Sleep with the Fishies

Part 1: Keyboard Smash

     Didn't get stabbed on the way to the station, so that's something.

     The Eldritch Investigation Department was a sprawling one-floor affair, although a staircase in the back led up. Plenty of buildings had new attics since the First Coming. You just stayed out of them, and if you started having weird dreams, the building gets torched.

     I got about five steps in before a familiar voice punched me in the ear. "Joanah?"

     Typhon's appearance isn't as badass as his name, but we've seen the same messed up shit, so we worked well together. I spread my hands. "Not dead."

     "I can see that. Where the hell have you been?"

     I stayed silent until we were in his cubicle, although I snatched a snack from the communal fridge. "Hemming thought I should check out the bottom of the river."

     Typhon took out a notebook. He'd seen me not-drown too many times to think I was human. "And you bought a house down there? It's been four months, Joanah."

     "You don't think I know that?" I pulled up my shirt to expose the hole in my torso slowly healing itself. The fish sticks were sitting uncomfortably in my stomach while they waited for my guts to be up and running. "Ship put its fucking masthead through me. Swam up today." The floor rumbled. I ignored it. "The warehouse was legit. She had hellgae." I gestured at my bag. "She'll be wanting it back though."

     Typhon's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "I'm impressed."

     "I take cash."

     "Suppose you've earned it this time. Stop by the desk on your way out."

     I leaned back with a satisfied smirk. "No one else cracked the case while I was drowning?"

     Typhon tried to look busy by shuffling some papers. "Nobody's wanted to touch it after the sixth detective disappeared. You were the first."

     "Aw, were you sad?"

     "You were the first detective on this case, not the first I've lost."

     I squinted at Typhon. He was lying. Probably.

     Movement near my foot caught my eye. Black mould was leaking from a rip in the carpet, ebbing and flowing like waves on a shore. I locked eyes with Typhon.

     He lurched to his feet. "EVERYONE OUT!"

     The black mould sucked back into the rip.

     I managed to hug the duffle as the floor dropped out. Disintegrated supports and snapped pipes rushed past my eyes. My body slapped into freezing shallow water barely hiding rough rock. I scrambled to my feet, pushing the duffle back with my foot. Typhon groaned nearby. "The hell was that?"

     Dim light from the station filtered from where we'd fallen, partially blocked by people coming to investigate Typhon's shout. Thing was, they were standing on the hole. Where they stood, thick dollops of black slime collected, slowly blocking off the light. Only Typhon and I were here. Fucking Hemming. How was she able to do something like this? I squinted into the gloom. Felt like something bigger was with us.

     "Don't give me silence. You know what caused this." He knelt, hand on his gun. "Come on, what's out there?"

     Something heavy splashed into the water near us. Static burst in my ears. "Come on—on time, Johnny—Johnny, why don't you answer?—answer the question, Delilah, or I'll—I'll give you a push and it'll be over—over my dead body."