Barely in time for class, Allen had caught up on sleep in the lunch break and some of his subjects in college. Especially the Microbiology and Biology of marine life in the afternoon lulled him into a trance, so that he completely fell asleep, and could not be woken up by his peers, before Dr.Yates slammed the biology book on his head.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~WUMM~</span><br/><br/>"Mr. Yates, that is student abuse...what if I get stupid from that."<br/>Allen rubbed his head sleepily, while the rest of the students laughed. Most of the professors were used to Allen sleeping in class and still getting one of the top 10 rankings at tests. Some of them had even let him re-take the tests in a single room, but Allen had even better results at the re-tests.<br/>His photographic memory helped him a lot in studying. And he could concentrate better, when he was alone as well.<br/><br/>Dr.Yates had used his connections to give Allen his nightshift as caretaker, cleaner and security in the local marine life zoo. He did not ask why the boy was a night active person, but instead supported his decisions.<br/>Sometimes, Allen thought that he was discovered being a merfolk person, and thats why Dr.Yates was so kind to him.<br/>However, each time he probed the biologist, his professor never let anything slip.<br/><br/>Grudgingly following after Dr. Yates after class, he had mentally prepared himself for another essay about marine life, or some miscellanous task, and later another shift at the zoo, when he was taken by surprise:<br/>"I have called your nightshift off. You have another task to do, more practical. For the marine life report I am currently proceeding."<br/><br/>Bored, the merman just listened with one ear, but his eyes almost fell off, as he saw a glimpse the exact same parchment in the professors documents, as his parents possessed. Snatching it, he laughed maniacally.<br/>"You research fantasy as well, Mr. Yates?"<br/><br/>Still, the professor coughed slightly and some color was added to his usually blank face. "I am just looking into possible genetical mutations of marine life."<br/>Allen shrugged his shoulders, as he stopped probing, as usual. Unless he wanted to get himself in trouble, he would not dig too far. Dr Yates continued:<br/>"So, as I was saying, I need you to..."<br/><br/>[...]<br/><br/>From the bits and parts of information from Dr.Yates, Allen found the location easily.<br/>He had promised to wait until the actual expedition, but, the merman had of course his own agenda for this.<br/>It was pretty close, so he could go back and forth, when it was time to actually meet up with the others from the team - Dr.Yates had a team of younger and older marine biologists and also marine interested people to look at the phenomenon and gather some of the minerals and plants.<br/>Snorting to himself Allen murmured. "Even if they had a hundred years of experience, how many scientists could inspect merpeople..?"<br/>He was standing on top of a small hill, looking into a deep crevice with some minerals and crystals visible from up top, but mostly green sparks of plants. Somewhere down below, he heard a splashing noise of water.<br/>"Duh, of course. Getting wet if we go down there with people together." Allen made an annoyed face and prepared to just tag along with the expedition, and check out the cave he discovered later by himself.<br/>Going down the mountain he had just climbed, he discovered a small crevice. A familiar smell suddenly hit his nose, and his heart started to pound harder in his chest.<br/>Allens skin prickled hard as he had the impression of scales poking through his arms and legs and he shudderingly stepped back two steps, gasping for air as if he just had his oxygen deprived of him.<br/>Rolling back his sleeves, he saw no scales appearing, however, he had the impression if he would have stayed there longer, that his transformation would be triggered without his control!<br/>Shocked, but still curious, he approached and prepared to enter the crevice - as suddenly his phone started to vibrate.<br/>Slowly exhaling and stepping back, Allen discovered the time alarm he set, and, with a tingle of regret, he turned back to get to the meeting point in time.<br/>"I will be back here soon enough, when I have<span style="font-style: italic">'lost'</span>the other researchers anyway.." he chuckled softly, as he mounted his motorbike to meet up with the research team.