Magnus Fin and the Selkie Secret Read Online Free

circus! They’d be paraded around like show cattle. They’d be laughed at.
    By now he had reached the tideline and hoisted himself up to the high black rock, which jutted the furthest out to sea. From here Fin could jump and go through the door to the selkie world, leaving the nosy human world far behind. He kicked off his school shoes, yanked off his socks then curled his webbed toes around the edge of the rock. He looked at his hand and shuddered. The water looked soothing and inviting. The sea would be his hospital. Fin bent his knees and swung his arms back. “Here goes!” he cried.
    Magnus Fin jumped into the sea. No sooner had his hand hit the cool water than he felt relief spread through his whole body. Down and down he went. He knew the route well. There it was, the shell handle, shaped like a sickle moon, against an underwater rock. Fin reached through the water, grasped the handle with his good hand and pulled. He knew that rush of water, that sound of thundering music in his ears. The door opened. The flash of emerald-green light meant he was through. He had made it into the world of the seal people – his people – the selkies.
    There, at the other side of the door, looking calm and beautiful in the serene, clear water, was his grandmother Miranda, the queen of the selkies. This hope at least had been answered. The great silver seal swam towards him and with her flipper she gently stroked his head.Then, as if knowing his trouble, she touched his hurt hand, and, in the thought-speak of the selkies said, Ceud mile fàilte – welcome, Magnus Fin.
     
    Tarkin, panting hard, stood on the beach and watched Magnus Fin disappear into the sea. There was nothing to do now but wait for Aquella to catch up. There was no point in trying to get Magnus Fin back. He had gone into the selkie world and Tarkin couldn’t follow him – even if he could swim. Not even Aquella could follow him there. She was a selkie – but a selkie without a seal skin – who was soon to be a fully-fledged land girl, as long as she survived another month with not a drop of salt water on her skin.
    “He’s gone,” Tarkin said, when Aquella finally caught up with him.
    “It’s the best place for him,” she said between snatches of breath. “Poor Magnus Fin – did you see his hand?”
    Tarkin nodded, though the truth was he’d only caught a glimpse. It had seemed bigger than usual, and it looked bruised. “Weird,” was all he said.
    “No, Tarkin, it’s not weird. You say weird when you don’t understand something. He must have scraped his skin against rust. We selkies have sensitive skin. Look at me – one drop of salt water and my skin will shrivel up. I suppose you call that weird too?”
    Tarkin shrugged. He felt shaken. There was something wrong with his best friend. The last thing he needed was an argument with Aquella. “No, you know I don’t mean it like that.”
    “Well, don’t say it then!”
    The two of them stood in awkward silence, the beach at their feet a mess of rubbish and dead creatures. They gazed out to sea, to the place where Fin had vanished. He would be back soon, that much Tarkin knew. Selkie time moved differently from human time. Fin had told him that what might feel like an hour under water would only be a few minutes in land time.
    Tarkin turned to Aquella then, gesturing to the strewn beach said, “Fin must have been treasure hunting I guess.”
    Aquella nodded.
    “And hurt his hand somehow.”
    Aquella nodded again, but pursed her lips tight, the way she did when she was annoyed.
    “Look, you’re not weird, OK?”
    Aquella flashed her round green eyes at him. “I know.”
    Tarkin shot a glance over his shoulder, back along the beach path. Taking a step closer to Aquella he lowered his voice and said, “But you’ve got to be careful. I think Sargent’s on to your secret.”
    Aquella swung her head round, as though expecting Mr Sargent to come thundering along the beach path towards them.