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

Chapter 129

Chapter 129

Three of their children? Katya's stomach dropped. Katya knew that Ryan was crossing lines, but this was ridiculous. It was like the man had become unhinged.

"I...I don't know what to say," Katya stuttered in reply. "What-what can I do to help?"

"We need information," Anna replied. "We don't have any leads. Do you know where Ryan might be holding them? What he might...do...to them?"

"I...I'm so sorry. I haven't been in contact with Ryan for weeks now. As I said, once I knew more about you I couldn't in good conscience continue to work with him," Katya picked at imaginary lint on her pants, not making consistent eye contact."I know that Ryan's goal is to prove the existence of mermaids. How he will do this now? I don't know. The reason I was involved was to write an academic paper proving the existence of mermaids– because of my credibility in the scientific community. Now that he has lost my support...I think he'll go the brute force way and just directly show mermaids off as real,"

"So you don't know where they are?" Cleo asked, trying to hide the extent of her disappointment.

"I don't" Katya admitted, "But, I might know where to start looking,"

All the adults in the booth looked at her with expectation.

"Initially, we discussed another site to hold and study the mermaids, before we picked the one where you found Jenny," Katya swallowed, "Again, very sorry about my involvement,"

"Go on," Cleo encouraged.

"Ryan mentioned a cousin's shipping warehouse up town – one that has recently gone out of business. We didn't end up going with that one because it was further away from the water and we would need to figure out transport. I don't actually know if that's where they went, but aside from Ryan's own house, it's what I can think of,"

"Thanks Katya," Anna replied. "That's more than we had before,"

Katya wrote down the addresses – both of the shipping warehouse and Ryan's home. Ryan's house was on a street she knew well, so it had been easier to remember. She handed the tissue paper with the addresses over.

"Have you contacted the police?" Katya asked, frowning. "Surely they could help?"

"No – besides, how would you explain that the three kids got kidnapped while swimming in open ocean? We will find the kids ourselves," Rikki replied.

"And if you can't?"

Five pairs of angry eyes glared at Katya. She swallowed again.

"Sorry," she apologised. "Genuinely, I hope you find them,"

There was a murmur of appreciation and then the group started to stand to leave.

"Thanks Katya, but we better get on to it," Anna said.

"Yes, I understand," Katya replied. "Oh, wait," she interrupted.

"Wait, before you go, I would really like to chat to you about something," Katya initiated.

"Katya, nothing takes priority over finding our kids," Rikki responded sharpy, "We need to go now,"

Katya nodded,

"Of course, I'm sorry. But it's about your secret,"

Rikki paused, "Make it quick,"

"We don't need to go into the details now," Katya started, "But the summary is: I have a draft paper here of a research article on mermaids,"

There was an obvious murmur of discontentment.

Katya bravely raised her hand to stop them, "Wait, before you get upset – there is no way I will publish this without your consent, especially considering how the information was obtained. However, I have a proposal. If we publish this article in a way that you consent to, e.g. anonymous participants or whatever your terms, it would stop future people like Ryan from risking everything to prove the existence of something – since it has already been proven! Yes, it might mean more people looking for you, but if we normalise it, there won't be such a bounty for proof of the mythical, and you won't be so scared of others finding out what you are,"