Free Mother of Darkwaters: Book one of the Vessel series by Tony C. Skye

The girl with dark brown hair places the sample onto the specimen slide. Slipping it under the electron microscope, Caroline sets the amplification to 100x. She looks through the set of double lenses to view the labors of her work beneath.
       Ew. What is that?
       “Some of you may have to take more than one sample before you see anything,” a female's voice instructs, “And if or when you find any movement, I want you to write down your findings in your composition books.”
      
       Caroline jots down a description of the translucent wormy thingy within her eye's view. She swallows as though there is a bad taste in her mouth.
     
       The auburn curly hair of the teacher, Mrs. Stoops, briefly moves as she passes in front of the fan. Moving from one station to the next, she continues her instruction,
       “Most of you will find single-celled organisms. The lucky ones will find the earlier stages of complex organisms.”
       The instructor of Introduction to Advanced Biology proudly looks over her classroom. This particular early-year experiment never becomes boring. The mix of emotional faces can be humorous to observe.
       Some of the students are genuinely intrigued. These will be the ones who have the greatest chances of pursuing a field into biology. Over the thirty-one years of her teaching, however, Mrs. Stoops has learned not to discount the ones who exhibit disgust. Some of those students have surprisingly gone on to become excellent scientists within her respective field.
     
       A soft voice speaks from behind Caroline's right shoulder, “And what has put that sickened expression on one of our prestigious varsity cheerleaders, may I ask?”
       With the right corner of Caroline's upper-lip slightly raised, she glances up at her teacher.
       “Worm,” she responds disgustedly.
       Mrs. Stoops smiles, “Do you mind?”
       “Be my guest,” Caroline answers with no desire to view the creepy see-through creature again.
     
       Mrs. Stoops looks through the lens before switching the zoom to 500x. She readjusts the fine tuning.
        “Very nice,” the teacher says as she stands upright.
     
       The older woman gently pats Caroline on her shoulder, “Good job, Ms. Reynolds.” The teacher speaks louder, “If you see a circle-like object that has movement – that would be single-cell. If you find a worm like Ms. Reynolds has, then you have just witnessed evolution at its finest.”
       Mrs. Stoops begins moving around the room, “Make sure to classify each one accordingly. And for the rest of your class time, I want you all to examine multiple samples. We'll stop fifteen minutes before the bell to clean up.”
       The teacher returns to her desk, “Does anyone have any questions?” When no one raises their hand, Mrs. Stoops nods her desire for the students to continue their assignment.
     
       Caroline glances at her pink watch fixed to her blue backpack.
       10:25 a.m.
       Curiosity draws her in to view the 500x zoom set on the microscope. She peers into the lens.
       Geezus. This thing is squirming all over the place.
       Caroline almost hears the sound-effects of an insect rustling inside of the muddy dirt. She shivers in thought of the imaginary sounds. The teen sits back and looks around the room. The girl returns her attention to her work. She removes the slide, takes off the smaller disposable piece of glass holding the creature in place, and throws the piece into the hazardous waste container. Caroline places the slide into a cleaning tray before resetting her microscope back to its reloading position.
       Oops. Maybe I should have reset it before removing the slide. Oh well. No foul.
     
       Caroline repeats the systematic preparation procedure for her next viewing. She double-checks her zoom set at 100x before looking through the lenses. The girl begins focusing the fine-tuning.
       What the hell? You can't be serious.
       She stares at what