Teddy felt strangely apprehensive as he blinked around the fishy-smelling bedroom that had once belonged to four of Kathleen's oldest sisters. The bunks cast shadows against the stone walls, and he thought everything seemed sad and abandoned. Perhaps the furniture was missing its old occupants—who now had their own households. Kathleen was the only one who didn't have a place of her own, though Teddy wondered if Merlin's house counted.
If it didn't, that made Teddy nervous. Were Kathleen's parents still intent on upkeeping selkie traditions and making sure she got married? Was that what she was hiding from him? The fact that she was getting married and was going to have to leave Camelot? The very thought chilled Teddy to the core.
He couldn't lose Kathleen. He couldn't.
She was his friend, the one who finished his sentences and spells, who reveled in his victories, made fun of his failures—but then worked alongside him to clean up whatever mess he'd made. She kept his secrets, encouraged him when he was down. And then she was stunningly beautiful and powerful and yet gentle.
Kathleen was everything to him.
With a nervous laugh, Teddy realized how much he loved her. If only he could marry her and solve the dilemma…but what was he? An orphaned sorcerer-in-training? And not a very good one at that…And how could he expect Kathleen to want to marry him? She knew exactly what a goof-up he was.
Sighing dismally, Teddy sat down on one of the bottom bunks and kicked his boots across the floor. He was suddenly too tired to go back into the hallway and sheepishly ask Kathleen's family whether they had any spare clothes for him to sleep in. He felt just as emotionally battered as when he'd frozen Penny.
It was not a great feeling.
He tossed his jacket and shirt in the direction of his boots and then gave up, collapsing on the straw mattress and trying to lull himself to sleep with reassurances that he was overreacting entirely. Kathleen's odd behavior had nothing to do with marriage…she just forgot to pick up a recipe from Camelot. That was what her mother had been referring to…Surely.
Teddy's eyes grew heavy and he supposed he must have fallen asleep, because when he woke up, faint streams of light were flickering through the seaweed partition. There were footsteps elsewhere in the cave, and within a minute, someone pushed a ribbon of the hanging seaweed aside, peeking into the room.
"Teddy?" Kathleen whispered. She sounded fidgety. "Let's get going before my parents insist we stay for breakfast."
Teddy had a feeling that she actually wanted to leave before her parents could bring up whatever subject it was that she was so carefully avoiding. But he nodded and got up, wandering around the room looking for where he'd tossed his shoes. And his shirt and jacket…
He glanced back at the entryway and saw Kathleen still standing there, watching him shuffle around like she'd fallen into a trance.
"Are you truly sure you're all right?"
Kathleen blinked and then jumped, darting from the room like he'd frightened her. He supposed he was only half-dressed, but surely that wasn't terrifying.
Or maybe it was. Teddy found his jacket and frowned. Girls could be quite odd…
Within a couple minutes, Teddy—dressed, face-washed, and hair semi-combed—met Kathleen at the edge of the cavern, ready to start the quest for Morag. Kathleen seemed to have calmed down a bit; her hair was neatly pulled back in a long silky braid and her jade colored dress looked like it was one of the ones she'd made from dried plants and seaweed. While the blush on her cheeks indicated that something was still flustering her, Teddy decided to let it be. She would tell him when she was ready.
Teddy grabbed a spare seal skin and the two of them silently walked through a different stone door at the far side of the cave; it led to another narrow passage that wound directly to an alcove filled with sunning rocks and tidal pools. At this time of morning, the water would come up high enough that they could swim directly from the ocean to the Spider Queen's cave, which was farther down the coast.
As they reached the sunning rocks, Teddy caught a glimpse of the gray sky shining through cracks in the ceiling. It was a dreary day—the air was cool and salty, like the ocean had leaked into the mist. Teddy found himself hoping that the clouds weren't a bad omen. After all, Kathleen was still moving too nervously for anything good to be happening.
"You ready to find Morag?" Teddy's selkie companion finally asked, turning to look at the churning waters below them.
"Of course. Onward!" said Teddy, forcing himself to sound cheery.
Kathleen's smile was more like a grimace. "Put the skin on while I do the spell."
Teddy had gone swimming with Kathleen plenty of times. He was quite used to the thick seal skins that he pulled on over his clothes. However, he never failed to be impressed with Kathleen's enchanting powers.
"An-ca-da-tro-a-day-mee!
Ba-mi-hu-no-nay-hah-nee!"
She finished calling the selkie spell and he dove off the sunning rocks into the frigid water, letting the magic transform him into an actual seal.
Kathleen dropped down beside him a moment later, also in her seal form. Maybe Teddy was just blindly in love, but he couldn't help but think she made the blubbery seal look attractive. With graceful strokes in the water, she launched herself ahead, clicking her fins to send a gurgling message:
"A storm is coming in. We must make haste."
Teddy swam alongside her, letting his slick seal-tail propel him forward. After a few more silent moments, he decided he was going to start going crazy. Something had to be wrong. He didn't like being so quiet.
"So…" he clicked his front flippers together. "Perhaps now is a good time to tell me what is truly happening?"
Kathleen slowed her swimming and turned her face toward him, her whiskers twitching in either annoyance or concern, Teddy wasn't sure.
"Er…I think we should wait until we are human again," Kathleen stalled.
"Well, then. Look ahead. 'Tis Morag's cave." Teddy put on a burst of speed and rushed into the cavern, feeling the water grow shallower as he did so. He hoisted himself from the water onto a rock-ledge, flopping awkwardly onto his belly like a beached whale. Kathleen hopped onto the ledge beside him and they lay side-by-side for a what felt like a hundred years and no time at all. Then their seal skins slid off and Teddy jumped to his feet, extending a hand to Kathleen, who took it with a strange expression.
"All right. We are now human," said Teddy brightly, grabbing his seal skin and starting to walk along the rock-ledge bordering the side of the cave. "Please tell me what you've been hiding."
Maybe she heard the underlying worry in his voice, because any resistance seemed to fade out of Kathleen's posture. She walked very slowly alongside Teddy, staring at the ledge. "You have probably guessed by now…my parents do still want me to be betrothed by the end of the year." She gulped, and Teddy did too.
Except he also seemed to forget how to breathe. "But…but what about your training? With Merlin?" He had asked the question before, but Kathleen hadn't known. Now though, she grimaced slightly.
"Well...my parents are proud of my magic abilities, and they do want me to continue my education with Merlin for a few more years at least."
Teddy nodded mutely, feeling a mixture of relief and dread. "And then…?"
"And then they want me to be married. Selkie families all uphold the tradition firmly, and I cannot turn my back on my family," Kathleen said, looking almost as green as her dress. "They want me to marry someone in Camelot so that I can continue working for Merlin."
Teddy blinked twice. He had always thought that if Kathleen was to be married, it would be to someone in Avalon. His first instinct was to be overjoyed that she would be allowed to stay with him…but then the relief faded instantly. If he continued to see her every day, knowing that she was someone else's…could he bear it? Wouldn't that knowledge just torment him more than ever? Teddy swallowed heavily, trying to fight the fear bubbling up inside of him.
Kathleen sounded just as terrified. "My parents wanted to arrange the betrothal themselves, but…you see…it involved someone I knew. I…I promised to tell him about the situation…to ask if he was willing to go through with the betrothal. And for the past six months, I have been too cowardly to say what has been on my mind."
Teddy stopped walking. He turned to face her, wondering if his face conveyed even half of the despair he was feeling. "Kathleen…just tell me who he is." Teddy wanted to know—wanted to know the name of the person who would become the luckiest man alive, while he, Teddy, was doomed to watch from afar.
Kathleen faltered, her eyes drifting around the cave frantically. And then she gave in. "He's…he's you."
Teddy tipped his head to the side, suddenly wondering if the saltwater in his ears had clogged his hearing. "Me?"
"How many other young men do my parents know in Camelot?" Kathleen asked in a soft whisper. "They…they wanted to know if you would agree. But…but you are my friend, my best friend, so I can understand if you do not want to, I—"
Teddy's emotions seemed to explode. He didn't think about what he was doing—it was an involuntary decision more than it was conscious choice. But he reached for Kathleen, leaning forward to kiss her…and then—
"What bringsss humansss to my cave?" said the Spider Queen's whispery voice. Usually she was kind and gentle, but she sounded agitated, even to Teddy's spiraling senses.
He hesitated, an inch away from Kathleen's face, and then, almost sighing, he turned to face the spider. Kathleen was blushing soundly—surely she realized what he'd been about to do if a giant spider hadn't interrupted them—but she didn't say anything. She blinked up at Morag with concern.
"Morag? 'Tis me, Kathleen! And my friend Teddy. You know us."
The giant spider slowly lowered herself from the cave's ceiling. Teddy always had to remind himself not to be freaked out by the eight red eyes staring at him—or the multitude of spindly hairy legs that were a little too close for comfort.
Morag's whispery voice echoed in the cave. She sounded slightly more welcoming.
Slightly.
"Yessss. Hello, Kathleen, of the selkiesss."
"Merlin has sent us," Kathleen continued, staring up at the spider, unflinching. "He wishes to warn you of a dark wizard."
"Yesss," Morag started. "I have heard of thisss wizard."
"You have?" Teddy spoke up, squinting into the greenish light flooding the cavern. "Who is he? Or she?"
"I do not know a name…But he seeksss to overthrow King Arthur. He feelsss that since dark magic hasss been prohibited throughout the land, that hisss true self hasss been unjustly imprisoned."
"But there's a reason dark magic was outlawed," Teddy protested. "How can he think that? King Arthur has always been good to his people—sorcerers included."
"I do not know why…but thisss isss hisss plan," said Morag, her whispery lisp continuing to echo ominously around the cave. "In hisss quest to take Camelot he shall destroy much. Already I sense darknesssss on the horizon."
Teddy glanced at Kathleen, who looked troubled.
"I am on guard," Morag added. "But friendsss of Merlin will do well to stay wary."
"Indeed," mumbled Teddy, feeling the fog seeping in through the rocks and chilling his damp skin. "Be careful then, Morag."
"Aye," Kathleen agreed. "I wish we could have visited with happier tidings."
"You have alwayssss been good to me," said the Spider Queen. "Go in peacccee."
Kathleen nodded and motioned for Teddy to grab his seal skin. Of course, Teddy had about a million thoughts filling his mind—he didn't really want to go for a swim just then, but evidently the conversation with Morag was over. They needed to get back to Selkie Cove before the storm.
He stepped into the skin and Kathleen performed the spell. Before he knew it, they were both swimming along the coast, squinting into the dark water around them.
"Do you think this dark wizard will attack soon?" Teddy clicked a message to Kathleen. "Merlin is in Camelot now…he could be in danger!"
"Aye," Kathleen responded grimly. "We had better hurry and warn him—and the king."
In the back of Teddy's mind, he was also still trying to process Kathleen's earlier confession—that her parents wanted her to marry him. But that was a good thing! Why had she been so distressed by it…unless she didn't want to marry him. Perhaps the idea was too weird for her. Maybe she had been hoping he would refuse. Feeling slightly ill, Teddy gulped and continued swimming.
When they reached Selkie Cove, every second it took to dry out was time wasted. When they finally retransformed, and raced back through the cave, Teddy was starting to forgot that only a day ago they'd been blissfully unworried about anything.
Now he was practically hyperventilating at the thought of talking to his best friend. How had everything fallen apart so fast?
"Kathleen? Whatever is the matter?"
They had reached the main cavern and Kathleen's mother sounded worried.
"We'll return soon," Kathleen promised. "Really. But we have to find Merlin. He could be in danger!"
"But then you could be in danger too!"
"Mother…" Kathleen tried to wave the fretting away, but then her father also appeared in the entryway. He crossed his arms and frowned. Teddy wondered if he was going to block their way out.
"We can't just stand here while you rush into danger," Kathleen's father started. "Surely Merlin will be fine."
Kathleen gaped. "You don't understand! We have to hurry."
"Merlin is powerful, is he not?" Kathleen's mother protested. "He can take care of himself, surely."
"But he gave us a job to do," Kathleen argued. "He wanted us to tell him what we discovered from Morag."
"'Tis dangerous though, and I—"
"I think I can protect Kathleen sufficiently," Teddy interrupted, knowing that they didn't have time to stand around arguing. It was the only card he could think to play. "If you think I am a worthy suitor for Kathleen, then you must agree that I will defend her."
Kathleen's parents both stopped and blinked at Teddy.
"Kathleen told—?"
"Yes. Kathleen told me and I accepted," said Teddy, not glancing at his friend. His heart was beating frantically—he still didn't know Kathleen's thoughts on the matter and that unsettled him. But as long as her parents thought their daughter's betrothal was a done-deal, then maybe they would stop arguing.
"Then…then 'tis settled!" Kathleen's mother certainly looked excited. Evidently, she didn't hear the choked nerves in Teddy's tone.
"Yes, and we shall be back shortly to discuss it, but as my fiancé said, we must talk to Merlin first," Kathleen finished.
Despite himself—and all his confusion—he liked being referred to as Kathleen's fiancé.
Kathleen's mother nodded slightly, and then Kathleen's father leveled a stern look at Teddy, as if conveying a multitude of ghastly threats through a single frown. "Bring her back."
Teddy just swallowed heavily and nodded.
They both ran outside and then sprinted to the edge of town.
Usually, opening portals was Merlin's job. Teddy and Kathleen had done it before, but not recently, and not smoothly. However, this time their preoccupation with everything else seemed to have a reverse effect. Instead of distracting them, they were able to open the portal with the aid of the pressure on their shoulders. It was like procrastination, Teddy thought. Sometimes things were easier under stress.
The moment they stepped foot into Camelot though, Teddy started to calm down. The castle was just in front of them, peaceful as ever. Cheerful conversations between peddlers filled the air around them. As far as Teddy could see, everything was fine and dandy.
"Mayhap Morag just meant that the dark wizard plans to attack someday," suggested Kathleen, also seeming to notice the resolutely tranquil day. Even the weather was nice, contrary to the stormy skies in Avalon.
"I suppose we should still find Merlin," Teddy said, starting up the path. Kathleen nodded and walked at his side, her hand close enough to touch, but far enough away that Teddy would have to be deliberate about reaching for it.
Neither spoke for a solid five minutes, and by the time they entered the castle, Teddy couldn't stand it. He turned to Kathleen, Morag and Merlin momentarily forgotten.
"I'm sorry if you wanted me to say no. I…I thought it was the best way…and…I mean…I probably would be fine marrying you. Not just probably. 'Tis fine. I want to marry you," Teddy blurted. He then stared at the ground. "I should just stop talking."
Kathleen was staring at him as if he'd announced that he wanted to take up carrot-whittling as a full-time career. "Truly? You…you want to marry me?"
"Unless you don't want me to," Teddy mumbled. "You ought to get a choice."
"Yes—yes, of course I want to marry you!" Kathleen's voice was three octaves higher than normal. She was practically shrieking. "I love you, but I never knew if you felt the same way, or if you wanted to agree…"
Now it was Teddy's turn to look flabbergasted. "You love me? I…I always thought you were far above my level, Kathleen. Not that I felt any less for you, I—" Teddy suddenly broke down in near-hysterical laughter. He couldn't remember ever feeling so relieved. Or happy. Or shocked. It was a whirlwind of emotions.
Kathleen started laughing too, and when they composed themselves, Teddy found himself lost in her sea-green eyes, flecked with blue and gray and a hundred other shades that had never seemed so beautiful. He leaned forward a little bit, and she did too. Then she closed her eyes—Teddy wasn't quite as coordinated, but when their lips met, his eyelids seemed to flutter shut of their own accord. In fact, his entire being seemed to react automatically. His hands moved to touch her hair, and he pressed into the embrace as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
For someone who dealt with magic every day, Teddy decided he'd been completely ignorant of what the word really meant.
"Arhhmm." Someone cleared his throat behind them, and Teddy felt Kathleen pull away with a gasp.
Turning reluctantly, Teddy saw Merlin.
Oh.
Teddy waved awkwardly, feeling his face warm. This was going to be fun…
Kathleen had a hand clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide. "Er…Merlin. We...we were looking for you."
"Is that so?" Merlin didn't look upset—just curious. Maybe even amused. "Interesting strategy you were using."
Teddy found himself grinning. Even if Merlin did decide to scold them, there was no possible way Teddy could be upset. He had just kissed the girl of his dreams! He was going to marry Kathleen!
"Hello, Merlin…" he started, trying not to laugh. "Er…you should know…Kathleen and I are betrothed."
Merlin just smiled, and then, very casually, nodded. "I figured as much. Ever since I received the letter from Kathleen's father explaining their hopes and asking for my approval, I have been watching the two of you and—"
"Wait? You knew?" Kathleen sounded shocked. "My father sent a letter?"
Merlin narrowed his eyes. "To both Morgan and I. Obviously we were going to be affected by the outcome, so it was only fitting for someone to explain what was happening."
Teddy glanced at Kathleen and they both turned back to Merlin in unison. "Well, 'tis fair…" Teddy finally said. "You will give your approval then?"
Merlin raised his eyebrows. "Provided you give me no reason to regret my decision, yes."
Kathleen laughed gleefully. Teddy nodded to Merlin. "Thank you."
Merlin simply folded his hands, appearing quite content with the little extra happiness he'd granted.
But not everything was perfect. Belatedly, Teddy recalled the reason they'd rushed out of Avalon, desperate to get to Camelot. "Sir…there might be a dark wizard attempting to overthrow Camelot!"
"Because he feels King Arthur is restricting him by outlawing dark magic?" said Merlin. "Yes. I have heard."
Apparently, shock registered in the teenagers' expressions, because Merlin proceeded to explain. "There is a widespread rumor about this dark wizard's intentions, but I have heard from Morgan only this morning, and I believe her word over the circulated whispers."
"What did Morgan say? I thought she was undercover," said Teddy. He couldn't help but feel his old mentor's behavior was growing increasingly suspicious.
"Morgan relayed news that she will remain undercover, as planned, but she was reassuring me. She told me that this dark wizard has very complex plans. He doesn't operate quickly, and she believes he will spend years in the shadows collecting recruits before he acts." Merlin frowned, but somehow looked relieved at the same time. "According to Morgan's estimates, it may be years before this wizard actually attempts anything. And her current position allows her to be privy to his plans before they happen. If anyone knows whether we are safe or not, she would. And she will," finished Merlin. "I trust her judgement, and King Arthur trusts mine. Camelot has been warned, and for now, that is our only mission."
"So then…everything is fine?" Kathleen asked.
"For now," said Merlin with a wry smile. "When the time comes to battle this wizard, then we shall rise up to face him. But for now, I suppose you two are free to plan your future."
Teddy felt a blush returning to his cheeks and Merlin winked at them both before walking away, humming to himself peacefully. Quite honestly, Teddy felt like singing too.
Or kissing Kathleen again.
But then she took his hand and they started walking through the castle grounds, pushing aside all thoughts and frets concerning dark wizards. Teddy decided that just being close to her was magical, and that as of today, he held the title of the happiest man in the world.
