A full day passed before Brendan could stay awake for more than an hour at a time. At least when he slept, I was able to tend to his wounds. Some of the smaller scrapes and bruises healed, but he was unable to move much of his right side, and his face was still swollen around the gash that bisected his cheek.
I’d called his new boss and told him that Brendan had the stomach flu and would most likely be out for a few days, hoping that would buy us some time. But what I really wanted to do was go after those that had attacked us and retrieve the skin. I was making a small dinner when I heard Brendan stir on the bed. Bringing him a glass of water, I sat down on the edge and looked at his pale face.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“I’ve been better,” he said with a strangled smile.
“Are you well enough to talk?” We hadn’t been able to develop a plan or discuss the attack yet and I was anxious.
He squeezed my leg and sighed. “Let’s eat first.”
So we did. I made up a plate of grilled chicken breast and his favorite mix of spinach and tomatoes and helped him with each bite. The food seemed to instantly give him strength and a small part of that tight knot in my stomach began to unwind. Perhaps he could get through this without his skin after all.
“So how much of the mermaid-selkie relationship do you know?” he started suddenly, surprising me with the topic.
“Um, well, I remember some of the stories they told us when we were young about those who could call the selkies and other water creatures under their spells. But it’s more like the human fairy tales about mermaids drowning love-sick sailors. It’s just a story and it obviously isn’t possible,” I replied while waving my hand back and forth between us to indicate our special relationship. “I don’t control you.”
He swallowed a forced laugh and shook his head. “No, you don’t. But you’re not a leader.” I glared at him for that remark. “You’re not a leader yet,” he edited.
“What do you mean?”
“Selkies don’t live together or hunt together. We’re an independent bunch, only seeking human companionship for the purposes of fostering a child. The selkies that attacked us were commanded to do so.”
I nearly choked on my food. “By mermaids? That’s not possible.”
“There was a reason they didn’t hurt you more, Evs. Either they were told to leave you alone or they’re incapable of attacking a mermaid.”
“But they did attack me,” I reminded him.
“Not like they attacked me,” he replied solemnly. He was right, but I still couldn’t wrap my brain around what he was implying.
I set our plates down on the floor while trying to formulate my next question. “So you’re telling me that there’s a pack of selkies out hunting…what? Other selkies? And that they’re doing this under the command of a mermaid clan leader? That just seems a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?” I could barely contain the sarcasm tainting my comment.
“I think there are a lot of things that your mother kept from you,” he said with a hint of pity. “I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen, but before I left my father, he had one warning for me.”
“And that was…” I said, asking the question he wanted me to voice.
“Stay away from mermaids.”
I stared at him in disbelief for what must have been a full minute before bursting into laughter. “Well, you really blew that one didn’t you?” I squeezed out between giggles. “I guess we’re not all that scary now are we?”
Brendan reached out for me again and I snuggled into his arms with my back against his chest. “You aren’t.” He kissed the top of my head and sighed. “But we need to find out who’s controlling the selkies on the east coast. And if we figure that out, then maybe we can get my skin back.”
“And just how are we supposed to figure that out?” I asked skeptically.
“You’ll need to talk to your mother.”
I jumped away from his arms so fast the room spun around me. “What? No way!”
“Fine. Kain might be able to help too. But you need to talk to one of them.”
I stared at him with my mouth hanging open in disbelief while he continued to speak of crazy things.
“We have to find out who is powerful enough to control the selkies,” he continued. I don’t know anyone around here and considering the warm welcome I received last night, I doubt that another selkie would be able to get close to us without trying to kill me.”
I shook my head and began pacing the room. “You know that’s impossible, Brendan. I left him. On our wedding day. I doubt Kain or any of my friends will ever talk to me again.” I ran a hand through my hair and tucked a stray strand behind my ear. “Besides, my mother probably shunned me.”
“Don’t be silly. She wouldn’t shun you. Didn’t you say that practice hasn’t been used in several centuries?” he asked jokingly.
“Yes, but it’s my mother and I’m sure she’ll never forgive me for the embarrassment I brought to my family.”
“Evs…” Brendan tried to reassure me.
“There has to be another way, okay? Just let me think about it. Maybe there’s someone else I can contact.”
I thought about Daniel or even Carissa. But if my mother really did shun me, I could get them in a world of trouble just for speaking with me. Besides, I wouldn’t even know how to get in contact with them anymore. My cell phone was gone and the only numbers back home that I knew by heart were my parents and Kain’s. “I’ll figure something out.”
Brendan suddenly began to cough and I rushed to his side in a panic. He tried to wave me away, but when his hand pushed against my arm, I felt something sticky cover my skin.
“You’re bleeding!” I yelled at him. There were several smears of blood around his face where he’d tried to stop the coughing. “Why are you spitting up blood?” I asked in desperation. He shook his head and took several deep, soothing breaths as the coughing fit subsided and he regained his composure.
“It’s the skin,” he panted. “The sickness.”
I stared at him in confusion for a moment. “But I thought it’d take weeks before you’d start feeling bad?”
“Yes,” he pushed out. “But I’m already weak…” His eyes began to drift shut again and I reached over to pull his head close to my face.
“Brendan. Brendan!” I shook him, not caring about the pain I could be causing. I was scared and I didn’t know what was happening to him. “Brendan, wake up!”
A shadow of a smile pulled at the corner of his lips and I let out a sigh of relief. “I’m okay, Evs. I just need to rest.”
Kissing the top of his head, I let him lay back and fall asleep again. I walked to the kitchen to grab a wet towel, all the while thinking about what was happening. My incompetence over protecting Brendan and his seal skin may now cost him his life. I’d already ruined any semblance of a family when I chose to run away, and now the only person in my life was getting closer to death at an alarming speed. Why would a mermaid command selkies to kill? What would be the benefit to their domain?
While gently wiping the blood off of Brendan’s sleeping face, I tried to step into the mindset of a clan leader. Kain had mentioned political unrest amongst some of the clans, but this couldn’t possibly be related, right? Stealing the skin of a selkie doomed them to a life on land that would eventually kill them. How could the death of one lone selkie be a factor in mermaid politics? It just didn’t make sense.
Brendan was right in suggesting that Kain may be able to shed some light on the situation, but contacting him for the sole purpose of asking for help was out of the question. I couldn’t do that to him. I already felt bad enough.
Two more days passed, albeit slowly and painfully. Brendan’s conditioned worsened and he spent most of the time sleeping or coughing. The wounds didn’t get any worse but it seemed as if his healing had stopped. My selkie’s normally tan, taut skin withered and paled like a rotting apple. The spark in his beautiful green eyes hid behind the
tragedy of the situation, only peeking through briefly when he smiled at me.
Still unable to come up with a solution, today I decided to put my feelings and fears aside and do what I could to save Brendan. Using a prepaid cell phone that we’d purchased just after our arrival, I locked myself in the tiny bathroom and slid down to the uninviting floor.
My heart hammered in my chest, threatening to escape its boney enclosure. I needed to get a handle on my emotions before I could make the call. It took thirty minutes. Thirty minutes of me sitting on the cold tile floor with my back pressed up against the dollhouse sized vanity, sweating and shivering with dreaded anticipation. Thirty minutes trying to decide if I was making the right choice. Finally, I dialed the familiar number and sucked in a breath.
“Hello?” the voice asked in trepidation. When I didn’t say anything it continued pressing, “Who is this?”
“K-Kain,” I stammered. “It’s Eviana.”
The deathly silence on the other end of the line cut through my heart like a thousand tiny glass shards. He hated me. I never should have called.
“Eviana,” he said after a full minute of silence. “Where are you?” He sounded curious, but he wasn’t asking out of concern for me and my safety. That was clear by his tone.
“In Maryland,” I replied softly.
He made some sort of noise that might have passed for a laugh but it was way too wicked. “Couldn’t get far enough away, could you?”
I swallowed the giant lump in my throat and tried unsuccessfully to stop the tears. “Kain, please don’t do that.”
“Do what?” he snapped. “It’s bad enough that you ran away, but to find out you ran all the way to the opposite side of the country? What am I supposed to say?”
He was so angry and hurt and I deserved every bit of his wrath. I wasn’t denying that fact, but knowing it still didn’t take the sting out of hearing him vent his frustrations with me.
“Do you even have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused our families? Your mother shunned you, Eviana. Shunned you! I’d be relieved of my duties and expelled from the clan if someone knew that I was speaking to you right now.” He sucked in a deep breath and I heard him blow it out a few seconds later.
“I’m sorry I called, Kain. I don’t want to make things any worse for you.”
“They can’t really get much worse now, Eviana.” His tone turned cold and harsh. I was saddened that my actions had made this caring, virtuous guy into the hateful creature on the other end of the line. “What are you calling for anyway?”
My heart was torn. Brendan sat in the other room, fighting for his life as it dwindled away each day like a leaking bucket. But Kain hated me and it wasn’t right for me to ask him to help save my boyfriend.
“Eviana, what do you want?” he asked more loudly but with a slightly softer attitude.
“Brendan’s sick and we need your help,” I blurted out.
Kain laughed deep and strong, but the sound froze the blood in my veins and nearly stopped the beating of my heart. “Wow, you have some nerve. Asking me to help your boyfriend? Are you crazy or just that inconsiderate?”
I knew I should have been humble and apologetic, but my emotions snapped at that point.
“Okay! I get it! I’m the most horrible person in the world and believe me when I tell you that I truly feel that way some days. But I made my choice and we all have to live with it.” I continued before he could reply. “I called you because Brendan thinks a clan leader is controlling the selkies. We were attacked the other night. They stole his skin and I need to get it back. He thought maybe you’d know more about what’s going on since you’re a leader now, but forget it. Just forget it! I’m sorry I called!”
My hands shook uncontrollably and I realized I was standing up hunched over the phone, yelling into it like that would help to get my point across.
“Eviana, stop screaming,” Kain said with more command in those words than if he would have yelled them himself. “Start from the beginning and tell me what happened.”
His sudden change in attitude caught me off guard. “What?”
“Just take a breath and tell me exactly what happened.”
He suddenly became Kain Matthew the Leader, and all semblances of hurt feelings and angry attitudes disappeared. I slunk back down to the floor and told him everything from the beginning of that horrible night up until my phone call to him. He only asked a few questions, but I think it was because he was having a hard time understanding me through my sobs and snotty nose. I wiped at my face and took a few calming breaths.
“Have you ever heard anything like this before?” I asked.
“Yes.”
When he didn’t elaborate I continued forward. “Merfolk can do that? We can control other beings?”
“Some can, yes.”
“And do you know anyone on the east coast who is strong enough to build an army of selkies?”
“Possibly.”
I started to get irritated with his short answers, but he spoke again before I could complain.
“Give me your address.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re coming there,” he stated.
I told him where we were staying and he said to keep the phone close by and to expect them in a day. He hung up before I realized that he said ‘we’ and ‘us’ as though he wasn’t the only one coming to our rescue. Who could he possibly be referring to? I’d been shunned, which by merfolk standards, was pretty much the worst thing that could happen next to death. Everyone was to act like I was dead; like I never even existed. Kain was taking a big risk for me and the guilt I’d been carrying for so long roared to life again. He would put everything on the line to help us. Or would he? Perhaps there was more going on in the political underworld than anyone had ever let me know, and maybe this was all part of the bigger issues Kain had mentioned at his appointment ceremony.
But as I sat there and overanalyzed our conversation, I realized I wasn’t being totally fair. Although I’m sure Kain would have some understanding about the political tension and know whether or not these events were connected, he was still coming to see me at great risk to himself and his future. Plus, whoever planned to come with him would know they could be excommunicated from their clan as well.
I climbed into bed next to Brendan and cried. I’d abandoned everyone who’d been good to me, and now at least one of them was coming to my rescue. I didn’t deserve that, but Brendan did and regardless of how tough this would be for me, I vowed to do everything I could to save him.
Even if that meant dealing with the people who hated me the most.