Current Impressions (22 page)

I nodded. Now, I did remember. Last year at
the museum, Evan and I saw the Selkie exhibit, the story about the
fisherman who stole the Selkie’s skin. He forced her to stay with
him and become his wife. I shuddered and reached down to stroke the
soft leather. Now that I had my skin, I couldn’t imagine being
without it.

“Your father has neglected your studies,”
Angus continued not without a level of disgust. “You must come here
for lessons, starting tomorrow.”

“I have lessons with Kieran or Aunt Brigid
during the day.”

“We’ll train after dinner,” Angus decided.
He took the blade from me, wrapped it in the velvet, and handed it
back. Pulling out my chair, he offered me his hand. “Come now, it’s
getting late, and you must have other things to do than hang out
with the likes of me.”

I let him help me stand. Without thinking
about it, I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight. He
returned the embrace, his arms surprisingly strong.

“Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”

“Of course.” He seemed surprised by my
emotional display. “You are Selkie and my niece. We take care of
our own.”

As I left his room, I couldn’t help but
wonder why my great uncle was more willing to provide for me than
my own father was. I was losing faith in him fast.

The ocean floor stretched before him. Evan
watched a school of fish pass in a flash of silver, their
underwater dance both graceful and quick. Again, he wondered what
it would be like to swim amongst them, unrestrained by his heavy
scuba gear, free to race with the currents. He caught himself
humming a perky tune and abruptly stopped.

“Feeling better?” Professor Nolan’s voice,
full of humor, echoed in his ear. “Really, Evan, go on. I was
enjoying the background music.”

His face grew hot, but Evan laughed because
he
was
feeling better. After Dr. Tenuis gave him the second
shot, he woke an hour later rested and relaxed. If the drug was
experimental, Dr. Tenuis should consider patenting the stuff. It
worked miracles.

When he woke up at the hospital, Ted was
waiting for him. They drove back to the house, and Evan spent the
rest of the evening eating ice cream and playing video games.

The only thing he regretted was his
conversation with Meara. She’d been so worried about him, and he
snapped at her, “Am I supposed to be at your beck and call?” She
grew quiet after that, and before long, they said goodnight. He
didn’t like leaving things that way, but he didn’t know what to say
to make it better.

“Okay, now you’re really quiet,” Ted said.
“Everything okay?”

“Fine. Just working on gathering the last
couple of samples Ken wanted.”

This was Evan’s fifth trip to the crevice,
the first one where he was pain free. He looked at the fissure with
new eyes. It wasn’t the death and destruction trap he once deemed
it to be. Life moved in and around the hot springs, small, gray
crabs and slick, black eels. He was collecting samples of
everything in the area—the mantle floor, ash, and cooled lava, as
well as a crab and the limited flora. The subjects were the same
from the previous week, but Ken studied them for signs of distress
or change. So far, the area was relatively stable, but with a
mantle plume, that could change overnight.

Ken never came down on the dives. He
preferred to stay onboard. Evan asked the professor about it, but
Ted just shrugged it off. “He just prefers land, I think. Maybe
he’s claustrophobic.”

That could be a plausible answer, though
Evan wasn’t sure. In any case, it meant more diving trips for Evan,
and he loved it. The hard part was staying focused on the mantle
plume. There were so many amazing creatures. He longed to study
them.

He closed the cover on his last sample,
placed it in his pack, and gave Ted a thumbs-up. Using their scuba
scooters, they began a slow ascent.

Ken was waiting when they broke the surface.
He helped them into the boat and took their packs. “Did you find
everything?”

“We got it all,” Evan answered. “It sure is
a lot easier when my head’s not pounding.”

“Glad to hear it.” Ken patted Evan’s
shoulder. “Dr. Tenuis helped you then?”

“I feel much better,” Evan said. “Thanks for
calling him.”

“Anytime, my boy.” Ken smiled at him. “Just
glad you’re all right.” He lifted the bags and nodded toward the
cabin. “I’ll store these samples, and we’ll head back.”

For a brief moment, Evan wanted to grab his
pack from Ken, open the vials, and return everything to the sea. A
shudder ran through him, and the feeling passed. He sunk onto a
bench on the side of the stern and took off his scuba fins.

His headaches were gone, but was he losing
his mind?

“He said that to you?” Ula shook her curly
head in disbelief. “That’s crazy.”

“He’s never spoken to me like that before. I
wasn’t nagging either. I just asked where he’s been. Is that so
unreasonable?”

“Of course not, sweetie. Here, I think you
need some more.” Ula held out the container of ice cream we’d been
sharing. In my first lesson with Angus, I asked him where he got
the Swiss Miss. He admitted to raiding a grocery store on the
mainland. He transported the items to his suite and left money at
the service desk. I laughed, and then laughed even harder when his
cheeks reddened. In the end, though, I asked him to show me how and
he did. The result was the caramel-swirl ice cream we were
currently enjoying.

“Besides boy trouble, what have you been up
to?” Ula leaned back in her beanbag chair and studied me. “I feel
like I haven’t seen you in days.”

I let the ice cream melt on my tongue a
little before I swallowed it and spoke. “I guess lessons have been
keeping me busy, especially now that I added the ones with Uncle
Angus.”

“How are those going?” Her eyes
twinkled.

Holding up the ice cream, I grinned. “Pretty
well.” I set it down and poked her in the arm with my spoon. “But
why didn’t you tell me Angus is half human?”

“He asked me not to,” she said. “It was his
secret, not mine. Besides, you know now.”

“I guess.” I handed Ula the container. “I
can’t eat any more of this. I feel like I’m going to explode.”

“I certainly hope not.” She looked at me in
mock horror. “What a mess that would make!”

She giggled at her own joke while scooping
out the last few spoonfuls of ice cream. I curled into my beanbag
chair and relaxed. It was easy to be around Ula. In some ways, she
reminded me of my best friend Kim, and in others, she reminded me
of Mom. In either case, I felt closer to her than anyone else here,
even my father.

“Thanks, Ula,” I said. “You always cheer me
up.”

“Anytime.” She smiled. “That’s what aunts
are for.”

“Did Brigid get that memo?”

“Memo?” Ula’s eyebrows wrinkled in
confusion. “What memo?”

“Nothing,” I said. “It’s just a human
phrase. It means that she doesn’t know about it.”

“Oh, of course. Funny.” Ula’s expression
clearly said she didn’t get it, but I let it go. Mom would’ve
laughed. It was a phrase we used often.

“I think I’m going to head back to my room.”
I stood. “See if I can reach Evan. Maybe he was just having a rough
night with the medicine wearing off.”

“You want me to come with you? I can use
your necklace and verbally beat him if he hurts you.”

“That’s okay, Ula.” I smiled at her. “I
think I’ve got it. Thanks for sharing the ice cream with me.”

“Anytime.” She tossed the container in the
air, and it disappeared. “For future reference, I also like
strawberry.”

****

I paced in my room. Part of me wanted Evan
to make the first move. He was such a jerk last night. Shouldn’t he
apologize or at least reach out to me?

A cool breeze brought the sweet scent of
brine. I longed to swim and clear my head, but I couldn’t. My dad
would kill me. If he didn’t, Angus, Brigid, Ula, and Kieran would
be waiting in line. If anything were left of me, Padraic and Ren
would take a shot. It was nice to have a family that was caring and
stifling at the same time. My dad forbade swimming for all Selkies
until he solved the mystery surrounding the deaths. I was stuck on
land.

Pulling back the covers on my bed, I crawled
in. It was getting late. The moon spilled silver light across the
stone floor, and Evan hadn’t called to me. Was he angry? How could
he be angry when I was just concerned?

Meara!
Evan screamed my name.

I winced in surprise.
What is it?

My voice met silence. What was going on?

Evan?

Evan!

I called his name several times. He didn’t
respond. What was wrong? He could be sick like the last time I
stayed over.

I had to go. I didn’t have a choice.

I’m coming, Evan.
I spoke in my mind.
Hang on.

I closed my eyes and focused on every detail
in his room. I heard his moans before I opened my eyes. He thrashed
in his bed, his hair matted to his head, his chest bare and beaded
with sweat. His legs, tangled in the sheets, struggled to break
free.

Not wanting him to kick or hit me by
accident, I approached with caution. His cheeks were flushed
crimson, but the rest of his face was markedly pale. I pressed my
hand against his forehead. He was burning up. Could I help take
away the pain the way my dad helped my mom?

I visualized cool air flowing from my hand
to his body, and then I felt it. The coolness flowed from my
fingertips into his skin. His thrashing slowed, and his breathing
regulated. It was working!

A blue light sparked in the dark and shot up
my arm. Crying out in surprise, I pulled my hand back, fingertips
biting. The pain was cool and sharp like an electrical burn. I blew
on each finger, and the pain receded. When I looked up, Evan’s eyes
were open and glowing in that same, strange blue. What was wrong
with him?

He flipped on the bedside lamp. His eyes
returned to their normal, deep blue. Had I imagined it?

“Meara?” His voice was groggy and
confused.

“Turn the light out,” I whispered. He did as
I said and pitched us into darkness. His eyes no longer glowed.
“Okay, you can turn it on again.”

“What was that about?” he asked. When the
light came back on, he was sitting up. The sheet pooled around his
waist. “Why are you here? Didn’t we decide it was best for you to
stay away?”

“You screamed my name. Don’t you remember?”
I sat on the edge of the bed and reached for his hand. “I tried to
reach you after that, and you didn’t respond.”

He ran his hand through his hair and studied
our joined hands for a brief moment before tugging his free. “I was
having a nightmare. I don’t remember calling to you. You should
leave.”

“Evan, are you mad at me?” This was my first
serious relationship, but I knew what to watch for when someone was
losing interest. Evan had all the classic signs, the hot and cold
treatment, not wanting to hold my hand, not looking me in the eye.
Had he met someone else?

“What?” He looked up at me then. “I’m
worried about you. Meara, you told me that your dad thinks it’s
unsafe for you to come here. You need to listen to him—”

Evan was interrupted by someone knocking at
the door. “You okay, Evan?”

“Go,” Evan mouthed silently, but it was too
late. The door opened, and the professor stepped in, a shocked
expression on his face when he saw me.

“Oh, you have company. Forgive me.” He
turned to leave, and then turned back to give me a confused look.
“How did you get in?”

“I let her in,” Evan blurted before I had
the chance to consider a response. “I’ll see her out.”

Professor Nolan’s face relaxed. “Not a
problem, Evan. Although I think Ken likes to be aware of visitors
in his house.”