A Fishy Tale, The Sequel - Fanfiction for H2O Just Add Water

Chapter 83

Chapter 83

“As you know, I am a marine biologist, what you may not know is that I’ve expressed an inherent desire to discover evidence of the magical of this world in the past. In the past I actively investigated the existence of mermaids,” Denman said. “Today, a man named Hunter Tasman came to me with proof of such,” There was silence at the other end of the phone.

“By your silence, would I be right in assuming that you know exactly what this is about?” Denman asked tentatively. She heard a sigh.

“Yes,” Jessie replied.

“He showed me photos of your transformation, and offered to sell them to me,”

“What are you going to do with them? With me?” Jessie asked in a shaky voice.

“Don’t worry, I will not do anything without your permission. I will buy the photos. Alan has said he will pay me back. He would do anything to protect you, and I love him too much to hurt him by exploiting you. He loves you,”

“I know,” Jessie said with a small smile.

“I’ll get my lawyer to draw up a confidential, fool proof contract so that Hunter can never harm you again without serious losses on his part,”

“Thank you,” Jessie said, relief evident in her voice. “You don’t know how important this is to me,”

“I will buy the photos, but…” Denman began. She paused, not quite sure of how to word it. “There is something I’d like to ask you. I was wondering if, with your permission, I could study you, for research only. I would exclude your name from the reports of course but…I am a scientist so forgive me for asking.”

“I…” Jessie began, “I don’t know how studying me would benefit anyone,”

“It would benefit the scientific community…”

“…It would get more crackpots looking for mermaids, bad scientists testing without a moral standpoint,” Jessie interrupted. ‘I’m sorry, I know you mean well, but it’s just too dangerous. There is a reason we desperately want to keep this secret.”

“You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry. I just had to ask,” Denman backtracked. She understood where Jessie was coming from, but that did not mean that her hunger for knowledge would be sated.

“It’s okay, I understand,” Jessie replied.

“Would you be willing to let me test you if I never published my work? Just for my own scientific understanding?”

“I’m sorry, Linda,” Jessie said.

“Have you never been curious as to how your genetics work? How you transform?”