The Girl with Stars in her Hair

by Alexes Razevich

  No, it wasn’t good. Not at all good.

  He took a step toward me, closing the gap between us. “I like you too, Cassie.”

  “This is not the time or place,” I said, my voice quavering the slightest bit.

  “It’s exactly the time and place.”

  He put both arms around me and kissed my mouth. A deep kiss. A kiss the likes of which no one had ever given me before. I broke away from him, breathless. I thought turning to dust might be worth it.

  The starfish at my throat grew warm. The warmth spread over my skin and into my core. I felt stronger, more aware, more focused than I could remember ever feeling. And confident. So what if the gremhahn had been keeping an eye on me. I knew my spells. I was a competent and able mage. I’d break the curses. I’d get Jimmy back. And then, maybe—

  But until then . . .

  Pax walked Scout and me back to my house but said goodbye on the porch. I didn’t know if he would kiss me again, if I should kiss him. Did I want to kiss him again? I stood with my hand on the doorknob, hesitating, unable to decide on the answer.

  He decided for me—planting a quick kiss on the top of my head and then leaving without a word. A lovely thrill spread through me, starting from the crown of my head and melting its way to my toes.

  I went inside, closed the door behind me and leaned against it a moment.

  “Paxton Yeager,” I whispered. “Pax.”

  Jimmy, I thought. And Mother.

  *

  Three a.m. Four a.m. Four thirty. I gave up trying to sleep and slid from my bed. Scout raised her head from where she’d been sleeping at the end of the bed. I put a finger to my lips.

  “Shhh. Go back to sleep. I’m going for a walk.”

  Her ears twitched at the word walk, but evidently sleep was a more appealing idea. She lay her head back down and closed her eyes. I dressed in trousers and a light sweater and padded barefoot onto the sand and down to the sea.

  The clouds that had blurred the stars had drifted away, leaving a canopy of lights overhead. I stared out over the dark water and fingered one of the stars in my hair, its cold hardness and all it represented spurring my growing fury. The goblin had cursed Mother never to see her son again. He’d cursed me never to marry or know passion with a man. Neither Mother nor I would ever be free to live our lives fully until the curses were broken and Jimmy returned to his human form. My brother’s year as a seal was drawing close to its final days.

  I paced along the waterline, anger making my steps hard and fast. I’d bring the gremhahn to his knees, leave him begging to free us all from his curses. I’d make him sorry for the day he’d first knocked on our door and for stealing my brother.

  Under my breath, I muttered the calling spell, not realizing it until the last word had left my lips. I clamped my mouth shut and stood dead still. I hoped beyond hope the spell hadn’t worked, though I knew I’d memorized it and practiced until pronouncing every word perfectly was second nature.

  A waterspout rose suddenly in front of me, huge and dark, rising toward the sky. Drops of water and flecks of foam sprayed onto my face and body. As quickly as it had come, the spout sucked back into the ocean, forming a vortex that pulled the water around it down and around. The shore water sucked at my feet and ankles, trying to pull me in. I braced one foot in front of the other to stop from falling.

  And then the goblin was in the shallows, standing right in front of me. He wore the body and face of Dr. Gremhahn. His eyes were narrowed, his nostrils flared, his mouth curled into a sneer. The dark wool-like suit he wore was dry as a desert as he rose from the water.

  “Oh, it’s you,” he said, his voice full of contempt.

  I started the personal protection spell, saying the words fast so the sea goblin would have little chance to stop me.

  He leapt forward, knocking me to the sand, and cutting off my words. He fell on top of me, sitting on my chest, his legs straddling my body. I tried to shake him off as I started the protection spell again. He grabbed a handful of wet sand and shoved it into my mouth. I swung my head from side to side and tried to spit out the sandy mud, but he kept his hand over my mouth no matter how hard I tried to dislodge it.

  “Spit out your nasty spells now,” he said, contempt darkening his words. “Stupid girl. You and your stupid mother, thinking you could best me with your infantile magic.”

  I swung my shoulders again to knock the goblin off. He laughed and pressed his hand harder against my mouth. I gagged on the wet sand.

  The starfish at my throat warmed, growing hot, sending strength and energy deep into me. I screamed through the mud and his hand, out into the darkened night. The scream surprised him, and in that brief moment of hesitation he lessened the pressure on my mouth and his weight on my body. I focused on twisting my chest and shoulders to the side and up at the same moment. The gremhahn lost his hold and balance and tumbled off me into the sand.

  I jumped to my feet and started the protection spell again. The goblin rolled over onto his hands and knees, then jumped up to his feet. He was laughing, his fingers poked into his ears. The waves rose offshore, growing higher and higher, crashing against the beach, drowning out my words. If he couldn’t hear me, the spell wouldn’t work. I could call him from a distance, but he had to hear my words for me to be safe. I shouted into the cacophony of the waves but I couldn’t even hear myself.

  The gremhahn began to grow—just as he had when he’d become a fish that day with Mother. But his height didn’t frighten me now. I had a weapon against that.

  I pronounced the levitation spell and began rising into the air, keeping my face even with his but backing off as he grew, to stay out of his reach.

  “However big you can grow,” I shouted over the waves, “I can go higher. You will never rise above me, even if your head pokes through the clouds.”

  It was a bold lie, and he likely couldn’t hear me anyway, but his growing stopped. I started the protection spell a third time. The gremhahn laughed, snapped his fingers, and was gone.

  No, not gone. Turned into a crab the size of my palm, scuttling toward the water.

  Clever of him, I thought as I descended back to the sand. Crabs don’t have ears. But there had to be a way to make him hear the spell. There had to be.

  The crab was nearly at the water. If he made it in, I’d lose him. I could use the calling spell again, but if he stayed a crab— I ran toward the water and snatched up the gremhahn with two hands just before he made it to safety. He sank both pincers into my skin. I cried out but didn’t turn him loose. He tightened his hold. I gritted my teeth and began the protection spell a fourth time, hoping I could get it all said before the gremhahn stopped me again. Crabs may not have ears, but the sea goblin did, and it was the sea goblin I held in my hand, no matter what he looked like.

  The pincers slowly loosened when I finished the spell. I held the crab between my hands and breathed hard, letting my skin forget the pain of the pinches. The crab wasn’t moving. Slowly I drew my two hands apart. A sob rose in my throat. All I held was an empty shell. I threw it down in disgust.

  A gust of wind blew over my head, and I looked up. The biggest bird I’d ever seen was diving at me. Albatross, my stunned mind managed to whisper. The sound of its wings was like a storm. Its body was as big as Molly’s had been. The bird was nearly twice my height, wing to wing, and flying right at me. Hatred glared in its dark, glittering eyes. I wanted to run, but my feet wouldn’t move. Something that big and heavy hitting me would cause damage, maybe permanently.

  I remembered my vision at Diana’s—a seagull. But maybe that was because I thought of those birds in connection with the sea goblin. I hadn’t seen him hide as an albatross before. But I was still the arrow. There was no time for a personal protection spell now. I started reciting the levitation spell, holding off the last word until the albatross was almost on me, its wings folded, diving down. I screamed the last word and focused all my attention on rising to meet the bird. The bird opened its
beak—the curve at the end as sharp as a hook—and screamed back at me. Just as we were about to collide, I shifted aside of its path. It couldn’t stop or turn as fast as I could. As it flew past, I grabbed its neck.

  The thing let out a strangled cry and flew toward the sky. I hung on, desperately trying to figure out how to make the bird turn and go back to the ground. I couldn’t let go. Maybe the levitation spell would stop me from falling, but maybe not. A fall from this height could kill me.

  The beach receded below. I held tight with both hands to the bird’s neck and watched as it turned toward the sea. My heart pounded in my chest. If I didn’t let go soon, the bird could take me so far out across the ocean that even if I could land gently on the water, I’d never be able to swim to shore.

  I focused hard and made myself let one hand come free. I doubled that hand into a fist and punched the bird’s breast as hard as I could, aiming for the heart. My fist thudded into the bird’s body. Bone cracked beneath my blow. We tumbled toward the water.

  I spit out the levitation spell as fast as I could make my lips and tongue move. My body jerked as my fall slowed but didn’t stop. The goblin dropped into the sea with a huge splash and disappeared. The sea was his home—he’d be fine. Probably turn into a fish and swim away.

  He had to be fine. I needed him to get Jimmy back.

  I hit the water. Not hard enough to break something, but still it hurt. Cold ocean water shocked my senses to full alert. I grabbed a last, desperate gulp of air as the water closed over my head, momentum from the fall carrying me down and down. All I saw was water as I plunged deeper into the sea. My lungs began to ache.

  Something bumped me from below. Something big.

  Shark, I thought, terrified so deeply I almost let go of what little oxygen I was still holding in my lungs. I flailed my arms, hoping to scare it off and to stop my downward fall.

  Whatever was below bumped me again. I turned my head and caught sight of not the shark I’d feared, but a large harbor seal. It nudged me again, pushing me upwards. Water rushed over me, parting as we raced toward the surface. The seal shoved me up through the last of the water and into the air, then dove, disappearing in the dark sea. I treaded water and gulped fresh oxygen into my lungs.

  The seal, its white spots gleaming in the moonlight, surfaced again next to me and bobbed alongside while I caught my breath. I reached a hand toward it, but it dove and disappeared. Whatever help it had to offer seemed finished now.

  A cold breeze blew against my skin. The smell of salt stung my nose. A clump of brown seaweed floated nearby, rising and falling on the tide. I treaded water, moving in a slow circle, trying to figure out where I was.

  It was hard to see anything in the moonlight. I couldn’t see the beach, but the swells seemed to be moving in one direction, which I figured had to be toward shore. But if I couldn’t see land I was likely too far out to swim to safety before exhaustion overwhelmed me. And maybe the swells didn’t go to the shore at all.

  I couldn’t stay where I was. It would be too easy for the sea goblin to find me and pull me under. Pick a direction and go, I told myself.

  A splash sounded behind me. I spun, terrified it was the gremhahn, then sighed in relief. The spotted seal rolled onto its side and extended a flipper toward me. I’d never heard of a seal attacking a person, but anything was possible—especially if this wasn’t really a seal, but the sea goblin himself. He could look like anyone, anything. How could I know what to trust?

  The seal slapped its flipper on the water, splashing water into my face, then held its flipper out to me again. I reached out and gently touched the limb. The seal wriggled toward me, shoving its flipper into my open hand. I held on as best I could. The seal seemed happy with that, but then pulled its flipper away and swam under me, coming up so that I sat on its back. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around its neck. Its fur was wet but sleek and soft. The seal’s warmth radiated into my shivering body. I figured that if this were the sea goblin in disguise and he dove underwater, I could always let go.

  The seal stayed on top of the water, though, cutting through it like a blade. I lifted my head as high as I could while keeping my arms around the seal’s neck, and watched for shore. I hoped it was shore we were heading to.

  Another seal rose near us—not so large as the one I rode, but big and sturdy enough. In its mouth, it was holding Dr. Grehmhahn by the arm. Which meant the seal I was riding wasn’t the sea goblin. That was a relief, at least. The seal holding the goblin dove under the water. I thought I saw its wake trailing behind us.

  After a time, the swells grew larger and rougher, and I could make out the dim outline of the beach. I held onto the seal as we came close to where the waves were breaking. The seal stopped and seemed to be thinking for a moment, then caught a rising swell. Together we rode the wave in to shore, landing on the sand with a thud. I hauled in a breath, scarcely able to believe what had happened, and rolled off the seal onto the wet sand.

  “Thank you,” I said. “I’ve heard of dolphins bringing sailors to land, but never a seal.” I levered myself to my knees and kissed the animal’s nose.

  The second seal waded onto the shore, dragging the sea goblin with it. The goblin hit the side of the seal’s head with his free arm. I guessed the seal didn’t like that, since it shook the gremhahn like an errant piece of seaweed, then threw him hard onto the sand near me, knocking the goblin senseless.

  The seal that had saved me barked, then made its way back to the water and disappeared under the waves. The second seal followed closely behind.

  The sea goblin had been knocked out by the throw, but was coming around. I shouted out the protection spell and then the binding spell before he could regain his wits and do anything to stop me. By the way his face screwed up, I knew the spell had worked. A smile spread across my lips. He was bound to me now and had to tell the truth.

  “Where’s my brother?” I said. “Where’s Jimmy?”

  “In the sea, where he belongs,” the goblin said, pulling himself slowly to his feet.

  I didn’t like that answer. It could mean too many things. “Is he alive?”

  “Oh, yes,” the goblin said. “Quite alive. Quite fond of fish.” He laughed.

  I wanted to hit him for that laugh.

  “Return Jimmy to me, now.”

  The gremhahn shook his head. “I can’t do that. He’s quite on his own.”

  I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Enough of your double-talk. Give me back my brother, right this moment.”

  The sea goblin slowly turned his head to look out to the water. “I have no control over your brother. Maybe you could do one of your little spells on him, eh? That might work.”

  I didn’t trust the goblin; there was probably a trick in there somewhere, but he was still under my command and had to tell the truth. I turned his shoulders loose and cast the calling spell to Jimmy. All that came was a small group of seals, bobbing in the surf. My heart sank. One young pup swam forward, coming almost to the shore.

  “There’s your brother,” the goblin said. “Take him home, why don’t you?”

  I grabbed him by the shoulders again. “Change Jimmy back.”

  “Do you have a spell for that, Mage?” the goblin said. “You have bound me to speak the truth. The truth is I can change a boy into a seal, but cannot change a seal into a boy. So if you have a spell to do that, pronounce it now. If not, best set me free. Or perhaps you will take me home, keep your brother and me as pets. You still live in that nice beach cottage?”

  I wanted to slap him. I wanted to throw him in the water and push his head into the sand until he suffocated. Tears stung my eyes. So close, and yet not close at all.

  The seal that was Jimmy had waded onto the shore but seemed afraid to come any closer.

  “I’ll be back, Jimmy,” I called. “I’ll be back and everything will be fine. I promise.”

  Sixteen

  Hermosa Beach, California

  July 192
4

  I’d hardly slept after my meeting with the gremhahn but couldn’t settle down from the angry energy pulsing through me. I paced through the house, Scout worrying at my heels. What sort of idiot was I to mutter a spell without even knowing it? Worse, to call the gremhahn without realizing it, without a plan, leaving myself at the disadvantage. Diana was right—I wasn’t ready.

  “I’m completely useless,” I said to Scout. She sat, thumped her tail a couple of times, and looked up at me, her brown eyes soulful. For the first time I could remember, she failed to melt my heart or lift my foul mood.

  I headed out the door to a sun-filled morning. I had nowhere I needed to be, no place I was heading. I loved the beach and the ocean—and wanted nothing to do with either today. I left Scout behind as well, lacking the patience to wait for a curious dog that wanted to stop and sniff each new smell on the street. I wanted to walk, to stomp, to burn off the frustration roiling through me and shut down the mind that wouldn’t stop saying Jimmy had only days left in which to be rescued and what a cretin I was.

  Passing Kerwin’s Bakery I saw Pax sitting inside, alone at a window table. I didn’t want to talk to him. I had no interest in reliving the experience with the gremhahn while telling the tale. On the other hand, I couldn’t imagine making small talk while all I could think about was what had happened. I quickly crossed the street, then marched up Santa Fe to Hermosa Avenue and turned right.

  I strode down the asphalt road, frustration driving my feet past homes, businesses, and empty lots on the street. Sand dunes dotted with wild barley and yellow pincushion flowers rose to the east as I walked out of Hermosa and into Redondo Beach, stopping only when thirst drove me into a small market. I took a Coca-Cola from the cooler, snapped off the lid on the bottle opener on the cooler’s side, and recovered my manners enough to politely pay a nickel to the thin woman in a floral dress behind the counter. Outside, I leaned against the market’s green stucco wall and took a deep drink of the cold soda pop.