The bathroom door flew open.
"Jesus Christ, what's going on?" one man cried.
The other clapped his hands over his ears. "Who cares, just shut it up!"
Both of them ran right past Castor without even noticing him. Castor slipped out of the room without hesitation. I felt a bit nervous now that I was truly alone with the poachers, but the plan was going well so far. I trusted Castor to make this work.
"Why the hell is it screaming?"
Neither of them seemed to want to touch me, which was ironic considering the one man had no problem doing it yesterday.
Since Castor was gone, I stopped screaming and began gasping for air. "Need… water…"
Their faces went pale and I tried not to laugh.
"Turn on the fucking tap!"
The other man tripped over himself running towards the bathtub. He threw the stopper in the drain and blasted the water. "I knew we should've done this first! What if it's dying?"
"It's not dying," the other muttered, but he didn't sound too sure. More like he wanted it to be true because if I died, his big chunk of money went with me.
I played up my part, gasping for breath and lying limp against the floor. Obviously, I didn't need the water at all, but how were they supposed to know that? Maybe human ignorance was a good thing after all.
"There, now put it in the tub. Be careful."
I steeled myself as the humans grabbed my arms to haul me into the tub, but I noticed they were considerably gentler than any other time they'd manhandled me. They were probably worried I was sick or injured—not because they actually cared about my safety, but because they would lose money. Still, I wasn't about to complain.
They placed me into the shallow water, then stepped back. The faucet was still running.
"Is it gonna live?" one poacher muttered.
"It'll be fine. I just want it off our hands before it gets sicker..."
I kept my face weary even though I wanted to smirk in satisfaction. They had no idea what was about to hit them.
Once the water filled half the tub, one man shut it off. They both looked at me nervously, like I'd keel over and die at any moment. Hell, if I knew they'd act like doting mother hens, I would've pulled this charade earlier.
"Now what?"
"Put up another ad. A better one. I'm sick of dealing with this thing."
"Fine."
My eyes were half open from fake pain. I watched one man leave the room, but the more aggressive one—the man who hit me—remained to watch. I wished he'd go, too. Even if he wasn't doing anything to me right now, I hated being alone with him.
Where was Castor? We planned on waiting a while to diffuse suspicion, but he was supposed to show up soon.
With nothing to do but wait, I lay there in the dingy water. It smelled like rust and I forced myself not to gag. I missed the clean, clear waters of the wildlife preserve. I missed my home.
I missed Castor.
The bathroom door creaked opened. "Hey. There's a man at the door."
"What?"
"A potential buyer. Says he saw our ad."
"A buyer?"
