by Kelly Risser
Why didn’t Evan tell me he wanted these books? I flipped through the thickest one as I sat on my bed. I planned to wrap them, but the illustrations caught my eye. Many of these creatures I had never even heard of before. Then again, I’d never been to the ocean until we moved here.
I stopped at picture of a fierce-looking man. Well, I guess you could call him a man. He looked human, except for the fact that his skin was blue and his teeth were sharp and pointy—a shark in a human’s body. I read the caption,
The Blue Men of the Minch live in underwater caves in the Minch, a straight between Lewis, Long Island and the Shiant Islands near Scotland. They attempt to wreck ships unfortunate enough to pass into their territory by conjuring storms and luring sailors into the water. The captain will save his ship only if he can finish their rhymes and solve their riddles.
My eyes traveled back to the image. The artist did an amazing job. The sharp-toothed monster seemed to smile right at me. It was super creepy. I gave an involuntary shudder and turned the page. I saw serpent-like creatures, underwater horses—real horses, not sea horses—and giant squids. Most were more like animals and less like humans. Some could be real, like the giant squid, and some might be other animals mistaken for a monster, like a manatee or stingray. The book did a good job providing the myth and the facts to support or debunk it.
I came across another human-like monster. It was creepier than the blue man was. It was small and green, and even in the drawing, it looked evil. Grindylow, I read.
These water demons were first mentioned in British folktales in the county of Yorkshire. British parents told their children stories of Grindylows to prevent them from going into ponds and lakes alone. Grindylows are water demons with long fingers that drag children into the deep.
Were all sea monsters evil? If I believed the stories, most sunk sinking ships or lured humans to their death. The author theorized that these legends explained drowning and shipwrecks, and of course, stories of scary monsters would keep kids who couldn’t swim from going into the water. I suppose it was like saying, “Don’t take candy from strangers”. It gave me the chills. Why did Evan want these books? I wanted to call him and ask, but I couldn’t ruin the surprise. Christmas was only a couple of days away. Although I didn’t want to wait, I had to.
I wish I could find the courage to ask David. I never seemed to get the question out when we were alone. Even if I did, I didn’t know that he’d tell me. He seemed to be following his own schedule to reveal information to me, and it was excruciating. Of course, now that I knew Ula was my aunt, I could get answers. She told me so. If only she were here.
I felt bad about the way I reacted yesterday. Once I got over my initial shock, I was less angry, more bewildered. And, I was hurt. How could she lie to me? How could she pretend to be in the same situation as me with a sick mother, when her mother wasn’t even alive anymore? Her mother. My grandmother. Did I have other relatives I didn’t know about?
“Hullo.”
Ula popped into existence on the end of my bed, sitting cross-legged in her faded blue jeans. I screamed and jumped back, hitting my head on the headboard in the process. Her shocked expression must have mirrored my own. Her mouth dropped open just before she disappeared.
“Meara! Are you okay?” Mom slammed my door open and ran over to my bed.
“It was a spider.” I tried to look sheepish.
She sighed and shook her head. “For crying out loud, you almost gave me a heart attack. Where is it?”
Lucky that Mom knew I was afraid of spiders. She had no reason not to buy my story. I pointed to the floor. “It crawled under my bed.”
She raised her eyebrow. “And you’re not going to kill it?”
“I’m not crawling under there after it!”
Mom lifted the bed skirt and glanced along the length of the bed. “Well, I don’t see anything now.” She straightened and ruffled my hair. “Next time, honey, just hit it with a rolled-up magazine.”
“Okay, Mom.” I smiled at her while leave, leave, leave played in my mind. I wondered if Ula would come back.
Mom started to the door, then turned and gave me a strange look. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You seem edgy or something.”
I laughed. It sounded fake, even to me. “I had a lot of Diet Coke this morning.”
“Well, maybe cut back a little,” she suggested. “Oh, and your father will be here soon. He’s taking me out to dinner. Do you want to come?”
Out to dinner with my parents exchanging lovey looks? I could think of a million other things I’d rather do. “No, thanks, Mom. I’m going to work on a paper. It’s due on Wednesday.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Thanks, though.”
“Okay, then.” She kissed my head, and then closed the door as she left.
I listened as Mom walked back down the hall. Then, feeling stupid talking to an empty room, I said, “You can come back now.”
“She’s gone?”
Ula once again sat cross-legged at the end of my bed. She smiled at me apologetically. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I just wasn’t expecting it,” I said, referring to her ability to appear and disappear on a whim. “David can do that, too. Will I be able to?” It’d be kind of cool to pop in on my friends. Or Evan. Definitely would save on gas and time.
“Probably.” Ula shrugged. “It’s a family talent.”
“Family?” I just learned Ula was my aunt. Were there more? “Are there more of you?”
Ula tilted her head and studied my face. “I’m not sure what you’re asking. There are many of our kind, but I have one sister and five brothers.”
My mouth fell open. “Have I met anyone else?”
“Not that I know of. The only other one here with us is Brigid.” She made a face that I couldn’t read. “You’ll probably meet her eventually.”
I tried to wrap my mind around that. David had a family. A large family. “Does David have other children?”
Ula shook her head. “Just you. Some of my brothers are married though, and I do have other nieces and nephews…” Ula trailed off. She looked close to tears. “I’m sorry for deceiving you. I wanted to help. I didn’t know how else to get close to you.”
A surge of emotion swept through me. I took a deep breath before responding. “Why didn’t you just enroll in my high school like a normal teenager?”
Ula shuddered. “I hate school. I’ve never been good at it.” She gave me a crooked smile. “Besides, I’m not a teenager.”
I leaned close and studied Ula’s face. She looked bemused, so apparently she didn’t mind. Not a wrinkle or a gray hair. Her face was so young and innocent; I assumed she was either my age or a year or two younger. She acted older, though, and it would explain her love of vintage clothing. I was sure it was rude, but I asked anyway. “How old are you?”
Her reply was instant. “Older than you think.”
“Forty?”
“I was born in 1912.”
I laughed, but Ula didn’t even break a smile. She continued to watch me, her expression neutral. I stopped laughing when I realized she wasn’t joking.
“You’re over one hundred years old? That’s ancient!” The words came out, and I slapped my hand over my mouth. That was so rude! “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
It was Ula’s turn to laugh. “I’m not offended, Meara.”
“And David is older?”
“He’s the oldest in the family, next to Uncle Angus,” she said. “But Angus is ancient. Over five hundred years old.”
I fell back against the headboard. Was this another of her stories? “How do you look so young?”
“We’re not human.” Ula shrugged. “We don’t age as fast.”
We sat quiet for a few minutes. I think she was letting me digest the news. Ula gestured to the books spread in front of me. “I see you’ve been reading. Find anyt
hing interesting?”
I sighed and flipped through a few pages. “Not so much, unless I’m the daughter of a merman or swamp monster.”
Ula giggled. “Um, no. Swamp monsters don’t exist.”
“How do I know that? I just recently found out I’m half human, half something else. For all I know, vampires and werewolves exist. It’s a whole new world.”
Ula grew serious. “Truthfully, I don’t know about those creatures. We typically don’t spend much time amongst humans. We stick with our own kind, the ocean, and the other beings that we share it with.”
I couldn’t take it any longer. “What are you?”
“What do you think I am? Do you have any ideas?”
I looked down at the books in front of me. “What you are…it’s in one of these books?”
“Yes.”
I shivered. “I’m not sure I want to know. Most of the creatures in these books seem evil.”
Ula studied my face. “And humans are not? Humans kill each other. They kill animals and pollute the land and water. Is this not evil?”
“Not all humans are evil,” I protested.
“Not all sea creatures are either.” Ula reached for the book. “May I?”
I handed it to her silently and waited. She flipped through several chapters, found what she wanted, and turned the pages toward me.
“Selkies.” I read the title and looked at the image of the furry brown animal. “You’re a seal?”
Ula looked insulted. “No, I’m not a seal. Seals cannot change shape. Seals are seals.”
“That picture looks like a seal.”
“We are not seals. The best way I can describe us to you is that we are shape shifters. We can take the form of a human or a seal.”
I wiggled my toes, which were safely tucked into my socks. I thought about the flippers on a seal. I thought about becoming a seal. Was it possible? What would it feel like?
“I’m one, too?” I couldn’t help asking.
Ula grinned. “Oh yes! You’ll be able to Change, too.”
“When?” I didn’t want to change in the middle of history class or something. Talk about embarrassing.
“It’s not a ‘When’. It’s more of a ‘Where’.”
I frowned at her. “Okay, now you sound like David.”
She leaned forward and patted my leg. “He’s frustrating, isn’t he? Try growing up with him, and five other older siblings who all had your best interests in mind.” She made a face, and I laughed.
The doorbell rang. The sound of my mom’s voice filled the house, followed by the deeper, rich tones of David’s voice.
“David’s here?” Ula paled. “I have to leave. Please, don’t tell him that we talked.”
“Will he be mad?” What would David do if he knew she told me?
“I don’t know. I don’t want to find out. He’s protective of you, you know.”
“I won’t say anything,” I promised. “I have more questions. We barely started talking.”
Ula patted my leg again. It was an aunt-like gesture. “We’ll talk again soon. For now, read the books. You won’t find much that’s useful, but there’s some information there.”
She waved at me, and then she was gone.
I closed the books and shoved them back into the plastic bookstore bag just before my door opened.
“Hey, princess.” David poked his head in and smiled. He’d taken to calling me pet names—princess and sweetheart, among others. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but I knew he was making Mom happy, so I let it slide.
“Hi.”
He eyed the bag on my bed. “What’s that?”
I hugged the bag to my chest, suddenly feeling protective of my secret. “It’s Evan’s Christmas present. I was just about to wrap it.”
David nodded and let the subject drop. “So, you don’t want to come to dinner with us?”
I tried to sound apologetic. “I appreciate the offer, but I’d rather just stay home and study for my tests this week.”
David’s eyebrow rose. “Your mom said you had a paper.”
“Oh yeah. That, too. Busy week, you know, last couple of days before winter break.”
“All right, then. We’ll bring you back some dessert.”
“Thanks. Have a great time!”
He blew me a kiss and closed the door. Mom must have stayed in the living room with my grandparents. I wasn’t worried about dinner. Grandma Mary would have something delicious for us, even if it was just leftovers.
I listened until I heard the front door close and the low hum of David’s car disappear into the distance, then I pulled the books back out of the bag. I scoured every bit of information I could find on Selkies. When I ran out in the books, and it didn’t take long, I went online and searched some more. There wasn’t much.
The most consistent information I could find was that Selkies lived in and near the ocean. The legend seemed to originate on the Orkney Islands, near Scotland. That explained the accent that David and Ula tried unsuccessfully to cover up. It also said that the Selkies shed their sealskin to take human form. What did they do with their skin? Store it somewhere? I guess David could leave his at his apartment. Would he trust it there? From what I read, if a Selkie lost its skin, it could no longer change form. It was stuck as a human forever.
Could Mom take David’s skin? Would that keep him here? Legends spoke of fishermen who hid the skin of Selkie women to keep them as wives. That wasn’t any different, was it? But, it wasn’t right either. Keeping someone from their true nature, forcing them to stay with you, well, that wasn’t love any more than abandoning your woman and newborn baby daughter was. What a crappy mess.
Once again, I thought about calling Evan, or even texting Kim, and telling them about what I learned. Something told me to keep it to myself. The more people who knew, the harder it would be to keep it from David, and I wanted to know more. If David found out, I was positive he would order Ula not to tell me more. I didn’t know if she’d obey him, but I didn’t want to take that chance. No, the secret was mine. For now.
