The Selkie Enchantress (28 page)

Liam took her by the arms and pulled her out of the way. He shoved his shoulder into the door. The wood splintered and he threaded his hand through the jagged opening, unlocking it. They pushed into the room, but it was dark, the bed empty. They searched the closet, tore back the bedspread. Liam pried the window open and shouted out into the growing mist. “Owen!”

“Where did she take him?”

“We’ll find him,” Liam said, grabbing her hand and leading her back out into the hallway. Caitlin stumbled over a piece of wood, catching sight of a single candle burning on the floor of Nuala’s bedroom as she righted herself.

“Look!” She pointed at where the carpet was flung back, exposing the floorboards. “One of the boards is missing!” She ran into the room, dropping to her knees and dipping her hands into the gap. Her heart raced when she fished out a half-empty bottle of oil. She felt around inside again, in case she’d missed anything else, but all she found was a soiled rag. “Liam,” she breathed, her pulse ringing in her ears. “Her pelt wasn’t hidden under the rose. It was here the whole time.”

“Come on,” Liam pulled Caitlin back to her feet, already running for the door. “They must have gone down to the water. We might be able to stop them!”

They fled back out into the night, racing for the rocky path leading down to the sea. Stones slipped out from under their feet, spilling over the edge. Dark shapes edged up out of the water, covering the sand. The siren’s song drifted into the night and Liam fisted his hands to his ears. A glow, like a white light shone from one of the caves, illuminating the harbor an eerie metallic silver.

“What is that?” Caitlin breathed as they stumbled onto the sand. A single wooden rowboat drifted up to the beach through the mists. The woman inside rose slowly to her feet, a long red hooded cloak draped around her. Silver mist swirled up around her like smoke. She let the boat float to a stop in the sand before stepping out.

A scream cut through the night as the white glow vanished from the cave, shrouding them in a veil of darkness. Nuala ran from the rocks, her white cloak streaming out behind her. The woman tilted the boat and a small seal tumbled out into the waves, flopping around in the surf.

“No!” Nuala cried. “What are you doing? You were supposed to take him away from here!”

“I changed my mind.” The woman swept back her hood, revealing her face.

Caitlin froze when she saw the strawberry blond hair, the luminous green-gold eyes. It was her—the midwife—the same woman who helped her bring Owen into this world. Her gaze fell to the seal. She backed up, shaking her head. “That can’t be…”

“My dear,” Moria said, lifting her eyes to Caitlin’s. “Don’t you recognize your own son?”

***

Moira vanished in a curl of smoke. Seals slid from the rocks, swimming to the beach, calling out to each other. Liam caught the strap of Nuala’s leather satchel, spinning her around to face him. “Is that him? Is that Owen?”

“Let go of me!” Nuala cried.

“Is that
Owen
?” Liam shouted.

“Yes!” Nuala clawed at his wet clothes. “Let me go!”

Caitlin ran, stumbling over the soft white sand to the small seal struggling in the surf. Voices echoed over the harbor. Kelsey shouted, waving frantically from the end of the pier. Dominic hauled her back from the edge, pulling her with him as he ran. Their footsteps pounded over the planks as they made for the path leading down to the beach.

Caitlin splashed into the surf, lifting the floundering seal from the icy waves and pulling him back with her onto the sand. She fell to her knees, cradling him in her lap. His big black eyes stared up at her. He opened his whiskered mouth and let out an anguished cry.

“Owen?” she whispered, when he curled up into her, trembling. She ran her hands over his sleek seal-skin, rubbing off the white sand stuck to him like salt. She laid her hands on either side of his frightened face. “Owen?” she whispered. He nudged her back and a rage so strong, so powerful welled up inside her, she shot to her feet. “I don’t care how much
power
you have!” Caitlin cried, lashing out at Nuala. “You can’t take my son from me!”

Nuala’s eyes darted over her shoulder as more voices, more shouting drifted down from the village. Her fingers fumbled to unhook the straps of the leather satchel. “There is only one way your son can take on his human form again.”

More seals edged up out of the water, gathering around Caitlin and Owen. Dozens of seals formed a circle, a protective shield around the mother and child. Seawater rolled off their pelts as they rose, puffing out angry breaths. “Whatever it is,” Caitlin cried. “We’ll do it!” The seals pressed in on her, closing the wall, blocking her view. “Tell us what it is!”

Nuala untied the straps, lifting the leather flap. A blinding white light pulsed from the satchel as she pulled out the pelt. “Liam in exchange for Owen.”

***

The seal-skin shimmered, sparkling like diamonds through the silver mists. In the distance, Liam heard voices calling out to him. Friends, people he knew, shouting for him to… do something. But he could not tear his eyes away from that beautiful white seal-coat. It called to him—whispering his name, a restless lure over the waves. He lifted a shaky arm, reaching for it, as the memories unraveled like pearls spilling from a broken chain.

The white selkie. She had come. His fingers brushed over the pelt—the white fur as soft as velvet, as delicate as silk. She had come to claim her land-man. To take him with her, into the sea. Liam fought the pressure building inside his chest, the ringing in his ears. He was never supposed to find the fairy tale. It was supposed to remain hidden.

But he had unearthed it, threatened to expose the deepest secret of the sea in the name of research. Foolishly assuming they had all passed into legend. She must have known. She must have known he was planning to unveil his findings and had come to stop him.

Because she could not let this tale spread. Modern humanity would never accept a human sacrifice. They would not accept that a man—a human man—would give his life to keep the peace between the land and the sea. They would see her as a threat—some pagan witchery—and they would seek to destroy her.

He stumbled back, his heels sinking into the sand. “There has to be another way.”

“There is no other way!” Nuala fished out a second pelt—a soft silvery-gray, larger than the first—and pushed it toward him.

He shook his head, backing away from it. The sea lapped up over his feet, teasing him, tempting him. He remembered, now, finding his mother’s name listed in the Trinity Library’s registry. She had checked out the same book only weeks before she had run off and left him and Dominic alone with their father in Dublin. His mother had hidden the tale so he would never find it. Somehow, she had known that he would be looking for it one day. “This is madness.”

Nuala’s eyes flashed. “I thought you of all people would respect tradition, would find
honor
in sacrifice.” She pushed the gray pelt into his chest. “You’re a man of history, Liam. A man of the past. You know why you were chosen for this. This is who you were
meant
to be.”

A selkie king. A ruler of the seas. Liam struggled to hear the voices of his friends. But the sound of rushing water, of waves rolling over a rocky beach drowned them out. Wet mists crept up, curling around his wrists, tugging him closer to the water’s edge. His arms felt numb as they lifted, as his fingers grasped the seal-skin. A light glimmered deep in Nuala’s eyes.

He would live out the rest of his days underwater, separated from his home, from his family. He would be forced to marry Nuala. He would never see Caitlin or Owen again. But his family would be safe. They would not struggle. They might grieve, but they would find a way to move on. And his friends, his home, this island—they would be spared.

He heard the sudden sound of choking, of someone trying desperately to suck air into her lungs. He whirled, but the wall of seals shielded Caitlin from his view. A young seal’s cry, desperate and high-pitched, rang out in the night.

“Listen to me, Liam. Listen very carefully,” Nuala said. “If you want to save them, you must come with me.”

He heard footsteps pounding down the cliff path, the voices getting closer. They could not see the white pelt. No one could see it or they’d be driven mad by it. He heard Caitlin suffocating behind the wall of seals, the young seal’s cries growing louder, more frantic. “Can you promise me that my son will be safe? That my family, my friends will be protected?”

Nuala took his hand. He felt the whisper of cool air, the crackling of ice in his veins. He heard the song in the distance, the voice floating in from the sea. “For as long as we both shall live.”

Forgive me, Caitlin.
He dove into the icy waters, expecting the shock, the sudden loss of air from the cold. But instead, the seal-skin slid over him like a glove. The rush of the water surrounded him, sucking him under. He caught the flash of white and followed it. Into the darkness. Into the pulsing beat of the heart of the sea.

Seals slipped from the sand, into the water. Their desperate cries echoed over the harbor as they fled. Owen thrashed in Caitlin’s arms. He let out a distressed howl and Caitlin dropped back to her knees. She laid him down on the sand. He twisted, writhing as the sound of something tearing, like leather splitting open, peeled through the night.

Kelsey ran up, sinking down beside Caitlin, her hands shaking as she reached for the wrinkles in the dark seal-skin, edging the slippery coat down Owen’s back. “He’s
shedding
.”

Caitlin caught a fleeting glimpse of Dominic running out into the waves, screaming his brother’s name. She heard her friends shouting, the sound of their footsteps pounding over the sand as they ran toward her. She felt the kick of sand, the sting of it as it met her eyes. But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe as Owen’s sleek black head of hair emerged from the seal-coat.

She reached for him, cradling his head as it crested the mouth of the pelt, the oily skin stretching and curling back over his shoulders. She gasped as his arms slid out, extending toward her, covered in a clear odorless mucus. The slap of the seal-skin suctioning back to his skin had Kelsey grabbing the hind fin, tugging it down. Tara stripped off her jacket, covering his naked body as the rest of the pelt peeled away.

Owen let out a strangled sob as he crawled into Caitlin’s arms, kicking at the pelt until it was no more than a dark lifeless shell at his feet. He shuddered, trembling in her lap. His dark eyes were haunted as he searched the faces huddled over him. Fear swam into his eyes as they transformed from liquid black to a frightened blue-gray.

His sticky hands inched up Caitlin’s sweater, curling into the threadbare wool at her neck. “Mum?”

***

Red hot fury whipped through Glenna, shooting down her arms, exploding from her fingertips like lightning. A scream tore from her throat as she released it—the fury, the rage, the helplessness. The wooden rowboat at the edge of the beach burst into flames. The wet wood splintered, crackling like bones breaking.

Moira stepped out of the flames, dropping her red cloak, letting it spill to the sand. “Losing your temper again, darling?”

“You cannot do this to them!” Glenna screamed when Sam grabbed her, pulling her back against him. “You cannot
play
with their lives!”

Smoke curled into the night, a black chimney of grief. Moira laughed, low and wicked. “You surprise me, Glenna.” She walked slowly over the sand, flames snapping from the end of her hair in fiery sparks. “It’s not a bad trade, when you think about it. Liam in exchange for Owen? A husband in exchange for a son?” She looked at Caitlin, narrowing her eyes. “At least Owen will love her. A husband’s love can fade. But a child’s love never strays.”

“You
knew
.” Glenna struggled against Sam, scratching her nails down his arms. “You knew all along. You knew I would come here. You fixed it so this awful thing would happen.”

“Of course, I fixed it.” Moira lifted her chin. “I fix everything.”

Glenna tore free of Sam’s arms, hurling a ball of fire over the beach. But Moira merely held up her hand. A wall of ice sealed around it. It fell like a ball of hail, shattering when it hit the sand and crumbling into dust.

“How?” Glenna stumbled back, tripping over the sand. “How is that possible? You don’t have those powers!”

“Do you think I make these trades for sport?” Moira’s dress crackled around her as she stalked over the sand, furious with her daughter. “Nuala’s foolishness was my gain. She took someone who was never supposed to be taken. She made a mistake—a grave one. And now, with every step closer they get to the kingdom, her powers fade. And feed into mine.”

“I don’t understand.” Glenna backed up, shaking her head. She saw it now, the lightening of her mother’s strawberry blond hair, the slight sparkle on her high cheek-bones. A powerful, unbeatable force—ice united with fire. “What do you mean, he was never supposed to be taken?”

“Liam was not a
true
land-man,” Moira explained. “The same blood runs in his veins that runs in ours—selkie blood. That’s why Nuala was able to change Owen when he was a child.” Her gaze shifted to Caitlin. “She took Owen because she thought he would be enough to replace the selkie child she had lost—and the man she’d been stupid enough to run off with, turning her back on her fate at eighteen.”