Lost Spirits

The Troubles of Selkies

As the three girls were walking through the courtyard to the language building a relatively short, sick-looking boy with slightly greenish skin and a beanie covering his ears ran up and grabbed Maura's shawl, waving it around like a flag. "Hey! Give that back!" Maura yelled in a panicked voice, chasing the boy as he ran off. "Ugh! Malik, I swear--"

"Oh, shut up," Malik taunted. Maura opened her mouth to speak again, but her voice wouldn't work. She always hated when this happened. I never should have let my guard down, she thought. "Y'know, I've been wondering why you like this little scarf so much, I wonder..."

Maura didn't like Malik's expression. It was like he knew what she... no... he couldn't possibly. Unless... oh no. Malik began to say something-- a command-- and Maura braced herself for the worst.

Mellie gasped in horror when Malik stole Maura's skin. "M-Malik, you should give Maura back her s-shawl!" Her voice managed to be higher than usual, which was interesting considering she already has a very squeaky voice. "She gets- uh- cold! really easy! Y-you need to give it back!" She sounded slightly panicked and like she was trying to sound and stay calm to get the shawl back from Malik.

The kid, Malik, sneered at Mellie. "Make me!" he pulled the shawl out of her reach.

Nicole looked at the boy, fists clenched. "You heard her. She told you to give her shawl back."

Malik looked at her. "So you must be the new girl. Stay out of this if you know what's good for you."

"No, I don't think I will. At least, not until you give Maura her shawl back."

"Well then, I'd say you've been warned." Malik draped the shawl over his shoulders to free his hands. Nicole stood between Maura and Malik. In the distance thunder clouds gathered. The wind picked up.

"Sure, whatever you say. But you might want to hang onto that before you lose it." Nicole said about the shawl. He looked at her in confusion. The wind blew harder and the shawl blew off his shoulders and flew onto the ground. Nicole quickly reacted and grabbed it before Malik could get to it.

"Give that back you little–" Malik started toward her only to trip and land on his face. He picked himself up and snarled.

"Make me." Nicole shot back with a quick smile

He looked up at the girl who just humiliated him. It had been faint, but he could have sworn he saw a little hint of something behind her. A flash of wings. So she was a fairy. Selkie was a rare delicacy but fairy was unheard of. He wondered how she would taste. And she wasn't full grown. Delightful. This was why he was at this school pretending to be a human child. Now he just needed to figure out the best way to isolate her for the attack.

Nicole steered Maura away from the boy on the ground. When they were almost to class, she passed Maura her shawl back. "Sorry about keeping so long. I was a little worried he would try to take it back. Try to keep a better eye on it from now on, 'kay Maura?"

"Thanks," Maura said, pulling her shawl tight around her shoulders. "And I will definitely be more careful about this kind of thing," Maura glanced around again, holding her shawl with a death-grip. She was still pretty shaken from the experience. Maura didn't like being controlled. A lot of people know what happens when a selkie has her seal skin stolen. It had only happened to Maura twice before, and she has always been careful about keeping her guard up since then. "Great job with that storm by the way," she added with a small smile.

Nicole laughed before realizing Maura wasn't joking. "Uh, storm? What do you mean by that?"

"The storm that you made to..." Maura trailed off as she realized. "Oh... you... you don't know, do you? About any of this?"

Huh? "I'm sure you were just imagining things. Come on, let's get to class. It looks like it might rain." Nicole commented.