Tide Dance
Page 3
I’m not sure how the original conversation occurred, but someone from the Supernatural Protection Agent (SPA for short) approached Posy and suggested the manor be used as a halfway home for displaced supernaturals. In exchange for hosting tenants, Posy was assured that the manor would be cared for and that an agent of the supernatural law enforcement organization would keep the manor free from land-grabbing lawyers or other threats. They also handled things that a ghost like Posy would find hard to do—set appointments for landscapers, annual repairs, and other maintenance issues.
At the time, it was only the three of us in residence: Adam, myself, and Evangeline. However, I imagined it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Posy relied on the rental income to pay for the repairs and upkeep of the home. I hadn’t asked her recently, but it was likely only a matter of weeks before some newbie would show up on the welcome mat with a suitcase, business card, and—in all likelihood, a complicated backstory that would eventually get us all into trouble.
But, why borrow trouble?
As it was, we had a rogue teenage selkie roaming around town.
“Selkies?” Posy said, answering my question. “Oh, yes, I see people doing those all over town. On the beach, at the gazebo in town square, out at the lighthouse. It’s quite vain if you ask me. How many photographs of oneself are required in this day and age?”
Adam choked on a laugh and sputtered a cough against his fisted hand. Evangeline stuffed another egg roll into her mouth, though her eyes danced with humor.
“I think you’re talking about selfies, Posy. That’s where people take a picture of themselves on their phones.”
She bristled. “That’s what you said! Although, what it has to do with a pod, I’m sure I don’t know. I can barely keep up with the chores around here, let alone trying to keep up with every iPod or shiny, overpriced thing-a-ma-jig.”
“A selkie is a magical creature,” I said, still biting back my own smile. “They live in pods, as sea lions. But when they come to shore, they can shed their sea lion skins and transform into humans. We met one today, a teenaged girl, and wondered if the rest of her family might be somewhere nearby.”
Posy stared at me as if she wasn’t sure whether or not I was being serious. “I don’t know about seal-people, but I came to tell you that there’s a peculiar looking girl wandering the neighborhood. I’ve been watching her from the attic window. She’s passed the manor exactly four times, once coming all the way to the front door before going back to circling again. I think one of you needs to go and see what she wants.”
We all exchanged a quick glance and jumped up from the table. “I’ll go.”
Posy followed me to the door, but remained a few feet behind when I opened it. I jolted when I found the selkie on the front steps. She froze in place for a moment and then scrambled back down to the front walk.
“Wait!” I cried out before she scrambled back any further. Holding out both hands, I took a small step forward. “Please, don’t run away again. You’re obviously here for a reason.”
The girl shifted on the spot, nervously glancing over her shoulder at the quiet street behind her. The ocean roared in the background and a smattering of birds squawked as they settled into their rock-face nests for the night.
When she turned back around to face me, she tucked her chin and smoothed a strand of her silver hair behind one ear. Still not meeting my gaze, she said, “If the offer still stands, I need your help.”
“Of course.” I stepped back and beckoned her forward. She peeked up and then took tentative steps back onto the porch and over the threshold. “Let’s start with your name this time.”
“It’s Clarice,” she said, bringing her gaze level with mine.
“Okay, Clarice.” I smiled. “How can we help?”
“Someone stole my pelt. I can’t turn back into my true form without it, and if I don’t get it back, I’ll be stuck as a human forever.”
Chapter 5
“Forever?” I repeated before glancing at Adam. He looked taken aback too. Apparently, we’d both missed that part of the history when we’d been in magic training as kids. “I wasn’t aware that was part of the deal,” I said, looking back to Clarice.
“Well, technically, I’ll always have the ability to transform between a land-walker and a sea lion,” Clarice said. “But, if I’m not back by the Summer Solstice, I won’t be welcome to rejoin my pod.”
“Why not?” Adam asked.
“They will say that I made my choice to remain on land. In their eyes, anyone who would rather stay a human than return to the sea is not a true selkie.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Wow.”
Adam studied the girl for a moment before asking, “How old are you? Seems like a pretty big decision for someone so young.”
“I just turned sixteen,” Clarice replied. “Between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice of our sixteenth year, the selkies in our pod are free to live on the land, with humans. It’s called a Tide Dance. The elders say that the Tide Dance is supposed to satiate the curiosity of the young so they can fully commit themselves to the pod. They think that anyone who spends a significant portion of time among humans, in their world, will all but race back to the sea and stay there.”
Adam snorted. “Can’t say I’d blame them.”
I quirked my lips to one side and lifted my brows. No arguments here. Life as a sea lion had to be infinitely more pleasant than dealing with the complications of the humans. The selkies had their own harbors and secret retreats where they enjoyed simple lives. As far as I knew, they communicated mainly through an almost telepathic medium that allowed for volumes of information to be passed back and forth without speaking with their human tongues. Their knowledge and experiences went back for centuries. A selkie could be highly intelligent and every bit as educated as a human, without ever stepping into a traditional classroom or studying under an Ivy League professor.
“During this Tide Dance, do you stay here on land?” I asked, thinking to the flash of light I’d seen on the beach. “You said you’d come ashore last night.”
“I spent the first few weeks of spring in Long Beach. There’s a large group of Tide Dancers there and we were … just having fun.” A pink twinge graced her cheeks and she dropped her gaze to the floor. “I met someone. A human.”
Adam glanced at me from the corner of his eye.
“I’m guessing that’s not exactly … encouraged?” I ventured.
Clarice shook her head. “Before we leave for our dance, the elders gather us around and share all kinds of horror stories, cataloging all of the terrible things humans have done to our kind—and to our brothers, the sea lions, as a whole. “But, I thought this one was different. I thought he really liked me.” Abruptly, she broke off and gave a frustrated toss of her head, huffing like an agitated horse.
“What happened?” I asked, already afraid to hear her reply.
“It started out fun and light. He played in a band. They were awful. But it was fun watching him. I could feel how much he loved what he was doing. Most of the time, we’d go to different bars and listen to live music, but one night, he took me to a fancy restaurant. Although, looking back, it’s obvious he was just using me.” She scoffed. “We got the bill and he told me he’d forgotten his wallet and that he’d pay me back. But the next morning, I woke up and he was gone. And so was my purse.”
I winced. “I’m so sorry, Clarice. That’s horrible. Did you call the police?”
She shook her head. “No point. It’s not like I can fill out a police report. Half of the boxes on the form would be left blank. It’s not like I have a driver’s license or any other kind of ID.”
“Right.” I should have figured that out myself. The SPA was there to protect supernatural creatures, but they rarely got involved in cases that had anything to do with humans—beyond the occasional self-proclaimed vampire hunters—and they definitely didn’t have time to find a wayward selkie’s metaphorical piggy bank.
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br /> “So, what happened after you found out you’d been robbed?” Adam asked. “How’d you end up in Beechwood?”
“I wanted to be alone. I changed back into my true form and swam and swam. When I got tired, I found this harbor and decided to stop and sleep. I found a cave and was trying to sleep, but there was music coming down from up on the hill somewhere. I couldn’t sleep through it, so I decided to go and check it out for myself. I found a couple other Tide Dancers, and we had a good time together. After everything that happened with that jerk, Alan, I just wanted to be with my own kind.”
I gave her a soft smile. “Makes sense.”
Clarice nodded but then her expression wilted. “When I got back to the cave, it was probably three, maybe four, in the morning. I was going to transform back into a sea lion. You know, in case some early-morning beachcombers stumbled across me sleeping in. People won’t bother a sleeping animal on the beach, but if you’re a sleeping person, you’re somehow instantly a vagabond!”
“Tell me about it,” Adam bemoaned.
Clarice shot him a puzzled look.
“He’s a dog-shifter,” I filled in, hooking a thumb in his direction.
She blinked. “Oh.”
Adam grinned. “Don’t even get me started on those new guards they put on the trash cans outside the bakery. It makes it next to impossible to get any good scraps.”
“Right.” Clarice looked at me.
I shrugged, helpless.
“Anyway, when I got back to the cave, I couldn’t find my pelt. I know right where I left it. It was just gone. Someone obviously took it and now I’m stuck on land. If I can’t find it before the solstice, I’ll be shunned and never get back to my pod.”
For the first time, emotion broke through her voice as it pitched up an octave. Her violet eyes shimmered with a layer of unshed tears.
“It’s okay, Clarice,” I said, reaching for her arm. “There’s still a few weeks before the solstice. We’ll find that pelt and get you back to your pod.”
“How?” she choked out.
I looked at Adam, hoping he’d swoop in with something reassuring, but his expression was just as blank as mine. After all, it wasn’t like the beach was wired up with security cameras.
The tears squeezed past Clarice’s lashes and she hung her head. “I don’t even have any money to get a place to stay.”
“You’ll stay with us,” I said, giving her arm a gentle squeeze.
“Holly’s right. We’ve got plenty of room and food.”
“I don’t need food,” Clarice said, suddenly sounding as though she’d gone a week without sleep. Which, for all I knew, she had. “All I want is to get my skin back and to go back to my pod. I’ve seen all I want to see of the human world. My mother was right; I should have stayed home from the start.”
“We’re going to help you get home again. I promise,” I told her, keeping my voice soft. “Now, let’s start at the beginning. Take us to that cave.”
Chapter 6
“I told you,” Clarice said. “It’s not here.”
Adam and I exchanged a look. She was right. We’d searched every nook, cranny, and crack of the cave Clarice led us to. The pelt wasn’t there.
“You’re sure this is the right cave?” Adam asked, a slight cringe on his face.
Clarice leveled him with a glare.
His hands went out, palms facing her. “Right. Right. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said, stepping between them. “Where did you go after you shifted? You said something about meeting a friend’s, uh, friends? Is that right?”
Adam frowned. “I thought it was that you went to listen to music because you couldn’t sleep.”
Clarice folded her arms over her chest. “It was a little of both.”
“Okay…” I said, drawing out the word.
Clarice gave a sigh that assured me that sass and exasperation were the universal language of teenagers. “Zeke is a friend. He’s a selkie too. He’s on his Tide Dance too, and he’s been hanging out here for the last few weeks. That’s why I really came to this harbor. He works at that ice cream cart down by the lighthouse.”
Adam straightened. “The one that has the caramel apple flavor?”
My nose wrinkled. “That sounds disgusting.”
“I don’t know what flavors they have!” Clarice said, throwing her hands up in the air.
“Tell us more about Zeke,” I prompted, hurrying the conversation forward before Adam spouted off more ice-cream-related questions. “Are you two in the same pod, then?”
Clarice nodded. “For now.”
“What does that mean?” Adam asked.
“He’s probably going to leave the pod at the end of spring. He told me he’s planning to stay in the human world.”
I glanced at Adam and he raised an eyebrow. He’d seen it too. A flicker of something more than annoyance behind Clarice’s eyes. This Zeke fellow wasn’t rejecting the pod, at least, not in her eyes. He was rejecting her.
“So, he wanted you to come and listen to music with him and his human friends?” I asked.
Clarice nodded, still not looking up at us. She buried the tips of her shoes in the moist sand the covered the cave’s floor. “One of them had a party at their house while their parents were out of town. I wasn’t going to go, but after the whole wallet-stealing thing, I figured I could at least get a free meal, and I hoped that Zeke would have some money to lend me or a place I could stay until I could get back to the pod.”
“So, you told him you were going back to the pod?”
Clarice glanced up and nodded. “He wasn’t very happy about it. We argued, actually.”
Adam shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “You think maybe this Zeke might have had something to do with the missing pelt?”
Horror crossed Clarice’s face. “He would never do that! The elder’s would skin him alive for pulling that kind of stunt!”
I held up a hand to stifle Adam’s counterpoint—though, the sinking pit in my stomach told me he was on the right track—and reasoned with Clarice. “Let’s go and ask Zeke about the pelt. Have you told him it’s missing yet?”
“No.” She hung her head again. “It’s a disgrace to lose your pelt. If Zeke ever told anyone …”
“Did he know where you were staying?” I asked gently. “Whoever took the pelt had to know it was here. I can’t imagine that some random stranger stumbled upon it in a cave like this. It’s possible, but not really likely.”
Clarice chewed on the corner of her lip. “I told him where I was staying so he knew where to find me in case he wanted to apologize.”
“Okay.” I winced and looked at Adam.
“Where did you go after that?” he asked.
“I went for a long walk to clear my head. I was still screwed up about my money getting stolen and then Zeke yelling at me for wanting to go home … it was too much. I needed some air.”
“And, when you got back to the cave, that’s when you noticed the pelt was gone?”
She gave a miserable bob of her head.
Adam frowned. “Hate to break it to you, kid, but there’s really only one possibility here.”
I glanced at my watch and sighed. “Guess it’s time to go see a man about a caramel-apple sundae.”
We followed the signs for ice cream and wound up at a bright yellow food cart that was plastered in signs for about a hundred different ice cream varieties. A long line stretched down the beach. Apparently, everyone had collectively decided that weird-tasting ice cream combos were the best way to beat the heat.
“I see him,” Clarice said, turning her face away when boy with the platinum blonde hair at the window looked our way.
“That’s—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Adam plowed through the line of people, stalking to the cart.
“Oh, bat wings,” I muttered. “And he calls me impatient.”
“What’s he doing?” Clarice demanded.
“—can’t just cut through the line!” Zeke was protesting when we got within earshot.
“Listen, punk, you can take a ten-minute break and come chat with us, or we can have it out right here, in front of all these fine people.”
The boy paled and looked to Clarice, clearly hoping for a bailout.
She crossed her arms and stared down her pert nose at him. “Well?”
Zeke cursed under his breath, then pulled his apron off over his head and tossed it aside. He said something to the other teen working beside him and then stepped out the door at the back of the cart. “Fine, you win, Clarice. What do you want? You stormed off last night and embarrassed me in front of all my friends. Now this?”
Adam inserted himself between the teens, his broad shoulder a barricade in case Clarice decided to follow through on whatever plan was brewing behind the murderous look in her eye.
“We know you took her pelt,” Adam said. “Just tell us where it is and we’ll leave you alone. This thing doesn’t have to go sideways.”
I wasn’t sure what Zeke thought we were confronting him about, but his face registered surprise and confusion as he gave Adam and me a second look. “Who are these people?” he asked Clarice.
“My friends,” she replied, her tone cool.
Zeke held up his hands. “I don’t have your pelt. Didn’t even know it was missing.”
“You’re lying,” Clarice snapped. “Where is it?”
He held her gaze for a long moment.
She bared her teeth. “Tell me now, Zeke, or I’ll get word back to the elders.”
That did it. He crumbled. “You wouldn’t.”