Author's note: It is inexcusable that I have gone this long without updating this story! I apologize. Thank you so much to everyone who has followed/favorited/reviewed this story! It's so much fun to write!

"Woah, Scully, was that place crazy or what?" Said Mulder as he got into the driver's seat. "And Dr. Ingram was acting more than a little strange, wouldn't you agree?"

"I would, Mulder, but I don't know what that's supposed to tell us."

"Did you even see that broken cage, Scully? Did you see how thick those bars were? It would take an extremely large and strong animal to break through something like that. And what about all those baby jellyfish?"

"The ones she said were for her own knowledge only?"

"She easily could have been lying."

"She's a marine biologist, Mulder. She studies oceanic animals."

He sighed. "I know that. She was acting strange, that's all I'm saying."

"You're one to talk." She smiled a little bit. "But, I agree with you, Mulder. She was probably just nervous."

"Why nervous?"

"We're FBI agents, Mulder, coming into her private office!"

"Nah, you saw the place, Scully. She knew that we were coming. Don't you think if she were nervous to make a good impression she would have straightened the place up a little bit? But, I do think that she was nervous because she wanted to hide something, wouldn't you agree?" He prodded again.

Scully didn't comment. "Where are we going now, Mulder?"

"Well, back to the hotel first, to change. Then we're going kayaking."

"What? Kayaking?"

"Or canoeing. Your choice, really. We have to go search the mangroves where Mercer was killed, and the only way we can access the area is by canoe or kayak."

Scully sighed and glanced out the window. The rain had cleared up; there was no getting out of this. Rolling down the windows, Mulder turned on the radio and the song "What a Wonderful World" began to play. As Scully closed her eyes and decided to pretend to be asleep, she heard something unmistakable—Mulder was singing along to the radio. Disgusted, Scully leaned back her seat and decided that it would probably be best to fall asleep for real.

A few hours later, Mulder and Scully were wading into salty ocean water in puffy life jackets, doing their best to figure out how to get inside the kayaks without tipping over. Once they had achieved this, they began to row towards the mangroves, and Mulder held out the laminated map that had been given to them when they had rented their kayaks. "The guy said the spot where they found Mercer was to the east of where we are now. I really wish he had circled it on the map or something... I guess we'll just look around. I bet we'll see some stuff."

So Scully buckled down and followed Mulder, looking down into the clear water whenever he pointed something out and keeping to herself. He had certainly been right, they saw plenty of colorful fish and sea creatures.

"Oh wow, Scully," Mulder said as they caught sight of yellow police tape draped from mangrove to mangrove. "Come look at this." He held up the tape for her as she ducked under and when finally she saw what he had been referring to.

A gigantic, cave-like gaping hole had been torn into the roots of one unfortunate mangrove. The dark space inside of it was so unnatural Scully could see why the park worker who had talked to them earlier had called the scene "quite a spectacle."

"Mulder...what could have done this?"

"I don't know, but it wasn't a human." He gave a long, thinking pause. "Hear me out for a second...Scully, what it this thing could...lure its victims?"

"What do you mean?"

"Say it made its nest here. It wouldn't even have to leave home to claim a victim; all it would have to do was make itself look like a sea creature someone who came through here would want to see."

"In that case, its only target would be humans, Mulder. How does that make any sense? We already know it doesn't eat what it kills."

"I don't know Scully, but something about this whole thing is just...fishy." He gave a smile in spite of himself.

Scully rolled her eyes. "Mulder...no." The more he looked at her the more she found her face forming a smile until finally she laughed softly.