by Douglas Rees
"I don't need to meet no more damn vampires," Un-derskinker said.
"They prefer to be called jenti," I said. "Vampire's kind of an insult. Makes 'em mad. You want to be more careful, Coach."
"No fightin' on duh team!" Underskinker roared.
I went out to the pool, with Underskinker trundling along behind.
"Okay, you punks, here it is," he said. "We gadda find three more guys to be on dis team and we gadda do it in a week. I wancha to go out and find 'em. Udderwise . . ." He paused. I think he was trying to imagine a life without his swivel chair and his case of beer. "Udderwise, sumtin' bad's gonna happen."
He left us to work that one out and headed back to his office.
"Geez, why do we have to do it?" Falbo complained.
"Because they can't," I said. "Horvath tried. Maybe even Underskinker tried. But who do they really know? You guys have lived here all your lives, right? Don't you have any friends? Maybe a brother like Barzini did?"
"I ain't got no brother," Falbo said.
"His parents took one look at him and stopped trying," Tracy said. "But Pyrek's got two brothers."
"One's five, one's twenty," Pyrek said.
"How about a sister, then?" I said. "I never read a rule that says water polo can't be coed."
Tracy gave me a disgusted look. "Barzini musta kicked you in the head, not the ribs," he said.
"Well, our next game, if we show up for it, is a week from today," I said. "If we can't come up with some players, we may all end up back at Cotton Mather."
"Homework," Falbo whispered.
"Real grades." Tracy shook his head.
"It's all your fault, Elliot, you fix it," Pyrek pleaded.
"Well," Tracy said. "If we only got a few days more of the sweet life, I'm going to enjoy 'em."
He headed for the locker room, followed by Falbo and Pyrek.
I eased myself into the water and tried to swim. It still hurt, and my chest had more colors than a rainfall map of Brazil, but I thought it would be good for me to move around. I was right. In a few minutes, I was loosening up a little.
I wasn't alone for long, though. Justin came in as soon as the Impalers left.
I swam over to him.
"How are you feeling?" Justin asked.
"Not bad, for how bad I feel," I said. "How about you?"
"Still scared, I guess," Justin said.
"Yeah, well, I guess we've all got something to worry about with this water polo thing," I said. "You think they'll really close the school?"
"It's complicated." Justin sighed. "The gadje in New Sodom want to keep this place because it keeps us out of their school. But they hate paying for it. I can't say that I blame them, either. Their own kids
don't have anything half as nice. But a lot of our money comes from the state. And the state doesn't care whether there's a school for jenti or not. There are some people on the state board who'd like to see us shut down."
"Why does everything have to be so complicated?"
"Things just are, that's all."
"I don't suppose you have any gadje friends."
"Just you."
"Water polo," I said, getting out of the pool to sit beside him. "Close down a whole school over water polo."
"It'd be about more than that," Justin said. "Water polo would just be the excuse."
I noticed I was dripping onto Justin's leg. I jerked away.
"Oh, geez, Justin, I'm sorry," I said.
"Oh, it's just a little," he said, wiping it with his sleeve. He looked out at the warm green water, where the last of my ripples were fading away.
"I'd sure love to do what you do. Just once. Just to know what my fish feel like."
"Why don't you?" I said.
"Are you crazy, or do you just think I am?" Justin demanded.
"Neither one," I said. "But you've never been in water, right?"
"Of course not."
"Then how do you really know what would happen to you?" I asked.
"Because it happens to all of us," he said. "Always has. I told you."
"Justin, have you ever known another jenti who wanted anything to do with swimming?"
"Not really."
"Did you ever know another jenti who raised fish?"
"There's a girl in social studies named Helen Dan-forth. She has a bowl of guppies," Justin said.
"I'm not trying to talk you into anything," I said. "But, Justin, you're so different from the rest of the jenti in some ways, maybe you're different in this way, too."
Justin didn't answer. He just looked at the water and bit his lip. Finally he said, "How deep is the shallow end, three feet?"
I nodded.
"If I got in, I could get out again real fast if I had to," he said. "You'd be right there, right?"
"Of course I would."
"Let's get me a suit," he said.
We found him a suit and a bag. I picked up about forty extra towels, just in case. I hoped I didn't look as scared as I felt.
I got in first.
"Okay," I said, faking a smile. "Nothing to it. Just take it one step at a time."
Justin had set his face like there was a brick wall in front of him and he was working out how he was going to put his head through it. He faced the pool and took one step down the ladder. The water washed over his foot. He stopped.
"How does that feel?" I asked.
"Not bad," he decided after a minute.
He brought his other foot down to join it.
"Pretty good," he said.
He came down another step and stood up to his thighs in water.
"How are you feeling?" I asked. I was ready to drag him out by his hair.
"Funny," he said. "Real funny."
That was it. I reached to lock my arm around his neck and pull him out, but before I could, Justin had thrown himself flat. With a splash, he disappeared under the water and shot away from me.
"Justin!" I called. "Justin, don't! Wait a minute! Wait for me! Just wait!"
But Justin couldn't have heard me anyway.
I saw an arrow of water curving away from the place where his head was, streaking across the pool, faster than anybody I'd ever seen. Then, down by the diving board, he came up.
"Yippee!"
You've never heard anybody actually shout "Yippee!" in your life, right? Well, neither had I. But Justin did. And then he leapt out of the water. And as he soared five, ten feet into the air, I saw he wasn't Justin anymore.
Where my friend had been was a dark, streamlined creature covered with sleek brown fur. It looked human, but the way a human would look if it was redesigned for living in water.
It reached the top of its leap, curved over gracefully, splashed down, and shot over to me.
"This is so great," Justin said. "I wish I'd done this years ago. Come on."
But there was no way I could keep up with him. He rocketed back and forth through the water, curving in long sweeps, zigzagging, jumping, and diving. It was like he was taking possession of the pool.
I just stayed in the middle calling things like, "Justin, maybe you shouldn't . . . ," "Maybe you need to ... ," and "It's only your first time."
But he was born for what he was doing.
Finally, he popped up beside me, smiled, and said, "This is the third time you've saved me."
"What?"
"First you saved me from Gregor, then you saved me from missing Ileana's party. Now you've saved me from never finding out who I really am," he said.
"You know, it's getting late," I said. "We'd better dry off."
"I don't ever want to be dry again."
"Come on. The custodians will be coming around to close the pool and wake up Underskinker."
"Okay," Justin said reluctantly. He glided over to the edge of the pool and popped out of the water.
As he toweled himself off, he turned back into the Justin I knew. But there was a difference. He was smiling, and there was no shyness in it. He was happy, and he knew no
one could take that happiness away from him. He even walked differently.
We got our clothes on and went out into the early dark. The snow had retreated into corners and shady places now. It glowed faintly.
"So anyway," Justin said, like he had been thinking it over, "what do I have to do to get on the water polo team? For real, I mean."
The idea was so simple it was brilliant. And I was sure Horvath would hate it. But then I had my own idea, which was either as brilliant as Justin's or bone stupid. I knew how to get Justin on the team and how to save the school's accreditation. And how to keep Horvath from interfering.
There was just one possible hitch.
"I've already got that figured out," I said. "But that won't be good enough. We need two or three more players. Justin—do you think there are any more jenti around who can do what you do?"
"There might be," Justin said after a few minutes. "That girl I mentioned, Helen, the one with the guppies. And her brother Carlton. They say he got into a wading pool when he was three. Scared the daylights out of his mom."
"That'd be three," I said.
"I can think of a few more who might," Justin said. "The funny thing is, they're all like me. Kind of small and brown-haired. Or blondish. And they've all got that problem I've got, needing extra blood sometimes. And none of them transforms. But every one of them does something with water, even if it's only running the sprinkler."
"Okay," I said, trying to think of everything at once. "The important thing is to keep Horvath from finding out. That means we have to have tryouts at some other place. Do you know anybody who's got their own pool?"
"Actually, yes," Justin said. "There's a boy named Thornton Ames I could ask. His family have had a pool for years, just for looks. They never use it, of
course. But they keep it up and everything. You know, to fit in."
"Could we use it this Saturday, with no grown-ups around?" I asked.
"It'll be complicated," Justin said. "But we'll see."
Sometimes everything just fails into place, it turned
out that Thornton Ames's parents were going into Boston for a matinee that Saturday, so we had their pool to use. And Thornton was interested. So were Helen and Carlton Danforth.
We all met at the Ames place at two o'clock.
It was a bright, windy day, with the steam blowing off the water in streamers. Justin and I were shivering in our suits as the other three looked at us like we were a door they hadn't known was there and weren't sure they wanted to go through.
Just as Justin had said, they all were his physical type. They were so small and ordinary-looking that even when the three of them stood together, it looked like
there were two. I wondered if that ordinariness was another kind of vampire protection, for the ones who couldn't fly away or become wolves at will.
"Okay," Justin said. "You all know what this is about. Cody showed me how to change into something that swims. It's the greatest feeling I've ever felt, and I guess you are all interested, too, or you wouldn't be here. Just to let you know, Cody and I will be right here to help you out in case—well, in case it turns out this isn't your cup of tea."
There was a big pile of towels nearby that Justin and I had brought from Vlad. Helen Danforth looked gravely at them. She looked at the water. Then she walked to the edge of the pool, bent over, and dipped her finger into it.
"Nice and warm," she said thoughtfully.
"Let's see you do it, Justin," said Carlton.
Justin walked to the far end of the pool and jumped in. Almost as soon as the water closed over his head, he was changing into whatever it was he became.
I heard Helen gasp.
"Oh," Carlton breathed.
"Okay," Justin said, coming up. "Now Cody's going to get in with me, and we're going to help any of you who want to try."
The three of them just looked at us. Who could blame them?
Finally, Helen said, "Well, I paid a lot of money for this bathing suit thing. I might as well try it out."
She went into the house and came out again a few minutes later in a one-piece suit that covered her almost to her knees.
"Nobody dare laugh," she said.
"You look good," I said. "Very professional. Ready to try it?"
"Might as well," Helen said. "It's too cold out here."
She walked steadily down the steps of the pool until the water was up to her waist.
"Don't feel any different," she said.
"Maybe you need to put your head under," Justin said.
"I'll get down so only my head is sticking out," Helen replied, and she did.
"I still don't feel any different," she said. And then, "Oh, my!"
She stood up. From her neck down, she was sleek and web-footed and covered with brown fur.
She screamed and ducked her head under the water. When she came back up, her face was brown, furry, and smiling.
"This feels very nice," she said, and took off in the same kind of explosion of joy that Justin had the first time.
"Sister, be careful," Carlton said.
"Oh, pooh, get in yourself," she called to him.
"I think / will," Thornton said. He took off his clothes. His trunks were under them.
"Do I need to do anything else?" he asked.
"No, just get in," Justin said.
"I believe I'll jump," Carlton said, and he did.
"Carlton, you're supposed to take off your clothes first," Justin said when Carlton came back up, looking sort of like a seal in pants and a shirt.
"I'll remember next time," Carlton said. "I'm afraid I'm a little excited."
"Everyone look out, please," Thornton said, and threw himself into the water.
And there I was, one gadje with four jenti-otter-seal things all splashing around me like it was the most fun they'd ever had in their lives. I imagine it was.
It was nearly an hour before they calmed down.
"What do you suppose these things are that we've turned into?" Thornton asked, breathing hard. "It seems to me we ought to have a name."
"Never heard of anything like this happening to jenti before," Justin said.
"I think it must be some new ability that's grown up in us," Carlton said. "Maybe it's been in us for generations, waiting for Cody to find it. People can change."
"I've been giving it some thought," Helen said. "The British Isles have legends about creatures that can take the form of seals or people. They're called selkies. All of us here have ancestors that came from there. Maybe we're a sort of special British thing."
"Selkie. That's a good word," I said.
"It's as good as any," Justin said. "Let's be selkies."
"Let's swim some more," Thornton said, and they took off again, racing like otters around the pool.
It was nearly another hour before they calmed down enough for me to ask them, "Did Justin mention anything about water-polo"
"Of course," Helen said.
"We understand we're to be part of the team," Carlton said.
"I must say, it seems like it's going to be fun," Thornton said.
"I'll bet everyone's going to be surprised," Helen said.
"Everyone had better be surprised," I said. "Especially Horvath."
"We certainly won't tell him," Thornton said. "We'll all just volunteer to be replacements."
"But why wouldn't Mr. Horvath be glad to know that we can do this for the school?" Carlton asked.
"I don't actually know that he wouldn't," I said. "I don't know what to expect from him. But I know he doesn't like anything to change. So we have to present him and the state with something that they can't ignore or cover up."
"Just in case he'd rather let the school close than upset the old way of doing things," Justin said.
"Well, did anyone bring the rules for this game?" Helen asked.
We got out of the water and stood around shivering and looking at the two pages of rules that water polo has.
"Seems pretty cle
ar," Thornton said.
"No problems that I can see," Carlton agreed.
"No indeed," said Helen. "I believe we're ready."
"Well, great," I said. I was anxious to get back in that warm water. "Somebody get a ball and we'll practice a little."
"What for?" Thornton said. "We know how to play. Besides, I'm afraid I don't own a ball. I think we ought to swim some more."
"But—" I began, then stopped. What difference did
it make if we practiced or not? The Impalers had never practiced before.
One after the other, the jenti leapt gracefully into the water and started doing things no gadje could ever do. I had a feeling that we were going to do quite a bit better in our next game than we'd ever done before.
Justin told me later that Horvath was surprised when all four of them went in at the same time to volunteer to be backups.
''This is highly irregular," he said. "We normally assign water polo as a duty."
"Yes, well, we want to do what we can to help out, sir," Justin had told him. "Especially me. After what I did last week."
Horvath gave him a hard look, but he assigned everyone lockers and ordered a special girl's suit in team colors for Helen.
This is just how it happened, and this was my part in it. There is one major thing I have left out. I have not put it in so far because there is no way to work it into the events I am describing. It was just there.
Ileana ^"------^
More accurately, the absence of Ileana.
My heart gnawed at me every minute, no matter what else I was doing, or seemed to be doing. In math class, where we sat beside each other, I never even looked at her. But not looking at her was all I could think about. And in the other classes, the ones I didn't have with her, I kept looking around for her.
Sometimes I smelled her when she was nowhere around. That was the worst and the weirdest.
But there is nothing more I can tell you about it than that. It just went on, the missing her, no matter what else I was doing.
Which probably explains somehow what happened with Gregor.
It was Wednesday. And it was beautiful. The air was soft as a kitten's breath, and the light was incredible. The little creek that ran through the campus was singing, and tiny little frogs called spring peepers were out and singing back to it.