Chapter 14 - THE CAMERA WASN’T HACKED
Daniel disconnected the call.
Thirty seconds later, every exterior security camera went black.
The security chief swore.
“System's offline.”
“How?”
“We're checking.”
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
“Voss.”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“Meridian's director.”
“How dangerous?”
Evelyn answered without hesitation.
“Very.”
Daniel ordered everyone into the interior safe room.
Emma refused.
“My daughter isn't growing up in a bunker.”
“Tonight she is.”
Margaret agreed.
They moved Lila upstairs while guards swept the property.
Nothing.
No intruder.
No broken perimeter.
Yet twenty minutes later, a printed photograph appeared beneath the front door.
Daniel stared at it.
Same image.
Lila transforming.
On the back:
CAMERAS ARE NOT WHAT FOUND HER.
Evelyn read it.
Her face changed.
“What does that mean?” Margaret asked.
“They have someone nearby.”
Daniel shook his head.
“We've checked every employee.”
“Not an employee.”
“Then who?”
Evelyn looked at the photograph.
“Someone who recognizes the change without seeing it.”
Emma frowned.
“How?”
“Some of our people can sense others.”
Margaret stared at her.
“Now we're adding that?”
“I told you there are things I don't fully understand.”
Daniel grabbed the phone.
“Then we leave.”
Evelyn blocked him.
“Where?”
“Somewhere Meridian doesn't know.”
“They know who you are. Your accounts. Your properties.”
“I have friends.”
“They have institutions.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
Evelyn looked toward the ocean.
“We go to the place where their technology matters least.”
Emma knew before she said it.
“No.”
“The coast.”
“You told us to keep Lila away from the ocean.”
“I said don't let her touch it.”
“That's not comforting.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“No ocean.”
Lila began crying again.
This time harder.
Emma tried a bottle.
Nothing.
Wet cloth.
The baby grabbed it desperately.
Evelyn looked alarmed.
“She needs more.”
Daniel filled the basin.
Lila's feet touched water.
Her legs transformed almost instantly.
Margaret gasped.
Silver-blue scales spread beneath the dress.
The tail formed.
Lila stopped crying.
Emma stroked her hair.
“She's happier like this.”
Nobody wanted to acknowledge that.
Evelyn touched the tail.
“She's adapting faster than anyone I've seen.”
Emma looked at her.
“What happens if we keep reversing it?”
Evelyn didn't answer immediately.
“What?”
“It may begin hurting her.”
Daniel's face changed.
“You told us freshwater was safe.”
“I said temporary.”
“You knew repeated reversal might hurt her?”
“I suspected.”
Emma stood.
“Get out.”
“Emma—”
“Get out of my house.”
Evelyn looked devastated.
“I came to protect her.”
“You keep protecting us by hiding things!”
Daniel didn't stop Emma this time.
Evelyn slowly picked up her coat.
Before leaving, she looked at Lila.
“Watch her breathing.”
Emma froze.
“Why?”
“If it becomes shallow, call me.”
“You don't have a phone.”
Evelyn placed a number on the table.
Then left.
Margaret watched from the window.
She disappeared down the drive.
Lila returned to normal after thirteen minutes.
That evening, Emma sat beside the crib.
At 11:40, Lila's breathing changed.
Shallow.
Fast.
Emma screamed for Daniel.
They tried holding her.
Offering milk.
Nothing.
Her skin became hot.
Daniel reached for his phone.
“Hospital.”
Emma didn't stop him.
Then Margaret noticed something.
A tear rolled down Lila's cheek.
Where it touched her skin, a tiny patch of silver scales appeared.
“Wait.”
Emma looked.
Another tear.
More scales.
The baby wasn't reacting only to outside water anymore.
Her own tears were triggering the change.
Daniel froze.
Emma dialed Evelyn.
She answered immediately.
“Her breathing,” Emma said. “It's happening.”
Evelyn's voice sharpened.
“Put her in water.”
“Freshwater?”
“No.”
Emma went cold.
“You said not to let her touch the ocean.”
“I know.”
“Then what?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Saltwater.”
Daniel heard.
“No.”
Evelyn continued.
“Make it yourself if you have to. But the mineral balance must be close to seawater.”
Emma stared at her daughter.
“Why?”
“Because Lila isn't getting sick from transforming.”
A pause.
May you like
“She is getting sick because you're forcing her body to stay human.”
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