A Light by the Sea

Chapter 1

Dana sat on the lighthouse steps, the warmth of the sun tingling on her bare, brown arms. At last, after weeks of stormy spring weather, the sun was shining. She didn't even need a jacket outside, but instead sat with the sleeves of her shirt rolled up to feel the sun on her arms.

She ran her hands through her short cropped hair, her fingertips lingering on the blunt ends of the bob. It still felt weird and Dana wondered if she'd made the right decision. The hair cut felt right at the time, but it was still unfamiliar, just like her surroundings.

She leaned back, feeling the grit of the rough concrete steps under her hands, while looking up at the clouds being pushed across the sky by a fair wind. It was beautiful outside and she didn't want to move from the steps.

A splashing noise interrupted the tranquility. It shouldn't have been unusual. The lighthouse stood on a little spit of land surrounded by the sea. Dana had gotten used to the noise of the waves breaking against the rocks on the seaward side, but this sound came from the other side of the spit, the beach side – if it could be called a beach. It was really just a strip of sand bordered by grass where the waves didn't hit so hard. Old boats and odds and ends from the lighthouse's working days were stored above the shoreline on that side of the spit, covering the beach from view. Dana ignored the sound at first, but it came again, louder and more insistent and she couldn't let it pass. She got up from the lighthouse steps to investigate.

The wind blew strands of her short hair across her face as she made her way to the path that lead from the side of the lighthouse down to the beach. She gave up trying to tuck the strands behind her ears, letting them blow around like the grass at her feet, waving precariously in the wind. The waves rolled onto the beach at a steady pace and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until she spotted the seal.

Immediately Dana crouched down in the long grass, hoping the animal hadn't seen her. She didn't want to scare it away. She had seen seals along the opposite point of the bay from the lighthouse, but not up close like this.

The seal had come in from the sea and was now sunning itself on the sand. Dana held her breath, fearing to move and disturb the creature. Seals didn't really come onto her beach, or maybe they did and she hadn't been living here long enough to notice. Either way, the moment felt magical and Dana didn't want it to end.

After sunning itself, the seal began to flop its way up the sand toward Dana. Before she could decide if she should move, Dana noticed the skin of the seal beginning to change. She thought perhaps the coat was drying out, but it looked more like the fur was disappearing, revealing the skin underneath. Then the seal's long body twisted and warped unnaturally. It reared backwards as its fins grew longer and its tail split in two. The change happened so fast it took Dana a moment to register that there was a naked girl standing in front of her where the seal once was.

Dana screamed, falling back into the grass. She tried to get up, but her arms and legs rooted themselves to the ground. The girl cried out as well and jumped back, her eyes snapping to Dana's. They stared at each other a moment and Dana wondered if she was seeing things.

Water dripped from the girl's long reddish hair and off the contours of her freckled skin. Then her round features took on a hardness as she called out, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I live here," Dana said lamely, trying to parse an answer through all the questions flying through her mind. Her limbs relaxed and she got up from the grass, brushing the sand from her pants. She had heard about creatures like these in stories, but seeing one with her own eyes was both unsettling and wonderful at the same time. Curiosity fought with modesty as she tried not to look directly at the naked girl in front of her, however, the curve of a naked hip kept flashing by her peripheral vision. Dana stood as still as she could, unsure what to say or do, but not wishing to upset the girl further.