Fathom (26 page)

He was staring at his hand covering mine, quiet for a moment. Then he continued, “I guess I didn’t tell you that your mother was a Selkie because I never saw her that way. I saw her as the woman I fell in love with, the person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. That’s what love is, baby girl. The ability to see past what’s on the surface, beyond all the stuff that everybody else sees.”

He looked up at me then. There was something he wanted to say, something important. I could sense it.

“Kira, I need you to keep an open mind about your sister.”

I could feel the color draining from my already pale face.

“I know you’ve had a rough time the past few days, but she’s had a rough time too. You have to remember that she’s been on her own for a long time. She’s going to have a hard time adjusting to living with us, so she’ll need you to—”

I froze, not believing what he was saying.

“—help her, especially with high school next year—”

He had to be joking. No way that sea witch was moving in with us. And going to my school? I don’t think so.

“Dad, I—I don’t think Riley wants to live with us,” I stammered.

“I know.” He nodded as he spoke. “She’s run wild for a long time. It’s not going to be easy—”

“Have you even asked her?”

His head tilted slightly, maybe examining my words. “Yes, we all talked about it last night. She’s going to move in as soon as I get out of the hospital. Your grandmother and you are going to need to clean out the spare room, maybe put anything we want to keep in the basement. The rest of it we can—”

I didn’t hear anything else he said.

Because as far as I was concerned, my destiny was signed, sealed and delivered.

And it sucked. Big time.

Caleb:

The morning fog burned away, leaving clear skies. Meanwhile, Brianna’s Mercedes hummed over familiar roads, Riley in the passenger seat, me in the back. And throughout the journey, all the way from Crescent Moon Bay to Monterey, Brianna whined.

“You guys, I can’t keep doing this. I’m going to get kicked out of school. And my parents will freak if they find out I ditched today. They won’t care if it’s ‘because the Selkies needed a ride somewhere.’ They’re just about to walk away from this whole ‘familiar’ plan anyway. Especially after my party—”

Riley ignored her. It looked like she was practicing her Selkie gift, the one she had stumbled on the other night when she almost drowned all those people in that little boat. Right now, with just a flick of her index finger, she spun bone-white clouds across a blue sky. The clouds blossomed like flowers, scattered from east to west as far as I could see. Then, with a lowered brow and her lip in a pout, the clouds darkened and thickened. She tilted her head and, even in the backseat, I could see the glisten of tears on her cheeks.

Rain started to fall, big soft drops that pattered against the windshield.

Then real emotion unexpectedly burst through. Riley turned and glared at me.

“You think you’re all that, but you’re not!” she said, her cheeks flaring pink. Thunder boomed in the background, almost in time with her words. Lightning snapped across the sky and then thunder followed again, shaking the ground beneath us. “She hasn’t even noticed you, hasn’t even looked at you! But you still stick up for her, every chance you get.”

“I told you, I’m not on anyone’s side,” I said, although knew it wasn’t true. I’d come here for the Burning—but Kira had captured my heart from the first moment I saw her. Even I didn’t know why.

“Then give me back her cross.”

“No.”

“See. On her side. Just like I said.”

“Whatever.”

Riley turned away from me, focused on a desolated shack on the side of the road. Pointing her hand like a loaded gun, she snapped her thumb like the trigger. “Pow,” she whispered. Suddenly lightning crashed down, struck the building, set it on fire. Even the rain couldn’t put it out. She started laughing then and, as if the universe was in perfect harmony with her, the clouds parted. A strong stream of sunlight poured down on us, just one beam of light in a world of rain.

“I think you picked the wrong side, Caleb,” she said.

Brianna glanced over her shoulder at me, concern on her face.

“Hey, eyes on the road, Little Miss Familiar. Stay focused, here. We don’t want to be late. My father is expecting me. He’s giving the Good News to Kira today.” Riley started laughing again and, like a heavenly sieve, more pockets of sunshine burst through the cloud cover.

“What good news?” Brianna asked.

“It’s a surprise,” Riley snapped. “And I want my dear sister to hear it first.”

Something snarled beneath her anger. Although I wasn’t sure what it was, I guessed that it was jealousy.

Kira:

I couldn’t wait until Dad stopped talking. I completely tuned out everything after “your evil sister is moving in.” Just nodded my head and pasted a fake smile on my face. Inside I was saying stuff like, you’ve got to be kidding and am I in hell now and what in the world is Dad thinking, is he nuts.

He must have hit his head too hard on the floor back at school and now his brains were scrambled.

Then, finally, after forever and a day, he ran out of things to say. I gave him another hug, still gentle and light—he may be nuts, but he’s still my dad and sick—then I kissed him on the cheek. I started to say goodbye, but right in the midst of it, he interrupted me.

He made me promise to try and get along with Riley.

Destiny roared at me, louder than my own heartbeat.

I backed out of the room.

I needed to see Sean, get my dose of normal and maybe get another one of those amazing hugs that were already becoming my number one addiction. I was heading down the hallway, back toward the waiting room, when I noticed that the overhead fluorescent lights started to flicker as I passed.

At the same time, strange ideas began to slip through my head, things I couldn’t say out loud.

I need to get along with my sister
.

As much as I loved my dad, I didn’t want to get along with Riley. Not now, not ever. I gritted my teeth, flexed my muscles.

Just then, one of the overhead lights exploded, a burst of sparks and wild light arcing down to the floor, just behind me.

Bam!

I ducked beneath a shower of crazy light. When I glanced behind me, I saw that darkness now shrouded the hallway, all the way back to my dad’s room. And meanwhile, the strange ideas in my head kept getting louder.

Dad and Gram are right. We are family.

I had to listen to Dad, I just had to. As much as I wanted to treat Riley the same way she was treating me, I knew that somewhere deep down inside, my Katie was still there. Hiding. My missing six-year-old, best friend sister. The one who knew how afraid I was of the dark and who held my hand every time I went to the dentist. The one who gave me her favorite doll when I fell out of the tree and broke my arm.

Suddenly I knew what I had to do.

But I couldn’t tell anyone. Just the thought of it made me cold.

With a shudder, I rounded that last corner, hoping Sean and I could go downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch, maybe take a little walk along the way and find a quiet spot to make out. Up until now, all I’d had were single, breath-stealing kisses. Right now, I needed about a hundred, all in a row.

Just then, I felt something strange. The ground shuddered beneath my feet, like I stood in the midst of an epicenter. A shock wave cascaded away from me, almost invisible, concentric circles that grew ever larger. I continued to stare at the floor, my mouth open, not really noticing who or what was up ahead. Instead, I followed the wave with my eyes, a curious sensation in my gut.

Tingling and electric.

Then I lifted my gaze.

I saw my sister up ahead, all five foot two of her, spiked hair and black ripped T-shirt and sleeve tattoo. Caleb and Brianna at her side.

And, at that instant, my wave struck. It had no effect on Brianna and Caleb managed to ride out. But it knocked Riley right off her feet.

My sister was flat on her backside. And she wasn’t happy about it at all.

•

Unfortunately, both Gram and my too-good-to-be-true boyfriend were missing. Part of me wanted some credit for what I was about to do next. I reached down, took Riley by the hand and helped her to her feet.

“Sorry,” I said to her and Caleb. “I didn’t realize you were here.”

She glared at me. “You did that on purpose.”

I shook my head.

“Did Dad tell you the news?” Riley studied my face.

“Yup.”

She continued to watch me, almost as if she didn’t know who I was.

“I’m going in to see him right now,” she said, smoothing off her shirt and pants, then she ran her fingers through her hair. “I was thinking—” Her eyes slid sideways, staring at me, one eyebrow arched. “Maybe I should just move in tonight.”

Now both Caleb and Brianna were staring at me too, mouths open. She must not have told them about this yet.

I shrugged. No reason to fight it. In the end none of these little details were going to matter. Not after tonight, anyway.

“Sure. It’s okay with me,” I said.

“Really. But, I’m not sleeping on that old sofa. I need some privacy—”

“You can have my room, if you want.”

Blue-green eyes examined mine. Then she nodded, slow.

“I do,” she said.

“Fine.”

“And you know I don’t have much to wear.”

I sighed. “Riley, you can have whatever you want. Okay?”

“You might want to remember you said that, Little Townie Princess. I’m going in to see Dad.” She did a little wave and then sauntered off, down the hallway that I’d just darkened, personally for her.

“You feeling okay, Kira?” Brianna asked.

“Not really.”

She looked a little nervous. But then, she looked like that all the time now, ever since my sister had come into town.

“I—um—just got a call from my dad. I have to go, right now. Your grandma and Sean just went down to the cafeteria. And I already asked them, so I hope it’s all right with you, because I have to go.”

“You hope what’s okay?”

“You guys are giving Riley and Caleb a ride home.”

“Great.” I nodded, then collapsed on the sofa. “Whatever,” I said. “You gotta go, so go.”

Brianna hesitated for a minute, glanced from Caleb to me, then back again. Finally she turned and jogged away.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t wait to get home and go for a really long swim.

Caleb:

The air sizzled with a strange energy. It made the hair on the back of my neck bristle. And I could tell it was all radiating from her. I had felt her approaching us, even before that wave knocked Riley off her feet.

This was stronger than pheromones. Maybe even stronger than Riley’s storm building. But I didn’t know what it was.

It was new.

And extraordinary.

I gingerly sat beside Kira on the sofa, cautiously aware of how close we were to each other and the fact that Sean was gone.

“You haven’t asked him yet,” I said.

“What?” Her eyes were closed and her head leaned back against the cushion.

“Sean. You haven’t asked him to be your familiar.”

“How do you know?” She turned her head and looked at me.

“Because there’s an emptiness, a space missing.”

“You Selkies are weird, you know that?”

I laughed, low and under my breath. “So are humans.”

“Well, you got that one right.” She sat up then, rested her elbows on her knees.

“Why haven’t you asked him?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure I need one. I mean, I already live on land, right? So why do I need a familiar?”

“For protection.”

“I can protect myself. Got myself a nice shiny ax.” One hand went to her throat, maybe searching for her missing cross.

I held my hand out to her, opened it up, revealed her necklace in my palm. Her eyes widened, then she let out a little squeal.

“My cross!” She took it, wincing when she saw the broken chain. “How did you—”

“I took it from Riley. That’s the sort of thing a familiar would do. They make sure you have what you need.”

Then she stared off into the distance, toward that darkened hallway.

“I don’t think I’m going to need much after tonight,” she mumbled, maybe thinking I couldn’t hear her or maybe hoping that I would hear and try to stop her. She was walking, arms outstretched toward her destiny.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” I told her.

Then her eyes were searching mine, as if she realized that she’d said too much.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

Sean and her grandmother were getting off the elevator, arms filled with bags and sodas. They were still too far away to hear us, so I leaned closer, put one hand on her arm.

“I could help you,” I whispered.

Then I sat back and pretended like I was glad to see Sean as he approached, a big stupid grin on his human face.

Kira:

Sometimes, if you really pay attention, every moment in the day is a little bit like dying. If it’s beautiful, then it’s over too soon. If it’s awful, then it seems to last forever. And when you line up all those moments, they lead right to your very last breath.

We were riding in the car, heading toward home. Humans in the front seat, Selkies in the back.

And all I could think about was how those moments—times like my first kiss with Sean and when Dad had his heart attack—were now laid out like little arrows, pointing toward tonight.

My last night as a living breathing half-breed.

Sean and Gram and Riley chattered throughout the drive, all of it pointless and stupid. At least it seemed that way, in contrast to the dark thoughts I was having. Meanwhile, both Caleb and I were silent as stone. He watched me from the corner of his eye, as if he didn’t want the others to notice. I smiled at him once, when I knew Sean was focused on something else.