Three weeks had passed since we first arrived in our new home. Well, it wasn’t a home exactly, but the hotel efficiency was good enough for me. We were able to get a discounted rate by staying longer than a month, and although small and ancient, it worked. The tiny kitchenette held appliances older than our parents. Chipped paint, cracks, and water stains highlighted the cream walls while mismatched tile, carpet, and linoleum made up the flooring. It had smelled a little damp and very musty when we first moved in, but with enough air fresheners and moisture traps, the smells were beginning to fade. We hung some curtains and a few pictures to make it cozier, and soon it became ours.
It was almost time for Brendan to come home. He’d started his job just a few days after we arrived and every day was an adventure for him. The smile on his face was enough for me to see how much he truly enjoyed this new life. I, on the other hand, had not been able to find a job yet. There were a few promising call backs, but most of the summer staff had been hired months earlier. The best I could hope for was something part-time or temporary, but that would be sufficient.
Although I very much enjoyed playing house with Brendan and cooking dinner when he came home, I was also going stir crazy. We hadn’t gone swimming very much and that was impacting both of us. The changes were a necessary part of our existence…much like eating. It nourished and replenished our bodies and kept us strong and healthy both physically and mentally. I’d get anxious and Brendan would get sick if we postponed our changes for too long. The bathtub could always work as a temporary solution, but our little residence did not have the room for one.
“Evs, I’m home!” Brendan called from the door.
I rushed over and jumped into his arms. His smile became muffled by my kiss and I tried to focus on the smell of his sweat and selkie essence and ignore the dead fish aroma that saturated his clothes every evening. He held me in his arms long enough to reach the bed, which was only a few steps away from the front door. Collapsing down as one, we laughed as our heads slammed together and completely ruined the romantic moment.
“Are we ever going to get the hang of this?” I asked while rubbing the spot where I was sure there would be a bump in a few hours.
In response, Brendan rolled on top of me and kissed my injury. “Yes, we will.”
I drew his face down to mine for a longer kiss before he pulled away. “Plus, we have the rest of our lives to figure it out,” he said although the words were lost against the warmth of my lips.
His bright green eyes stared directly through my heart and I saw in them how much he loved me. Every time I worried about Kain and my friends from home, one look like this from Brendan would brush my anxiety away.
Pushing himself up from the bed, he removed his shoes and his shirt. His hands moved down his sides to slowly unbuckle his belt and I watched with fascination and hunger as he lowered his shorts to the ground. I thought his little strip tease was for me until he walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
I threw my arms out to the side of the bed and let out a loud sigh of frustration. His laughter echoed through the tiny room like a chastity belt locking down my raging hormones. I’d make him pay for this later. While plotting my evil ways, I made us a quick spaghetti dinner, as I hoped we could swim tonight. It didn’t take much to convince him, and once the sun succumbed to the rising night, we headed off toward the beach.
Since seals weren’t so common in this part of the country and mermaids were just a fairy tale to humans, we needed to be careful that we weren’t seen. Night swims were pretty much the only way to guarantee privacy and safety during the busy summer season, even though I was dying to explore the warmer east coast waters during the day.
We stopped the car at the park entrance and walked through the dunes to an area typically blocked off to swimmers. The rough rip current and large rock jetties made this a dangerous place for humans and an unattractive spot for fishermen. But it was perfect for us. Stripping quickly, we ran to the water’s edge and I watched as Brendan slipped into his seal skin. It was so graceful and natural for him and the ease in which he transformed was always so fascinating to me. In less than a few seconds, his furry vertical body sat by my feet. I looked down into his piercing green eyes and smiled.
“You know you look like my pet right now?” I said while rubbing the top of his head.
He snorted and pushed against the side of my leg.
I wiggled a finger at him. “Now, now. Behave Fido or I’m taking you home.” That earned me a nip on the ankle but before I could retaliate, he disappeared into the water.
The breaking waves penetrated the quiet night with the slaps and murmurs of water from distant places. A cool breeze rustled past my face soothing me yet also causing my senses to suddenly tense. There, underneath the smell of the sea, was something familiar yet unidentifiable. Almost the scent of another being, I couldn’t quite place it. Goosebumps rose along the back of my neck and chills ran through my body. I looked all around us, down the beach, and behind on the sand dunes. But no one was there.
Brendan’s seal voice broke my concentration, his grunting and chirping a sign that he was waiting for me. Ignoring my concerns and trying to convince myself we were alone, I dove into the first wave I could reach and let my body adapt to its second home.
From the moment I felt the waves envelop me in their embrace, I knew something felt wrong. The underwater world vibrated with an unfamiliar energy. It was dark, my senses were heightened, and we weren’t the only two out swimming tonight.
A shadow darted over my head but quickly disappeared into the darkness. I stopped moving forward and frantically turned in circles to see if I could identify our guest or try to see Brendan. There was nothing but a sandy bottom below and black water all around. With the moon only a sliver, it wasn’t big enough to provide light for me to identify the animal that just made a horrible piercing scream nearby.
I swam to the surface to catch my breath and survey the damage. Surely something had just died, but the calm seas didn’t give away its secret. Diving back down to the bottom I remained still, listening and sensing for something; some sign that Brendan was all right.
It seemed like minutes passed before I heard his signature snorts coming toward me and closing in fast. Brendan dashed from the dark waters and crashed into my body. His flippers pinned me down to the ground, but his eyes scanned the emptiness around us. A faint ray of moonlight pierced through the depths and I thought I saw a piece of his fur floating in the water, hanging on by only a thread of skin. Looking more closely, I noticed that he did in fact have a large section of his shoulder ripped apart, exposing pink, muscled flesh underneath.
What could have possibly caused this injury?
I reached up to put the skin back where it belonged, but Brendan grunted and snapped his teeth at me commanding me to stop. His body weight crushed me and at the first moment I could, I kicked out from underneath him and spun my body around to face the oncoming danger.
But when I turned, there was nothing there. No shadows, no bodies, and no enemy. Brendan continued to lie in a guarded position on the sea floor, so I ventured a few kicks away ignoring his warning noises. I didn’t breathe underwater, so my sense of smell was useless. But I could still try to feel for electrical pulses and listen for movement at the surface and through the water column.
However, they were too quick. Three dark shapes rushed out of the blackness from the side. I couldn’t tell what they were exactly, but they were large and they were fast. They swam directly toward Brendan and attacked him with such savagery and quickness that I couldn’t even react at first.
He screamed, which is one of the most horrible sounds in the world coming out of a seal’s vocal chords. I watched him snarl and bite at his attackers in pure rage. He was larger than them, but he was outnumbered. The brutality of the fight seemed surreal until one of them sank their jaws into Brendan’s already injured shoulder and yanked a piece of flesh off his body.
That kn
ocked me out of my paralysis and I tried to swim to his aide. I only got a few feet when something sharp and painful sliced into my tail. Screaming in frustration I whipped around to see what had happened, and found myself staring into the green eyes of another large seal.
Stunned, I froze for a moment absorbing what my brain refused to accept. This was not a regular seal. This was another selkie and I belatedly realized that’s what I’d smelled earlier on the beach.
His fangs plunged into my tail again bringing my thoughts back to the present. I yelled and reached forward to punch him in the face. The force of my counter-attack must have surprised him because he let go and swam back a few feet. We circled each other like lions ready to fight for their territory; each one waiting for the other to make the first move. In the background, I saw Brendan and the other selkies rushing around us in a game of cat and mouse. But my seal and I only had eyes for each other. His biggest weapon was his teeth, yet I had arms and hands and the will to fight as long as I needed.
When I heard Brendan’s tortured scream again, I made my move. Dodging in with a quickness unmatched by any seal, I reached forward and wrapped my arm around the selkie’s neck. Trying to avoid his attacking fangs, I swung around behind him, effectively putting him in a choke hold. Seals were typically smaller than me, but this one had a larger than usual neck, full of muscles and skin, making it difficult for me to get a good enough grip.
He thrashed and turned, trying to knock me away. But I didn’t let go. Another piercing shriek echoed through the currents, and even though I didn’t know if it was Brendan’s, it gave me the burst of energy I needed.
I squeezed tighter and fought through my throbbing muscles and injured tail. The selkie at my mercy began to fade. I wouldn’t be able to kill him like this, but I’d at least hoped to knock him out long enough to grab Brendan and get out of the water. Yet before I could finish the job, the three selkies that had attacked the love of my life swam cautiously toward us.
My eyes flitted around frantically searching for Brendan. When I spotted him lying on the sandy bottom several feet away, my arm tightened around the seal as his friends slowly encircled me. I may have been able to subdue one selkie, thanks to my experience with Brendan, but I knew I was no match for three more. Perhaps they’d accept my surrender.
Pushing the nearly unconscious seal from my grasp and toward one of his buddies, I put my arms up in submission and slowly started to back away. They looked at me with concern and fear in their eyes, but they didn’t seem to be inclined to attack. I realized too late that Brendan had really been their only target. Two of them grabbed their friend’s flippers in their mouths and swam him to the surface.
The last selkie watched me with intent and something else. Maybe fascination or even curiosity. I couldn’t tell. All I cared about was getting to Brendan. I’d moved back far enough now that I hovered directly over the top of my boyfriend’s lifeless body. Looking down at him took all of my remaining strength. He couldn’t die. I needed him too much.
When I lifted my head again, the remaining seal had disappeared. Spinning around in several circles, I searched for our attackers with all of my senses, but they seemed to be gone. I quickly sank to the sea floor next to Brendan. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t in good shape either. He needed to shift as soon as possible to help heal his injuries. It was hard to see exactly what had happened to him in the darkened waters, although I noticed the blood seeping from his skin. I had to get him to shore.
Wrapping my arms underneath his flippers and holding him in a backward hug, I picked him up and started kicking toward the surface. He was heavy and unable to help much, but eventually we made it to the top. I sucked in a large breath of air into my stinging lungs, relishing in the shards of pain that let me know I needed this air. In contrast, Brendan’s breaths were shallow and quick but at least he still breathed.
Using every last bit of strength I had, I pulled us toward the shoreline. Once we reached the breaking waves, I needed to focus on my change. It was hard and painful since my energy had disappeared and my emotions were frantic. My change took way to long and I tasted blood in my mouth from biting my lip several times as my legs reformed around the scarring puncture wounds. It would take at least a day for those injuries to heal.
Looking over at Brendan, I took a more concise inventory of his wounds. The shoulder tear wrapped around to the front of his chest. The fur was barely attached at several locations on his body, exposing pink, bloodied skin underneath. He had multiple bite and tear wounds all over his body and a large gash down his face from the bottom of his left eye to his throat. They’d literally tried to kill him.
I cried while I dragged him through the remaining ocean and onto the beach. It took a while, but eventually I pulled him in between two sand dunes where we’d be protected both from anyone on the beach and the selkies that had attacked us in the ocean.
“Brendan,” I whispered while shaking him slightly. “Brendan, you need to change.” I knew that was asking a lot of him considering the condition he was in, and his muffled return grunt let me know that he felt the same way. “I know it’s going to be hard, but you have to heal.” His response was just a sigh this time. Frustrated tears formed in my eyes again. I couldn’t rip the skin from him and force his change; it just didn’t work that way. “Brendan!”
I could almost feel the ripple of magic trickle around him. He suddenly let out a wail so heartbreaking that I cursed the world for not allowing me to do more for him. His body began to shake violently and the screaming turned into whimpering. Every time he twitched, I could hear another snap or crack as his body shifted from seal to human. This wasn’t normal for him, and I was consumed with the worry that something might not transition correctly. The shifting continued for ten more minutes; screaming, breathing, crunching. I knew how painful my transitions always were, but this was like nothing I could ever imagine.
Finally, the seal skin collapsed around his human body and he shuddered with the last of his strength. “Eviana…” he barely whispered.
I pulled the skin away from him and gasped in horror as I took in the scene in front of me. Every wound, every bite, every tear became amplified in his human form. Usually, shifting helped heal the worst of an injury. But Brendan’s body was so weak that his energy had been put toward the change with nothing left to spare for the healing. I couldn’t move him right now without risking more pain, so I decided that we’d stay here and rest until he regained some of his strength.
I left him lying on the beach for just a few moments so I could leave our protected dune and look for any potential enemies. The calm sea was only interrupted by the breaking waves and I saw no one around for miles. Although I knew better than to think we were completely safe, I thought we could at least rest for a while without any intrusions.
Making my way back to Brendan, I realized how exhausted and hurt I was. Both of my legs had been badly bitten and blood seeped from the tiny puncture wounds. There was nothing I could do about that right now other than leave them alone. In a few hours, I was sure the pain would worsen as they healed from the inside out, but I would survive. It was Brendan that I needed to worry about.
Reaching down, I lifted the tattered piece of seal skin that was the secret to his existence. Tears threatened my eyes again as I looked at the rips and tears. He was lucky to be alive, and the fact that he’d been able to transition let me know he was stronger and more powerful than I had ever imagined. I placed the skin on the dune to my left to allow both the blood and the water to dry.
Brendan lay on his side, still in the same position I’d put him in, so I slowly slid down beside him. Exhaustion quickly overtook my body and as I snuggled up against his back my eyes began to close. Just a quick nap and then I’ll get us home, I thought. My arm instinctively wrapped across my selkie’s body, protecting him from whatever else was out there. They weren’t going to get him again. It was the last thought I remember before blackness swarmed into my
mind and closed it off to the world.
I awoke with a start like something had pulled me from my unconscious state with a purpose. It was still dark but the hint of dawn could be seen on the distant horizon. The stars had disappeared near the water’s edge, replaced instead by a dim sheen of purplish blue haze. We probably had an hour before sunrise.
I cursed myself for allowing us to sleep so long. Remembering why we were still here, I rolled over to study Brendan. His breathing sounded strong although his wounds were still prevalent. It looked like the bleeding had stopped, but the slightest movement might open up the worst of his injuries again.
“Evs?” he questioned through his sleepy stupor.
I ran my hand through his hair and leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m here, Brendan.”
“Are we still on the beach?”
He started to sit up, but stopped suddenly when the pain seemed to get the best of him. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and fought to continue. I wanted to help him, but knew he would want to do this alone. He needed to prove something to himself right now. I’d be there to help him later. Blinking his eyes several times, Brendan’s attention was drawn to the far eastern horizon. “It’s almost dawn.”
“Yes, and we need to get home. Do you think that you can make it to the car?”
He nodded curtly and began to push himself to standing. I grabbed his left arm to help steady him and for the first time in the disappearing darkness, I saw the extent of the damage to his back and right shoulder. Sand grains had embedded themselves into the wounds and I knew it would take us hours to clean them out. But for now, we had to get home and off this beach.
“Let me grab our clothes,” I said, knowing that we couldn’t walk back to the car and drive to our hotel completely naked. Jumping over the closest dune, I ran to the spot where we’d dumped our clothes the night before. I pulled the sundress over my head and decided we were lucky that Brendan had grabbed a loose tee shirt and shorts on his way out the door. Hopefully, they wouldn’t irritate his injuries to much.
When I got back to our dune hiding place, Brendan was standing but walking around in circles searching for something. “Where is it?” he asked without looking at me.
“What are you talking about?”
“My skin!” he yelled. “I can’t find it!”
My stomach dropped in dread before I could get a hold of my emotions. I stepped closer to him, fearful he would lash out again. “I put it over here on this dune,” I replied calmly, pointing to the area behind us.
He stumbled over to the dune, falling twice before reaching it. I’d never seen him like this before and it scared me just as much as it worried me.
“It’s not here! It’s not here!” He practically screamed and the panic in his voice shook me to the core.
I ran over to the spot where I’d gently laid out the skin just a few hours ago and saw nothing. “No, no, no,” I mumbled.
Scrambling up the dune’s face, I fought against the falling sand to climb to the top. I couldn’t believe what I saw, but what I smelled was unmistakable. Interspersed with Brendan’s fur and blood scent was the aroma of another selkie; one of the seals that had attacked us. The human footprints were unmistakable and the trail they created, heading away from the skin, could mean only one thing.
“No,” I whispered this time. Why did I let us stay here? I whipped my head back down the dune toward Brendan who sat on the edge panting and looking up at me with frantic eyes.
“They took it, didn’t they?”
I slid down the sand and stopped in front of my boyfriend. “I’m so sorry, Brendan! You couldn’t move and I was exhausted. I thought I hid us well enough, but I fell asleep. I fell asleep and now it’s gone.”
My shoulders shook with sobs and as much as I wanted to wrap my arms around Brendan, I knew that it would only cause him more pain. He looked down at me with absolutely no expression on his face. It was probably the worst thing that he could have done and I instantly knew that things had changed between us.
“We need to go,” he said sharply. Yes, maybe we could track them down. I pushed to my feet and reached out toward him. Surprisingly, Brendan grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I have to get home.”
“We’re not going after them?” I asked.
He let out a muffled laugh, sending chills through my body. “We will never find them.”
He didn’t say anything else as he slipped on his clothes with much resistance from his injured body and started to walk back to the car. I knew selkies could live for a while without their skin, but not without consequences. There were a thousand questions racing through my head and we’d have to talk about them soon. However, I understood well enough that now was not the time. I’d give him a chance to heal and then we could go after the selkies that attacked us.