But she also knew if she began skipping cla.s.ses on the first day it would lead to a slippery slope and she wasn't sure if she wanted to see where it would lead her. With Marty and her taking the same courses, they were fortunate enough to be in the same cla.s.s and with them pa.s.sing notes as if they were in middle school again it was like nothing changed.

With the professor walking back and forth Marty took a moment and threw a white square piece of folded paper at Darya's desk.

Darya carefully scooted the square folded paper to the edge of her desk and under her flat hand. Watching the professor as she carefully unfolded the paper. Her eyes fell to the words Marty had written her.

"After this cla.s.s, we are hunting down that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Tyler and getting the low down on his stepfather."

She read over his words and knew that it had to be done. They had to confront Tyler, who hates her now, to tell them where his stepfather may or may not be. A headache formed in the front of her mind when she thought about what she had to do after cla.s.s. Scribbling her response down, she tossed the folded paper back to Marty when the professor turned to the whiteboard.

She counted the minutes until the professor dismissed them and she honestly didn't pay attention to anything he was saying before during the cla.s.s. All she retained was what she had finished learning in high school. The moment the pop-bellied professor dismissed them she nearly jumped out of her seat and ran to the hall with Marty on her heels.

"So what's the plan?" He asked, catching up with her while trying to balance the new textbooks he just picked up. "Track down Tyler and see if he knows anything. I know he still thinks it's fake which is a good thing but maybe he knows where his father went to work after he left my mother's lab." She whispered to Marty as he walked close with her down the halls of the college. Technically, they had two more cla.s.ses for the day but tracking down Tyler was going to take precedence over that at the moment.

"So you're just going to go up to him and demand to know where Johnson is? He's not going to tell you anything." Marty had a point and she knew it. Darya hit the door to exit the building and when the sun hit her face she stopped for a moment. What was she going to do to get him to tell the two of them where Johnson is? She allowed the sun to bake her skin ever so slightly letting the stress of all the information she was given today just roll off of her shoulders.

"I think I have a plan. I'll ask him for his father's information because I'm studying coral. His main focus at the lab was on coral, my mother took more to the algae side. But I know for a fact that he was the coral guy. That's what I called him as a kid, remember?" She turned to Marty who as basking in the bright yellow light of the sun as well. Both of them hated being inside for too long during the day.

"Yeah, I remember you calling him that. I didn't go to your mom's lab all that often and I think he only came over to your house maybe twice. Ever. But do you really think that will work?" Marty didn't seem sure of anything at the moment and she didn't blame him. In a matter of a few hours, their new college lives went crazy and they didn't get the chance to adjust at all to this new life.

"I think it might, I just have to make it believable. And actually..." She got cut off by Marty pointed her face towards the person they were looking for. "Look, it's Tyler." He spoke under his usual tone with her. They didn't want to seem like stalkers to everyone around them. They watched him walking with another student before he said his goodbyes and began walking alone. Just like a stalker would do, they quickly caught up with him and the second her hand touched his shoulder he turned around. Only this time his smile faded and he looked p.i.s.sed.

"What the h.e.l.l do the two of you want? I'm leaving you alone like you screamed at me. I can't very well do that with you following me!" He shouted louder than they wanted him to but luckily no one around them heard what he was saying. "It's not about that, although I would like to apologize for being so cra.s.s before." They both saw him relax at her apology and for a moment they thought it was working.

"I wanted to know where your stepfather went to work after he left my mother's lab back home. I have this project I wanted to get a head start on and he's the best with coral." She lied through her teeth and at the mention of his stepfather's name his face twisted up in a sour expression. "I don't know where that p.r.i.c.k went." They were surprised by his answer, as far as they knew everything was going well with his family life. Aside from his biological father dying which led to him moving in with his mother and stepfather.

"What happened?" Marty tested the waters with this simple question that he hoped didn't make things worse. "He left my mother. It happened after that night at the lab. He was fine for a month or two but when I started school the next year he just left. Sent the divorce papers a few months later and that's all I know. He's a loser and he'll always be a loser. You're better off getting your info off of Google than from him." Before they could say anything Tyler turned and left them standing in wonder.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the algae we used on him?" Darya didn't say anything but she was thinking the same thing. Did it have an adverse side effect? Or did it wear off and that's how he remembered the information about her family and her tail? The ladder seemed more plausible since he was the one that possibly abducted her father and killed her grandmother.

"I guess we'll have to do what he told us." Marty looked at Darya in confusion, what was she talking about? "We need to use the internet to find him now. There can't be that many men named Johnson in the field he's in. Plus, Gemma talked about there being more than one person that day. He could have partners on this, it could be bigger than we have imagined." Darya squeezed her textbooks closer to her body as she thought about the people that invaded her father's kingdom. If Johnson wasn't a local anymore they would have to stretch further than their little college and their hometown.