Never Forgotten

by Kelly Risser

  I didn’t want to stay at the Mitchells’, but I had nowhere else to go. It was almost two in the morning. If I called my parents, I’d have to give them an explanation, and I couldn’t.

  Evan suggested that I use the room at the bottom of the stairs. “It’s Dad’s office,” he said. “There’s a couch in there.” He made me take the blanket lying at the end of his bed and his extra pillow. It was torture. The spicy scent of his cologne enveloped me. I wanted nothing more than to crawl back and beg for his forgiveness, but he asked for space and I would give it to him.

  The leather couch was surprisingly comfortable, but I couldn’t fall asleep. My mind kept playing through the night’s events. I had to know more.

  “Ula,” I hissed in the moonlit room. “If you can hear me, I need to talk to you.”

  She appeared in the desk chair, wearing bell-bottom jammies. Her curly hair was tied back in a scarf. “At this hour?” she asked through a yawn.

  “Oh thank God!” I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “Who is Kieran?”

  She guarded her expression and sat upright in the chair. “Why do you ask?”

  “I met him tonight at a club. His friends seduced my friends, and…and…he kissed me.” I blurted it out in a rush.

  “What?” Her green eyes widened in disbelief. “You let him kiss you?”

  “Did I have a choice?” I wasn’t being facetious. I wondered. Was I under his control or did I have free will?

  “Of course you did. Well, at least…I think so.” Her words faded into mumbles, and she frowned.

  “Sorry, I didn’t get any of that.” Her non-answer left me even more confused.

  Ula studied me, twirling a copper curl around her finger. She bit her lip and mumbled a bit.

  “Ula?” I was getting worried.

  She tapped her chin with one finger. With her face highlighted by the moon, I noticed that she bit her nails. “You are still human…” she mused. She got off the chair and crossed to me, holding out her hand. I took it and stood.

  “Are you willing to try an experiment?” she asked. I eyed her skeptically, and she added, “It won’t hurt.”

  “Okay.” I wondered what she was going to do, but I trusted her.

  “Don’t be afraid,” she said. Before she finished speaking, the room darkened to pitch black. I gasped. Just as quickly, orbs of all shapes and sizes flared to light around me. I smelled the sea. Each globe held a tiny ocean, churning wave upon wave. Though small, their light was brilliant. When my eyes adjusted, I looked around. Ula was no longer there, but I heard her voice.

  “What do you see?” she asked.

  “Glowing globes. So many of them. Beyond that, nothing.”

  The image blinked out and once again, I was in the office. Ula held my hand, and she gave it a squeeze before giving me an apologetic smile. “You are susceptible. Until you Change, Selkie magic can influence you.”

  I swallowed the panic rising in my throat. “Did he use magic on me?” I thought of Kieran’s warm hands, his dark eyes, and my reaction to him. Was it real?

  Ula’s eyes were sympathetic. “I don’t know. Tell me everything that happened.”

  We sat on the couch, and I repeated the night’s events. It was a little easier this time, though guilt cut through me when I got to the part where we kissed. When I finished, she was scowling.

  “Why make your friends forget and not you? What game is he playing?” She stood and started to pace.

  Watching her made me dizzy. She held herself in the same rigid manner that she had at the hockey game. I thought of her fight with Kieran before the game. Before I knew who he was. Would she tell me why they were fighting?

  “You were fighting with him,” I said. “That night at the stadium.”

  She stopped pacing and stared at me. “How do you know that?”

  “I remembered,” I told her.

  “You weren’t supposed to see him,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  “I didn’t want you to. I don’t trust him.”

  She didn’t trust Kieran. My dad warned me about Brigid. Were any Selkies trustworthy? Or safe? Was Ula? I pulled me knees up to my chest. Might as well get it all out. “I also saw him one other time,” I admitted.

  Now she looked alarmed. “Where?”

  “On campus, when I was with Evan. He didn’t approach me.”

  “But tonight he did.” She started pacing and muttering again. Finally, she stopped and knelt in front of me, resting her hand on my knee. “I’m not trying to scare you, Meara, but I’m worried about you.”

  “Can I protect myself from Selkie magic?”

  Ula shook her head. Her curls bounced. “I’m not sure how. Tell David. He can help you.”

  “Why were you fighting with Kieran?” I asked again.

  Ula sat back on her heels with a sigh. Her shoulders sagged. “I was warning him to stay away from you.”

  “From me? Why?” I didn’t even know him.

  She hesitated before she said, “He wants you.”

  My nerves flared, and I swallowed fear. What did that mean? “He doesn’t even know me.”

  Ula laughed. The sound was bitter. “It’s doesn’t matter. It’s your power he wants. You are David’s daughter. David is very powerful.”

  “How does he know I’ll be powerful? And, you’re one of David’s sisters, aren’t you powerful?”

  “Not powerful enough.” She turned her head away, but not before I saw the sadness in her eyes.

  “Ula?” I leaned forward and touched her shoulder.

  She turned back and gave me a small smile. “Kieran and I? We were once betrothed.” She stood and kissed my cheek. “Talk to David. He’ll know what to do.”

  Her eyes filling with tears, Ula disappeared.