Submerging (Swans Landing)

by Norris, Shana

  “I don’t think there’s anything here,” Josh said a few hours later. We stood near the ruins of an old home, but it was just a home that had once belonged to humans. There was no trace of finfolk anywhere around it.

  “There has to be something on this island somewhere,” I said, my gaze scanning over the water a few yards from us. “Don’t you feel something different about this place?”

  “I do,” Josh said. “But I don’t know where to go from here. If we could find someone we could talk to.”

  My stomach twisted. I had to tell Josh about Callum. It was the only clue we had.

  “There’s someone who might know something.”

  Josh’s head whipped toward me. “What?”

  I told him about meeting Callum, and what he had said.

  Josh ran a hand over his short hair. “Great.”

  I scowled. “How was I supposed to know some guy would follow me?”

  He shook his head. “What’s done is done. But maybe we should go talk to him.”

  My heart skipped a panicked beat. “Do you think we can trust him?”

  “I don’t know, but he seems like he knows something. He might be able to point us in the right direction.”

  Chapter Eight

  Finding Callum was easier than we thought it would be. Josh had the idea to ask Fiona at the hostel if she knew him, figuring since it was a small village, there was a good chance she would.

  “Aye,” Fiona said, nodding as she sorted through papers at the front desk. “He lives down the way, over the hill. Wee gray house on your left. You can’t miss it.”

  We followed the main road through Pierowall, looking for the small gray house Fiona had mentioned. The only problem was, most of the houses were small and gray. There wasn’t much to differentiate one from another.

  Luckily, we were saved from having to knock on every door by the sight of Callum sitting on the front stoop of a home near the end of the row. He sat in a weathered rocking chair, holding a cracked brown mug in his hands. My stomach tightened.

  “There he is,” I whispered to Josh.

  Callum merely nodded a greeting to us as we walked up the cobbled path to his house. He gave me a brief glance before letting his gaze settle on Josh.

  “Hello,” Callum said. “Callum Murchadh. Welcome.”

  “Josh Canavan,” he answered. “I guess you know my sister, Sailor Mooring.”

  Callum’s eyes twitched slightly and his gaze darted toward me.

  “What?” I asked.

  Callum shook his head. “This is your first time in Orkney?”

  “Yes, it is,” Josh answered.

  “Here for any reason in particular?”

  “Vacationing,” Josh said. “We wanted to explore a bit before we headed off to college.”

  He may have been a know-it-all, but Josh was also a good liar.

  Callum nodded. “I’ve done a bit of traveling myself these last few years.”

  “Find anything interesting?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” Callum said, glancing at me again. “How do you like your visit so far?”

  “It’s nice,” Josh answered. “The village is...”

  “Quaint,” Callum said, smirking over his cup.

  Josh’s gaze met mine and he sent me a silent warning not to ask any of the questions on the tip of my tongue. I swallowed hard, my tongue scratching against the roof of my mouth.

  “Are you from around here?” Josh asked.

  “Around,” Callum said vaguely. “I’ve spent my whole life among these islands.”

  I wanted so much to ask if he knew anything about the finfolk, but I couldn’t. It was too dangerous to reveal our secret.

  “Care for a cuppa?” Callum asked, gesturing toward his drink.

  Josh stuck his hands into the pocket of his hoodie and shook his head. “No, thank you. Actually...we came to ask you a few questions. If you don’t mind.”

  Callum raised one eyebrow.

  Josh’s gaze darted around the area. There was no one close enough to hear us, but Josh still looked nervous.

  “Could we go somewhere private to talk?” he asked at last, turning back to Callum.

  Callum scratched his cheek, his eyes locked on us, then nodded as he slowly pushed himself up from his chair. “Come inside.”

  Inside, the front room was small and dark. The sun barely made it through the thin curtain over the one window to light the room. The furniture was old and mismatched, a few chairs and side tables scattered almost at random throughout the room, as if they’d been added only as an afterthought and without much care.

  Josh and I sat down on an old small couch covered with a ragged afghan. Callum eased himself into a chair across from us, still clutching his mug in his hands.

  The room was quiet for a long moment, then Josh said, “Can you tell us about your sister?”

  I cast an impatient look at him. He had come here to ask Callum about his family?

  Callum looked amused. “What about her?”

  “You told Sailor that your sister was a ‘gem from the ocean.’ What exactly do you mean by that?”

  The two stared at each other for a long moment, neither speaking or moving. Somewhere within the house, I could hear the tick of a clock, slow and steady.

  “She was a beautiful, kind woman,” Callum said at last. “Kinder than she should have been in many cases. Patient and accepting.”

  “Anything else?” Josh asked.

  “What else do you think there might be?” Callum responded.

  “Something more,” Josh said.

  Callum’s gaze drifted to me and I swallowed hard. “Your sister is something more than what she seems, is she not? What did you say your last name was? Mooring?”

  I wasn’t sure whether to confirm or deny this, but Josh nodded. “Yes, she has her mother’s family’s name. I have our father’s name. We’re half-siblings.”

  Callum took a slow sip from his cup. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.

  “People say these islands are magic,” he said after a moment. “Strange things happen around here. People vanish without a trace. Whole islands appear and disappear within the sea.”

  I knew if I let this go on, they’d continue this stupid dance around the truth all day, each trying to outsmart the other. This was stupid. Callum had already heard me sing, and he must have known what the song was.

  “Tell us what you know,” I said, crossing my arms.

  Now Callum’s bright green eyes flicked to me. “I might, if you ask the right questions.”

  “Are you always this irritating, or are we special?” I let out a frustrated sigh, then said, “What do you know about finfolk?”

  Now Callum’s smile stretched wide and he had the look of a contented cat about to trap its prey. “Now we can get somewhere.” He pointed at me. “You are as finfolk as they come.” He looked back at Josh. “And I would assume you are as well, though you don’t have a finfolk name.”

  “I am,” Josh admitted. “Through my great-grandmother on my father’s side.”

  “Do you know what her last name was?”

  “Moray,” Josh answered.

  I couldn’t hide my surprise at this. I’d known our daddy was finfolk through his grandmother, but I hadn’t known which family she came from since I knew so little about him. The Morays were no longer in Swans Landing. The last of them had left when I was young, unable to deal with the harassment finfolk endured back home.

  “I knew some Morays once. Good people.” Callum set his cup on a table and leaned forward. “Aye, Pearl was more than ordinary. Like you, she was finfolk.”

  “And so are you,” Josh said.

  Callum inclined his head once. “I was, at one time.”

  I blinked, not understanding his words. “You were? What does that mean? How could you stop being finfolk?”

  “Genetically, I am still finfolk,” Callum said. “But I can no longer take the form. I’m banished, an outsider, and theref
ore I have no right to claim the heritage. I have been...remade.”

  “Banished from where?” Josh asked.

  My breath got stuck somewhere in my chest when Callum said, “Hether Blether. The vanishing isle.”

  We were silent for a long time, each staring at the other but afraid to speak.

  “So it does exist,” Josh said at last.

  Callum nodded again. “It exists, though not in the way it once did.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, feeling panic rising inside me. I had come all this way and now I was so close. It had to exist.

  “What do you hope to find there?” Callum asked, ignoring my question.

  I didn’t want to tell him about my mama. He didn’t have a right to hear the sad tale of poor Sailor Mooring, abandoned as a baby.

  “We’re looking for answers,” Josh said when I didn’t respond. I shot him a warning look, but he went on, ignoring me. “We need to find out what happened the night our father died, and we think the one person who can tell us might be in Hether Blether.”

  I was thankful Josh didn’t mention that the person we were looking for was my mother. Callum tilted his head as he examined us.

  “What makes you think this person made it to Hether Blether?” he asked. “It is not easy to find, as you already know. If it was, everyone would know where to look for it.”

  “She’s been missing for sixteen years,” I said. “She left to go there, and it’s the only clue we have.”

  “There were once thousands of finfolk around Orkney. But when humans started migrating to this part of Europe, some left in search of other land to claim. The finfolk in Orkney sing for lost souls, but no one answers.”

  Josh and I exchanged a look.

  “We sing,” he said. “In Swans Landing—that’s the island where we live—all of the finfolk there sing on the first night of the new moon each month.”

  “I suppose it is a little too far away to hear from here,” Callum said. “Has anyone ever answered your call?”

  I shook my head. “No. No one ever comes back.”

  “One person did,” Josh said. “Mara.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think the song had anything to do with bringing Mara back to Swans Landing.”

  Josh shrugged. “Still, she came back.”

  I shook my head, disgusted at Josh for finding an excuse to bring up Mara. How far did I have to swim before I could get away from her?

  “It is not likely the person you’re looking for made it all the way from the States back to Hether Blether,” Callum said. “That would be an almost impossible journey.”

  “We made it this far,” Josh pointed out. “We only need to finish the last part of the journey.”

  “It’s the only place we can start looking for her,” I added. “So will you take us there or not?”

  Callum’s green eyes turned darker as he looked at me. Muscles along his cheeks twitched and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. I squeezed my fists together in my lap as I stared back at him, refusing to break his gaze.

  Finally, he said, “No.”

  All of the air seemed to escape my lungs and my body sunk into the couch. “No?” I repeated, unable to believe I had heard him correctly.

  “I left the island five years ago,” he said. “I vowed to never return.”

  I had the urge to throw something at him. How could he sit there, so calm and uncaring, while he possibly held the secret to my finally reaching my mother after all these years?

  Josh, apparently sensing my near tantrum, reached over and put his large hand over my small ones in my lap.

  “We need your help,” Josh said. “If you can’t take us there, can you at least tell us where to go?”

  “The island vanishes and moves,” Callum said. “The fog hides it and not everyone can see it. It is only visible at certain times, for the briefest moment, and still, there is no guarantee you’ll reach its shores before it’s gone again.”

  All of my hope slipped away at Callum’s words. A vanishing, moving island would be impossible to find.

  “We have to try,” Josh said. “On our own, if you won’t help us.”

  Callum shook his head. “It will be a wasted effort. But if you insist, there is a way to increase your odds of finding it.”

  “How?” Josh leaned forward, practically on the edge of his seat.

  “There is a key,” Callum said. “Nothing very significant about it, except that the person who holds it at the right moment on the right night in the right sea might find their way to Hether Blether.”

  “Then give us the key and we’ll go on our own!” I exclaimed, the words bursting from my mouth.

  Callum shrugged. “I don’t have it.”

  I leaped from my seat, lunging at Callum, my hands outstretched. I didn’t know what I might have done if I’d reached him, maybe shook him hard until he agreed to take us to the finfolk or else pummeled him with my fists until I felt better. But Josh saved him from whatever fate might have awaited him by grabbing my waist and pulling me backward. We tumbled onto the couch, a tangle of arms and legs, and Josh held me tight against him.

  “Sailor,” he growled in my ear. “Calm down.”

  “He can help us!” I said, struggling to get away. “He knows where it is, but he’s too stubborn to help. He’s like all the stories say about finfolk, as mean as the old legends.”

  “If he doesn’t want to help, he doesn’t have to,” Josh said.

  I stopped struggling, slumping against Josh. He didn’t let go, apparently not trusting that all the fight had gone out of me. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” I said. “You’re probably too much of a bastard to be susceptible to pain.”

  Callum laughed, which caused Josh to laugh too. Josh finally let me go and pushed me off of him. He stood and then extended a hand to Callum.

  “Thank you for your time,” he said. “If you happen to think of anything that might be helpful to us, please let us know.”

  Josh gestured for me to follow as he walked toward the door. I shot a dark scowl at Callum, feeling anger surge through me again when he smiled back. It took every ounce of willpower inside me not to throw one of his dusty old lamps at his head on my way out.

  Once we were outside, Josh paused and let out a long sigh. I stopped next to him and surveyed the village laid out along the narrow road before us.

  “What do we do now?” I asked.

  Josh shook his head. “I wish I knew.”

  Chapter Nine

  Fiona was in the front room folding towels when we returned to the hostel. She greeted us with, “I trust you found Callum?”

  “We did, thank you,” Josh said.

  “Not that it helped,” I muttered.

  “Well, if you’re in the mood for exploring more of the island today, there is a heritage museum nearby,” she said. “Worth looking into if you want to know more about Westray.”

  “Thanks,” Josh said. “We’ll take a look later.”

  He stomped down the hall to our room, his shoulders slumped under his thick hoodie. I followed him into the room and sat down in the chair in the corner, watching as he reached for his bag and pulled out a notepad he must have bought at the general store yesterday.

  He sat down on the bed, propped the notepad on one knee and began writing.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Writing a letter.” He didn’t look up.

  I made a face. “There’s this thing called email and text messages now.”

  “Still can’t get a signal on my phone,” Josh said.

  I stared out the window for a moment. The people of Pierowall never seemed to be in a hurry. They always moved lazily down the street, as if they had no reason to rush things. No one seemed to feel the need to escape.

  The sound of Josh’s pen scratching across the paper irritated me.

  “Who are you writing to?” I asked.

  Josh scowled before bending back over his letter. “None of yo
ur business.”

  I knew that could only mean he was writing to Mara. Probably some sappy, lovesick letter about how much he missed her and how he dreamed about her every night.

  “You shouldn’t waste your time on her,” I said.

  Josh ignored me and continued writing.

  “She’s probably not even missing you,” I went on. “You’re four thousand miles away, on the other side of the ocean, and she’s in Swans Landing. With Dylan.”

  I hated to think about the idea of Dylan and Mara taking comfort in each other, but I knew it was the only logical conclusion to this messed up tangle of hormones. Dylan didn’t want me. He had never, despite the fact that we’d been friends our entire lives, looked at me the way he’d looked at Mara as soon as she stepped foot on the island.

  If Josh thought Dylan wouldn’t take advantage of his not being around right now, he was stupid and naive. The island had a way of making people lonely, lonelier than they’d ever felt before. And the longer Josh was gone, the closer Mara would move to Dylan in search of company.

  Josh’s nostrils flared as he stared back at me. “Don’t talk to me about Dylan Waverly,” he growled.

  I shrugged. “I’m only trying to make you see reality. She’s been in his bed once. How long do you think it will be before she’s there again?”

  Before I had time to react, Josh leaped from the bed and across the room, suddenly hovering over me. His face was red, his eyes dark and narrowed. I’d made him angry before, even irritated him as much as possible for the fun of it, but I’d never seen him look at me the way he did now.

  “If you know what’s good for you, Sailor Mooring, you’ll shut your mouth about things you have no business being involved in,” he said in a low, raspy voice.

  I’d read things on finfolk before, looking up myths and beliefs humans had about them and laughing at how inaccurate some of them were. But as I looked up at Josh’s stony face, something from one of those books flashed across my mind: Finfolk are extremely territorial.