Rhodoreef

22. The Stagnant Tank

Abject horror flooded her system. Tremors shot up and down her entire body.

"Miss?"

Dea's eyes focused on the server's troubled expression before darting down to the remains of what was once a sea cow—a gentle giant dragged away from home and killed. A white rod of bone protruded from one side. She emptied her stomach onto the floor, and a quivering hand wiped the dribble of sick.

"Miss, are you alright?" The human took a step towards her, alarm saturating his voice.

Dea grabbed hold of his shirt. "Where did you get this sea cow?"

He just stared at her, uncomprehending.

She released him and gripped the ogi. Her fingers shook so much it was hard to type. When she finally got Merlingo to ask the question in Sinhalese, he just stammered a few words in response and closed the dish.

She grabbed his shirt again and asked, her voice breaking, "Where?"

He didn't need a translation to know that she repeated the question, and for an instant, he resembled a cornered crab. "I—I'm not supposed to know this or talk..."

Dea's fists tightened while her heart thrummed away in her ribcage.

The color in his face drained as he whispered, "Sea cows are actually a protected animal here, because they're few, you know. Same as those dolphins. But..."

She waited for him to finish, a violent storm raging within.

He gulped. "Mr. Goonewardane has certain...investments, you know. And he likes going out there sometimes—on exploration, hunting trips...Brought these animals in just over a week ago. That's what I heard. He'd gone back again to the same location on Monday, but a cyclone happened and—"

The need for concealment evaporated, so Dea activated verbal input and croaked Mermish directly into the ogi for translation. "The day he fell overboard?"

"Yes, how did you—"

Her head whirled, and bile rose up. Weak all over, she relinquished her hold on his shirt. Burpy's family...

She glanced at the cloche that covered the monstrous dish—and her brain conjured up the image of the humans tucking into it in all their finery. Darkness descended on her in a veil of hopelessness and despair.

Dea experienced a total overhaul of the world she knew and understood. It was akin to reality flipping into a twisted version of itself. Rose-colored glasses were ripped off her eyes, and now she saw everything in a whole new angle. From a plastic-strangled sea turtle to the decimated deep-sea corals, pieces aligned to form a nightmarish picture of humans. Dilip's face hovered in her mind's eye—what she thought was attractive, but now the face of ugliness.

Then raw fear paralyzed her. It occurred to her that the human ship had ventured to the very borders of Calliathron. The fake jellyfish was the warning the universe sent her way, but she was too blind to make the connection. Dilip's words surfaced, making her skin crawl. You're not a human, so those laws don't apply. She wondered if they would drag off merpeople and chop them up into a hundred pieces like they did the sea cows. The Regent's stony visage appeared on cue to taunt her, accompanied by his words on pro-human youth. They're like the wild cows who know not what's good for them until they perish.

Dea rubbed her face, and her hand came away wet.

"Miss, I should go." The server pushed away from her and made to grab the platter.

Immobilized with shock, she just watched him take off.

She didn't feel the passage of time. It might have been minutes or an hour, but eventually, footfalls broke her out of her trance.