Selkie

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Ian Sims was the most annoying man I had ever met. He was also the most intriguing. Or, perhaps, he was simply the only man who didn't react the way I expected men to act. I didn't feel like I was playing goalie with him, fending off advances. He was different. But that didn't mean I was thrilled when Maria told me that Ian would drive me to Hoy.

Ian was rude, and the drive would be at least nine hours. He did carry my bags out to his van without complaint, but he also tossed an insulting look over his shoulder when he realized how heavy my checked bag was. I was conflicted.

It's not my fault I don't pack light! My Mom taught me that a lady is prepared for anything. When I turned 16, she bought me an emergency kit for my purse, including a needle and thread, shoe polish, Advil, a granola bar pouch, and a brush/mirror combo that collapsed into itself to pack small.

I hugged Maria goodbye and was surprised to note how hard it was to leave. I'd been there for less than 12 hours, but already I felt very attached to her. She was warm and forthright. I trusted her.

"You knew my Mom?" 

That morning, I'd asked her a whole stream of questions over fresh scones.

"I did. I last saw Edith years and years ago, right after she got you out."

"Got me out?"

"Aye, my wee little bird. You weren't the first child, you know. She'd had dozens by the time you came around. Little pups. That's how he kept her. It's true that a Selkie can't go home without her seal skin - her coat - but your Mother is clever, sharp as a tack, and I'm sure she would never have stayed if he didn't have her pups. She is more than clever enough to have found her coat. But he kept her pups like bargaining chips. He promised she could see them, feeding her lies about boarding schools and letters and news of their various achievements. 

She was pregnant with you when she finally escaped. She knew she was pregnant before he did that time, and something prompted her to hide it. Your Mother isn't a fool. She has a way of knowing things about people. She's gifted at ferreting out secrets. She is one of the strongest people I have ever known. You'd like her, Edie."

I believed Maria. 

"He let her keep her pups with her until they were school-age." She paused then, looking out the window with glassy eyes, "but then, he'd send them off to 'school,' and she wouldn't see them again." I held my breath hopeful she'd continue. 

"One day, after years and years of this, she found a document she wasn't supposed to see about an aquarium. It's an Aquatic Centre on Hoy. He was sponsoring a seal program. She knew immediately. In her bones, she knew that her children weren't off living these fabulous lives; they were in tanks - cages. Making her rich husband richer."

"What?"

"Oh yes, I'm sure you read about the luck that comes from Selkies? Well, Selwyn - he collects magical creatures. I think it started with your Mother. But maybe it's older than she is. I don't know - we don't know. When your Mother escaped, she became obsessed with finding the aquarium. She went a little... mad. He was smart, though, the Aquarium has a similar name to the Aquatic public centre on Hoy, where they have a seal rescue program, but it isn't the same at all. The one with her children is somewhere on the Orkney Islands, but I wonder if she's ever found it. She was determined to free her children. I think she still is, but she is deep in hiding. I don't know if I could contact her if I tried. I wouldn't try, though. I don't want to be the reason she gets caught."