Red Rocks (10 page)

A
ll Jake had to focus on was the steady pull, pull, pull on the oars, and he
surprised
himself by cutting through the water like a blade. His arms and shoulders strained with the effort, but he didn’t give up. Every now and then he turned to look at Red Rocks, waiting for him. At first, they seemed to be getting no nearer, but as the sweat began to run into his eyes, he turned again and there
they were, blazing red. All that was left to do was negotiate the submerged rocks and bring the boat into shore.

Jake stopped rowing. He was breathing hard and all he wanted to do was rest, but he was so close he couldn’t give up. The waves buffeted the boat around as if it were made of paper. Jake pointed the nose of the dinghy in between two rocks and pulled on one oar, then the other until he was safely through. The water was thick with clumps of kelp, and it parted sluggishly to let him through. He stood up for just a second, to scan the rocks for seals, but they were empty. As he lowered himself back into his seat, a wave picked up the boat and tossed it sideways. There was an almighty scraping sound, and the tearing of wood. It was just as he had feared would happen: he had hit a rock, and the boat was stuck fast. Water began to lap at his feet as it filled up, and he was going to have to act fast. He had his life jacket on; he could do it. He would swim the rest of the way.

He stood up, crouching for stability, with the rubbish bag tucked under his arm, and stared into the surging sea. The water in the boat covered his sneakers now. He took some deep breaths to try and calm himself; he was shaking uncontrollably, and not just from the cold that caused his limbs to stiffen in pain. It was now or never.

Jake jumped. He had thought the life jacket would keep him above the surface, but the weight of his body dragged him under for a moment before he popped up, coughing. The shock of the cold had made him inhale as he hit the water, and he panicked, nearly dropping the sealskin. He clung to the boat to get his bearings, and to gather his courage. His heart was still beating fast. It was time to let go and swim.

It was more difficult than he imagined, because he only had one useable arm. He floated on his side, with the sealskin clutched under his left arm, while he crawled with his right arm
and frog-kicked his legs. Something touched him under the water and he gave an involuntary yell, but it was just the slimy tentacles of kelp, which felt as though they were trying to wrap themselves around him and pull him under. He kicked himself free. He was so tired, felt so desperate, as he rose and fell helplessly with the swell of the sea. Suddenly a wave broke and crashed over him, slamming him into a rock. His mouth filled with salty water and pain rushed up his shoulder. He couldn’t go on. He used the last of his strength to crawl up onto the rock, where he lay, panting and coughing, fighting tears. He felt pretty sure that he was going to die here. He lay, listening to the pounding surf and, high above him, the keening of seagulls. The sun came out from behind a cloud and the warmth of it hit his back. He opened his eyes and stared at the rubbish sack. Beads of water sparkled on it. He was so close he could almost see his face in each one, if he just closed one eye and focused … 

He must have dozed off. He was woken by a dog nudging his face, breathing its hot breath on him. He pushed it away. The rubbish sack was a comfortable pillow under his head, and he just wanted to sleep for five more minutes. But the dog was insistent. Its whiskers tickled his face. He pushed it away one last time and sat up. He had forgotten where he was for a moment.

There was no dog. Instead, he found himself looking into the dark, liquid eyes of a seal, twitching its whiskery snout. He lurched back and nearly tipped himself into the water. The seal turned and dived below the surface. Jake stood up and looked at how far he had to go — he was much closer than he had thought. The clouds had stolen the sun again and the sea was a sullen grey. He picked up the sealskin, wincing with the pain in his shoulder, and lowered himself gingerly into the sea. He hadn’t meant to rest,
and he didn’t know how long he had been asleep — probably only a few minutes — but it was enough. He felt ready to go again. The water became sheltered and calm as he got closer to shore, and soon he felt solid ground under his feet. Relief swept through him. He was safe.

The wind was sharp when he took his life jacket off, but it restricted his movement on land, so it had to go. He located the slit in the rock, and scrambled to the entrance of the cave. He stopped and looked around. There were no seals on the rocks nearby, but when he looked further out he saw dark shapes bobbing in the surging water, and he knew he was being watched. He shivered.

Jake dropped to his knees and held the bag with the sealskin in front of him as he crawled into the hole. He inched forward bit by bit, with the rocks digging into his knees. All his senses were alert — if there was something, or someone, in there already, he was going to just drop the bag and make himself scarce. But
he got to end of the tunnel and heard and felt nothing. It was warm in the cave, despite his wet clothes. He felt faint and thirsty and wished he had food or water with him.

In the darkness, the sealskin slipped out of the bag. He held it tightly, buried his fingers in the damp fur. He could not bring himself to put it down. Instead, he hugged it fiercely and thought of Cara. Her face appeared in his mind, so beautiful; he could see every feature as clearly as if she stood in front of him now.

It’s just the spell, he thought, and fought it with every instinct he possessed, even though the enchantment was telling him to hold tight and never let it go. But he managed, by sheer force of will, to put the skin down, and he gasped as his hands came away; it was if he was tearing off his own skin. And as he did so, a ripple went through the air around him, like a great sigh, and he turned his face to the light outside, and knew that he and his father were free. He only needed to back carefully out of the cave and return home.

As he emerged, blinking, into the light, he froze: he heard voices, laughter, and something else, a groaning. A seal! He crouched where he was, hiding from it. The last thing he wanted to meet coming out from the cave was a seal. Then a stone thudded down next to him, narrowly missing his shoulder. Slowly, he rose up to peer over the rocks. He stopped. The back of a small seal appeared before him. It was sitting upright, swaying back and forth, clearly distressed. And then he saw why. He recognised the hulking shape in the brown hoodie and the blonde spiky hair: jeering at the seal and throwing stones were the two boys who had stolen his bike. The seal looked mad, but as it advanced to defend itself, Mark, the bigger of the boys, threw a fist-sized rock, which hit the seal on the head. Stunned, the animal staggered backwards.

Jake couldn’t stop himself. ‘Hey!’ The seal turned and looked at him, just as another smaller stone glanced off its neck. Jake jumped up from his hiding place and ran on his tired, quivering
legs, past the seal and right up to the two boys. ‘Stop it!’ he shouted. ‘You’re hurting it!’

The boys looked surprised to see him; they’d obviously thought they were alone. They smelled of cigarette smoke, and their hands and faces were grubby. Mark’s pale cheeks flushed when Jake approached, and he turned to Dan. They nudged each other and forced laughs.

‘You’re like a bad smell, you are, popping up all over the place.’ Dan narrowed his already small eyes so they nearly disappeared into his white lashes. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

Jake didn’t know what he was going to do about it, but he planted his feet firmly and stood between the boys and the seal. When Mark bent to pick up another stone, Jake lunged at him and knocked it from his hand.

‘Oi!’ shouted the boys in unison. Dan stepped forward and pushed Jake hard, toppling him backwards. His tailbone landed sharply on the rocks and the pain winded him for a moment. He felt sick to the stomach. But
he pulled himself to his feet and resumed his defiant position — feet apart, arms folded. His shoulder still hurt and his wrist throbbed from where he had fallen yesterday, but he dampened it all down.

‘I said, leave it alone.’ He felt shaky inside, but his voice did not betray him and it sounded calm and firm.

Dan picked up another rock, and Jake was sure he was going to be the target this time, but Mark caught his friend by the arm. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘This guy’s a loser anyway.’ Jake thought he had intimidated the boy, but he soon saw what he was looking at — the wheel of Jake’s bike was poking out from behind a rock. Dan shoved Jake again on his way past, but this time Jake didn’t fall down. The boys swaggered over to where the bike lay and gave two vicious kicks to the wheels, breaking the spokes with a crunch. Then they seemed to change their minds and picked it up. Together the boys made off with Jake’s precious bike again, whooping as they ran.

A
s soon as the boys were gone, Jake turned to look at the seal. It lay on its side, breathing heavily. He crept up to get a closer look. It eyed him back and seemed to sigh. Its head was smeared with blood. He knew this was the same seal that had woken him on the rock, and he would bet that it was also the same seal that had guided him and his dad back to shore that day.

There wasn’t much he could do for it, and
an injured animal could be dangerous, so he should keep his distance. But this seal wasn’t like any others. Jake put his hand gently on its side, which rose and fell.

‘I’ll get help,’ he promised. The seal looked him in the eyes and blinked, and Jake took it as a sign that it understood him. Then he ran. His whole back stung but he pushed through it. He stumbled several times and grazed his hands once, but each time he fell, he picked himself up and ran on.

He banged on Ted’s door. He knew before he got to the hut that Jessie wouldn’t be there, but a small part of him hoped that he was wrong about so many things. When he stumbled inside, he could see that Ted was alone.

‘You made it! Well done, young fella,’ said Ted. But then his face changed when he saw Jake’s; Ted caught Jake as he sank to his knees.

Jake knelt, panting, trying to catch his breath enough to speak.

‘There’s a seal … it’s hurt … some boys …
hurt it. I think it’s …’

Ted looked grave. Jake wasn’t going to say what was on his mind, but he could tell that Ted knew exactly what he was thinking.

‘Where is it?’ Ted gripped him by both shoulders.

‘Near the cave where the sealskin …’

Ted jumped to his feet, surprisingly agile for his age. He made for the door, then hesitated. He crossed back and picked up some clothes. ‘You stay here, boy. You’ve done your bit.’ Then he was gone.

Jake sat on the floor for what felt like an eternity, too sore to move. He managed to crawl over to the sink and pull himself up to grab a glass of water. He guzzled it down, spilling half of it down his front before pouring another and drinking that too. Then he sat down on the bed to wait.

He must have fallen asleep. The next thing he knew, he was lying on his side on the bed
and the front door was being kicked open. Ted staggered in, red-faced and sweating. In his arms he carried a child — no, not a child, a teenage girl, who clung to his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

‘Move!’ he barked, and Jake sprang to his feet. Ted laid the girl carefully on the bed.

It was Jessie, as Jake knew it would be. She wore a baggy pair of shorts and the holey black jersey Ted had taken as he left. Except it wasn’t the Jessie he knew — she looked too old, at least fourteen. Her legs were longer, ganglier, and her hair spread about her like seaweed. It shone with congealed blood from the cut on her head. Her eyes were closed.

Jake stood by with his hand over his mouth. ‘Will she be all right?’ he muttered through his fingers.

Ted said nothing. He clattered around by the sink, pulling out a bottle of disinfectant and slopping it into a bowl of water. Then he looked around the room until he spied the clean towel on
the drying rack. He tossed it to Jake. ‘Rip this up.’

Jake did as he was told. He tore at the towel until it was nothing but little squares. He poured all of his anxiety into the task, and hardly took his eyes off Jessie’s face as she twitched and made small moaning sounds on the bed.

Ted pulled up a chair next to the bed and tenderly dabbed at Jessie’s wound. Jessie opened her eyes and winced. She tried to sit up but Ted gently held her down.

‘You just stay there, missy,’ he said.

‘I am fine,’ she said. She looked intently into Ted’s eyes. ‘Really.’ There was a force in her voice Jake had not heard before. Ted removed his hand from her shoulder and she sat up. ‘Jake,’ she said, and smiled weakly. ‘I am so glad to see you.’

Jake felt shy suddenly. He nodded and felt himself grow pink. Despite her injury, and her baggy old clothes, she looked beautiful. Was this a trick? Was he falling under the spell of the selkie again?

‘Come here, please.’

Ted stood up and made way for Jake, who sat down in the chair at the head of the bed. Jessie took his hand, and Jake knew this was no spell — after all, her skin must be safely hidden away. What he felt for her was real. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. Jake nodded again. He flinched when she squeezed his hand.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘You are hurt.’ She examined his scraped palms, but they were the least of his pains: his shoulder, his wrist, his tailbone and legs were all bruised and aching.

‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s nothing. Are you all right?’

She put a hand to her head. The bleeding had stopped. ‘Just bruised. You are very brave.’

Jake pulled away from her, standing up and moving to the window. He couldn’t quite acknowledge what she had said to him. Part of him still wanted to hold on to the belief that he had simply stopped some boys from hurting a seal, but that the seal was just that — an animal. That somehow Jessie had been watching him,
and that was how she knew he had helped. But she no longer hid the fact she was a selkie just like Cara. There was so much he wanted to ask her. What was it like to be a seal? How did it feel to inhabit the body of a different creature? But now was not the time: he’d ask her another day.

He said nothing and stared out the window. He could see his bike lying on the road, its handlebars twisted and broken. So the boys had abandoned it and run off. It would be a long walk home with his aching bones, but he knew he had to set off soon. He didn’t know if his father was hurt or even alive at all, but it was too much for him to contemplate right now, and he pushed the thought away.

He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and when he looked he saw a figure gliding over the stones. It was Cara. She was wearing the old overcoat and her feet were bare again. Her face was intent, looking out towards Red Rocks. As she passed the house, she turned
her head and saw Jake at the window. Jake stiffened, unsure how she would react to him, but she smiled at him and raised a hand. Jake raised his also.

‘How does she know? You didn’t get the chance to tell her.’

Ted came and stood behind him and they watched her walking away. ‘The spell’s broken now. As soon as you put it back, she had nothing keeping her at your house. You did a good job today, boy.’

‘But she found out.’ Jake felt ashamed. ‘She overheard us talking. She tore the place apart. And I just left him there. What if she’s killed him?’

Ted put his hand on Jake’s unhurt shoulder and squeezed firmly. ‘I have a feeling he’s all right, but you should go, just to make sure. You go. I’ll stay here with Jessie.’

Jake groaned. All he wanted to do was lie down, but he knew he had to make one last effort. Despite Ted’s assurances, he was terrified about what he would find when he got home.