Fathom by L. Standage (spanish books to read .TXT) 📕

and stomach, then hid both it and the plastic bag under the towel I had worn.

The doors to the car all opened and closed, then I couldn’t hear anything. I closed my eyes and forced my body to relax in case one of Linnaeus’s men opened the trunk first.

The trunk popped and I jumped.

“It’s okay,” I heard Calder whisper so only I could hear. He covered me in a blanket. I felt the tension in my muscles release as he slid his arms beneath me and lifted me up. My head hung back over his arm and I could feel my wet tresses dangling in the still air beneath the blanket.

“Show it to us,” said a voice I didn’t recognize. I forced myself to relax as the blanket lifted off my face. My mouth hung open, my breath shallow. I smelled cigarette smoke.

“What’s the matter with her?” I heard a familiar English accent.

“Sedated,” said Calder. The blanket fell back over my face. “For the journey. She’ll wake up when she gets back in the water.”

“She’s not going to freak out on us, is she?” the first man asked.

“No, she knows what’s about to happen,” said Eamon. “It is her punishment for allowing the vessel to fall out of her hands.”

“Blimey…then she really was lying. Marinus was wrong,” said the Brit. I calmed further hearing he was convinced, and Marinus didn’t seem to be there.

“Well, hand her over,” the first man said.

“A few conditions beforehand,” came Uther’s voice. “First, give us the girl.”

“She’ll be delivered as soon as the mermaid is in the tank.”

“Fine. Second, this is the only mermaid in existence.”

I heard a laugh. “No, it isn’t.”

“If Linnaeus says otherwise,” said Eamon, “then he’ll lose this one just like he did the last one.”

I swallowed and waited.

“Done. Give it to me.”

“Just a minute,” said the first man. I heard footsteps approach and Calder swung me away. I flinched. “Check her fingernails, Hamish.”

“Fine. Show him, Eamon.”

Someone picked up my hand. I was instantly grateful we’d painted my nails.

“And the gills,” said the English guy, Hamish. “She didn’t have them last time.”

The blanket lifted off my face again. Calder tipped my head and I allowed it to loll to the side. I felt an exhale of breath against my neck and I gave an involuntary gasp through my nose.

“Is this some kind of joke?” said Hamish.

“What?”

“It’s fake. Those gills are fake!”

Calder pulled me away as a scuffle ensued. I opened my eyes. Eamon grappled with the English guy while Uther wrestled the other. I covered my mouth and gasped again as the English guy clocked Eamon in the jaw. Eamon threw his attacker off of him as Uther pulled something from his belt and thrust it at him. The guy fell, twitching. Uther then launched an uppercut to the other guy’s diaphragm, then another to his chin. He fell, out cold.

I watched in astonishment. Uther put his taser back in his belt.

“Eamon, are you okay?” I asked, seeing him rub his jaw.

“Fine. We’ll pack these two up and take them away,” he replied. “Calder, take her in, make any excuse. Meet us back here in ten minutes.”

Calder nodded. I felt my neck where the man had examined my gills and noticed some of the latex peeling. I’d have to keep it hidden. My faith in this mission started to wane. As Calder took me through a side door, I caught a glimpse of Uther dumping one of the men into the trunk of the car.

“Cover yourself up with the blanket again, just in case someone walks by,” said Calder as he snuck through the halls of the hotel. I did, then leaned into the crook of his shoulder, shutting my eyes and trying to dig up some spare courage. Calder gave me a squeeze. Beneath the blanket, I reached my hidden hand to cover his.

“Where’s Hamish and Oscar?” someone asked. Calder stopped.

“Needed a smoke,” Calder replied. “They told me to bring her in. Go get the girl. Hurry, the fish is getting dry. Your employer won’t be happy if she dies.”

“You go,” said another voice. “I’ll stay and keep watch. Tank’s this way.”

Calder started walking again. By the change in his footsteps, I could tell he’d walked into a carpeted room.

He faltered for a moment.

“What are you waiting for? Dump her in.”

He continued again, walking up some steps. Steps? I didn’t dare take a peek. The blanket fell away. I had to concentrate to keep from reacting. He moved me to his shoulder. I stayed limp, hanging like a sack of potatoes over his back. I felt the fabric bonded to my skin stretch, its tug on my flesh painful and threatening to pull away. Calder walked up another stepladder, metal by the sound of it. He moved me back to where I lay in his arms. I cracked my eyes open. He propped me on one leg and used his free hand to clear my hair away from my face. I looked up at him. His fingers lingered on my jaw. He looked angry at something. I gave a tiny nod of encouragement and took a deep, quiet breath. He lowered me into the tank.

The warm water enveloped me. I allowed myself to drift to the bottom, then hurried to look around for the hidden scuba mouthpiece. I couldn’t see well with my blurred, underwater vision. I felt my way through one set of plant life, then another. I started to panic as my lungs grew tighter by the second. I couldn’t hold it any longer and let out all my breath. The bubbles rose from my mouth. Just as I despaired finding the mouthpiece and wondered what the guys outside the tank would think to see a mermaid push to the surface for air, my fingers brushed rubber within a thick, waving, purple-green plant.

I latched onto it and inhaled. Despite Walter’s instructions, it took me a second to get accustomed to it. Breathing underwater was a weird and uncomfortable sensation—huge