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“I can’t believe this is happening.” Olivia paces the confines of their hotel room, blond hair flowing behind her like a lightning strike. “They can’t—they can’t possibly—after all that we saw, all that we brought back—”
“I agree it’s several different kinds of fucked up.” Tory continues to watch her trap, waiting patiently for it to be triggered. “I don’t understand how or why they’re trying to cover this up.”
“It doesn’t make any sense.” Olivia pauses, drawing a breath and centering herself. She smiles, a slightly toothier version of her typical reporter’s smile. “This is Olivia Sandersen, bringing you a scoop from Imagine. After investing an incredible amount of money and an absolutely ludicrous amount of human blood into proving that mermaids are real, we have mysteriously decided to now hide that evidence for utterly incomprehensible reasons. Where do we intend to get our return on investment? What possible cause could we have for attempting to muzzle someone like Dr. Toth?”
“I would also like to be placed on that list of scientists not to be muzzled. Though I do admit to being less formidable as an adversary.” Tory tenses, her eyes focused on the little flashes of movement that keep happening in the shadows under the bed. If the little creature comes just a bit closer…
“They’re offering good money.” Olivia chews on her bottom lip. “More money than I ever would have expected, especially after this disaster. Why? Do they think they’re going to be liable? People need to know, though. They need to understand—”
The little flash of gray moves just far enough, and Tory triggers her trap. A fine net drops from beneath the mattress to the ground, trapping the strange little creature.
“Tory.” Olivia’s voice shifts from furious and grief-stricken to worried and on the edge of irritated. “What did you just do?”
“I just caught the thing that’s been spying on us.” Tory slides off her mattress and moves over to Olivia’s, bending down to snag the edge of the net. “Or I just proved that this hotel has a mouse problem. We’ll see in a moment.”
Olivia moves closer, brow knitting in the cutest little moue of confusion Tory has ever been honored to see. She hovers over Tory’s shoulder, one foot set confidently, the other high-heeled shoe slightly raised and ready to strike if needed.
Pulling the net out from the under the bed, being careful not to lift it enough to free the creature she’s caught, Tory gets a good look at their enemy.
“Tory…” Olivia settles both feet on the ground, moving her left hand to settle it on Tory’s shoulder for extra balance. “Is that a mouse wearing a handmade jacket and biker helmet?”
Tory studies the little mouse. “Yes. Yes it is.”
“Is someone shooting a movie of The Mouse and the Motorcycle and lost their main actor?” There’s a slight tremble to Olivia’s hand on Tory’s shoulder that belies the flippant tone of her words.
“Well, little mouse?” Tory carefully gathers the net in front of her, making sure the mouse doesn’t look like it’s hurt.
Beady black eyes stare up at her, and a trembling nose twitches through the mesh of the net. A high-pitched, nervous voice asks, “If I answer, will you free me?”
Tory blinks.
“There’s a talking mouse.” Olivia very carefully settles herself down by Tory’s side. “I… is that biologically possible?”
“Not based on what I know about mice. But I haven’t studied them carefully. And as we’ve seen, biology is… always open to trying new things.”
“You speak English.” Olivia directs the words to the mouse.
“I do. I learned it well under the domain of the Arboreal Priestess.” The mouse’s nose twitches faster.
Olivia makes an encouraging sound, rather like she’s interviewing someone for a documentary. “And is this Arboreal Priestess also a mouse?”
“Of course not!” The mouse’s whole body seems to tremble and shake. “The priestesses are the priestesses. They look much like you. You could become a priestess, were you to engage yourself with one of the gods.”
Tory can’t quite help a bark of laughter. “Are the gods mice?”
“Of course not!” The little mouse’s tail attempts to thrash, though the net holds it still. “They are gods. Since the God of Scales and Silence has found a priestess, it will likely be many years before another is available for courting.”
“Are we hallucinating?” Olivia pulls out her phone, frowning as she scrolls through it. “We haven’t lost any time. I don’t feel dizzy or lightheaded.”
“I don’t, either. And none of the docs have said anything about delayed effects of exposure. I would have expected Dr. Vail to tell us, at least, even if they’re being pressured to keep quiet.”
“We have been observing your Dr. Vail. And Dr. Odom. And many of the others.” The little mouse’s nose twitches faster.
“Look…” Tory forces herself to take a deep breath. “Mouse, do you have a name?”
“I cannot tell you my name while restrained like this.” The mouse manages to look incredibly sad.
“Don’t you dare let it go.” Olivia rises to her feet with smooth grace, moving over to her pack. “But we’ll find a better container for you, mouse.”
Five minutes later, the mouse is safely contained in a clear plastic container that had held Chinese food last night and currently has air holes that were created with a pen. They’ll have to ensure the little guy’s got enough air-flow, but it’s a solid enough temporary container.
“This is me.” The mouse does a complicated little flick of her tail accompanied by a tiny squeak and a fluttering of her whiskers. “You are Olivia Sandersen and Victoria Stewart. You are survivors of the Melusine.”
“We are.” Olivia situates herself so she’s on an eye-level with the container. “Why does that concern you?”
The mouse paces the small confines of its take-out prison, whiskers flickering wildly. “You do not seem pleased with what you are being asked to do. With what is happening with the boat you were on.”
Tory can’t keep her smile from showing teeth. “We aren’t pleased, no. A lot of people died, and the information they died collecting should be made freely available.”
The mouse stops pacing, facing them with squared shoulders and a head held high. “I will tell you secrets if you agree to let me go. They are secrets I think you would discover anyway, and they might help keep you safe.”
Tory shoots a look at Olivia. “I’d feel bad keeping a talking mouse locked up against its will anyway.”
“I…” Olivia hesitates. “Do you intend to hurt us? Or anyone else?”
“Of course not!” The mouse seems absolutely shocked at the suggestion. “I am merely helping gather information. I should not have been caught. I will be a disappointment to the colony. But there is a snake in the hole I was intending to use for my exodus, and I didn’t wish to be eaten.”
“Well…” Tory glances nervously under the bed. “That’s understandable. Also apparently we have a snake problem, not a mouse problem.”
“I am an Aeslin mouse. We are not a problem.” The mouse puffs herself up.
“Look, let’s focus.” Olivia presses her hands together, palms flat. “Why are we being asked to cover up what happened?”
“Because an organization called the Covenant of St. George has purchased your company. They hunt anything that they don’t believe God intended to have on the planet. Including Aeslin mice and mermaids.” The mouse’s whiskers twitch. “They are attempting to convert or pay off everyone who was on the mission. They do not wish humanity to panic. Or to try to stop them. Most of what they kill is not dangerous, after all.”
“The mermaids sure as shit are.” Tory swallows, remembering… too much. Remembering lights in the water, and how beautiful they were, and how that beauty resulted in too many corridors painted red with blood.
“The mermaids killed my…” Olivia’s breath hitches. “My best friend. Why shouldn’t I help some Order destroy them?”
“Because they won’t stop at the mermaids.” The mouse hops to the very edge of the take-out container, only a thin sheet of plastic between it and Olivia. “They would kill me. Because I talk, because I remember, because I sing of gods and priestesses, they would kill me.”
Olivia’s expression crumbles, slowly, her smile fading as tears start to fill her eyes. “How many creatures are out there? How many things does this Order hunt?”
“Many.” The mouse holds one paw out, pressing it against the plastic. “How many do you want to know about?”
“None. This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go.” Olivia shakes her head. “I was supposed to move on from Imagine. I was supposed to—to teach kids, or be a pretty citizen scientists with my own show, or… it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
Tory slowly puts her arm around Olivia’s shoulders, pulling her in tight. None of it was supposed to be like this. Her sister was supposed to come home. They were supposed to be safe on the Melusine. When they finally got back, they were supposed to be able to tell everyone what they had found.
After a few seconds of trembling and leaning against Tory, Olivia dashes at her eyes with the back of one hand and stands up. She moves to her luggage, opening it and pulling out a camera. “I’m going to take a picture of you, little Aeslin mouse. And then we’re going to let you go. If your priestesses or gods want to talk, Tory and I will be right here for the next two days, fighting tooth and nail not to let Imagine hide all this.”
“I will deliver your invitation as soon as I am able.” The little mouse glances towards the bed. “Though if you could deposit me outside, where I will be able to rejoin my colony with less danger…”
Tory moves to Olivia’s side. “You sure about this?”
Olivia nods. “Let’s get some good shots, and then see what else we can find.”
Tory helps Olivia get the best pictures they can of the little mouse. It helps that the Aeslin mouse offers to come out of the box and pose. Tory half expects the little thing to run away as soon as it’s freed, but she doesn’t staying true to her word.
Tory and Olivia are true to theirs, as well, depositing the mouse in a safe patch of garden just to the left of the hotel’s back door.
Then they retreat back to their room, the both of them collapsing into Tory’s bed.
Tory presses her head into Olivia’s hair, inhaling the scent of her shampoo. “Do you think we’ll meet these priestesses?”
“I do. Whether we’ll want to or not…”
“It’s always better to know.” Tory wonders, for a moment, if that’s true—if she would have been better off not following her sister. If she could have let the grief settle, and become someone who hadn’t seen the lights, hadn’t dreamed of what they meant. Hadn’t slipped through goo that could turn a person to liquid jelly in the span of an hour.
“All those gigs Ray and I did…” Olivia draws in a long, slow breath. “I wonder how much of it was real. How many of the things we chased not only existed, but were intelligent. Smart enough to stay out of our way.”
“Guess we’ll find out.” Tory hugs Olivia a little tighter, knowing this will bind them together even more strongly than the pressure-cooker convention of the Melusine did.
There are things in the dark, and clearly not all of them are afraid of the light.
Hopefully there will be enough friendly mice to make up for whatever other monsters they find waiting for them.