Chapter 18 #3
Bel squinted at the room’s rightmost corner. It wasn’t a normal ninety-degree angle. It was too small, the angle all wrong, and she gagged at the realization. “Oh my god.”
It was a fake wall, and whoever had been here last hadn’t slid it fully back into place.
A sliver of space revealed the anomaly, allowing the girl’s cries to slip through.
If not for her voice, Bel would’ve never found this false wall.
If not for the perpetrator’s simple mistake, the desperate screams would’ve never reached her ears.
Bel crossed to the unlatched wall and dug her fingers into the crack. It groaned under her force just as she groaned with the strain. The heavy entrance was slow to budge, and when it opened wide enough to let her through, she realized why. It was soundproof.
Ice dripped down her spine. Even if the aquarium security guards conducted in-person checks here, they would’ve never noticed the convincing fake wall or heard the visceral cries for help.
She’d only heard it because fate had been kind to her.
It had given her this mistake. Bel paused in the opening and checked over her shoulder.
Where was Olivia? Why wasn’t she here yet?
It had been too long. Something was wrong.
She wasn’t coming, and Bel waged a silent battle with the urge to venture into the darkness alone.
“Is someone there?” The girl’s muffled voice was suddenly clearer. “Please, someone be there.”
“Bajka Police!” Bel shoved herself through the space and yanked her Glock out of its holster, mind made up. Serve and protect. That was her mission, not waiting for backup that wasn’t coming.
“Oh my god, help!” the voice screeched, and Bel felt the girl’s primal fear reverberate through her own chest. It urged her to move faster, but the sound was coming from the bottom of the pitch-black stairs before her.
The kidnapper must have walled off the stairwell to the subterranean level, and Bel snatched her phone out of her pocket—no calls or texts from Olivia.
Eamon knew where she was, but he’d yet to arrive.
She either had to do this alone or abandon a screaming girl to the dark.
And that was something Bel couldn’t do.
“Are you alone?” she called as she flipped on her phone’s flashlight and crept down the stairs.
“Yes, please hurry!” the girl screamed back.
Bel reached the bottom of the stairwell in record time, a sliver of light coming from the tiny square window in the level’s door.
She peeked through, and seeing an empty hallway, she pushed it open.
No sounds of life met her ears, so she slipped out into the light, shoving her phone into her pocket and aiming her gun.
She moved with precision and eventually arrived at a second door.
She cracked it just enough to see through, but spotted no one in the expansive space.
“Oh god! Please!” the screaming girl called. “Help us.”
“Shut up!” a new female voice hissed. “You’re going to get us killed.”
“Bajka police,” Bel said as she stepped into a nightmare. “I’m here to help.”
“You’re going to get us killed!” the second girl repeated, but Bel barely heard her.
The room captivated her attention, leaving her hollowed out and nauseous.
It was a giant enclosure with an expansive pool in the center surrounded by a beach and faux-rock caves.
A cage enveloped the entire exhibit, the sheer size warning that whatever creature this had been initially designed for must have been massive, yet any intended resident paled in comparison to what it housed now.
Mermaids.
A young woman huddled in one of the rear caves, shrouded by shadows, but Bel didn’t need light to see that her legs were intricately tattooed with scales.
This mermaid was complete, a masterpiece ready to swim eternal.
Not a single stretch of skin was left unadorned.
This was where he’d held them. This was where he’d turned innocent girls into fantasies, and the young woman sat curled in on herself to hide her nudity.
She’d given up. Bel could read it in the sag of her muscles.
She’d surrendered hope a long time ago, and now she simply clung to the idea that if she played along, she wouldn’t die.
Bel knew that was fruitless. They all died.
They all ended up at the bottom of a lake.
“Oh my god, Detective?” the first girl called, and without the walls separating them, Bel finally recognized her voice.
“Ondine?” She scrambled to the cage, watching with a mixture of relief and terror as the teenager dove into the water and swam furiously for the gate.
“Detective, please!” Ondine shouted, hints of pink and purple coloring the top of her right thigh, and Bel wondered if it was safe for her to be swimming. Tattoos grew infected when submerged, and while infection wasn’t their main priority, Bel didn’t want it to turn life-threatening.
“Get me out of here!” Ondine spat water as she swam.
“Key?” Bel surged into action and grabbed the heavy lock on the door. “Where’s the key?”
“He has it. He wears it on his person.”
Bel cursed, violent and ugly. “Okay, move out of the way.” She aimed her gun at the lock and prayed the ricochet wouldn’t kill anyone. “And cover your ears.”
She missed the first shot, but she managed the second. The lock didn’t break completely, but after the third deafening bullet, it fell to the ground. Bel ripped the chain off the bars and flung open the gate, beckoning Ondine to move faster.
“Let’s go!” She shouted at the woman still huddled in the cave.
“He’ll kill us,” the second girl said, her voice flat and even.
“No, he won’t because I’m getting you out of there.” Bel shoved her Glock back into its holster. “Now swim to me, or I’m coming to get you.”
“He won’t let us leave.”
“I won’t let you stay.” Bel bent her legs to jump into the pool when she noticed fear flicker through Ondine’s eyes.
“Detective, watch—”
But that was all Bel heard before agony collided with her head, and she toppled into the water.