Mystic Waters: Out of the blue

Chapter 17

Meranda took a moment to regain her composure, and look again at the samples that gave promise. She couldn't get the smile off her face. She knew she needed to run the tests a few more times making sure the results were continually the same. Time was running out and she had to try something, because her friend was growing weak.

Apparently, the differences between a mer being infected and a parasite being infected was the parasite flourish. Salmonia's symptoms were equivalent to a stage three out of four on the disease scale. They had to try the blood transfusion and soon. Pete's blood seemed to hold the key to restoring her cells to a healthy state.

Meranda told Roselyn she needed to talk to her mother alone. The young mermaid protested somewhat, but her father put his arm around her and shook his head no. He did whisper in her ear that she could go and start getting their quarters cleaned up. So that when her mother came home, everything would be tidy. Roselyn's face lit up, and she disappeared through the pool port. Pete and Zane followed and Meranda headed off to talk with Salmonia.

She approached Salmonia's cell slowly in case she was sleeping. Meranda knew Sal would need all her strength to fight the toxic levels in her body. Sal was laying there motionless with her eyes closed. For a moment, Meranda thought she was too late, "Hey girlfriend," croaked Sal.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Meranda instantly thought what a stupid question that was. She knew exactly how she was doing...she was dying.

"Oh I've been better." Sal struggled to sit up; her once porcelain  skin glowed green.

"We think we have a solution. It's not for sure, but we did see positive results in the lab." Meranda knew they were running out of time.

"Great when do we start?" Salmonia said with all the optimism she could muster.

"We can start immediately; I just have to decide the best way to proceed. We will do a 50/50 blood transfusion first and see how that goes." Meranda was more or less talking herself into deciding which way to go.

"Sounds good, you know where to find me." Sal closed her eyes.

Meranda ran through the tunnels to get to the lab to gather supplies. Calling for Pete who heard her summons and shot up through the pool port arriving minutes before Meranda, and he hurriedly threw on some sweatpants.

"Ready?" Seeing Pete come out from behind the privacy wall as Meranda busted through the labs door.

"Whatever you need me to do." Pete was glad to help anyway he could.

"I'm just going to get some things together for the transfusion and I will see you back at Sal's. Pete she doesn't look good. This has to work." Meranda didn't even look at Pete as she gathered equipment from the list in her head.

"Don't go in there until someone is with you." Pete was very serious in his command.

"I wouldn't dream of it, besides you will probably beat me there." Meranda shouted back over her shoulder.

Pete called for Zane to be there in case they needed help. Just as she thought, by the time Meranda got there with her bag of supplies, they were all waiting for her.

"Great we are all here." Zane had move Sal's bed over to the bars so it would be easier for Meranda to access her. Meranda kneeled down and began getting everything laid out. "Pete I want you to get comfortable, because this will be slow going. Here's what is going to happen." Meranda explained that she was first going to remove Sal's blood to make room for Petes.

"Sal you are probably going to feel weak or pass out, and I expect that. In the meantime Pete, I will get you started with an IV drip and slowly collect your blood. Then I will infuse Sal with Pete's healthy blood. Does anyone have any questions?" Meranda looked each of them in the eyes to see if there were any doubts. Everyone was on board and ready to try anything.