SPOILER!!: Catch-up
Heath blinked, slightly embarrassed. He hadn’t meant to ignore the professor; those fish were just so much fun to watch! It took him a second to realize she was joking. He smiled sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. His smile remained intact, but the embarrassment behind it went away as Claudine greeted him. Yes, he knew how enthusiastic she was. Did she know how adorable her enthusiasm was? He’d have to ask her later. Class was starting.
He stepped closer to the aquariums, pondering the professor’s questions. Once again his eyes were drawn to the clownfish and the anemone, and a thought occurred to him. Didn’t some clownfish live in anemones? He seemed to recall hearing that somewhere. Maybe that was why they were grouped together, and by that logic, maybe the other creatures were grouped together because they also shared a symbiotic relationship. Did that make any sense? Not at all confident that it did, he remained silent for the first question… a decision he soon regretted when Professor Paszek said almost exactly what he was thinking.
Wait, there were murtlaps in there? Heath looked again and saw what at first he thought was an anemone, but then he noticed it had legs…. And teeth. And a face. It was rather cute! Hello there, he thought, smiling at the murtlap. He was so fascinated by the creature that it took him a moment to register that Professor Paszek asked another question. What did he know about the murtlap, other than it looked like a cross between an anemone and a naked mole rat?
He thought for a minute, listening to his classmates’ answers. They’d already covered the uses of murtlap essence, the classification, eating habits, and side effects of murtlap bites. What else was left to say? Then something Serena said jogged his memory, and his hand went up. “Isn’t the murtlap’s favorite prey the crustacean?” he said.
Heath listened carefully as Professor Paszek went over the next activity. He had to admit, feeding the murtlaps sounded pretty fun - but wait! They had to catch them first? That sounded difficult. He wondered why they couldn’t just feed the murtlaps while they were still in the aquarium, but he was sure there must be a reason. Otherwise the professor wouldn’t have told them to do it that way. As everyone split into groups, his eyes flicked toward Claudine, but he saw she was already partnered with Evan. Did they need another person? Probably not. It looked like they were pretty far along…. As was nearly everyone else.
He decided to go solo for this one and made his way to the aquarium where he last saw the murtlap, but it was no longer there. Where did it go? His dark eyes scanned the tank in search of anything that looked like legs or teeth, and he spotted something in the far corner. Was that the murtlap? He couldn’t tell for sure, but just in case, he didn’t want to spook it. He remained still, giving the murtlap (wherever it was) time to get used to his presence before making a move.
So how was he supposed to catch it without scaring it? He thought and suddenly remembered that murtlaps go for people’s feet. Maybe the same applied to fingers. If so, maybe he could use that to lure it out and grab it while it was distracted. He cautiously dipped a gloved finger into the aquarium near the place he thought he saw the murtlap and wiggled it back and forth.
“Come out wherever you are,” he whispered.
“Get the finger…”