The Selkie Song

by H. K. Varian

  This time, it wasn’t just Fiona’s runic symbol that glowed, but the song itself: the music became corporeal, a pulsing, glimmering tendril that unfurled through the very air. The song, Fiona realized, was searching for something—for someone—

  Auden Ironbound saw the song. He froze in midstep, lifted the Horn of Power to his mouth, and blew that same long, threatening blast.

  The Queen’s Song, though, could not be drowned out, not even by the Horn of Power. Instead, it glowed brighter and brighter, until it hurt Fiona’s eyes to watch it.

  But she did not look away.

  The song wrapped itself around Auden Ironbound’s legs like a creeping vine or a poisonous snake; it enveloped him, looping up until, at last, it reached the Horn of Power. The horn started to glow too, just like the song, brighter and brighter until—

  A blinding flash.

  A sonic boom.

  And then the whole world shook.

  The horn exploded, shattering into billions of pieces, each no larger than a speck of dust. They rained onto the sand like a shower of ashes. Already the ocean breeze had started to scatter them across the whole, wide world; the Horn of Power was no more, obliterated for all time.

  The air was torn by an agonizing scream. Auden Ironbound collapsed into a fit of rage, his defeat so bitter and so complete that there was nothing in the world he could do to recover. He’s lost his magic, Fiona realized. Not just the Horn of Power, but every last bit of magic he ever had.

  All around Auden Ironbound, a restless shift rippled through his army. The few Changers he’d managed to ensnare were waking from trances. Color returned to their eyes before they pursued the magic-users for revenge. Fiona could hear Mr. Kimura send a message to the Changers at the Harbors to head for the beach. A ferocious battle erupted in seconds, Changers against magic-users, but this time, at least, it would be a fair fight.

  Now it’s over, Fiona thought as the exhaustion overcame her, even worse than before. Her legs crumpled beneath her. She started to fall, but then, out of nowhere—

  Strong arms caught her, held her tight.

  “You did beautifully, my girl,” Mom whispered into her ear.

  Epilogue

  “Mom,” Fiona heard herself say, burying her face in her mother’s shoulder. “You came.”

  “You know I’ve always been watching over you,” Mom replied. “This battle was no exception. I couldn’t be more proud of you, Fiona. And . . . it looks like I’m not the only one.”

  Fiona glanced up to see that she was surrounded—not by Auden Ironbound’s army but by her own friends and allies. The First Four were there, even Yara, who was bruised and bleeding from her battle with the shark, but grinning so broadly that Fiona could tell she wasn’t seriously hurt. Gabriella was there too, halfway transformed and not caring one bit. Darren had swooped down from above, and Mack ran to them, newly freed from what Fiona gathered had been a curse.

  “Where’s Dad?” Fiona asked. “He promised he’d be here.”

  “And he was, the whole night,” Yara said. “He wouldn’t leave, not for anything. We couldn’t take the risk of him being present for the battle, so I had to enchant him for his own safety. Your father’s home now, safe and sound.”

  Was that a glimmer of disappointment that crossed Mom’s face? Did she, maybe, want to see Dad as much as Fiona did?

  Fiona took hold of Yara’s hand and squeezed it in gratitude. “Thank you for protecting my father,” she said.

  “Fiona! How did you even—” Mack began, so excited he was stumbling over his words. “Did you see what you did to the Horn of Power? You destroyed it. I mean, wow, that was some serious magic. You’ve gotta tell me how you did it!”

  Fiona and her mother exchanged a knowing smile. “I don’t know,” she said. “It runs in the family, I guess.”

  “Well, it was incredible,” Mack said.

  “I had some help, you know,” Fiona said, elbowing Gabriella. “I couldn’t have done it by myself.”

  “Oh, stop,” Gabriella said. “You were amazing.”

  “No, you were amazing,” Fiona insisted.

  “Hey,” Darren spoke up as he pointed across the sand. “Check that out.”

  Everyone glanced over to see two Changers they knew, Miles Campagna and Ankur Iyer, wrapping Auden Ironbound in heavy algae-green chains. The evil warlock’s head hung low in defeat.

  “Thank you for the chains,” Ms. Therian said to Queen Leana, bowing with respect.

  The Selkie queen returned the bow. “Of course,” she said. “I’m happy to provide them.”

  “Serves him right,” Mack said with contempt as he watched Miles and Ankur drag Auden Ironbound away. “I can’t believe one of his goons managed to curse me.”

  “Hey, at least you didn’t get kidnapped,” Darren said.

  “He won’t have the chance to do any of that again—to anyone,” Ms. Therian said.

  “An eternity in captivity will give him the chance to consider his wrongdoings,” added Mr. Kimura. He pulled Mack into a hug, as if he couldn’t believe that his grandson was standing beside him, safe after all that had happened.

  “The nightmare is over,” Sefu declared. “Tonight, Changers around the world will celebrate.”

  “Speaking of Changers from around the world,” Mack said, “did you guys see that golden kitsune?”

  Everyone turned to look at him.

  “A golden kitsune?” asked Gabriella, shaking her head.

  “I didn’t see one either,” Darren added. “And I had a pretty good view from above.”

  “Too bad. She was incredible,” Mack said. “I saw her tearing it up on the battlefield a few minutes ago. I’ve never seen fighting like that before. And she must’ve had seven tails!”

  Mr. Kimura grabbed Mack’s shoulders. “Seven tails?” he repeated in a strangled voice. “Did you say seven?”

  “Well, I mean, I didn’t really get a chance to count,” Mack said. “Six or seven—something like that.”

  Sefu approached Mack too. “And you’re sure she was golden?” he asked. “It wasn’t just a trick of the light, perhaps? The early-morning sun shining off her coat?”

  Mack shook his head. “Absolutely not,” he replied. “I might not know exactly how many tails she had, but I am completely certain that she was golden. Her fur was beautiful.”

  Something’s wrong, Fiona realized. She stared at the First Four, searching their faces for answers, longing for them to explain. Why did Mr. Kimura look so pale all of a sudden?

  Sefu reached out and placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Well,” he said, “it seems your old student has returned to you at last.”

  What challenge will the Changers face next?

  Here is a sneak peek at

  The Shadow Fox!

  Mack fluffed couch pillows, folded newspapers for the recycling bin, and shook his head thinking about how steep his learning curve had been ever since he got the news in September. Powers begin to develop in a Changer’s twelfth year, and he had learned what he was just before that started to happen. The first day of school immersed Mack and his friends in a new, secret, and sometimes confusing world.

  Just as Mack, Gabriella, Darren, and Fiona were starting to learn how to handle their powers, a new warlock, Auden Ironbound, stole the Horn of Power and tried to recreate the terrible events that had transpired a thousand years ago. When Auden used the horn to take control of the First Four, it fell upon Mack and his friends to battle the warlock and his army on their own. Under the cover of a massive, magical storm, Mack himself had fought and defeated Auden on the beach of their small town, Willow Cove. Mack had even damaged the Horn of Power.

  As the Changers soon discovered, though, Auden was down but not out. Mack and his friends clashed with Auden’s henchmen as they sought out a magical artifact, Circe’s Compass, which Auden could use to find younglings, or Changers who hadn’t yet come of age. Auden needed the magic of five different younglings to mend the Horn
of Power. Once the horn was repaired and Auden rounded up another army to march on Willow Cove, all hope seemed lost. But once again, the Changers pulled through, thanks in part to Fiona, who had learned a magical selkie song that stripped the evil warlock of his magic once and for all and destroyed the Horn of Power for good.

  But perhaps even more shocking than their sudden victory a few months ago was a secret that had been revealed to them just before the battle: hundreds of years ago, Mack, Gabriella, Darren, and Fiona had been foretold to be the next leaders of Changer-kind. It wasn’t chance that the four of them lived in the same small town of Willow Cove—a town that was also home to an important Changer base. It was also why the First Four took such an interest in Mack and his friends and why they were training them personally . . . and why Mack was so impatient for more information.

  After a long three months of waiting, today—finally—the First Four planned to tell Mack and his friends more about the prophecy and what it meant for them.

  Mack finished tidying up the living room and sought out his grandfather. He found Jiichan meditating in his office. Hearing Mack’s footsteps, Jiichan opened his eyes and then smiled.

  “Is everything ready, Makoto?” he asked.

  “Almost,” Mack said. “I just have to shovel the walk. . . .” In truth, something had been weighing heavily on Mack these last few months, ever since his last battle. Something other than the prophecy, but he wasn’t sure if now was the best time to broach the subject with Jiichan again.

  “I know the wait has been difficult for you,” Jiichan began, sensing that Mack was holding something back. “But the time wasn’t right to reveal the prophecy. You needed more training before beginning the next phase of your journey—”

  “There’s actually, um, something else that’s been bothering me, Jiichan,” Mack cut in. “Remember how I saw a golden kitsune on the battlefield, with seven tails? Sefu said she used to be your student—”

  Jiichan cut off Mack midquestion. “I’ve told you already that I will not discuss this, Makoto. I have lived a very long life, and not every memory I have is a happy one. There are some things that I simply choose not to dwell on.”

  Mack clenched his teeth. Jiichan could be so mysterious when he wanted to be. Mack knew that Changers lived much longer than humans—that Jiichan was at least a thousand years old—but what could be so bad that his grandfather wouldn’t even talk about it? Based on the First Four’s reaction to the golden kitsune’s presence on the battlefield, he knew that she was important and possibly dangerous—too dangerous to be ignored.

  “But—”

  Jiichan interrupted again. “This is not a story I want to tell. Not now.”

  Any further argument was useless. Mack knew that he and Jiichan were alike in more than just their Changer ability—they could both be stubborn. With nothing else to say, Mack trudged to the kitchen and lit the fire under the teakettle before heading outside to shovel snow.

  Will the time ever be right? Mack thought, seething.

  More and more lately it had been bothering Mack how little the First Four revealed to him and his friends about the wider Changer world. It seemed like they divulged one little secret at a time, and even those secrets hid more secrets.

  Secrets within secrets within secrets. I’m tired of being kept in the dark. Will they ever tell us the whole truth?

  Just then a flash of light in the corner of Mack’s eye caught his attention. He looked up and saw a streak of gold bolting across the tree-lined field in the distance.

  Was that—? Mack thought as he started to walk forward to get a better look.

  “Mack!” Gabriella called out a car window, jolting Mack from his thoughts. An SUV pulled into the drive then. Gabriella and Darren climbed out of the backseat, followed by Ms. Therian and Sefu from the front.

  Mack looked into the distance again. He was almost sure . . . the golden kitsune . . .

  But whatever he saw, it was gone.

  H. K. VARIAN has always loved reading about ancient mythology, ruins, and magic. Though H. K. once dreamed of having awesome powers like in the Hidden World of Changers series, writing became kind of like magic in and of itself. Today H. K. lives, writes, and has adventures in both North Carolina and New York City, though most of them don’t involve battling warlocks, storming castles, or retrieving enchanted objects.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  This Simon Spotlight hardcover edition November 2016

  Copyright © 2016 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Text by Ellie O’Ryan

  Illustrations by Tony Foti

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  Designed by Nick Sciacca

  The text of this book was set in Celestia Antiqua.

  ISBN 978-1-4814-6967-8 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-6966-1 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-6968-5 (eBook)

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2015954652