The Selkie of San Francisco

by Todd Calgi Gallicano

  “Fine,” Sam replied. “But first tell me why we’re going to Cabo de Hornos National Park. Is that where the second sacred point is?”

  “No. But that’s where we can catch a ride to the location of the second sacred point.”

  “Where is it?” Iaira asked.

  “One of the coldest, weirdest places on earth: Blood Falls.”

  SL002-130-50

  SOURCE: PR

  DATE: ████████

  Cabo de Hornos National Park has the distinction of being the southernmost national park in the world. It encompasses a group of islands in Chile at the southern tip of South America. The park plays host to several endangered species, as well as a variety of mythical creatures that originate from surrounding cultures. The area has been designated a Biosphere Reserve, and as such, all of the park’s flora and non-magical fauna enjoy special protections.

  Although Chile’s Ministry of Agriculture employs a private organization to manage the country’s national park system, the true masters of nature in this part of the world are the Ngen, a creature from Mapuche mythology. The Mapuche are an indigenous people of the lower region of South America, also known as Patagonia. The Ngen work secretly inside the parks as rangers and aid in protecting magical and non-magical animals, as well as natural habitats.

  Sam London was rattled awake in his seat by a sudden and jolting stop, which was followed by Cletus opening his giant maw. Blinding daylight poured inside, and when Sam’s eyes finally adjusted, he saw that the whale had beached itself on a narrow strip of sand. Groggily, Sam stood and walked toward the exit, along with Vance, Tashi, and Iaira.

  Once out of Cletus’s mouth, they thanked the whale and said their goodbyes. The creature was itching—and shivering—to get back to the warmer waters of Atlantis. Standing on the rocky beach, they watched as Cletus wiggled his way back into the ocean and swam off.

  “Well, I can cross riding in the belly of a whale off my bucket list,” Vance quipped.

  “Are those the austral waters?” Iaira asked, gesturing toward the ocean. Vantana shook his head.

  “Not exactly,” he replied. “The austral waters are a little farther south.”

  “Then what are we doing here?” Sam asked.

  “I have the same question, Dr. Vantana,” a voice said from behind. Tashi spun around, shekchen at the ready.

  “He’s a friend,” Vance said, waving Tashi off.

  The “friend” was a tall, slender man in a uniform that resembled those of America’s park rangers. He had brown skin, dark eyes, and long dark hair that fell loosely out of his campaign-style hat. Sam noticed there was an ethereal quality to him, as though he were not entirely real. He appeared to shimmer at times, depending on at what angle the sun hit him.

  “Antinanco, my apologies for not contacting you earlier,” Vance said, stepping forward. He bowed his head; Antinanco did the same.

  “An unusual way to travel, that much is certain,” the man remarked, motioning to the water.

  “You’re telling me. We’re here because we need your help,” Vance told him. “This is Princess Iaira of Ta Cathair and we’re trying to get her back home. Unfortunately, the path leads us right through Blood Falls.”

  “And you require transportation,” Antinanco concluded.

  “That’s the short of it,” Vance confirmed.

  “And if I discourage you from traveling to that place?” the Chilean ranger asked.

  “I appreciate the concern, but we don’t have the luxury of choosing our destinations right now,” Vance informed him. Antinanco nodded.

  “Follow me, then,” he said, turning and heading into a densely wooded area.

  “I would like to know where we are traveling, Dr. Vantana,” Tashi said, standing firm on the shore. “I have a responsibility to protect Sam London, and I cannot do so without knowing where we are going and what dangers we may face when we arrive.”

  “I understand,” Vance replied. “We’re going to where the clue directed us, Blood Falls in the austral waters. ‘Austral’ is another name for the Southern or Antarctic Ocean. The falls flow into Lake Bonney from the Taylor Glacier, so that is our next stop.”

  “Antarctica?” Sam said, shivering at the thought. Vance nodded.

  “Hopefully, the only thing you’ll need to protect Sam from is frostbite,” he told Tashi. “Now let’s get a move on. Antinanco is our ride, and we don’t want to keep him waiting.” Vance walked ahead with Iaira. Sam looked to Tashi and shrugged, then followed. He peered back to find the Guardian right behind him.

  “So how are we getting there?” Sam asked Vance curiously, then glanced over at Iaira to explain. “I’ve been on a subway built by dwarves, on a giant mythical bird, in a sinkhole with skunk apes, on a Loch Ness taxi, and in the mouth of a giant whale. You never know how you’re going to get places with Dr. Vantana,” Sam told her cheerily. He shifted his eyes back to Vance, who had a wry grin. “So what’s it going to be this time, huh? Are we riding on the back of a Mongolian Death Worm?”

  “Nope. This time it’s a dragon,” Vantana replied matter-of-factly.

  “A dragon! Really?” Sam asked excitedly. The doctor nodded, and Sam pumped his fist in the air. He had always wanted to see a real dragon. He eyed the clearing ahead, his anticipation growing at what he would soon behold. But when they emerged from the woods, Sam did not see the promised dragon; instead he saw a long, narrow runway and a gray biplane with twin propellers that looked like it should be in a museum. Antinanco was standing beside the aircraft doing what appeared to be a preflight check. Vance was walking that way when Sam caught up with him. “Where’s the dragon?” he asked. “Are we taking that plane to it?”

  “The plane is it,” Vance informed him with a wink. “That there is a de Havilland DH.84 Dragon,” he added, gesturing toward the aircraft.

  Sam sighed. “We’re flying to Antarctica in that? It looks ancient.”

  “That’s one of the originals from 1932. Can you imagine? Still in great shape, considering,” Vantana said.

  “I’ve always traveled on private jets….That looks like a death trap,” Iaira announced with trepidation.

  “It does not fill me with confidence,” Tashi added.

  “All of you need to just relax,” the doctor responded. “It’s perfectly safe. Trust me.”

  “Wait….How far is Blood Falls from here?” Sam asked.

  “About three thousand miles, give or take.”

  “And how fast does that thing go?” Sam followed up.

  “About a hundred twenty miles per hour,” Vance answered. Sam quickly did the calculations in his head.

  “That’s like twenty-five hours of flying…in that?” Sam said, growing increasingly concerned. Vantana didn’t respond. He simply smiled and shook his head, then continued to the plane, with Sam trailing behind.

  Unlike most propeller-powered biplanes Sam had seen in pictures and movies, this one had a cabin that appeared to be just big enough to fit the four of them plus the pilot. He ran his hand along the fuselage. It looked and felt old, and worse, it didn’t appear to be metal.

  “What’s this made of?” he asked.

  “Wood,” Antinanco answered.

  Sam’s eyes immediately went to Dr. Vantana, who was holding the cabin door open, waiting for Sam, Tashi, and Iaira to board.

  “We’re flying to the South Pole in a plane made of wood?”

  “Of course,” Vance replied. “Antinanco is a Ngen. They’re masters of the forest, so he prefers wood. Now climb aboard; we’re killing time.”

  “I’d rather be killing time down here than getting killed up there,” Sam retorted, pointing skyward.

  “Like I said, you’re just gonna have to trust me,” Vance responded. “Now get in.”

  Sam eyed the doctor for a long while before finally stepp
ing inside the cramped cabin; the others followed his lead. As they strapped themselves into the threadbare seats, the propellers roared to life. Antinanco guided the craft down the runway, picking up speed, and then took to the air. The plane bounced and rocked and tilted as it climbed steadily.

  “You see, Sam, we don’t need the fastest plane to get where we’re going. We need the slowest,” Vance shouted over the engines.

  Sam gave him a sideways glance. What is he talking about? Sam wondered. The Chilean ranger peered back at Vantana.

  “Ready?” Antinanco asked. The doctor gave him a thumbs-up. Sam watched as their pilot took one hand off the yoke and placed it on the cockpit’s ceiling. A wave of shimmering energy emerged from his fingertips and rippled through the fuselage like a stone tossed into still water. The sensation that followed was one Sam had never experienced before. The world slowed down until it felt like it stopped completely. The plane was no longer moving. Sam peered out the window to see that the earth below was also motionless. And then, suddenly, the earth began to spin. Quickly. The wind and clouds rushed by the windows at alarming speed, but he could have sworn the plane was still frozen in place.

  “What’s happening?” Sam asked Vance, the noise of the propellers no longer drowning them out. “Are we moving?”

  “The earth’s moving, but we’re not,” the doctor replied. “The Ngen aren’t entirely of this world. They’re sorta like spirits. As such, the laws of physics don’t apply to them. They have a magic that allows this plane to stop in midair.”

  “So we’re floating in the sky and the earth is still rotating beneath us?” Sam asked.

  Vance nodded. “The earth and the atmosphere are still traveling at about a thousand miles an hour, but thanks to Antinanco we can just sit tight and let it pass under us.”

  “We’re fast because we’re slow?” Sam surmised.

  “We’re fast because we’re still,” Vance corrected him.

  “This is officially my favorite way to travel,” Sam declared. Vance smiled, then tipped his hat over his eyes and tried to get a little rest.

  SL002-130-60

  SOURCE: PR

  DATE: ████████

  Tucked within an Antarctic valley is Taylor Glacier, a moving mass of ice that flows into Lake Bonney, an ice-covered lake of salty water. At the junction of these two geological features lies the mysterious Blood Falls. Discovered in 1911, the falls appear exactly as their moniker implies, but the water isn’t blood, of course. The color is the result of a scientific phenomenon related to the lake that lies beneath the glacier. It contains a high concentration of iron and salt, the latter of which makes the lake nearly unable to freeze. When the iron-rich salt water hits the oxygen in the atmosphere, oxidation occurs and forms red particles, creating a flow of red water that’s made even more striking and ominous by the white expanse that surrounds it.

  Antinanco touched his hand to the ceiling and Vance Vantana felt the Dragon rejoin Earth’s rotation with a jolt. The propeller noise roared back to life and the plane shook and swayed as the doctor gazed out the small window at the strange frozen landscape below. It was a cold, forbidding place, and Vance hoped their visit here would be both successful and brief. Tashi was right, he had to admit to himself. She couldn’t do a good job protecting Sam without knowing what to expect, but the problem was that Vantana had no idea what to expect. He felt anxious and uncertain—a feeling akin to walking on ice, and now he would be doing just that.

  Antinanco landed the Dragon on the Taylor Glacier with the help of attached skis. Once they were out of the plane, the Ngen opened a duffel and doled out heavy winter parkas with hoods to the group to fend off the extreme cold. Iaira began to protest about the style and color but quickly thought better of it when the icy wind hit her face. Tashi was the only one who appeared at home in this climate, no doubt due to her time in the Himalayas. Though well below freezing, the weather was calm—a positive sign, Vance thought. He loved his omens.

  Discreetly Antinanco pulled Vance aside.

  “I have heard there is a cavern behind the falls, carved out of the ice by the dvergen when they considered building a subway station,” he said. “It was abandoned shortly after construction began.”

  “Why?” Vantana inquired quietly.

  “It is Antarctica,” Antinanco replied with a sense of foreboding.

  The doctor nodded. He knew exactly what the Ngen was trying to communicate. There were stories about Antarctica, tales of mythical creatures Vance hoped never to encounter. The Japanese culture had suggested the existence of terrifying sea creatures called the Ningen that made this place their home. The DMW catalogued and acknowledged their existence, but no DMW ranger had ever come into contact with the beasts, simply because no ranger had yet to have a reason to travel to Antarctica. It was just one more wild card Vantana had to be on the lookout for on this part of their mission.

  “We’ll see you in a bit,” he said to Antinanco, who nodded and climbed back into the plane to wait for their return. “Let’s get in, find the clue to the next point, and blow this oversized Popsicle stand,” Vance announced. “We stay close to each other and don’t touch anything that doesn’t need touchin’, got it?” Sam, Iaira, and Tashi nodded in agreement.

  They ventured toward the falls, arm in arm, treading cautiously. Glaciers were treacherously slick and often had large crevices that intrepid hikers could fall into. Taylor Glacier was relatively smooth due to its geological origins, but Vance knew that meant its glassy blue-tinged surface was extra slippery. Everyone but Tashi fell down along the way.

  After a frosty few minutes, the group reached the falls and Vance faced a new dilemma. Normally dvergen subway station entrances were found behind waterfalls. There were exceptions, of course, but the question was, Where would the dvergen have placed this entrance? This was not a flowing waterfall by any means. It was a slushy, icy stained mass of salt water that oozed down the glacier’s surface. He spied a crevice to the right of the falls that appeared to be the right size for a door. Stepping up carefully to the icy wall, he spoke the words of the dvergen, and a door snapped open. Unfortunately, the door wasn’t located in the crevice; rather, it was in the center of the falls.

  Red seawater drizzled off the ledge above the narrow opening, and as they stepped through one after the other, their hoods and jackets were instantly stained by the rusty liquid. Iaira took the brunt of it, as a chunk of slush sloughed off just as she crossed the threshold, pushing the hood from her head and then showering her with a gush of icy red water. She squealed, and Vance pulled her through the rest of the way. She was shaking, and not from the chill. The vision she’d described in the tower had just come true. Vance caught her eye and tried to console her.

  “It’s not blood, remember. Just colored water,” he said. She nodded and continued forward.

  Luckily, it was warmer inside, but not by much. Lights flickered on, and Vance was glad the dvergen had gotten that far with their construction. He led the group down a small hallway to a set of stairs. At the bottom of the stairway they found a large cavern where the subway platform and subway car would normally have been. Though there was a platform, there was no car. The unfinished tunnel was filled with brackish, gritty water that rose almost level with the platform and was likely teeming with minerals and microorganisms.

  “What now?” Sam asked, peering around.

  “Maybe it has something to do with that.” Iaira pointed toward the cavern wall. There was a series of small circular crevices carved into the surface, which appeared to be made of iron. Tashi gestured for everyone to stay back as she approached the wall. She studied the markings, then reached into one of the crevices and pulled out a small brown object.

  “What is that?” Vantana asked her, unable to get a good look from his vantage point. Tashi sniffed it, and her eyebrow rose.

  “I believ
e this to be a hazelnut,” she said.

  “That’s weird,” Sam remarked. “Do hazelnuts even grow in Antarctica?”

  “Nothing grows in Antarctica,” the doctor replied. He eyed the crevices, then moved back to get a better look at it. “Does that look fish-shaped to you?” he asked the others. Now that he was gazing at it in its entirety, the crevices appeared to form an outline of a fish.

  “Yes, I can see that,” Iaira said. “It is a fish.”

  “Are there hazelnuts at each of the points?” Sam asked Tashi. The Guardian nodded.

  “It appears that way,” she reported.

  “Hold on….How many hazelnuts are there?” Vance asked, an idea forming in his head. They all counted at the same time, but Tashi came up with the answer first.

  “Nine. There are nine points to this drawing and nine hazelnuts,” she revealed. “Is that significant, Dr. Vantana?”

  “It sure is,” Vance responded. “There’s an old folk tale from Irish mythology about a creature who ate nine hazelnuts and got smart. Real smart.”

  “What kind of creature?” Sam asked.

  “The kind the carving indicates,” Vance said, gesturing toward the wall.

  “A fish?” Iaira supplied.

  “A fish,” Vantana confirmed. “A salmon, to be exact. The Salmon of Knowledge. And there’s only one thing worse than a person who thinks they know everything, and that’s a salmon who actually does.”

  “So the salmon is the third sacred point on the journey?” Sam asked.

  The doctor shrugged. “Or he knows where it is. Either way, let’s get out of here right quick,” Vance said, feeling as if they were being watched. They turned back toward the stairs and were halfway there when Tashi leapt in front of them. She twirled her shekchen and knocked down a long, pointed spear. It fell to the ground with a loud clang that echoed through the chamber. She spun to the source, charged her staff, and prepared for battle, but there was nothing there.