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And then the selkie launched himself at me. I barely had time to move before he crashed into me. I hit the water so hard, it stole my breath. As I sank beneath the surface, my chest was crushed under his weight. I struggled to be free even as my mouth filled with water and my lungs burned.
He held me down until I thought I would die and then dragged me to the surface.
“Where are they?” he demanded. Gripping me by my upper arms, he shook me. “Give them to me!”
I could not speak, too desperate for air.
The selkie dragged me up his rock at the center of his pond and held my legs down with his powerful thighs so I could not kick. I still fought, clawing at his hands, which drove into my pockets. When he did not find the hairs, he squeezed my breasts. I pulled his hair and jabbed at his eyes, but his hands clamped down on my wrists. Once he had them secure, he groped me and then ripped the bodice of my dress, smirking as he lifted the pouch.
“Foolish thing,” he said, and his fingers closed over the bag as he forced his mouth on mine.
“No!” I screamed. “Wolf! Casamir!”
“Shut up!” the selkie said, and he placed his large hand over my nose and mouth, pressing down until I could not breathe. I dragged my nails down his arms, and I knew that I broke skin because I could feel it beneath my nails. Yet he did not loosen his hold, and just when my vision began to blur, a shadow passed over us from above. In the next second, Wolf swooped down and began to claw at the selkie’s face with his feet and peck at his eyes with his sharp beak.
The selkie screamed as blood dripped down his face, and he dropped the pouch he had stolen from me. I raced to snatch it up and slipped off the rock, wading through the water as fast as I could.
“Drink, creature, drink!” Wolf commanded, but I could already feel myself growing smaller and smaller and the pond larger and larger. The bigger it grew, the farther away from shore I was and the more exhausted I became. And just when I thought I could go no farther, the raven swept me from the pond with his taloned feet.
I shook uncontrollably as a numbness took hold inside me. I felt nothing, not even the wind on my face.
“Are you all right, creature?” Wolf asked, but I did not answer because I didn’t know what to say. I was not all right, but I had a purpose and I needed to see that through. I was too close to freedom.
I kept my eyes closed the entire flight, and when Wolf landed, he set me gently on the cold, glass surface of the same clearing and landed nearby. I rose dizzily into a sitting position, watching him.
“Why did you save me?” I asked.
“Because you will marry the prince,” said Wolf. “And when you do, I shall be a wolf once more.”
The selkie had said something similar. I had not believed him then and I did not believe Wolf now, but I said nothing as I stood, untying the pouch and pulling out Casamir’s dark hair. It was wet and stuck to my fingers, but I managed to count each strand to ensure all three were there.
“Mountains,” I said. “I have brought you three strands of hair from the head of the Prince of Thorns.”
After I spoke, the world seemed to go still and silent, the pressure of it pushing against my ears. Then the ground beneath me groaned and a hole opened up at my feet.
“Feed me, mortal.”
“You promise to give me the prince’s true name?” I asked.
The hole grew bigger, touching the tips of my toes, and I jumped back to keep from falling in.
“Feed me, mortal!”
My chest tightened, but I obeyed. I thought I had been careful in the way I’d worded my bargain with the mountains, but I could not remember the exact wording. Still, we had made a bargain, and I had no reason to believe the mountains would not honor it. I let Casamir’s hair drop into the darkness below, and the hole closed with a snap, but then the ground began to shake. It was different from before—not the grumble of a voice but a tremor of anger.
“You think you can trick me, mortal?” the mountains roared in my head, making my ears ring. I fell to my knees and pressed my palms flat against them.
“It’s not a trick!” I seethed. “The hair came from his head!”
“Liar!” the mountains bellowed. “Only one hair came from his head. The others did not, and now you must pay for your deceit!”
A smaller hole opened up before me, and the hands that were pressed against my ears were suddenly flush against the surface of the Glass Mountains.
“Only your flesh will suffice,” said the mountains, and as they spoke, my ring finger dropped into the opening of the mountain against my will. Just as before when it closed to swallow the hair, it closed to swallow my finger, slicing through skin and bone.
The pain was sudden and sharp, stealing my breath for only a beat before a scream tore from somewhere deep in my throat. I ripped my hand away and cradled it in the other, blood dripping through my fingers and striking the ground.
I looked at Wolf, who still watched nearby.
