Red Rocks (6 page)

A
terrible storm developed that afternoon. Jake sat inside with his father watching the sea whip itself into a frenzy. The house shook and moaned.

‘I can’t believe I took you out there without checking the weather forecast,’ said his dad. ‘I’m so sorry, Jake. We could have been out there in this. I never would have forgiven myself.’

‘It’s a good thing that seal showed us the way home.’

‘Yes, how extraordinary. I suppose it was just chasing fish, and the fish were moving with the current. The tide was going in, after all. But it seemed like it was waiting for us, didn’t it?’

‘It was.’

His father ruffled his hair. ‘Then if you say that’s what happened, that’s what happened. It was an adventure anyway.’

Dad lit a fire and they huddled around it. Jake wondered how Ted was getting on in his little cottage. He hoped the sea didn’t come right up into the house. What about Jessie? Was she scared? He wished he could get on his bike and go and see her, to tell her about the seal that had saved their lives. She would believe him.

After dinner, they toasted marshmallows on sticks in the glowing embers of the fire, while Dad told him stories. Jake liked to close his eyes and listen to the sound of his father’s voice wash over him, taking him to faraway places. He felt
truly happy when he was here, sitting next to his father in the warm light. He wished he could live here, go to school in Wellington, but it was complicated, because he also wanted to live with his mother, and it just wasn’t possible to have both his parents in the same house. Besides, if Dad had a new girlfriend, there might not be many nights like this left, just the two of them. He had to savour this moment because what if Cara moved in? What if they had a baby? It was bad enough that he had to share his mum with Davey and Greg. He didn’t want to have it happen all over again with Dad.

He found his thoughts drifting to what Jessie had said to him about the sealskin, and to the horrible dream he’d had that had felt so real. He was feeling a little scared about going to bed tonight.

‘Dad, do you know about selkies?’

‘Seal-people? Sure, I know the legend. I think I used to tell you about them when you were small. But I’ve got news for you, kiddo — they
were just fairy stories. If you’re hoping to catch a beautiful maiden by hiding its skin, you’re out of luck. All those seals at Red Rocks are male anyway. Bachelors who haven’t found a mate for the breeding season.’

‘That’s not what Ted said. He said some were girl seals.’

‘Well, I’ll believe that when I see it for myself. Why do you ask?’

‘Can you tell me again? The story?’

‘Aren’t you a bit old for fairy tales?’

Jake blushed. ‘Okay, forget about it.’ He stabbed at a marshmallow with his stick.

‘Hey, don’t be like that,’ said Dad. ‘You’re very tetchy these days. I’d be happy to tell you what I remember.’

Jake closed his eyes as Dad shifted on his cushion on the floor, leaning his back against the couch.

‘The story comes from Celtic and Norse cultures that live by the sea, like the Orkney Islands. It goes that there was once a fisherman
who was very lonely. All the women in his village were either very old or they were already married. He longed to have a wife to cook for him and keep him warm at night, and to give him children to fill his tiny cottage with laughter. Yes, I know, it’s not a very modern fairy story — don’t let your mum catch you talking about women like that.

‘Anyway, one day he got back from a fishing trip and he met a woman on the shore who looked a little lost and who was clad only in seaweed. He took her home and gave her clothes to wear and food to eat. She was very quiet and very, very beautiful and he fell deeply in love with her. He asked her to marry him but she said that she couldn’t, that she was a selkie and she must return to her people. But he locked her in a room and went out looking for her skin. He found it hidden in a cave in the rocks and took it home and put it in a chest in the cellar, which he locked tightly.

‘The woman could not return to her people
without her skin. She searched and searched in vain. When she came back from looking for it, she agreed to marry him and live with him until she could find it. She learned to cook and she kept him warm at night, but every day when he went out fishing, she roamed the coast, always hunting for her skin, unaware that it was right underneath her, in the cellar.

‘The fisherman was very much in love with her, but she refused to give him children because she said it would be unfair on them when she returned to the sea. As the years went by and she did not find her skin, she grew sadder and sadder. She hardly ate anything and she wasn’t much more than skin and bones. Soon she was so weak she couldn’t get out of bed. The fisherman sent for the doctor, who told him the terrible news that he didn’t expect her to live much longer. The fisherman was devastated. He spent the whole night crying, and in the morning he knew what he had to do. He loved her very much and didn’t want to lose her, but if
he gave her back her skin, she would finally be happy and free and she would live.

‘The woman could barely open her eyes when the sun came through the curtains, but there on her bed was her skin. Summoning the last of her energy, she took it and left the house, walking down to the sea without so much as a goodbye to the man who had loved her but who had held her prisoner for so long. Once she was wearing her skin, he never saw her again.

‘I think that’s how it goes,’ said Dad.

‘But why would a selkie come on land if she risked getting stuck as a human?’ asked Jake. ‘Why was she there in the first place?’

‘I don’t know the answer to that. But if you had the chance to transform yourself into another sort of creature, wouldn’t you? Just to see what it was like?’

Jake smiled. ‘Yeah. I’d love to be a bird. Or a dolphin!’

‘Well, there you go. Maybe a seal, even.’

Jake remembered the dream he’d had, the
feeling of freedom as he’d spun through the water. And then the terror, when the skin had been taken from him and he’d started to drown. ‘Not a seal,’ he said.

‘Sorry I’m not a better storyteller,’ said Dad. ‘That’s my version of the myth anyway. I’m sure you could find a book about it if you wanted.’

‘Maybe I will,’ said Jake. He shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter though. I was just curious. Jessie thinks selkies are real.’

‘Well, she’s younger than you, Jake. Little kids believe things. You did. Don’t be mean to her about it. I think it’s nice when you can believe in things like that for so long.’ He ruffled Jake’s hair. ‘Okay, mister?’

Jake smiled. ‘Sure. Maybe I believe in them too. Just a little bit.’

It was Dad’s turn to smile. ‘And that is nothing to be ashamed of. We could all use a little bit of magic in our lives, don’t you think?’

They sat there for a while longer. Jake watched his father’s face while he stared into the
fire, looking as though his mind had wandered elsewhere. He hadn’t shaved for a few days and his beard had come in thick and fast. Jake was shocked to see how much grey was in it. He turned to the fire and began to make out shapes in the flames that curved and flickered around the logs. Faces, seals …

‘Bedtime for you, mister. Come on, look at you, you’re nodding off.’

Jake allowed himself to be led into his room. He was so tired he just flopped onto the bed. He was already wearing his pyjamas, so Dad just stuffed him under the covers. The sheets felt alarmingly cold for a bit, but they soon warmed with the heat from his body and before he knew it, he was asleep, with the sound of the rain pelting the roof and the wind scrabbling at the windows.

He was awoken some hours later by a booming sound. He sat up, alarmed, and his room was suddenly lit up as bright as day before being plunged into darkness again. A
few seconds later another crash, like two planes colliding directly overhead. He lay back down again — just thunder and lightning, but boy did it feel close. He wondered if he was safe in his bed, whether lightning could find you, even inside a house. He waited with anticipation for the next flash — the storm was so close now. There it was, lighting up the clothes strewn around the room, the open closet, inside which the sealskin lay. Jake jumped as the thunder struck almost immediately. It was right above him! And — what was that smell? Hot and meaty, but mixed with mud and salt. He was blinded by the previous flash and he looked in the darkness towards the wardrobe. Surely the smell wasn’t coming from there? He jumped out of bed to slam the wardrobe door shut and as the door connected there was a startling flash of white and an almighty BOOM! Jake was only a metre from the curtainless window and in the puff of light he saw a face! It flickered in the light, looking in at him, a pale face with huge
dark eyes and a wild crown of red hair that was being whipped around in the wind and the rain.

Jake screamed, but another flash drowned him out. Cara appeared to look straight at him. The next second the world was dark again and Jake waited, holding his breath for more lightning and thunder, but it didn’t come. When finally a gentle flicker ignited, the woman was gone and the storm was moving away with her. The roll of thunder was a long time afterwards and it sounded like a distant cannon.

Jake got back into bed and pulled the covers up to his ears, but he was too shaken and scared to go to sleep. He got out of bed again and padded through the house to his father’s room. He got in bed beside him and Dad moved over to let him in.

‘Scared of the storm?’ His father’s voice was thick with sleep.

‘Yeah,’ said Jake, and he almost felt safe again, with his father sleeping beside him. But still he could not sleep. He listened to the storm
moving further and further away, and every night noise sounded like someone trying to get into the house. And now there was one thing he knew for sure. He knew what it was that Cara was looking for. She had come for her skin. Was this why she had befriended his father? Had she sensed her skin was near? And was it possible his father was falling in love with her? He knew now what he had to do.

A
s soon as it started to get light outside, Jake got out of bed while his father snored. He hardly ever got up before his dad. The storm had completely gone and the sky outside was streaked with pink and gold. Jake moved quietly into his room. He took his backpack and opened the wardrobe, expecting to be hit by the horrible odour again, but only when he brought the sealskin right up to his face did he smell it.
It was milder than the night before, but had the same musky, dirty essence.

He stuffed it into his bag, but it was too big and stuck out the top. He went into the kitchen and got a rubbish bag from the drawer, which he used to cover it, to protect it from the weather, but also to hide it. His hands shook as he pulled the plastic over the backpack. What if he couldn’t get there in time? What if Cara was outside waiting for him?

‘What are you up to?’

Jake spun around to see his father standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes and yawning. ‘You’re up early. Do you want some breakfast?’

‘I had some already,’ lied Jake. ‘It’s a nice day. Can I go and see Jessie?’

‘If you want.’ Dad walked to Jake’s window and looked out. ‘It’s so calm out there now. You’d never know there’d been a storm.’ He turned. ‘Wrap up warm, though. It’s cold at this time of the morning. I should know.’

Jake nodded and grabbed his coat. He tried
not to look at his bag in the corner of the room, in case Dad saw what he was looking at and asked questions. He waited for his father to leave the room, but he just stood there, yawning and scratching his thickening beard.

‘Well,’ said Dad. ‘I’m off for a shower. Can’t seem to wake up this morning. I’ve got a lot of work on today, since yesterday was a write-off. You okay with that?’

‘Yes, fine.’ Jake started tapping his toes and willing his father to go, which he did. As soon as Jake heard the shower start up, he picked up the bag and threw it on his back, making for the front door.

‘What’s in the bag?’

Jake spun around. His dad was advancing down the hall towards him, a towel wrapped around his waist.

‘Nothing,’ said Jake. ‘Just a jacket. And my lunch.’

‘But you’re wearing your jacket. What are you up to? I thought you were behaving strangely.’

Jake didn’t know what to say. He turned away, his heart beating faster. Dad stopped a metre away, scrutinising him. ‘Jake …’ There was a stern warning in his voice.

Jake opened the front door, but to his surprise and horror, his dad lunged forward and grabbed the bag, wrestling it off Jake’s back.

‘Hey!’ said Jake as he lost his balance and fell onto his backside. He struggled to his feet, disoriented by the scuffle, but his father was intent on the bag and unapologetic.

Dad held the bag up to his face and sniffed. ‘It pongs. What is it?’ He started to pull the plastic bag off the backpack and Jake tried unsuccessfully to stop him. His father was just too strong and batted him away as if he were an annoying insect. In the struggle, Jake came away with nothing but empty plastic wafting in his face.

Dad just stood there, staring at the open bag with the sealskin sticking out the top of it. The shower was still running down the hall, and steam
started to roll out of the bathroom like mist.

Jake looked at the sealskin, aghast. Dad’s face betrayed his racing mind; it showed confusion, worry. Jake tried to push away the guilt he was feeling. After all, he had found it, not stolen it; he had nothing to hide, or to be ashamed of. Dad looked up at him and seemed to snap out of a trance. He pointed at Jake, as if telling him not to move a muscle, and backed silently down the hallway to the bathroom, disappearing inside with the bag. Jake heard the shower being shut off and the rattle of the latch as the window opened. Cold air rushed into the house, dispelling the steam and coming for Jake like a wraith. He shivered.

Dad emerged still clutching the sealskin and still wearing nothing but a towel. He stared at the skin in amazement, then rubbed his cheek against it. He buried his face in and drew a big breath. It would have made Jake gag, he was sure of it, but Dad’s face came away sweetened, as though he had been smelling roses.

He grabbed Jake’s arm and pulled him into the living room.

‘Sit down,’ he said. ‘Wait here.’

Jake sat on an armchair while Dad put the seal skin down carefully on the couch and left the room. Jake stared at the skin, and thought about jumping up and grabbing it, running out of the house with it. But what sort of trouble would he get in if he did that? Was it worse to leave Cara without her skin or to disobey his father? The more he thought about it, and the longer his father took to come back, the more he realised which was worse. He made up his mind and was preparing to lunge for it when his father came back into the room, dressed. Jake was disturbed by the fact that he hadn’t said anything about it yet. Did he even know what it was?

‘So.’ Dad sat down on the couch and put one protective hand over the skin. ‘Tell me. Where did you get it?’

Jake looked at the floor. ‘I found it. In a cave at Red Rocks.’

‘And you know what this is?’

‘Of course I do. It’s a sealskin.’

‘How long have you had it?’

‘Ages. Since my first day at the beach.’

‘Oh, Jake.’ His dad gave a big sigh. ‘Why have you had it all this time and not told me?’

Jake looked up at him, into his eyes. His father had a wild look to him, with his fresh beard and wiry, sticking-out hair. ‘Because it was mine. I found it. Besides, I knew you’d want to take it off me. Give it away to a museum or something. I just wanted to keep it for a while.’

He couldn’t tell him the truth. That the skin had spoken to him somehow, that it had made him possessive, that it felt like a dark secret that only he should know about. That he had finally worked out what Cara was looking for. And that he had to give it back to her so that she could return to the sea and leave them alone.

They sat there in silence as, outside, Jake heard the world waking up. A few cars hummed past; a pair of birds fought outside the window.
Jake waited for his dad to speak.

‘And where were you going with it, Jake?’

‘I was putting it back where I found it. So whoever it belongs to can have it back.’

‘Whoever it belongs to,’ his father echoed, his voice flat. ‘Do you know who that might be?’

Jake said nothing, but his cheeks started to get hot. How much did his dad know? Only one way to find out. ‘Do you?’

Dad stared at him. His face was like a statue’s, immobile stone. Finally, he said quietly, ‘I have an idea.’

Jake felt like crying. What had he done? If only he’d left the stupid sealskin where it was. Now that it was out of his hands, he began to feel its power over him draining away. He wanted to get it away from Dad, not so he could have it for himself, but so he could get rid of it.

‘Is this why you were asking me about the selkies?’ asked his dad.

Jake couldn’t lie. It was too obvious; would have been too much of a coincidence.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Jessie thought it might belong to someone.’

‘Someone who would have to stay in human form if they couldn’t find it. If it was …’ His voice trailed away as he turned his head to gaze out the window. ‘If it was hidden from them.’

The words Jake wanted to say caught in his throat. He tried to clear it.

Dad stood up, still looking out the window. He’d be able to see the sea from where he was. He was deep in thought. He tucked the sealskin under his arm.

‘I’m going to hold on to this for a while.’

‘Dad, please, let me have it back. Let me put it back.’

‘No.’

‘Please.’

‘I said no!’ his father roared at him suddenly, making Jake jump in his chair and a cold sweat spring to his forehead. He’d never heard his dad’s voice so deep, like an animal growl, and for the first time that he could remember, in his
whole life, he felt afraid of him. And yet, there was something about his father’s manner that was familiar. It was how he himself had behaved when Jessie had tried to take the skin from him.

Jake backed from the room, afraid to take his eyes off his father. ‘Can I go now?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ said Dad, his voice calm again, but flat, like a robot. ‘Yes, that’s a good idea. You go and play with Jessie. Come back later. In time for dinner.’

Jake wrenched open the front door and fled, slamming it behind him. His bike was around the side of the house, where it had been sheltered from the worst of the storm, but the seat and handlebars were slick and when he sat on it, he felt the water seep into the seat of his pants.

He pedalled as hard as he could. Every now and then a car coasted by him on the quiet road. The sea was like a polished stone, the waves nothing more than a gentle rise and fall of water. The sound of his breathing filled his ears, keeping time with the swish of his tyres on the gravelly road.

Once he hit the beach road, his legs began to tire and he was hot, but he pushed on. He passed the small, sad mound of a dead little blue penguin by the side of the road. Normally he would have gotten off his bike to look at it, but this time he didn’t stop. The beach was littered with broken logs and seaweed, thrown up by the storm. He put his head down, and pedalled on. His lungs were burning and his legs were beginning to feel numb by the time he came to Ted’s cabin. Smoke was coming from the chimney, and it was safe; it hadn’t been swept away in the night as he had feared.

He dumped his bike with a clatter on the path outside the hut and took off his jacket. Then he knocked on the door.

Ted answered. ‘Jake.’ He looked surprised to see him. ‘Thought we’d seen the last of you. Jessie said you’d had a fight, ya silly kids.’

Jake’s stomach flipped. ‘Did she say what about?’

‘Nope.’ He shook his head. ‘She really didn’t
want to tell me, so I left her to her sulk. Haven’t seen her.’

Jake tried to peer into the cottage. ‘But didn’t she stay here last night?’

Ted looked caught out. ‘Oh. Yes. Yes, of course. She just got up before I did. Must have slipped out for a walk.’

Jake jiggled on his toes. ‘I really need to talk to her.’

Ted looked at him for a few seconds, as if making up his mind about something.

‘All right,’ he said. ‘Come in. I’ll go and find her.’

‘I can go — where would she be? At the rocks?’

Ted shot out a hand and grabbed his arm. ‘No, boy. Really. You wait here.’

Jake couldn’t argue with the tone of the old man’s voice. He went inside and sat down. Ted made for the door, then hesitated. He crossed back and grabbed some clothes that were drying by the fire, including a black jersey. Then he was gone, the door banging behind him.