Second Sight

Anywhere

Ava's return to the United States was more eventful than she would have hoped. At first, it started out fine. The flight was long, sure, but it was easy to sleep on. It was the people... the creatures... that she saw in the airport and on the plane that made it interesting. In Belfast's airport, she saw... well, she wasn't quite sure. She'd done all the research she could on what she was seeing, but it had to be subtle research. Not many people were up for believing a crazy tourist who wanted to know what Harpies and Sirens looked like.

And then there were the sirens and the selkies. The whole reason that Ava had traveled to Belfast in the first place was to continue work on her History degree, but she never anticipated seeing anything along the lines of the stuff of ancient legends. She remembered reading the legends of the Sirens. They were beautiful women who usually lived along the shore and lured gullible sailors and sea tradesmen to their death, but... she just kept realizing that this wasn't anything she had expected to see it in real life.

The first time was when she wandered up to the nearest newsstand in Belfast's airport to peek at the local magazines and browse to kill time and she looked up to greet the woman that was running the stand. When she drew closer to the cash wrap, she noticed the scaly texture that the woman's cheeks had, and how the scales glowed an iridescent purple and green. Ava didn't mean to stare, but the more she looked, the more she noticed. The scales on the woman's cheeks ended in fanned-out fins in place of where her ears should have been; the woman's eyes were entrancing vertical slits cut deep in irises of pure emerald.

"Is there something I can help you with, dearie?" The siren asked, flashing her sharp, pointed teeth and long tongue as she spoke. Her voice echoed through Ava's mind like a long night of dancing and drinking, but her question went in one ear and straight out the other as Ava shook her head and silently scolded herself for being rude. 

"No, Ma'am, I'm just browsing."

"I completely understand, love," the woman brushed off Ava's response with a hand, as though swatting away a fly. Ava was entranced once again at the length of the woman's fingers, and the fact that her fingers were... webbed? With the already aquatic nature of the woman, it shouldn't have surprised Ava, but it still fascinated her.

Ava quickly reminded herself not to stare, flashing a smile in response to the woman's toothy grin. "Thank you, miss. I genuinely appreciate it."

The flight from Belfast to London was a hop, skip, and a jump, and seemed like almost no time had passed. Sometimes, it seemed insane to Ava just how small the United Kingdom really was. For as much news, culture, and history as this kingdom had, it was just so much smaller compared to what she was used to. On top of the insane brevity of the flight, Ava was also shocked to behold the man who sat across the aisle from her.

Ava was sure that anyone else on the flight would have just seen a tired business man who was ready to finish his meetings and work in London and be done for the day, but she saw something completely different. When they exchanged the usual "glance, nod, smile" that was a standard on short flights, she did not expect to see fangs. Nor did she expect to see something that resembled a muzzle, for that matter. Not that he was completely animal, but Ava did not see someone who was completely human, either. No, the man sitting across from her was certainly a werewolf. He was not entirely wolf, but his knees were inverted, his feet paws with long claws, and his body was covered in fur. His face was mostly human, and when he said "cheers," to thank Ava for allowing him out of his seat first, he sounded completely human. Appearances, as Ava was quickly discovering, were tricky.

It was comedic to Ava that the werewolf she was seeing was in London, giving a nod to that movie that until recently she had thought to be completely fictional. Alas, here she was. At least, to Ava, it was nice to know that the standard creatures that were always depicted as mindless, animalistic beasts were cordial. In fact, they were almost more cordial than the brunt of human humans she had met in her lifetime.