The Selkie Song

by H. K. Varian

  “May it be,” replied the other selkies—all except one.

  “Wait,” Fiona said, her voice ringing off the cave walls.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  Ms. Therian’s warning flashed through her mind. How could she convince the selkies to join forces with the other Changers—without making them suspect the truth behind her visit?

  “May I speak?” Fiona asked, trying to buy herself a few moments.

  “Your Majesty, this is highly improper,” Erynn spoke up. “We were happy to indulge her presence during a closed council meeting, but this—”

  “Overruled,” Mom interrupted, the hint of a smile dancing in her eyes. “I opened the floor to any selkie who wished to comment. Naturally, that includes my daughter. Go ahead, Fiona. You may speak.”

  Fiona slowly rose to her feet, her heart hammering in her chest. Part of her wanted nothing more than to fall back onto her chair in silent safety.

  But Fiona was a selkie. Not a coward. She would speak—even if it took everything she had.

  “I heard Auden Ironbound’s message too,” Fiona began. “He marches on Willow Cove to start a war against the land-Changers. But what makes us think we can choose the luxury of neutrality? How can we assume he will even give us this choice?”

  In the quiet that followed, Fiona found the courage to press on.

  “Willow Cove is not far from the Isles of Saorsie,” she pointed out. “I am a youngling, and I made the trip in half a day. If the other Changers fall—if Auden Ironbound defeats them—what’s to stop him from marching on us next? Shouldn’t we take action now, before the evil of Auden Ironbound arrives on our shores?”

  Fiona cast a sideways glance at her mother, hoping that she hadn’t overstepped her bounds. The proud smile on Queen Leana’s face gave Fiona hope.

  An instant later, though, that hope fizzled into nothingness.

  Some of the selkies—Fiona’s eyes started to water, blurring her vision and keeping her from knowing how many—were laughing.

  “Bravo!” Neely said, clapping as she chuckled. “An impassioned speech. You are your mother’s daughter, Princess.”

  “A dear youngling you have there, my queen,” Maeve said, smiling indulgently. “You’ll do well, Princess, under your mother’s tutelage. You have much to learn.”

  “She’s barely gotten her flippers wet!” Erynn jeered.

  “B-but . . . ,” Fiona stammered.

  “No shame in being inexperienced,” Maeve said. “I’m sure we all look forward to what you’ll be capable of achieving once you’ve learned the history of our kind.”

  “And the truth about the land-Changers,” Erynn muttered, low enough that Fiona wasn’t sure that anyone else had heard her.

  Queen Leana rose. “Council is adjourned,” she announced, turning the hourglass one last time. “We will meet next month; sooner, if circumstances demand. Go with the wind; go with the tide; go with grace.”

  “May it be,” the others chorused, but not Fiona. She was already hurrying out of the cave, staring down so that no one could see how her face burned with anger and embarrassment.

  Why did I come here? she wondered wildly. Didn’t they know? Didn’t Ms. Therian and Mr. Kimura and the others know how the selkies would react?

  Mom had said that the selkies were a proud people, but Fiona hadn’t seen any evidence of that. Their pride was buried so deeply under arrogance and ignorance that they couldn’t even understand the danger that was right before them.

  As Fiona stormed to the other side of the beach, she couldn’t help but think back to the woman her father had reminisced about yesterday morning. Leana had been wild and carefree when she and Fiona’s dad had first met, but now that Fiona had a chance to be with her mom, she realized that being queen had changed her. Compared to the whimsical selkie storyteller she’d heard about, Queen Leana was exceedingly practical, bound by the rules and prejudices of the selkies. She’d be no help to the other Changers.

  Fiona tugged her cloak across her shoulders. The full moon blazed overhead. She had to get home, she had to get back to Willow Cove, back to the First Four. Auden Ironbound would attack in the morning; there wasn’t much time. . . .

  Fiona was certain of one thing, though. She knew where her allegiances lay. The other selkies might not care about the fate of the land-Changers, but Fiona did. She would fight side by side with them until the bitter end, no matter what.

  “Fiona. Wait.”

  Mom’s voice carried clearly across the sand. Fiona stopped, but she didn’t turn around. A few moments later, she felt Mom’s gentle hand rest on her shoulder.

  “We need to talk,” Mom said. “Come with me.”

  Fiona hesitated. Talk? We talked and talked—and accomplished nothing, she thought. The time for talking is done. It’s action that matters now.

  But as Mom began walking toward the ocean, Fiona had a strange, prickling feeling inside. It told her that she should listen. It told her that she should follow.

  By the time Fiona caught up with her mother, they had both transformed. Fiona dove into the crystal water alongside her mom. This time, though, they didn’t swim farther out to sea. Instead, Mom took a sharp turn and dove down, down, down . . . until they were swimming through the darkest depths, with no light from the moon or the stars to show the way.

  We’re swimming under the Isles of Saorsie, Fiona thought suddenly, and the thought made her realize that whatever Mom wanted to tell her—whatever she had to say—was important enough that they had to be completely and utterly alone.

  After several minutes Fiona realized that she could see, vaguely, the outline of Mom swimming before her. There’s light, she thought.

  But where was it coming from?

  At last, Mom and Fiona surfaced. Fiona took a deep, lung-stretching breath. They were in some sort of underground cavern; glittering stalactites hung from the ceiling as the salt water lapped against the sides of the cave. Fiona still couldn’t tell where the light was coming from, though. Bluish and wavering, it was simultaneously soothing and unsettling.

  We are in a sacred space.

  Mom’s voice rang through Fiona’s head.

  This is the Chamber of the Queens, Mom continued. Our ancestors have long taken refuge in this hallowed space during times of turmoil and trouble. Before we begin, though, I must ask that you not judge the council too harshly.

  For Fiona, that was the last straw.

  She pulled herself out of the water and let her selkie cloak slip off her shoulders. “I mustn’t judge them?” she asked, her voice echoing through the stony cave. “Why didn’t you tell them not to judge me? Just because I’m young doesn’t mean my ideas don’t matter! Just because I’m young doesn’t mean that I don’t matter!”

  Mom transformed too. “I agree,” she said evenly. “And they would too, if they weren’t blinded by age and the self-satisfaction of considering themselves very, very wise.”

  “You—you agree? With me?” Fiona asked, struggling to understand.

  “The council is, on the whole, an impressive and important group of selkie elders,” her mother explained. “That does not, however, mean that they are infallible. Do you want to know a secret?”

  Fiona nodded.

  “I suspect the threat of Auden Ironbound’s attack is so terrifying that many of them are in a deep state of denial,” Mom confided. “But I’m not.”

  “You’re worried?” asked Fiona.

  “Beings like Auden Ironbound can only be overcome through unity,” Mom told her. “And right now, the Changers—including the selkies—are anything but unified.”

  “You have to convince them,” Fiona said. “You have to make them understand—”

  “It was the elders’ inflexibility that kept me away from my kind for so long,” Mom told her. “But after I took my place as their queen, I realized something. Their hearts are true. They just need a push in the right direction, and they will gladly, selflessly, do the right thing.
”

  “So push them!” Fiona exclaimed.

  Mom shook her head, a strange smile on her face. “That’s not my part to play in this,” she said. “It’s yours.”

  “I can’t,” Fiona said. “You saw. I tried and failed.”

  Mom placed her finger on Fiona’s lips to silence her. “Aren’t you wondering why I’ve brought you here, to the sacred heart of our ancestral home?”

  “Of course I am,” Fiona whispered. “Why?”

  “Because,” Mom said, “this is the only place where you can earn the Queen’s Song.”

  One of the selkie songs! Fiona thought eagerly. At last, one of her deepest wishes was about to come true. “You’ll teach it to me?” she said.

  “I didn’t say ‘learn,’ ” she corrected Fiona. “I said ‘earn.’ ”

  Fiona hesitated with confusion.

  “The Queen’s Song is precious to our kind,” Mom explained. “I alone know it. But if you prove yourself to be wise, strong, and courageous, then you too will carry it in your heart—no matter where you go, no matter what may happen.”

  “What does it do?” asked Fiona.

  “It binds all magic, rendering it useless,” Mom replied. “You must use it to save the Changers from Auden Ironbound. I fear they are woefully unprepared for his attack, defenseless in the face of his new scheme. But most importantly, the Queen’s Song will protect you. For once you know it, the Horn of Power will have no effect on you.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that,” she said. “The Horn of Power doesn’t work on younglings. That’s how we were able to fight Auden Ironbound before, even after the adult Changers fell under its spell.”

  Fiona thought the news would make her mother feel better, but the queen’s expression only grew more troubled. “They don’t know?” she whispered.

  “Don’t know what?” asked Fiona.

  “The horn’s repair didn’t just fix it,” Mom explained. “It strengthened it too. Now the Horn of Power will enchant younglings as well.”

  Chapter 10

  The Trial

  “How did I miss this?” Fiona gasped. “That’s why the warlocks were kidnapping younglings instead of adults! That’s why they stole their powers to repair it!”

  “Yes,” Mom said.

  “They’re in danger—all of them!” Fiona said. She grabbed her mother’s hands. “Please, Mom, you’ve got to come with me, back to Willow Cove. We have to warn them. The Queen’s Song—”

  “Will be yours—”

  “No!” Fiona cried. “No, it’s too important, the stakes are too high, it has to be you! Please, Mom, please! What if—what if I fail?”

  “You won’t.”

  “But what if I do?”

  “Fiona.”

  For the first time since their reunion, Mom’s voice rang out with such firmness that it caught Fiona by surprise. She took Fiona’s face in her hands. “You must calm yourself,” Mom told her. “I know it’s scary, but this was always your destiny. You were born for this battle.”

  Fiona stared into her mother’s eyes for a long moment and knew that there was nothing she could say to change the queen’s mind.

  “Come,” Mom said. “We have no time to lose.”

  Mom led Fiona to a small opening in the cave wall. “You will face three trials. Each one will reveal a different part of the Queen’s Song,” she said. “Good luck, and I’ll see you on the other side.”

  “Wait,” Fiona said urgently. “Aren’t you coming with me?”

  Something flickered across Mom’s face then—a strange expression of foreboding, as chilling as a cloud covering the sun. “I can’t,” she said. “But . . . you will not be alone.”

  “I—”

  Mom tucked Fiona’s selkie cloak across her shoulders and kissed her forehead. Then, without another word, she transformed and dove back into the inky waters.

  Fiona took a deep breath and looked around. Mom had said she wouldn’t be alone, but that was exactly how she felt.

  Let’s get started, Fiona thought, trying to psych herself up. She’d never minded tests before.

  Then again, she’d never had to take a test quite like this.

  Fiona walked through the narrow passageway until she reached another underground chamber. This one was high and dry, and the moment Fiona entered it, the tunnel behind her sealed itself. She looked around and realized that she was in a closed stone cavern like the one she was in during the council meeting. The walls glimmered with flecks of mica and mineral deposits; rocks covered the floor. There wasn’t a passageway or opening anywhere.

  Trapped.

  The word entered Fiona’s mind without warning; just thinking it caused her heart to beat a little faster. She immediately tried to calm herself down. Mom wouldn’t send me off to some abandoned cavern with no escape, Fiona thought firmly. There’s a way out of here. I just have to find it.

  Suddenly, Fiona’s eyes widened. Maybe that’s the first test! she realized. And with that thought, a glowing verse appeared on the cave wall.

  Walls and stones, stacks of bones

  Are anchors, to be sure.

  Use your mind, break the bind,

  With wits both true and pure.

  “It’s a riddle,” Fiona said aloud. That wasn’t too bad. She enjoyed solving riddles and puzzles. But she glanced around at the piles of rocks in the cavern and wondered, with a sickish feeling, if there might be bones—or something even worse—beneath them.

  Is this a burial chamber for selkie queens? Fiona thought. No. Don’t think about it. Think about getting out of here.

  She paced the walls of the chamber, examining each one for any cracks. They all seemed solid—and yet, Fiona knew that couldn’t be true, because there’d been an entrance to this room. She’d managed to get in; now she had to find a way out.

  Think, think, think, Fiona told herself. The riddle . . . It must be a clue. . . .

  She stared at the words again, frowning in concentration. Forget about the stones and bones, she thought. The focus here is on the mind. . . . Mind . . . mind over matter. . . .

  Fiona sat down and cleared her mind. She let her eyes go out of focus; the cave walls blurred until all she could see was a smattering of shining spots where the mica reflected the light. They were all uneven; there was no pattern she could detect until . . .

  Was that the shape of a doorway?

  It was hard to tell.

  Fiona walked across the cavern and felt the rough stone wall with her hand. It was cold and hard; completely solid—

  Or was it?

  Use your mind, break the bind . . . , Fiona thought. If I truly believed that this was a passageway—if I charged at it . . .

  Fiona made a fist, pulled back her arm, and punched the wall as hard as she could.

  Then she cried out—not in pain but in complete and utter shock. Her hand disappeared into the stone as her arm plunged through the rock. It was very cold—and deeply unsettling—but Fiona knew what she had to do. With a deep breath, she pushed the rest of her body into the rockface and pulled herself through it to the other side.

  Fiona looked around. She was in another chamber now; this one was lit with a soft blue light that emanated from a deep body of water.

  A series of haunting notes began to ricochet off the water before her.

  The Queen’s Song, Fiona thought.

  The notes faded into nothingness, but Fiona already had them in her heart. She could feel it, just as she could feel that was only the start of the song. She stepped forward, renewed and recharged, eager to learn the rest.

  And there was another riddle on the wall;

  Not faint nor meek; ’tis strength queens seek—

  Not of body nor of mind.

  But don’t be slow in depths below;

  You’ll need the strength you’ll find.

  It figures there’d be some sort of swimming trial, Fiona thought. She transformed and dove into the water without giving it a second though
t.

  That was a mistake.

  Fiona had barely sunk below the surface when she suddenly felt a creeping chill down her spine. That feeling, more than anything else, told Fiona that she wasn’t alone. Just like Mom warned me, Fiona thought. Then she shook her head. Not warned me—promised me.

  A pair of glowing eyes.

  Then another.

  And another.

  Fiona steeled herself. She wasn’t alone at all . . . but the creatures who suddenly surrounded her on all sides were definitely not human.

  In fact, they weren’t even alive.

  Fiona was surrounded by glowing selkies. Ghost selkies, she realized, so transparent that she could see water currents pass right through them. Each one wore a tiara, and that’s when Fiona understood that they weren’t just selkie ghosts.

  They were the ghosts of selkie queens.

  Their eyes were hollow, haunting, and they looked at Fiona as if they wanted something from her—but what?

  She didn’t know, and she didn’t want to find out.

  With a fast flick of her hind flipper, Fiona darted through the water. She was confident in her swimming abilities, confident that she could get away from the ghost queens.

  That was another mistake.

  Fleeing only enraged them. Fiona could feel their anger pulsing through the water like sound waves, and she didn’t have to turn around to know that they were following her.

  Worse, they were gaining on her.

  A surge of panic welled in Fiona, choking her as she struggled to swim even faster. The underground sea narrowed into a tight channel—almost impossible to navigate, with a low ceiling and sharp turns. But Fiona had to get away; she had to get away fast—

  Wham!

  Fiona was so preoccupied with her worries that she didn’t even realize she’d reached a dead end. At some point that narrow strait had twisted into an underwater labyrinth—and now she was stuck. Solid stone walls surrounded her on three sides; in a desperate attempt to escape, Fiona tried to shove her flipper through them, but no luck; they were rock-solid.