The Selkie Enchantress (29 page)

She took a step toward Owen, smiling. “But you weren’t enough for her, were you dear? No,” she hissed as Owen shrank back from her. “She wanted more. She wanted a husband. A man who would help her get back into the kingdom she’d been banished from for stealing you. When she discovered your father was a scholar of myths and legends, when she realized he was looking for
her
legend, she took the bait. As I knew she would.”

Moira laughed, a hollow empty sound. “Nuala thought if she took your father, it would appease the king and queen. But she did not take the time to do her research. She did not know that Liam was already from that line. That
you
were already a part of their family. They did not know when they banished her that
you
were the child she had taken. They were too blind to see the truth then. And she will never be forgiven for stealing the great-grandson of a king.”

“But
you
knew,” Glenna realized. “
You
knew about Owen.
You
set this whole thing up!”

“Of course, I knew,” Moira snapped. “The queen kept an eye on their lineage—on Liam and Dominic. But they did not keep a careful enough eye on the teenage girl who stole Liam’s heart.” Moira’s eyes gleamed as she looked back at Caitlin. “They wrote you off when you rejected him. They thought that was the end of it. But
I
didn’t. No.” Moira shook her head, walking across the sand to where Caitlin cradled her child in her arms. “
I
watched you carefully, my dear. I knew you were hiding something when you went to Donegal. I suspected what it was. And I followed you there. Knowing all I had to do was offer my services as a midwife and things would be set into motion—thing that could not be undone.”

“You
cannot
do this to them!” Glenna raged. “You cannot throw away lives like this!”

“I have not thrown away Liam’s life, darling.” Moira brushed her hair back. It glowed like sunlit straw in the mist. “I have done nothing to him except reunite him with his family.”

“His family is here!” Glenna shouted. “On the island!”

“I’m afraid you’re wrong, Glenna. Liam’s grandmother is the daughter of the last white selkie. She holds the throne now, guarding it until the next white selkie comes. But now that Nuala’s powers have been stripped, his grandmother will continue to rule the sea. With Liam by her side.”

“No!” Glenna’s voice echoed over the harbor. “You have to stop this! These people are my friends!”

“Friends?” Moira turned, her long dress cracking around her ankles like a whip. “Glenna, do not make the same mistake Liam’s mother made. Do not let these people get under your skin.”

Glenna cried out as her skin began to smolder, as smoke seared from the burns on her arms, glowing red. Sam caught her when her knees gave out, when all the power drained out of her, seeping into the sand like liquid fire.

“Who is this woman?” Sam hissed into her ear. “Tell me who she is so I can help you!”

The woman’s eyes twinkled, warming as she looked back at him. “You mean, you haven’t told them about me?” Moira lifted a perfectly winged eyebrow, feigning a look of hurt. “I thought you would have at least told your
friends
about your own mother.”

Caitlin let out a strangled cry.

“Don’t worry.” Moira smiled wickedly at Caitlin. “You may never see your precious Liam again, but he will grow to like his new life. He may even grow to love another one day.”

Glenna sank to the sand, struggling to breathe over the icy seawater clogging her lungs. Her fingers curled into Sam’s jacket when Caitlin rose, when her friend pushed to her feet, facing the woman who had been the cause of so much grief, of so much destruction in her life.

Glenna watched the blind rage flood into Caitlin’s eyes. She saw her stance, one of strength, one of a mother preparing to fight for her family. A small ray of hope burned in her heart and she squeezed her eyes shut, sending what little was left of her own power, her own strength into the earth, channeling it to Caitlin.

Caitlin stared at Moira across the long stretch of beach. The waves curled over the sand like angry slaps. “Bring him back.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, my dear.”

“You said she failed,” Caitlin challenged, stepping between her son and the woman who had stolen him from her. “That Nuala is losing power as we speak.” Her hands clenched at her sides, her heels digging into the sand, drawing more power from the earth. “You have what you want,” Caitlin shouted. “
Bring him back!
”

“What’s done is done, my dear. There is no magic powerful enough to reverse a white selkie’s spell.” Moira smiled down at Owen. “Perhaps one day you will find that Owen is enough for you. Perhaps you will find happiness where Nuala could not.”

“I will find him,” Caitlin breathed, her words like frozen feathers falling in the night. “I will find Liam and I will bring him back. You will not get away with this.”

“Oh, my dear.” Smoke curled around Moira, pulling her out of sight. “I already have.”

They spent days combing the beaches, searching the harbor, scouring the cliffs and calling his name. Grief settled like a gray cloak around Caitlin’s shoulders. Like a bird nesting in the hollow of tree, broken and beaten. At dusk each night, she and Owen went back to the beach—the one where they’d lost him. They built a small driftwood fire and listened to the crackle of the flames as the sky grew dark. They watched the surf curl over the sand, waiting for a sign, for a clue that he was there.

The islanders came with candles, with jars of black sand and bowls of seashells. They brought dried herbs and stones from their gardens, sprinkling them over the sand. They huddled under wool blankets, forcing Caitlin and Owen to sip thermoses of hot tea, steeped in Tara’s rose petals. Sometimes they brought books, children’s stories they found in Caitlin’s cottage. Sometimes they stayed and read them out loud. Even when they knew she wasn’t listening. They read them to the wind.

Dominic came each night to sit with them, to hold a silent vigil. He said nothing as the pile of trinkets grew around them, adding to it when he could. When Kelsey crawled into his lap, closing her eyes and laying her head on his shoulder to fall asleep as she did every night now, Caitlin picked up a jar of black sand. The tea light flickered inside it. These trinkets—these
things
from their past—they were meaningless without the man who completed them. She would gladly trade all of it for the chance to see him one last time.

And she would see him again. They would find him. They would find a way to bring him back. Even if it meant
she
had to go into the water. She would do anything to save him. Glenna was regaining her strength every day and they would go after him. They would face down her mother and they would win. She tilted the candle, letting the white wax spill over the edge into the black sand. Liam
had
remembered. These things—these objects that represented the love that had never stopped growing between them—they
had
brought his memory back. Even if it was only for a moment. He
had
remembered.

If these trinkets could bring back his memory, then surely her love could bring
him
back. She had not thought her love was strong enough to bring a healthy child into this world at sixteen. But she’d been wrong. She had been strong enough. Just not strong enough to see through the black magic of a sea witch. She might not have been ready for it then, might not have understood even if she’d seen the signs.

But she was ready now. She was strong enough. And no one was going to take her family away from her. Her fingers curled around the jar.  She might not have magic. But she had something stronger, and ten times more potent. She had the power of love—real, lasting, true love for both Liam and Owen. And she was ready to wield it. She glanced up when she heard a soft thud in the sand where the waves curled over the beach. The ocean receded, leaving eleven long-stemmed yellow roses in its wake.

***

She’d sent him on an errand. Again. Sam scoured the scraggly plants growing along the edges of the rocky footpaths, using his pocketknife to slice off a handful of what he hoped was the right weed. He’d been pacing outside Glenna’s cottage for days. Tara was inside, healing her with all her powers, both human and selkie. She kept sending him for herbs, for different balms and tinctures she kept in her office. And now she’d sent him for some winter weed that grew around the edge of the bogs.

He was starting to wonder if she was even using the things he brought back, or just making things up and trying to give him something to do, so he wouldn’t stand outside and worry and pace. But how could he not worry? When someone as strong as Glenna fell to pieces in your arms, it was hard not to think that the world was falling apart.

A gull cawed, swooping low over the stone walls. He followed its path west along the row of pastures, picking his way over the trail leading back to Glenna’s cottage. He let himself in, pausing in her doorway when he spotted Tara helping Glenna to her feet.

“No.” He shook his head, closing the door and walking into the room. “You’re not ready yet.” He dropped the handful of weeds onto the table, taking her elbow when she wobbled unsteadily. “You can barely stand on your own.”

Glenna looked up at him. “It’s time.”

Sam kept shaking his head. He caught the determination in her eyes, the subtle lift of her chin. But it was going to take so much more than that. It was going to take all of her strength when she called her mother back, when she tried to break this terrible spell. “What’s going to happen to you? If this is how drained you were from the last time?”

Glenna’s gaze dropped to the marks on her arms, the burns that were no more than scars now. “You accused me of never asking for help earlier. I need you to help me now, Sam. I cannot do this alone.”

“There has to be another way—”

Glenna laid a hand on Sam’s arm. “Bring me my cloak, Sam. It’s time.”

Every muscle in Sam’s body clenched at the thought of what might happen to this woman when she called her mother back. But he fetched her cloak, draping the soft material over her shoulders. He let his fingers linger there when he felt her bones protruding. Rage coiled like a snake inside him when he realized how much weight she’d lost this week. “I want you to tell me what’s going to happen.” He turned her around, catching her chin in his hand and holding her gaze. “Exactly what’s going to happen when your mother steps out of that fire.”

“I don’t know,” Glenna admitted. “If I knew the answer to that question, I promise I would tell you. But all we can do tonight is try to open a passageway for Liam. Once a land-man is turned into a selkie, he has to choose to come out of the water on his own. Liam will have already lost all his memories of his friends and his family. Of his home, this island. His love for Caitlin. The only way we can bring him back is to find a way to get that memory to him. If we can find a way to reach him, we might be able to bring him back.”

“And if we succeed? If we open this passageway, will Liam be able to walk through it on his own?”

Glenna shook her head. “All we can do is help open a passageway. Caitlin will have to pull him through.”

“What happens if it doesn’t work?”

Glenna looked away. “He’ll be lost forever.”

Sam waited until her eyes swung back to his. “What happens to
you
, Glenna?”

Glenna reached up, brushing his hand away. Sam gritted his teeth when Glenna hooked her arm through Tara’s, letting her friend lead her toward the door. He grabbed the flashlight off the table and switched it on. He stalked to the door, opening it for these two stubborn, reckless women and followed them out into the darkness.

If they made it through the night, he would personally make sure Glenna put every ounce of the weight she’d lost back on. He would drag her to the pub every day for a month if he had to, and make sure she ate every bite of every meal. Even if she refused to talk to him, and shot daggers out of her eyes at him the whole time, he wouldn’t stop until she was as strong and healthy as she was the first time he laid eyes on her.

They walked in silence through the deserted village—the homes dark and empty. When they got to the top of the bluff and the rocky path leading down to the beach near the harbor, Glenna paused. Candles flickered over the sand where groups of islanders huddled together, praying for Liam’s return. She spotted the keepsakes, the piles of mementos the islanders had built in his honor. “How long have they been here?”

“All week.”

“They don’t have to stay for this.”

“They won’t leave her,” Tara said gently. “They won’t let Caitlin—or
you
—face this alone.”

“They know that if they join us, if they cross a white selkie—even one whose powers have been stripped—they could be destroyed. Their homes, their livelihoods, this
island
could be destroyed.”

“They know,” Tara said quietly. “We all know.”

Glenna’s honey-colored cloak floating out around her ankles as she started down the cliff path. “So be it.”

***

Caitlin clutched Owen’s hand tightly in hers when she heard the footsteps in the sand behind her. She turned, watching Glenna walk across the beach with Tara and Sam. Her friend’s face had grown thinner, her cheekbones more prominent. She’d lost some of her color, too. But she was still Glenna. She held her shoulders straight and the amber eyes that met Caitlin’s were focused and determined. “Is everything ready?” Glenna asked.