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“Does he live in this settlement too?”
“No, he’s moved away. He’s… how shall I say this… He’s turned his back on the selkie ways and is now living with a human woman. Usually it’s selkie women who leave us and live with human men, but occasionally, it happens to selkie men too. I think my father’s happy though. His new wife is lovely, even though she tries to ignore all existence of the supernatural. She likes to find excuses for things she can’t explain.”
Macey laughed. “I wonder what she’d say if she saw me shift.”
Rónán joined her laugh. “She’d probably faint. Or go to a therapist because she’d think that she was experiencing hallucinations. She’s a bit strange, but nice.”
Macey tried not to think of her own strange family situation. Her mother who maybe wasn’t her mother at all, and her aunt who may be her mother. It was confusing. She really needed to seek out Nessie soon to find out what the truth was.
To distract herself, she asked, “What did your mother mean at the beginning? About you not having your skin?”
Rónán sighed. “Our shifting magic is different from yours. When we shift from selkie to human, we step out of our seal skin. It isn’t as gross as it sounds, by the way. Once we’re fully human, the skin shrinks until it’s small enough to be worn as a pendant. Some wear it on their belts, some as a necklace. Without it, we can’t shift back to selkie.”
Macey’s eyes widened. “And you don’t have your s
kin anymore?”
His shoulders drooped. “It was stolen about a year ago. They attacked me in the dark of night and ripped my necklace off. I still don’t know who did it, but I assume it was other selkies. I’m not the most popular person here because I don’t always want to stick to our traditional ways. I tried to find it, or find out who took it, but I’ve not had any success. Luckily, I have enough magic to dive underwater for almost as long as I could in selkie form, so it’s not inhibited me as much as they probably hoped. Still, it’s like a part of me is missing.”
That, Macey could understand. If she couldn’t shift… waves, she’d go crazy.
“Izban,” she suddenly said, speaking at the same time as having the idea. “He can do spells to find things. He had a tracking spell once that he used to follow Amber when she was kidnapped.”
Rónán frowned. “He doesn’t seem to like me much. Do you think he’d do that for me?”
Macey laughed. “I don’t think Izban likes anyone besides himself and Amber. But I know exactly how to bribe him.”
Izban and Amber were sitting outside a hut that looked exactly like Rónán’s, snuggled against each other. They looked very cute together and Macey hated to disturb them, but Rónán needed the mage’s help. She couldn’t believe that the selkie hadn’t been able to shift for a year now. She’d probably be dead by now, but he didn’t seem to be affected at all. Yet another difference between the selkies and kelpies.
“Good morning,” she greeted them and Amber flashed her a wide smile. “I never got to thank you two for coming to help.”
In a way, she had talked to Amber about it, but not to Izban, and he was the one she was trying to charm.
“We wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Orca without you. Especially you, Izban.”
Okay, maybe that was a little bit over the top. Izban seemed to have noticed that too, for he started to scowl.
“What do you want?”
Amber elbowed her boyfriend. “Be polite,” she hissed and he had the decency to look a little guilty.
“Good morning,” he corrected himself, the scowl still on his face though. “What brings you here?”
Amber elbowed him again and he winced. “What? I said good morning!”
“It’s the way you said it,” the beithir explained patiently, sounding as if she’d had that conversation many times before. “You need to be polite to others and then they’ll be polite to you.”
Macey tried to hide a grin. Those two were behaving like an old couple.
Izban sighed. “Good morning, it’s lovely to see you. Please, sit down.”
Amber laughed. “See, much better.”
Rónán and Macey sat down on a wobbly bench beside them.
“How did you sleep?” the selkie asked, playing along with the small talk game.
“Lovely, thank you.” Amber smiled cheekily. “The bed was very soft.”
