Always Remembered (14 page)

I heard Uncle Paddy whoop in excitement. He
lifted a net full of fish into the air. “They swam right to me.
We’ll have fresh fish tonight!”

Cheers and applause broke out around us.
Paddy grinned at me, more relaxed than I had seen him in months. “I
need to go and begin preparing these.”

“Off with you then!” I called back to him,
laughing.

We played in the water. It was nice to forget
my worries for a while. Well, maybe not forget them, but let them
float, buoyant and light. Life was bigger than my fears. We were
bigger, and we would get through this. We would.

Kieran moved closer, his warm, smooth skin
sliding against mine. His lips caressing my ear, he asked, “Should
we get started?”

I ignored the shiver that traveled down my
spine and the urge to sink into his arms. With a small sigh, I
nodded. Kieran clapped his hands loudly. Bobbing heads turned to
us. Their quick response told me that we had their trust. The
Selkies were ours to command. In only a matter of weeks, we had
built an army.

Anxious to begin training, I was the first
one out of the water. I wanted to see what happened next. Would the
pre-training swim result in more successes?

One by one, they exited the surf. It was
difficult to leave the comfort of the ocean. I knew that they felt
the pull as much as I did and fought the urge to stay in the
sea.

We moved to the mossy bluff, and the group
settled into neat rows facing us. I held my hand out, palm up, and
waited. The rowdy crowd grew silent.

“We begin where we left off in our last
session, a ball of energy.” I searched through the faces before me,
my eyes settling on Arren, the only one to manifest his energy last
time. He nodded, and I continued my scan. I noticed that people
seemed to be more relaxed and optimistic. Again, I chalked it up to
the water, wishing we’d realized it sooner, but glad that we now
knew how important it was.

“Focus on your core source of power.
Visualize the ball of light in your hand. Make it be.” I closed my
hand into a fist and then reopened it. An orange ball of light
hovered above my palm. I blew on it lightly, and it doubled in
size. The collective gasp made me smile to myself. “Breathe it to
life. You can do it!”

Focusing on the light, I drew it back to me
and squeezed it between my palms until I reabsorbed the energy.
“Begin,” I said when everyone continued to stare at me in awe.

Have I told you how amazing you are?
Kieran’s voice whispered like silk through my mind.
I want to
kiss you.

Desire, raw and needy, clawed at my insides.
I hated that his voice made me lose control. Frustrated with
myself, I snapped, “Not now! Focus.”

I felt him chuckle, a thrumming in my chest.
Moments like this, it felt like he was a part of me, as familiar as
my own body. At least my exasperation at his inappropriate timing
tamed the butterflies in my stomach. He loved to get a rise out of
me, and he was usually successful.

“You take the front this time,” I said,
acting as though nothing passed between us. “I’m going to work with
Arren and his friends.”

“Trying to make me jealous?” Kieran wiggled
his eyebrows, and I laughed despite myself.

“Just go,” I called over my shoulder, already
on my way to the back of the crowd where the teenagers stood.

Like last time, Arren was the first to be
successful. The light flickered in his hand, and then steadied. The
blonde girl followed, her energy glowing pink. Go figure. She
grinned at Arren, and then met my eyes with a shy smile.

“Great job,” I told them both. To their
companions, I said, “Keep trying.”

I moved quickly through the rows. Ula grew a
rather impressive ball of purple light. Paddy rejoined us after
assigning fish duty to his kitchen help. His energy was the color
of rust. At least a dozen more Selkies were successful. With each
success, my pride grew. They were doing it. They were starting to
conjure magic. This proved it. With practice, they would be
unstoppable.

I felt Kieran’s strong arms around my waist
before he spoke. “Keep practicing. Meara and I will be right
back.”

I didn’t get a chance to ask him where we
were going. I had enough time to notice Ula’s curious expression
before Kieran whisked us away, back to the private cove.

“What are you—?” My words were lost in his
kiss. His hands were everywhere, and my brain couldn’t keep up. It
was enough to keep from drowning in his arms.

When he pulled back, gulping air, he rested
his forehead against mine.

“What was that?” I asked.

“You’re amazing,” he said. “You don’t even
know it. Do you realize you just broke down one of the biggest
barriers to our people?” He stopped and shook his head. “No, you
didn’t break it down. You smashed it to pieces.”

I struggled to follow what he was saying. His
voice was deep with emotion. When I placed my hands in his, I
realized his were shaking. “Are you okay?” I asked.

He responded with a short laugh before
saying, “No. No, I’m not.” He stepped closer and kissed me again.
His lips were gentle this time, the kiss tender. “I’m not sure I’ll
ever be okay again.”

“Kieran
…
” My voice
trembled. “You’re scaring me.”

He pulled me so tight against him that I
could barely breathe. His hand caressed the back of my head,
smoothing my hair. Leaning down, he spoke softly in my ear. “You
changed their lives, Meara. Our Selkies can conjure magic because
you believed in them and showed them. That’s something that no one
else has done.”

“You’re making it sound much bigger than it
is.” My face grew hot. I wasn’t used to flattery, much less the
intense focus Kieran gave me. “I may have taught them how to do it,
but they already had the magic within them.”

“It is a big deal. For centuries, only the
ruling families used magic. Why no one thought to teach the others,
I don’t know. You did it, though.” He ran his hands through his
hair, his eyes dancing with excitement. “When word gets out, clans
everywhere will be changed.”

I hadn’t thought about that. It worried me.
Would they hate me for the change? Would I be known as the human
who destroyed the Selkies’ way of life?

“Never!” Kieran must’ve read my mind. He
kissed my forehead, then lifted my chin and stared in my eyes. “You
will be revered. What you’ve done is amazing.”

It was easy to lose myself in his dark eyes.
Intense emotions crossed his face. Before I could consider what
they meant, he locked me in another passionate kiss.

“Kieran!” I laughed once I broke away and
pushed on his chest. “Shouldn’t we go back? You pulled me away from
our training session!”

He moved his lips to my throat, finding a
sensitive spot that made me cling to him and bite back a moan. “Do
you really want to?” he asked, his voice a tempting baritone.

“What I want is irrelevant,” I said, barely
above a whisper. It was difficult to concentrate with the magic he
was doing to my ear.

“Not to me.” He lifted his head and met my
eyes, then sighed. “Fine. We’ll go back.”

Taking my hand, he transported us. We
appeared in the front of the crowd. I patted my hair, wondering if
we looked guilty. We must’ve looked slightly rumpled, because Arren
raised his fingers to his lips and gave a shrill whistle. It was
followed by cheers and applause from the others.
If the ground
would open up and swallow me, that would be nice
, I thought.
That, or in another minute, I was going to combust if the heat
coming off my face and neck was any indication.

“Back to practicing!” Kieran called. He
didn’t seem embarrassed at all. In fact, he grinned like a proud
fool. Shaking my head at his bizarre behavior, I switched my
concentration to the crowd. Thoughts of Kieran could wait until
later.

By the end of the training session, more than
half of the Selkies were able to create and sustain a ball of
energy. The colors were as unique as the individuals who wielded
the magic. Ula’s light was a lovely lilac purple, while the male
Selkie next to her held a vivid yellow ball. The remaining Selkies
who couldn’t manifest the sphere were able to generate sparks of
colored light.

“Excellent,” I spoke as I moved through the
group. “You are doing amazing. Now that you can physically manifest
your power, you can begin to learn how to harness it to both
protect you and defend our home. Are you ready?”

Shouts of confirmation and excited cheers
broke out around me. “First, I want you to learn how to create a
shield. It can protect you if your enemy tries to use magic against
you.” I held out my hand and once again, my light appeared. For me,
it happened almost instantaneously. I thought it into existence,
and it was there. With slightly more concentration, I was able to
shape it and grow it around me into a pulsing shield of light.
“Focus on your energy. See the ball of light grow and blanket you.
You will need to keep some focus on it to hold that form, but as
you practice, the amount of concentration required will lessen. Why
don’t you give it a try?”

Arren and a couple of others managed to
create a shield first try, although they each blinked out of
existence rather quickly. With satisfaction, I watched the
successful attempts increase until almost every Selkie could create
and hold the shield for a few minutes.

“Wonderful!
”
I
shouted to be heard above their shouts of joy and excited chatter.
“Now, I want to show you how to use your magic in combat. Release
your shields, please.” I motioned for Kieran to join me, and the
Selkies surrounded us in a tight circle. With a laugh, I asked them
to back up a little. “I know you’re eager to see our demonstration,
but I don’t want anyone to be hurt by accident.”

They backed up quickly, leaving us with an
adequate amount of space. Kieran faced me and winked. I pretended
to ignore him, although my mouth twitched in the corner.

“I’m going to throw my magic at Kieran. Watch
what he does.”

A large, pulsing globe of orange light
floated in front of me. I pushed out with my hands and drove it
toward Kieran, assuming that he would block it with his shield.
Instead, he concentrated the shield around his right hand like a
catcher’s mitt and captured my energy, absorbing it into his
own.

“Whoa.” Arren’s voice was louder than the
others, although several gasped in surprise. “Teach me how to do
that.”

Show off.
I scowled at Kieran.
What
if they hurt themselves?

You did it first try without even knowing
what you were doing,
he countered.
They’ll be fine.

Kieran moved to work with Arren. The other
Selkies paired off and started practicing. Most kept to the basics
of shielding, but a few started lobbing small energy balls at each
other. They were learning fast, much faster than before. It was
happening. The magic was growing. I could feel it in the air, heavy
with power. One more success for us. One more show of strength. We
were going to do this. We were going to defend our home.

“It
worked!” Deanna swam into Evan’s arms. Her fragrant hair tickled
his nose. She moved back, her bright eyes focused on him. “And Ken
didn’t notice?”

“He was oblivious, although I didn’t make
much progress.” Evan worried about getting his hopes too high.
Deanna was excited enough for both of them.

“No matter. You made progress, and it was
your first time at that!” She smiled and patted his chest. “I’m
treating you to dinner and coffee.”

Dinner sounded great. Evan was starved. Ken
didn’t believe in breaks or stopping for lunch. Come to think of
it, Evan hadn’t even eaten breakfast. “Can we go now?” he asked,
rubbing his stomach.

“Why not?” She shrugged her slim shoulders.
“It’s your night, after all.”

They swam out of Evan’s room, heading toward
the dome. This was Evan’s third time going there. He was relatively
sure he could find his own way if he needed to. Considering that
Deanna was with him whenever one or the other of them wasn’t at
work, though, it didn’t seem like a big concern.

He let her go through the drying room first,
anticipating what outfit she would pick tonight. It was always fun
to see her looking like a human. With the exception of her pale
green hair and green eyes that were decidedly not human-like
coloring, she could pass for one when she had legs. Some hair dye
and contacts and she’d blend right in. He wondered if she had any
interest in living on land, or even if Sirens could live on land
for extended lengths of time. He planned to ask her once they got
their dinner. Hopefully, she would answer him.

She was tapping her foot impatiently when he
opened the door. Her slight scowl quickly turned into a grin when
she saw his T-shirt.