Current Impressions (19 page)

“I want to be with you,” I said.

“For tonight,” Evan whispered. “You can’t
come back until we know it’s safe.” I nodded, and he wiped the
tears from my cheeks. “Don’t cry. We’ll figure it out. I love you.
Nothing changes that.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed
him with desperation. When would I see him again? I didn’t want to
let him go.

****

The sky was inky black when I transported
back to my room. The moon and stars hid behind thick, dark clouds.
I moved through the familiar darkness and crawled into bed.

That was when I realized I wasn’t alone.

A hand snaked around my head and covered my
mouth, muffling my scream. The voice spoke near my left ear. “Did
you have a nice time with your boy toy?”

I jabbed my elbow back hard and met a solid
wall of muscle.

“Cripes, Meara! Are you trying to kill me?”
The words came out in raspy bursts. My aim wasn’t half bad.

“Maybe you shouldn’t sneak into a girl’s
room in the middle of the night!” I snapped back. “What are you
doing here, Kieran?”

With a flick of my wrist, the candles in my
room flared to life. Kieran leaned against the headboard, rubbing
his side where my elbow made contact. He scowled at me. “I came to
ask you something about the transfer of energy, but you weren’t
here. David left again, and Ula’s room was quiet. That left only
one option. You went to see Evan, so I decided to wait for
you.”

“Are you stalking me?” I glared back at him.
How dare he keep tabs on me! Who did he think he was? My
babysitter?

“I’m not stalking you!” He ran his hand
through his hair. It was so short that it didn’t even muss it up.
“And, you’re avoiding my question. You’re more like your father
than I thought.”

“Don’t bring my dad into this.” The last
thing I wanted was to be compared to my dad. I was nothing like
him. “And, you get plenty of answers from him. More than me.”

“If you say so. Where were you tonight,
Meara?” He leaned forward and waited.

I stomped across the room and sat in the
chair near the bookcase. It was making me distinctly uncomfortable
sitting next to him on the bed. “I was with Evan. There! Are you
happy?”

His hand went to his hair again. “Are you
crazy? Do you have a death wish?”

“No, I’m not crazy.” First Evan, now him.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

Kieran raised his eyebrow, and his lips
twitched. “Who else asked you if you were crazy?”

“Evan.” I hated telling him, but I did
anyway.

Kieran slid down and sat at the end of the
bed facing me. He looked amused. “Why would Boy Toy ask you if
you’re crazy?”

“Please stop calling him that.” I shifted in
the chair. It wasn’t comfortable. I debated telling him about the
dinner and decided that maybe he’d have a different perspective.
“Ken, the owner of the house, asked Evan to invite us to
dinner.”

“Us?”

“You and me.” Before he could say anything,
I added, “I guess Stonewall told him about you, too.”

“And Boy T—, I mean, Evan, didn’t want us to
go?”

“No,” I said. “When I told him about the
dead Selkies, he told me not to come back.”

“You shouldn’t have told him.” He pointed a
long finger at me. “That’s Selkie business, not his. At least he
finally said something smart. You shouldn’t have gone there, and
you can’t go back.”

“Stop telling me what to do.” Why did
everyone think they knew what was best for me? “I transport there
in minutes. Who would catch me?”

Kieran laughed. It sounded sharp and
brittle. “Who would catch you? Any number of magical creatures. You
think we’re the only ones out there?” He came over and crouched in
front of my chair. He was so close that I could smell the mint from
his toothpaste. “We’re not alone, and not everyone is as friendly
as we are.”

I moved in so our noses were almost
touching. How dare he get in my face and challenge me? “Then
enlighten me, Kieran. Who else is out there?”

He’d sucked in his breath when I moved
closer. He let it out in a minty whoosh and stood, pulling me up
with him. “Fine, I will.” He held my wrist and pulled me toward the
door.

“Where are we going?” I asked, alarmed. It
was ridiculously early. Hours until sunrise. What could he possibly
show me now?

“Do you want answers?” His hand flexed on my
wrist. It wasn’t painful, but his grip was firm. I wasn’t getting
my wrist back unless he released it. When I nodded, he said, “Then
extinguish the candles and let’s go.”

I waved them out with my free hand. He slid
his hand down my wrist and locked his fingers with mine. My pulse
thrummed in my throat. He’d never held my hand before. His was warm
and strong. I never thought of mine as delicate, but it felt that
way in his.

His fingers squeezed mine briefly before he
loosened his grip. “Follow me and be quiet. We don’t want to get
caught.”

He led me down the hall and up a flight of
stairs. When we passed my dad’s room and then Angus’, I figured we
were going to the library, but instead, he turned left. He chanted
something under his breath, and the wall that I thought was solid
stone wavered. An opening appeared to another hall. When I gasped,
Kieran squeezed my hand again before pulling me in.

There were no windows in this corridor, only
darkness. I was grateful for his guiding hand. I stumbled a few
times over uneven stones, and he steadied me.

“Some light would help,” I offered.

With a sigh, he created a small, glowing orb
that cast the hall in green light. The hall was narrow enough that
I couldn’t see past Kieran’s back. I was about to ask if we were
almost there when he stopped.

“Stairs going down ahead,” he said. “Just a
few of them.”

He started down the stairs, and I followed,
counting as I went. Ten stairs ended on a landing. The heavy,
wooden door creaked as he opened it.

“Let’s have some real light.”

As he said it, several torches lit in the
room. In awe, I stepped around him and entered first. The room was
cavernous, lined with bookcases, maps, and globes. A large table
ran the length of the room and crossed most of the width.

“What is this?” I asked.

“The strategy room. Only the elders use it.”
He stepped behind me. I didn’t turn, but I felt him to my right. “I
took a big risk bringing you here. Don’t tell anyone.”

“How did you know about it?” I asked. When
he didn’t say anything, I turned around. He looked uncomfortable.
“Kieran?”

“I know…” He paused. “Because I’m one of
them.”

“What?” My dad made Kieran an elder and not
me? Was I important to him at all?

“Not of this clan,” Kieran added quickly.
“But of my own. My dad made me an elder several years ago. David
honors that.” His voice faded at the end. He stepped around me and
walked toward a bookcase. “Try not to take it too hard, Meara. Your
dad just found you. It’s going to take time.”

“Everyone keeps telling me that, too,” I
mumbled under my breath.

Kieran turned to me with a confused
expression. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” I walked over to where he stood.
“What’s here that you were going to show me?”

He grinned. “Well, everything here is worth
showing you. Your dad has an amazing collection of information.” He
trailed his hand along the shelves. It seemed that he shared a love
of textbooks with Evan. “You specifically asked about our enemies,
though, so…” He scanned the shelves in front of him, his slender
fingers tapping on the volumes until he found the one he wanted.
“We’ll start here.”

Carrying the book over to the table, he
pulled a chair out for me and took the one next to it. I sat and
tried not to think about how much I liked the way he smelled, like
spring rain and clean air. I cleared my throat, “Do we start at
chapter one?”

He laughed. “No. I’ve read this a few times
before.” He flipped through the pages, and then slid the book in
front of me, pointing to an illustration. My heart stopped. The
creature had the head of a shark and the body of a human. “Sharkna.
Very common where I’m from, not so much here in Scotland. They like
warmer water.”

I swallowed my fear and stared at the
killing machine. “Evan found something similar yesterday. The book
called them ‘Aumakuas’.”

Kieran nodded. “Same creature. That’s just
the Hawaiian name for them. They view the Sharkna as sacred.”

“Have you ever seen one?” I asked.

Kieran stared at the book and frowned, his
brows drawing together. I wasn’t sure if he was going to answer
me.

“Yes,” he said quietly. “He killed my mom
before my dad killed him.”

I placed my hand on his arm. “I’m sorry,
Kieran.”

He looked at my hand and then into my eyes.
His shimmered with unshed tears. He blinked them away as I watched.
“Thanks,” he said. “It was a long time ago.”

The creature stared up at us with beady,
black eyes and a mouthful of razor teeth. This image alone could
give me nightmares.

“What’s next?” I asked, eager to move away
from the Sharkna.

“Leviathan,” he said and pointed to another
picture. “Typically live alone, which is good. Makes them easier to
kill. A pack of Leviathan means certain death.”

One glance at the image on the page, and I
believed it. The Leviathan was a giant sea snake with two heads. In
the image, the heads intertwined, but both heads were hideous with
glowing, yellow eyes, forked tongues, and long, thin fangs dripping
with blue venom.

Kieran tapped the book. “You have to watch
out for the mouths, too. The venom is deadly.”

“And this is easy to kill?” I gave him a
skeptical look. “Have you killed one?”

“Once. I came across its cave. Lucky for me,
he had just woken up and was slower than normal.” He shook his head
at the picture. “He had nasty breath, too.”

“You know you’re not filling me with
confidence here,” I said.

“I’m not trying to.” He leaned in and looked
into my eyes. “I’m trying to instill some fear into that pretty
little head before you find yourself without it.”

I tried not to notice how my heart jumped
when he called me pretty. “Point taken. What’s next?”

Kieran took the book back and flipped
through a few more chapters, muttering as he went. He paused and
said, “You can look at all of those later. They’re not really
threats to us, more of a nuisance, like bugs are to humans. But
these…” He stopped, and his finger drilled into the page in front
of him. “These you must take note of.”

He slid the book back over to me. The image
was a collage of beings. Some looked human with different-colored
skin, some looked half human, half fish like a mermaid, but
uglier.

“What are these called?”

“Merfolk, Blue Men, Water Demons, and
Kelpies.” He identified each one as he said its name. “Like us,
these creatures can appear as human. You might meet one and not
even know it at first. It takes experience to recognize them.”

His description reminded me of when we met
last year at that dance club. I didn’t know at the time that Kieran
was a Selkie. I had no idea until I found out that my friends had
no memory of the evening or of Kieran’s Selkie friends. It scared
me to think of how easily he tricked me, and how I could be fooled
again.

“Can you recognize them?” I asked.

“Usually.” He shrugged. “I’m still learning.
I haven’t encountered all species yet.”

“The ones you’ve seen,” I said. “What do you
look for?”

He moved the book so it was halfway between
us. “I’ll tell you what I know from experience and what my father
told me. When you get the chance, ask David his opinion.”

“You told me not to say anything.”

“Tell him you found the information in
Evan’s book,” he said. “Lie.”

“Okay.” Kieran was telling me more than
David ever had. If I had to lie, I would.

He pointed to the merman. “Merfolk.
Sometimes friendly, sometimes not. Easily bribed, so they often
work for our enemies or the highest bidder. In human form, they
don’t have a belly button.”

“That’s it?” I asked. When he nodded, I
laughed. “What do you do? Go around lifting people’s shirts?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “They’re not fond
of human clothes either, so their chest or midriff typically
shows.” I continued to snicker at an image of Kieran lifting
people’s shirts. He didn’t share my amusement. “Shall I continue?”
he asked drily.

“Yes.” I took a deep breath and reminded
myself that these creatures could kill me. Had killed two of our
own. The thought sobered me quick enough.

Kieran nodded and continued. “Blue Men of
the Minch. From what your dad has told me, they are vicious,
self-serving, and thrive on destruction and chaos. I’ve never seen
one. They have blue eyes, skin, and hair. I don’t know if they can
disguise this or not. When your dad fought them, they were in their
true form like you see here.”

My dad fought them? I looked at the picture
of the muscular man. From head to toe, he was a deep royal blue. He
smiled with a mouthful of pointy, blue teeth, vicious and scary. My
dad was not only powerful, but also brave.

“I know that they killed my grandparents,” I
said. “I didn’t know Dad fought them.”

“He tried.” Kieran’s voice was soft. “He
lost. It was only David, Brigid, and Angus against all of them.
Your family retreated while they had the chance.”

I tried to picture my dad and aunt fighting
throngs of these creatures. A shiver ran down my spine. Maybe I was
a fool. The world was much more dangerous than I thought.

“What’s that one?” I pointed to something
that looked like a sea horse. “It doesn’t look dangerous.”

“Looks deceive,” Kieran warned. “That’s a
Kelpie. They’re dangerous all right, unless your wish is to drown
to death. They lure you into the water and hold you captive for
hours until you take your last breath.”