. It might be best to lure them into an enclosed area and block them in,"

"Maybe if we catch a juvenile first, we will be able to lure an adult in," Ryan offered. Ryan had not yet told Katya that he knew the identities of the mermaids. He would when it became relevant.

"That could work," Katya said with a smile. "Just remember, Ryan, that I am only interested in this research if the subjects remain unharmed,"

"Understood," Ryan nodded.

Ryan showed Katya his mapping of the mermaid's movements, their favour for Mako Island and strange movement to shallower water close to housing on the mainland. Katya commented that she thought it odd that mythical creatures spent so much time near a populated area.

Ryan talked about his 'suspicion' that the mermaids had power over water, and they would have to be careful if this was the case. Katya had raised an eyebrow, suspecting Ryan knew more about this than he was letting on, but she did not press the issue.

"Perhaps tranquilisers might be the safest way of capturing one?" Ryan suggested.

"Possibly," Katya replied. "The dosage might be risky – we don't know whether their biological make up is more human or more dolphin-like. Too much or too little could be problematic,"

"Surely though if it is on the weaker side it will at least make them woozy? Just a thought to keep us safe," he responded.

"I will look into it," Katya said, not ruling the idea out.

OoOoO

Katya spent a few days in her lab analysing the biological sample that Ryan had provided. Since their first meeting, Ryan had been able to find one more scale for analysis. Ryan had again retrieved this from near the mainland house (where the mermaids dragged themselves up on the sand to get dry).

Katya ran a variety of tests, including looking at how much water content triggered the metamorphosis, durability, and DNA analysis (while wet and while dry).

She started to type up her findings as part of their research.

The first scale was much larger compared to the second scale Ryan had found. Katya wanted to see if she could find out the ages of the subjects by using the DNA. She wondered if there would be a difference for age and other information while wet and while dry.

After consulting with Ryan, they agreed to involve another scientist by the name of Dr Michael Florence. He was a trusted friend of Katya and a microbiologist and geneticist.

Dr Florence was not given the full details but knew that this was related to a possible mythical creature. Katya's lawyers drew up all the correct paper work, which guaranteed secrecy. Ryan was glad that he had found those samples.

OoOoO

After few days later, the mers on Mako Island had a lot of cleaning up to do after the chaotic tornado that had caused so much damage.

When Ryan saw the news saying that the storm had all but disappeared after it had reached Mako Island, he chuckled to himself. Of course it did. Crazy mermaid powers. He decided to keep the possibilities of this information stored in his head.

"There are so many broken trees," Jenny commented. Cleo nodded sadly. A lot of the trees that had helped to conceal the mer-village on Mako were felled.

"We can plant some new ones," Lewis said encouragingly. "First though, let's get to work at clearing the fallen branches and trunks off the paths,"

OoOoO

By the next week, Ryan had come up with a few plans for how to get a 'specimen' for Katya to study.

He decided using Mako Island was a bad idea. This was home turf and they'd be dealing with a lot of mers – far too many to combat. One would be difficult enough.

He decided that it would be easiest to obtain one of the older children. They would be old enough that the parents would not be watching them as closely, but young enough that they would not know what to do to escape. Ryan used the words 'obtain the juvenile specimen' in his head because if he avoided the word 'kidnapping a child', it somehow made it easier to justify.

In his weeks observing the mers, he knew that the group of older children left slightly before the rest. Quite likely being impatient - not wanting to wait for the parents to get the younger children ready to get going. Ryan assumed that they were between 8 and 10 years old.

After discussing it with Katya, they agreed to use a weaker tranquiliser that is safe for smaller mammals (and tends not to cause harm to humans if accidents occur).

Now, the operation had begun.

Ryan was in scuba gear with an underwater tranquiliser gun, with Katya in a boat (with attached water cage) nearby. The tranquiliser would likely cause mild bruising if the assumptions about mer-musculature were correct.

OoOoO

Bella and Emma had already gone ahead that morning due to having staff meeting that morning. Rikki and Cleo were organising the younger kids.

Jennifer, Jacob, Eric, Daniel, Leila and Charlie were ready to go.

"Mum, can we go please? We wanna swim," Leila and Charlie whined in unison. This was the fourth time they had whinged about not wanting to wait.

Rikki sighed.

"Ok, you kids can go. We won't be far behind you," Rikki said. "Stay together and meet us at the beach,"

"Yay! Yes Mum!" Charlie exclaimed.

Rikki shook her head with a laugh as she saw the group of older kids all but running down to the water.

"Race to the boundary?" Leila suggested just before they got into the water.

"We're supposed to stay together," Jake said sensibly.

"We can stay together and race, right?" Charlie responded.

Daniel and Leila nodded eagerly. Jake and Jenny shared a resigned look, but smiled. It was always fun when they raced.

"Alright," Jenny said. "Count us in, Charlie,"

"3, 2, 1, go" Charlie finished in mindspeak.

Off they went. Jenny giggled to herself as she started to get the lead. She had been practicing her speed around Mako recently, and had learned to use her power over water to boost her further. She hadn't used it in a race yet though. Maybe it was slightly cheating, but it was always great to see the expression on Charlie's face when she lost. Charlie was as competitive as it came and was good at winning. So anything that let someone else win, was a win in itself.

Using her new skill, Jenny found herself moving very quickly. She was ahead by a tail length for half the swim but then before they got closer to the mainland boundary (where they had been taught to stop turbo speed to avoid unwanted attention), she boosted even further. She reached the boundary faster than she had ever before, and slowed immediately to a stop.

That was exciting! She had left the others in the dust and won the race.

Jenny looked back. She must have been rocketing! She couldn't see the others.

Suddenly, Jenny felt a pain in her upper tail.

She looked down.

A dart?

A man in scuba gear approached her as the world started to spin.

She felt herself go weak. The man held her arms and started to pull her away.

Jenny tried to struggle but her brain didn't seem to be working.

She saw the bubbles of her friends approaching in the distance. Before she could contact them, her world went dark.

OoOoO

Ryan waited patiently. If he was right, the school run would be arriving soon. If there was more than one, maybe he would be able to capture multiple specimens.

He saw bubbles in the distance. This might be the moment.

To Ryan's surprise, only one mermaid child had approached. It was as if he had blinked as missed her arrival. She had travelled insanely quickly.

The mermaid had stopped and appeared to be waiting for someone or something.

This was the perfect moment. He couldn't have asked for a better opportunity.

He quickly lined up the shot and fired.

The dart travelled through the water and hit the mermaid's upper tail – he assumed where her thigh would be. Thankfully for Ryan, the dart had penetrated the scales – this was something that he had been worried about, but Katya had said hitting anywhere else could be dangerous for possible organs.

He needed to be fast. If the other mers were travelling as quickly as this mermaid, they would not take long to get here.

The tranquiliser was doing its part. She looked dazed and definitely was not fighting.

A painful rush of guilt ran through Ryan as he grabbed the girl under the arms and pulled her towards where Katya was waiting in the boat.

Now that she was unconscious, she was heavy. Heavier than Ryan expected. He was glad that he wasn't trying to manage this with an adult mer.

With effort, Ryan got the mermaid into the underwater cage attached to Katya's boat.

He locked it and hoisted himself up onto the boat.

"Time to go, Katya," Ryan yelled. "I got one. It looks like more are coming,"

Hearing the urgency in Ryan's voice, Katya quickly drove the boat away from the area. They moved as fast as was safe with precious cargo attached to the side.

OoOoO

"Where did Jenny go?" Daniel asked once the children had arrived at the end of the race.

"Maybe she got tired of waiting?" Leila suggested. "She's probably at the house waiting for us,"

The children continued on, unaware of the danger that had befallen their friend.

A/N: INTENSE! Hi everyone :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Ryan's plans are now in effect! What will happen next? lol

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