Chapter 4

Jack opened his eyes to the glare of bright sunlight. A cool breeze swept by, gently ruffling his hair. It smelled of the sea, a smell foreign yet at the same time strangely familiar to him.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. All around him were trees; pines and firs and other evergreens surrounded by dense undergrowth. Large, grey boulders that were dotted with barnacles and limpets surrounded the protected cove he was lying in. Behind him was a forest and in front of the pale sand lay a gradient between submerging boulders and a turquoise ocean.

Far away, two seals were playing. They agilely chased each other in between boulders. Suddenly, the one that was being chased stopped and looked up at Jack. The other seal slowed to a stop near its partner and soon started heading his way.

Jack stared in amazement at the animals, until a large wave crashed into a rock nearby and covered him in a shower of salt water.

"Whoa!" He sat bolt upright and spat sand out of his mouth. He rubbed his eyes painfully and noticed that he had lost his contacts. He had remembered falling asleep not so long ago, but instead of his pajamas, he was wearing a grey hoodie – the old one that he had left back at Frog Creek.

Despite not wearing his contact lenses, he could see everything clearly. It was like the time he was in elementary school, when he still had perfect vision. He looked at the seals to find that they no longer looked like seals. The creatures' skins hung limply around their bodies, making them look more like people wearing extremely large wetsuits.

The seals laughed at his expression as they stood up clumsily on their tails. The one further away on his right flipped its head back and the sealskin fell off to reveal a girl with dark curly hair. She squinted as she laughed while shading her face from the sun. Unlike humans, her skin retained the porcelain complexion even in puberty and her deep blue eyes is void of the tiredness many students Jack's age have.

Having not seen her for so long, Jack only managed to gape at her in surprise. Kathleen's hair seemed a bit longer than before, but apart from that, nothing about her seemed to have changed. So much so that it seems she hadn't even aged since their last meeting. She looks the same age, if not slightly younger than Jack.

"Hey, gawking at girls won't help you get to them, you know," the boy appeared from behind a boulder. He had changed into his clothes and was handing Kathleen's dress to her as she moved behind the rock. He hopped nimbly between rocks towards the patch of sand Jack was on.

"Ted!"

"Long time no see," Ted smiled. He gestured for Kathleen to join him.

Greeting Jack hurriedly, Kathleen leapt from behind her boulder towards Jack, stepping sure-footedly only several times on rocks she knew were steady to close the distance between the two.

She landed softly on the sand in front of Jack. She stumbled slightly and narrowly missed colliding with Jack. He held onto her arm to keep her form falling and she turned away quickly, shyly covering her reddening cheeks.

Puzzled by her reaction, Jack turned to Ted, who only grinned amusedly. Ted had grown since they last met. He stood a great deal taller than Kathleen and around half a head taller than Jack. To his surprise, somewhere in the back of Jack's conscience, he felt a slight dab of envy as he looked at Ted's handsome face. Despite being almost the same age, Ted looked similar to the models that appear on fashion magazines.

Ted cleared his throat. "Welcome back," he smiled.

"Hey, we've got something to tell you. I–It's quite urgent," Kathleen said.

Ted took a small piece of seal skin from his pocket and firmly pulled at its edges while murmuring a spell. A fold appeared and he unfolded it. He continued murmuring his spell and unfolding the skin and more folds appeared at its edges. The skin gradually increased in size until it was the same size as his.

"Here. Wear this and follow us. We're going to Kathleen's home."

As soon as Jack put the skin on, he felt the parts of his skin exposed to the seal skin merging with it. Soon, he was forced to lie on the sand as his legs merged together to form a tail. Ted and Kathleen were waited as Jack got himself accustomed to his new form.

They swan past a jellyfish-filled cove and turn aside into a cave opening near the bottom of the sea. Inside was a winding tunnel with some areas with more than one exit. The tunnels occasionally opened to the sea, letting dim blue light into those areas of the tunnels. Kathleen swam slowly to make sure Jack didn't get lost in the dark passage.

Eventually, more light seeped into the tunnels and more seaweed can be found surrounding them on the walls. The tunnel widened towards the end to form a large basin pooled in white light. Kathleen surfaced first, followed by Ted and then Jack. Outside of the water is a scenery completely different from that of the cove. Soft green grass grew on equally soft peat all around a stone cave with a wide opening from which white sunlight entered. Small yellow blossoms formed the meeting grounds for numerous white butterflies.

At the far corner of the cave is a large flat boulder. Several mats carefully woven from dried seaweed were stacked on the boulder. On the other side of the cave, a pit lined with stones contained some faintly glowing embers. The metal pot on the side suggested that a meal was just complete.

"Kathleen," a female voice spoke. A young girl stepped out from behind the flat boulder and stared nervously at Jack.

"His name is Jack, Esme. He's not someone dangerous," Kathleen reassured the girl.

Esme looked about the age of a first grader. She looked strikingly similar to Kathleen.

Kathleen turned to Jack and said, "This is my youngest sister, Esme. She was not born into a human family like me, so she is gets afraid of people."

"You were born into a human family?" Jack asked.

"Yes, there was a great war at around the time I was born. Balls of steel kept falling from the sky and erupting in fire. There was no wood or soft material to seen; plants were burnt and even the weapons were all made of steel."

"Wait, and those balls of steel fell from planes?"

"Planes?"

"Metal things with wings."

"Oh yes, that was what I heard in childhood stories," Kathleen replied. She continued, "Soon after I was born, my mother left me with the lonely fisherman she was married to to join her sisters in protecting our home."

Kathleen looked at Ted and Jack and smiled. "Come on, don't look so sad," she said and laughed quietly. "We've never told each other about our past, so now that you know something about me, I think it's about time you tell me something about yourself, Jack."

"I–uh..." Jack stammered. "My life isn't as eventful, really," he looked down. "Anyway, so this is your home? It amazing!"

Ted frowned at Jack's change of topic and the disappointed look that Kathleen showed and quickly hid.

"Thanks, if it weren't for the help of my sisters, I wouldn't be able to finish it."

"Did she help too?" Jack gestured to Kathleen's little sister. He looked at Kathleen curiously, unaware of the disappointment she felt earlier.

"Of course," Kathleen smiled. The little girl

"Oh right, she's the same age as you, now that I think of it," Ted quipped.

Jack looked at the girl surprisedly. "So selkies are immortal?" he murmured.

Kathleen was about to reply when the ground shook. The waves that were crashing against the outside of the cave grew stronger until some water splashed into the cave opening high above the sea level on a cliff. Kathleen, Ted and Jack peered cautiously out of the cave mouth and almost tumbled backwards when a large wave hit the stones just below where they lay.

"Quick. We've got to close the cave now," Kathleen said.

Esme immediately pounced onto a large boulder near the opening. She fingers moved quickly as she untied the thick ropes tied around the boulder and onto another one on the cave wall. Once she was finished, Kathleen and Ted rolled the boulder towards their right and covered the cave mouth.

Right away, the cave was plunged in complete darkness. Everyone huddled together near the entrance as they waited the fierce winds to pass.

"Don't worry, it's like this all the time," Ted told Jack. "Something's going on far away in the world. Merlin and Morgan have found the origin of this disturbance and have gone towards it. They...have not returned yet," Ted paused after he stammered the last sentence.

Kathleen continued cautiously, "The reason why you're here, Jack – I'm so sorry for bringing you into this danger again, but...we need help. We would hope that you and Annie can bring Morgan and Merlin back. The treehouse was their vessel that they've used for traveling there and this is why you have not heard from us in so many years." Her voice shook as she said the last few words.

Jack looked at her worriedly. Through the dim glimmer of the water and wet boulders, he would barely see tears brimming in her eyes just before she rubbed them.

He contemplated the chances of success for him. He was always eager to accept challenges from Morgan when he still worked as a librarian for the treehouse, but in those adventures, she was always the one to watch over him and guide him to the goal. This is the first time Morgan or Merlin has ever needed to battle against something together.

Jack looked to his right. Esme was looking down and hugging tightly her legs that were curled up under her chin. To his left were the glimmer of Ted and Kathleen's eyes as they await his response. He thought for a moment and said, "I will help you. I can't promise that I will succeed, but I will help."

He looked back at his friends but found nothing but complete darkness. The sounds of water dripping and even their breathing were gone. He reached out to find anyone but found the feel of the ground underneath him to disappear. He felt himself beginning to tumble, he gasped, but could not breath in any air.

As he was suffocated, he reached up again and faintly heard Kathleen yelling his name.