by J F Rogers
Pepin nodded. He scowled and viewed Kai askance. “You’d better stay close.”
Kai returned to my side.
“Imagine the last thing you remember on the ship.” Pepin shuddered, sounding as if he didn’t want me to follow his suggestion. “Based on our last experience, I believe we’ll be safe on the water.”
As Pepin worked Drochaid, I imagined myself back in the captain’s cabin, bracing myself, water sloshing on the floor. The rocks merged into one.
Turas slowed to a stop, and we stood in the cabin. I steadied myself as the ship tilted, then laughed at myself. I didn’t need to worry about the ship’s sway. No matter how the boat tilted, we remained still, unlike my past-self and the others who were tossed like passengers on a roller coaster.
The boat pitched back and forth. I watched my past-self, tied to the chair, stare in horror at Rowan. Everything not secured rolled from one end of the room to the other. The noise became deafening—winds howled, wood creaked, waves crashed, debris skidded. A wave pushed the door off its hinges and straight toward me. My past-self fought to escape, but the ropes held me.
That was the last thing I remembered.
Evan untied himself and fought the current and swirling debris to reach me. He felt my neck for a pulse. “She’s alive. Unconscious, but alive. She hit her head.”
The captain appeared in the doorway. “Abandon ship! We’re being torn asunder. She’s awash. Hurry to the longboats!” He disappeared. Abracham, King Aleksander, and Maili came free of their binds first and helped untie Rowan, Pepin, Cataleen, and Sully. Where were Wolf and Cahal?
King Aleksander clasped Rowan’s face. “Save yourself, daughter.”
“What are you saying, Father? We’re going together.”
“I must free Valter.”
“No!” Rowan cried. “You can’t risk going down there for him. He tried to kill you.”
“I must.”
“Your Highness”—Abracham grasped Rowan’s arm, rooting her—“the lower levels are likely flooded.”
“God willing, I’ll survive.” King Aleksander trudged through the water to the door.
“No!” she yelled and tried to go after him.
Abracham kept a firm grip. “He’ll be all right.”
“I’ve got Fallon.” Evan threw me over his shoulder and joined the crowd.
I imagined myself trailing everyone out to the upper deck. Pepin and Kai stayed in the same vicinity everywhere I went.
The crew helped women and children into a longboat.
Wolf called out for me.
Evan responded, “She’s here.”
“I’ll take her.” Wolf cradled me. “Come. We need to evacuate.”
“Valter?” Wolf stopped. His face blanched as if he’d seen a ghost. “How’d you make it out?”
“A–A—” Wet hair stuck to Valter’s forehead. His blue lips quivered. “A fasgadair freed me.”
“A what?” Evan asked.
“Seclusion’s made the lad go daft,” Wolf said. It sounded funny coming from a guy who looked so young.
“Where’s my father?” Rowan asked. “He went to rescue you.”
Valter shook his head.
“Get the ladies on a boat.” Long strands of gray hair stuck to Abracham’s face as he shouted over the din.
But crewmen lowered the full dinghy into the sea.
Someone whistled. “Over here!” A crewman stood next to an empty dinghy.
My mother, Sully, and Pepin climbed aboard. Pepin’s skin had taken on a green tinge. He held the seat and the edge in a white-knuckled death grip. Only Sully appeared calm.
Wolf turned to Rowan. “Let’s go.”
Her eyes gravitated toward the stairs. “How can I leave without him?”
“You must, child.” Abracham chucked her chin. “Go. I’ll find your father.”
“No. I—”
Cahal plucked her up and ran to the dinghy. The vessel pitched hard. Wolf lost his footing, and I slipped from his grasp. A wave caught me and carried me over the ship’s edge.
“No!” Wolf screamed. He, Cahal, Rowan, and Evan ran to the edge where I’d disappeared.
“She has to be there.” Cahal prepared to jump.
Wolf and Evan each grabbed an arm. Veins bulging in their necks, they tried to restrain him.
“Let me go! I have to save her!”
“If you go in there too, you could die. You won’t save her,” Evan yelled.
“Then I’ll die trying. I can’t leave another friend behind.”
“She’s alive.” Wolf yanked Cahal’s chin, forcing his attention. “I’m sure of it. God has plans for her. He’ll see her through this. Trust Him. If we’re to help her, we need to first save ourselves…and the others. Please, Cahal. Help us save them.”
Cahal relented, but I’ve never seen such a tragic look on anyone’s face. It twisted in complete agony. My heart melted. He cared enough to risk his life for me. That man had a special place in my heart. This scene secured it for life.
The crewman called to them again. They braced themselves while the dinghy teetered. Rowan and Maili hoisted themselves aboard.
“Where’s Valter?” Rowan asked.
“I don’t know, lass.” Wolf’s gaze roamed the ship.
Wolf and Cahal boarded last. The sailors lowered the dinghy, which swung and crashed into the side of the ship as it pitched. Pepin tumbled backward out of the boat.
My friends searched for him. But the sea swallowed him up, and they were helpless, trapped midair on the longboat.
The real-life Pepin shuddered beside me.
“I thought pech sunk like a stone?” I pivoted fully to him. “How’d you survive?”
“A seal.”
“A selkie helped you?” Kai leaned closer.
Pepin shrugged. “Or a seal.”
The crewmen lowered the dinghy a few feet. Then the rope stuck on one end. The occupants screamed and held on with white-knuckled grips as they dangled precariously on the other side. The rope loosened, and the boat dropped the last few feet, plunging into the raging sea. By some miracle, they didn’t lose anyone else.
I stared at Pepin. “How many times can you defeat death?”
He threw me a meek smile.
“Well, I can’t follow the boat and look for you,” I said.
“Why would you? I’m here. Follow the boat.”
Duh.
My first opportunity to walk on water…sort of. Whatever the waves did, they didn’t toss Pepin, Kai, or me. Or get us wet. When they raged over our heads, they blocked our view, but otherwise passed through us.
The passengers tied themselves together and to the boat. They clung to each other, wide-eyed and shivering. Hours later, the waves calmed. Cahal’s eyes were still wide, his body rigid. Evan’s and Wolf’s heads bobbed on their limp bodies. Their eyes half-closed. Sully, Cataleen, Rowan, and Maili slept.
This Stonehenge time-travel thing was like being in a virtual reality that didn’t allow for movement or touch. Just tracking history as it played out by following it with my mind.
How freaky to control this alternate view of life? Wherever I thought to go, I appeared with Pepin and Kai in their same places wherever I led. They changed their positions from standing straight on two feet, to shifting their weight to another leg, to sitting. At Stonehenge, were we visible in whatever positions we were in now? But then, we’d return at the same moment in time. Should anyone arrive, they’d see us at the exact moment we’d left as if no time had passed. But then, no one had been there when we left, so no one would be there when we arrived. So, it was a moot point. Right?
But what about what the angel said? Were we sitting in the spiritual realm, outside of time and space, where angels and demons may or may not be? Were we sitting ducks there? But when we returned, it was always in the present. So where were we?
My mind exploded. I couldn’t think about this anymore
.
My legs tired of standing, endlessly following the longboat without moving. I’d rather walk. I tried to follow Pepin and Kai’s lead and sit down, but Drochaid tugged against my neck. I couldn’t sit and keep Drochaid in the depression unless I took it off and held it. What would happen if I let go? So, I remained standing, leaning against the invisible stone in which Drochaid rested. My legs ached. How much longer would I have to do this?
Chapter Thirty-Seven
◊◊◊
MY FEET HURT. MY legs and back ached. Standing still was the worst. Why was I putting myself through this torture? The last time we’d returned, we were refreshed as if no time had passed, because no time had passed. Here, wherever we were, probably the spiritual realm, the aches and pains of time passing strengthened the longer we remained. But I didn’t have to put myself through this. We had a time machine. “I need to go back. Just for a minute.”
“No!” Pepin jumped to his feet and darted to me. “Don’t.”
So close, I’d just been about to imagine us home. “Why not?”
“You heard the angel’s warning about the demons,” Pepin said. “We can’t go back and forth as often as we want.”
“But I’m so tired. At least you guys can sit and rest.”
Pepin wiggled his fingers as if beckoning me. “Give me Drochaid.”
I grasped the strap.
“It will be all right, Fallon. As long as Drochaid remains in the stone and one of us has a hold. Just don’t let go until I have it.”
I pulled the cord off my neck and, desperate not to drop it, helped him get it around his. Pepin was so short, the cord angled up, and I feared it might slip off if he slumped. I remained next to him, hands ready.
“Rest. Kai can take a turn if I tire. Isn’t that right, Kai?” Pepin threw him an icy stare.
“Gu dearbh,” Kai said.
Oh great. Even here, I couldn’t understand Ariboslian or any other language without Drochaid. That complicated matters. I returned to Drochaid and grabbed the cord. “What did you say? I can’t understand you.”
“She doesn’t speak Ariboslian or Cianese. Drochaid allows us to communicate with her. But—” Pepin tugged on Drochaid’s cord.
Kai nodded and smiled. “I said ‘indeed’.” He waved me off. “Go rest. I won’t talk.” He stretched out, resting his head in his hands.
Wait. Pepin had been speaking with Kai all this time. “Pepin, you speak Cianese too?” Was there nothing Pepin couldn’t do?
“I travel. Remember?”
“Yes. I remember.” His standard answer. Then again, his English wasn’t strong. It was probably all he could think to say in few words.
“Kai speak Ariboslian too.”
“Yeah, he mentioned that.” I glanced at Kai, who raised an eyebrow at me. To be fair, I probably shouldn’t speak English without Drochaid. I sat and rubbed my legs. I’d still have much preferred going back and getting refreshed, but Pepin had a point. And this seemed to be working okay. Now it was Pepin’s turn to imagine us to the right places. My mind relaxed. I reclined and closed my eyes.
“Tha fios agam càite a bheil seo.” I couldn’t understand Kai’s words, but his enthusiasm was clear in his excited tone.
I opened my eyes and groaned while Kai carried on in Ariboslian. The sun was peeking over the horizon, and the dinghy had washed up on the shore with all its passengers passed out.
“Wait.” I hopped up, stretched, and trudged to my post. Pepin slipped Drochaid’s cord over his head and put it on mine. I turned so Drochaid was behind me and slumped against the invisible stone. “What were you saying?”
“I recognize this place. That’s why I couldn’t find them. I didn’t even consider traveling this far north. How did they end up so much further north than you?” Kai rubbed his shoulder. “The water current should have brought you much closer together.”
“It must’ve been God’s plan to separate us,” Pepin said. “Had I not found the dark pech, I wouldn’t have learned about Turas. Had you not found Kai, we still wouldn’t know where we are.” Pepin twisted his back one way, then the next, causing staccato pops that made me shudder.
Did I just hear Pepin say something positive about Kai? Progress. “So, where are we?” It just looked like a beach, similar to where Kai found me.
Kai grimaced. “Selkie territory.”
“Oh no.”
“Why?” Pepin squished his caterpillar eyebrows together. “What happens in selkie territory?”
“If they’re found, the selkie will lock them away… Forever.”
****
Once the sun was high in the sky, Cahal woke. His body jerked, eyes wide, as he took in his surroundings. I was glad Kai suggested taking a turn at the helm since we had a long wait. I relieved him of his duty.
Cahal shook those closest to him and told them to wake up. He untied himself, stepped around their splayed bodies, and jumped free of the craft.
One by one my friends stirred, each face masked in pain as their senses returned to them. Like zombies, they rose, untied themselves, and escaped the boat. Once the boat was clear, they pulled it further up the beach.
Wolf surveyed the beach. “We need to find Fallon.”
“Aye,” Cahal agreed. “You, Cataleen, and Maili search that way.” He pointed up the beach to the north. “Evan, Rowan, and Sully, follow me this way.” He nodded toward the south.
They assembled themselves per Cahal’s orders and headed out. Sully ambled behind his group.
“Which group should we follow?” I glanced at each group increasing the distance between each other.
Pepin’s head ping-ponged back and forth between each group. The bewilderment on his face offering no insight.
“Pick one of us.”
Jolting, I whirled toward Sully.
He looked over his shoulder in our direction. “If you need to, return here and follow the others.” Then he faced forward once more.
Evan turned back to Sully. “What’s that, Sully?”
Sully snickered. “Just thinking out loud.”
Pepin, Kai, and I stared at each other, mouths agape.
“Can Sully see us?” I raised an eyebrow at Pepin.
“I’ve never understood Sully’s abilities. He sees in ways I can’t understand.” Pepin scratched his beard. “Now I wonder about the times I’ve caught him talking to himself.”
I chuckled. Sully’s surprises were endless. “Should we follow Sully’s group?” I wanted to learn more about him and his abilities and talk to him.
“Perhaps we should follow Wolf’s group.” Pepin spread his hands, palms up, as if offering no choice. “I think they’re safer with Sully.”
“Good point.” Disappointing, but smart.
“I agree,” Kai said. “The group heading north isn’t far from Taobh Na Mara, a seaside village. They’re more likely to run into trouble first.”
While Wolf’s group grew smaller in the distance, I imagined us behind them, and there we appeared, like magic.
****
The landscape grew rocky. We trailed Wolf and the others weaving up a path along a cliff. Waves crashed below us. Seals sunned themselves along the rock face.
“I hope those are just seals,” Cataleen whispered. “If not, this is selkie territory we’re heading into.”
“Aye.” Wolf halted, forcing his troupe to stop short to avoid running into him. “How do ye suggest we proceed? Fallon might’ve come this way. She wouldn’t question if this was a selkie village. She’d be alone. Possibly hurt. Hungry. She’d be more concerned about getting help and finding us than the consequences of meeting a selkie.”
The group murmured agreement.
“Let’s veer from the path and seek someone in human form. If it’s a male, we’ll send a male. If it’s a female, we’ll send a female,” Maili suggested.
Of one accord, the others followed Wolf into the woods. They pushed through brush wh
ile Pepin, Kai, and I floated right through the branches. We were the perfect spies. Unless you were like Sully, we were undetectable. A creepy feeling washed over me. Was I ever watched unaware? I shivered.
“Are you cold?” Kai put an arm around me.
I wanted to wrap my arm around him, but I couldn’t. Instead, I shrugged his arm off. “I’m fine.”
They ventured into someone’s backyard. Sheets hanging on a clothesline billowed in the breeze. A young girl with long black hair sat in the grass, playing with dolls.
“I’ll go.” Cataleen stepped from the cover toward the girl.
The girl stopped her chatter, her doll in hand, frozen in midair as Maili approached. I pursued with Pepin and Kai.
“Hello,” Cataleen called as she neared the statue of a girl. She crouched down to her. “Have you seen a young woman with long black hair and purple eyes, a little taller than me?”
The girl blinked. Her mouth still open, her hand still suspended in midair, holding her doll, she shook her head.
“How about a small man with long red hair and a beard?”
“Ahoy!” a woman’s voice called.
A woman appeared from behind the hanging sheets. She ran toward the girl, probably her daughter. “Who are you?”
Cataleen straightened. “My apologies, ma’am. I’m looking for my daughter.”
The woman kept a suspicious eye on my mother, but most of the alarm had faded.
Cataleen repeated her description of me.
“I’m sorry. We’ve not had any visitors to this village in months.” She grabbed her daughter’s hand and pulled her away. “We can’t help you.”
She walked toward the house, her daughter tripping behind her as she tried to look back.
After they disappeared into the house, Cataleen returned to the woods. “We should return to the boat. Perhaps the others have found her.”
“They should be more careful approaching people. Don’t they know what selkie look like?”
“What do you mean?” Selkie had a certain look?
Kai motioned to his face. “Dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin. We all have these features. That woman and her daughter have probably never seen light-colored hair in their lives. But they know gachen have that coloring. We all do. Which is why I didn’t know you were gachen. Your skin is pale, and you have purple eyes, but I didn’t realize gachen could have black hair.”