Summer of the Sea Serpent: A Merlin Mission

Jack. “What about that Jellyfish Cave?”
    “You need not worry about the jellyfish,” said Kathleen. “They cannot harm us.”
    “They cannot?” said Jack.
    “No,” said the selkie, “not if we all change into seals.”

“S eals?” asked Annie.
    Jack looked at Teddy. “Did she say ‘change into seals’?” he asked.
    “Indeed!” said Teddy. “That’s what selkies do. They are people on land and seals in the sea.”
    “You’re a seal?” Jack asked Kathleen.
    “Sometimes,” said the selkie, smiling.
    Jack just stared at her. He couldn’t believe the beautiful girl was sometimes a seal.
    “Whenever I come ashore and dry off in thesun, my seal skin falls away,” said Kathleen. “Then I am as human as—well, as I am right now.”
    “Oh, I get it!” said Annie. “You were one of the seals we met in the water!”
    “Of course,” said Kathleen, “and Teddy was the other.”
    Jack looked at Teddy. “Y-you?” he stammered. “How … ?”
    Teddy grinned. “I am a magician, remember?” he said.
    Kathleen laughed. “Yes, but this time, ’twas
my
magic that did the work,” she said. She pointed to two shiny gray skins lying on the sand. “I gave him a seal skin and spoke a selkie spell.”
    “You turned Teddy into a seal?” asked Jack.
    “Aye,” said Kathleen, “and I shall do the same for you. I am sure my sisters will not mind if we borrow two more of their skins.” The selkie started toward a large pile of rocks.
    Teddy watched Kathleen go, then looked back at Jack and Annie. “She has powerful magic indeed,” he said.
    “No kidding,” said Annie.
    Jack was speechless. He couldn’t believe he and Annie were about to become seals.
    Kathleen came out from behind the rocks carrying two shiny skins. “Take these,” she said, handing them to Jack and Annie. The skins looked like scuba divers’ wet suits with hoods.
    “Pull them on over your clothes,” said Kathleen. “Like this.” She and Teddy picked up their own seal skins from the sand and began pulling them on. Jack and Annie did the same.
    Jack stretched the skin up over his legs and shorts, then over his arms and T-shirt. He felt as if he were wearing a thick layer of rubber.
    “Before we cover our heads and faces, we must wade into the water,” said Kathleen. “Follow me.”
    Jack waded clumsily into the water with theothers.
This is crazy,
he thought.
You can’t become a seal just by putting on a seal costume.
    Kathleen stopped them when they were waist deep. “Slip on your hoods,” she said. “I will say a few words in selkie language. Then we shall all dive in.”
    Teddy grinned at Jack and Annie. “We have flown together through the sky,” he said. “Now we shall swim together in the deep, eh?”
    Jack nodded, but he still didn’t believe this could possibly work.
    “Quickly!” said Kathleen. “Cover your heads and faces! Dive as soon as I’ve spoken the spell!”
    Jack pulled on his hood. He stretched it down over his forehead, then over his face—his glasses, nose, and chin. He couldn’t see or talk. He wanted to rip the hood off, but Kathleen’s voice stopped him:
    An-ca-da-tro-a-day-mee!
    Ba-mi-hu-no-nay-hah-nee!
    Jack heard one splash—then two more. He quickly dove into the sea.
    As soon as the seawater covered his head and body, Jack felt the seal skin melt into hisown. His chest expanded to the size of a barrel! His arms and legs vanished and flippers took their place!
    Jack shot through the water like a torpedo.

    When he moved his front flippers, he turned right or left. When he moved his back flippers, he zoomed forward.
    Jack rolled and swerved in and out of schools of fish and jungles of sea grass. He dove down to the murky depths of the cove. Then he shot back up to the surface. In his smooth seal body, he could swim ten times faster than he ever had in his human body! And he could see and hear perfectly!
    Jack rose and fell and rose and fell through the deep. Two seals appeared beside him. Bubbles came from their mouths. They made gurgling, clicking sounds. Jack could understand exactly what their seal sounds meant.
    Hey, Jack! It’s me!
    ’Tis me, too!
    Hi, guys!
Jack called to Annie and Teddy. He heard trilling sounds on his other side. He saw a third seal. It was Kathleen, swimming gracefully toward him.
    Hello, Jack!
    Hello, Kathleen!
Jack clicked back to her.
    He wanted to tell the selkie how much fun he was having. But when he opened his mouth, a school of tiny fish