12. Eros

"It's fine.We'll catch the next elevator. That trident is far too heavy." I point to Nico and Sunshine in the elevator. But the speech is for the others next to them. "It might bring the whole elevator system down if we come in too." I smile at the mermaid next to Sunshine and Nico, then glance back at Holter. The eyes of the mermaid's three scowling mates vanish as the doors slide closed with a click, presenting a fresco of dolphins chasing a school of fish. The small Braesen side lobby is out of the way and hopefully will have less people around. Nico is taking Sunshine up to the apartment, and Holter and I will arrive a few minutes late.

"Let's go. We don't have much time." Holter grabs the side of my arm. The lobby of Braesen isn't something I remember well. I was here on a mission when I first started doing hits for the security council. The place is full of both real and animatronic animals. A butterfly lands on Holter's shoulder. I smack it off.

"What are you doing?" Holter glares at me.

"I hate those things. Everyone is always like ‘butterflies are good luck and so pretty.' No, they're creepy flying bugs with big wings and giant eyes."

Holter cocks his head at me like I'm the odd one here. He picks it up. "This one wasn't real." He holds the twisted little yellow and black body close to his face. "But if it was, you'd get us in a lot of trouble with the caretakers."

"Caretakers?" I've never really thought about how Braesen takes care of the animals inside their dome.

"Yeah, they have a whole set of mermen who take care of the creatures in their dome. It's a huge honor to be nominated," Holter says.

"To make a living picking up bug shit?" Yeah, no thank you. I hold back a shudder.

Holter puts the twisted carcass back on the floor. "Hopefully, someone can fix it."

"By burning it?" I stare at the bent wings fluttering on the floor.

"Let's go." The elevator opens again, this time mercifully empty. I pull out my tech and swipe it over the control pad. First, I kill the surveillance in the elevator, then I find the switch and an array of invisible floors show up. Fucking hell. From where the lobby comes into view, the main building appears to be the fifth floor of the dome. Labeled buttons range from 103 to subfloor five. But the control pad? "Look."

Holter's eyes shoot wide. "Poseidon."

"Right." Damn. I've got tech that could have made this a whole lot easier. But there are some things I can't share, not even with my own mates. Things that could put them in a lot more danger if they knew about them.

"There are fifteen levels below us? How is that even safe for the dome and surrounding area?" Holter asks.

"I don't know. I also don't know where to start."

Holter looks over my shoulder. "The lower levels have higher clearance."

"Then that's where we go," I say.

I've got a pit in my stomach, one that tells me this won't go the way we think it will. But I punch the code on my block and the elevator shimmies downward. My eyes flick to Holter. Damn, he's calm. But then, going on missions with Nico over the years has to have changed his disposition.

The elevator shakes when it stops. Holter waves his hand and motions me to the other side of the wall. The doors slide open; it's dim out there, and whirling motors vibrate around the massive space. I've got my collapsible trident out, and I duck my head into the room. It's full of equipment—power supplies, pistons sloshing up and down. I glance at Holter, and his brow is furrowed.

I shrug. It's a mechanical room with no one around. The floor is massive and empty. Holter and I share a beat of silence. Then he points to a pipe. MVP is written on it. The damp floor doesn't show any signs of care or anyone having been in the space for quite a while.

Back to the elevator. We find another level and more of the same: empty spaces, lots of empty workstations, like the facility used to hold thousands of workers.

I whisper, "Do you think they've given up on whatever it is they were trying to do?"

"They spent a lot of gold on whatever MVP is, so no. I think they've just run out of resources."

"Resources." Right.

The numbers in the city are holding, even climbing a little each year. But so is the age of the average viro-born citizen. Those born in labs like Holter are taking over the numbers. Soon, in most domes, there will be more geminae than viro. Clearly, this floor has suffered from a change in population. Some domes don't let geminae hold high-status jobs. I didn't think the Braesen were like that, but then Braesen tend to blend into the background.

The three next floors are more of the same. Then the elevator opens, and Holter and I stand back in our now practiced way. He moves off first, hiding behind a large round canister. I position myself on the other side of the hallway opening. This floor has definitely had activity more recently. The lights click on as we move a few steps down the hall. The whooshing of the machines grows louder, and the dampness of the other levels has vanished. Both Holter and I freeze, waiting for anyone to notice the lights have flicked on.

"Let's make it quick and get upstairs," Holter says with his eyes.

I give him a quick nod back. We don't need to be caught down here.

We round the corner. There are numerous workstations. And while I was able to loop the system in the elevator to make it look like no one had ever come down here, in good Dorian fashion, I'm sure they have additional security. Holter and I casually make our way around the lab, not stopping. Hopefully, to the CTR viewers, it looks like we are doing something we're supposed to. Domes are big enough that while it feels like everyone knows everyone, that's not the case. There's nothing to say that the two of us aren't Braesen scientists. And if I stand in front of Holter, hopefully no one will notice he's the Hero of Hestert?tten. Because there are still a few people who haven't read the articles about Holter.

Now, granted, everyone in the city knows about Nico. You'd have to be living under a coral reef to not know who he is. Another good reason we forced him to go straight to the sister's apartment.

We pass by a lab bench. Test tubes spin in a centrifuge. Holter pauses while casually stopping to tie his shoe. He nods at me and we turn, going back to the elevator.

Years of missions have my heart beating at a near constant rate, but that doesn't mean I won't be glad when we have our whole pod back at Glyden. The only good thing about this mission is— Okay, two things. One, I don't have to kill anyone, and two, it's keeping me from worrying about my sister.

Holter hits the button for the lobby. I furrow my brow at him. The sisters live on the twenty-seventh floor of the dome.

"I've got a stomachache." He has his block out. "Go get them as fast as reasonable without drawing attention."

"All right." I open my eyes wide in a plea for information.

"Later. Just don't let them stay there. I'm calling in some favors. This can't wait."

"Okay." I watch as the door closes. Holter doesn't have a stomachache. I nod and push the button for the sisters' floor. It opens with a ding. It's far from a penthouse. Twelve doors circle the elevator. I find theirs and give a firm knock.

A blonde with a tight set of braids answers the door. "I'm Elandra; that's my sister Liora. You must be Eros. "Where's Holter?" She looks into the hallway.

"He must have had some bad shrimp at breakfast. He headed back to the omada." I glance around the apartment. It's nice but not overly so. It lacks the warmth and coziness that Sunshine has made in our apartment in barely any time at all. The table's spread with takeout. "But I'm starving."

"Eros." Sunshine takes my arm.

"Do you think I could have a picture with you and the trident? With Annabelle, of course, and Eros too," Liora asks.

Nico frowns. "Sure."

"Here, I'll take it," I offer.

Elandra hands me her block. And I take the three thousand photos that Marina would want. My toenails cut into my shoes. I have to pretend nothing is wrong. Nothing may be wrong. Well, with Marina. There's something fishy going on downstairs, that's for sure. And the fact that people haven't discovered what's going on in the cavern beneath the dome or even know about it widely is beyond me.

"I got some good ones." A bold-faced lie. Nico's face is twisted up, and I'm guessing he'd rather fight another giant eel than be in the sisters' company any longer. I try to give the block back to Liora, but she's too busy ushering us to the table to notice.

Nico looks like me and my brothers when we were little and forced to sit through a dinner my parents threw for dignitaries—bored and frustrated. But then, that's his normal expression. Nico doesn't stop his ugly mug frown when I stop pointing the block at him either.

What happens is a message comes through. "You're so lucky to have Poseidon and his mates at your apartment," I say as I hand the block back to Liora like I haven't read her message.

But I must admit, I wonder if these two were plants brought into whatever was going on downstairs. Used to lure Sunshine to their dome. I've become an expert judge of character, or at least I've become good at picking up on bad acting. The sisters aren't hiding anything.

I take Sunshine's gloved hand. Neither of them have said anything about her wearing gloves. A lot of mermaids do, even though being fertile is considered a private thing, something you don't have to share with others unless you want to.

But we need to get out of here, back to Holter. I give Sunshine a smile. Not a smirk, a smile. "Oh, you know I'm hungry too. Everything smells so delicious."

Her eyebrow cocks and I nod. She gets it. Operation ‘eat and run' has commenced.

The food smells okay. Delicious? No. Not when you've gotten used to eating Holter's food. Not when you're wondering what favors he's calling in. Fuck. I want out of this apartment. But Holter wouldn't have said as fast as reasonable if he thought Sunshine was in danger. Nico inhales his food. He doesn't care what etiquette is. Hell, if Holter had given him the message, we would never have eaten here.

I eye him over the hedge-tots and flick my eyes to the door. He stands, pushing his chair back with a loud screech. "Thanks for the food. Now I need to go have sex with my mate." He hoists Sunshine over his shoulder and takes long steps to the door. "Do you have everything?"

"Yes. Nico, put me down so I can say goodbye."

"No time," he grunts. With the other hand, he picks up his trident.

"Thank you." Sunshine waves upside down, leaving me to awkwardly shrug and chase after them.

"Maybe next time you can come alone." The two of them are grasping at their chairs from standing up so quickly.

"Never," Nico says.

"Yes," Sunshine says at the same time.

This time we scrunch into the elevator. It's been twenty minutes since I've seen Holter. He's in the back of the omada, his block in hand, focused on something in his lap.

"What you got there, blond warrior?" I cock my head at Holter.

"Blond warrior?" Sunshine asks. "I like it." She slides into the seat next to him.

"What I have is why I didn't want to join you upstairs." He holds up a drive.

I blink. "Holy haddock. I didn't see you take that."

He wiggles his eyebrows at me. "Because this blond warrior has some moves."

"Speaking of moves, I want to get out of here." Nico's behind the throttle. "Hold on." The omada flies to the Braesen airlock.

Holter holds the drive in his hand. "MVP, the Mermaid Viability Project."

For once, we are all speechless.