Children of the Sea 03 - Sea Lord

hard. “Dad?”
    Thumps. Footsteps, coming down the hall.

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    Lucy turned, pulling her sealskin more closely around her, her heart thudding in her chest. She was home.
    She didn’t need to hide what she was or be ashamed. Her mother was selkie. So was her brother. Her father knew.
    “In here! In the kitchen,” she called.
    More footsteps. Bart Hunter appeared in the kitchen doorway, lean, weathered, and gray as driftwood, all the life battered and bleached from him years ago.
    His eyes rounded. His mouth dropped open in shock.
    Lucy’s smile wobbled. So did her knees. “It’s okay, Dad. I’m really here.”
    “What the fuck are you talking about?” he said.
    Lucy worked moisture into her dry mouth. Swallowed. “I’m home.”
    Behind her father was a girl. A blond girl, with a face . . . With her face.
    Lucy’s heart lurched. Oh, no.
    The girl took one look at Lucy and froze. A sigh escaped her before she fell, crumpled on the floor of the hall.
    Lucy pressed her hands to her mouth.
    Bart turned in time to see the corn maiden slither to the floor. He dropped to his knees at her side.
    He looked up at his daughter, his face twisted in grief, his eyes hard with accusation. “What the hell did you do to her?”
    “I ...”
    “What have you done to Lucy?”
    Stricken, Lucy watched as he pulled the unconscious girl into his arms, cradling her head against his chest.
    “Dad,” she whispered. “I am Lucy.”
    But he did not hear.

19
    “ LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT,” CALEB SAID EVENLY. “You’re not just selkie; you’re the one the demons have been sniffing around for. The daughter in the prophecy.”
    Lucy clasped her hands together tightly in her lap. They had all come over as soon as she called, all of her family. First Caleb, in his marked police Jeep, to carry the unconscious-but-still-breathing corn maiden to Lucy’s bed and convince their father not to call the doctor. Then Dylan, driving Regina and Margred carefully through the falling snow in the white restaurant van.
    Bart remained with Lucy—the other Lucy—upstairs.
    The rest of them sat in the drab brown living room, Caleb on the arm of Maggie’s chair, facing the door, and Dylan and Regina together on the couch. Caleb’s hand rested on Maggie’s shoulder. Dylan had an arm around Regina’s waist.
    Matched sets, Lucy thought dully, like the candlesticks on the mantle or the fireplace tools on the hearth.
    She perched on the edge of her seat, her feet flat on the floor. The whole setup looked remarkably like the family conference she had interrupted three weeks ago.
    Only this time she was a part of it all.
    This time she was the center of attention.
    She had never felt more alone.
    “Yes,” she said. “But that’s not why I’m here. I came because Gau threatened you.”
    Dylan leaned forward, his face tense and concerned. “I know the demon lord Gau. Know of him,” he corrected. “He’s a powerful enemy.”
    “And he’s here,” Caleb said. “On World’s End.”
    “Yes,” Lucy said.
    “No,” Dylan said just as certainly. “I’ve crawled over every inch of this island. I would know if the wards Page 115
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    were broken or tampered with.”
    Gau’s voice seared Lucy’s brain. “ I am already on my way to World’s End to visit your family.
    Since you couldn’t take the time. ”
    “Then he’s on his way,” Lucy said.
    “Maybe . . . a visitor?” Regina suggested. “If this Gau person possessed somebody—”
    “I would still know,” Dylan said. “Newcomer or not.”
    “Nobody comes to the island in November anyway,” Caleb said. “It’s too damn cold for tourists. Even the homeless camp’s cleared out.”
    Lucy’s fingernails dug into her palms. She was exhausted and grieving and wracked with fear and guilt, and they weren’t taking her seriously enough. They weren’t taking their own danger seriously enough.
    “Does it really matter how he gets here? The important thing is you’re in danger. All of you. I saw . . .”
    Impossible to describe the horrors she had seen with Maggie and Regina sitting there. “He threatened you. Hurt you. In a vision.”
    Caleb nodded. “Okay. So you came home—”
    “Swam home,” Lucy said.
    He shot her an older brother look, running his hand over his short hair. “Swam home to warn us.”
    “To