“Married!” It came out as a startled squeak. “But she’s just a—” Oh, way to go, Chase. Give the whole thing away. “I mean, a human and a seal?”
Lee played with the end of his tie, already clearly regretting his outburst, and Cordelia felt a frisson of panic. She needed to know what he was going to say. If this had anything to do with Ariel—if he wanted to hurt her—
You’re going to do what? she wondered. Stamp your foot, and demand that he unhand that seal? Be realistic. There’s nothing you can do but stay out of this crazy guy’s way. Remember? No more saving the world? Cordelia first, second, and last?
On the other hand, information was power. And one needed that to get by in this town.
“I’m sorry,” she said finally. “Please. Tell me?”
He let go of his tie, smoothed it back down, and looked her straight in the eyes. “Maelen was a woman, Ms. Chase. Not human, but so very beautiful. Almost as lovely,” he added bitterly, “as she was deceitful.”
Oh. I know that tune. Boy, do I know that tune. The feeling of kinship she suddenly felt for the older man made her sympathy more real. “What happened?”
“We met on a beach one morning. Purely by accident. I was still a student, working on my graduate thesis. The sea, the sound of it, used to soothe me, calm my brain after a long night of research.”
He frowned, looking out at the sunlit day, but obviously not seeing anything in the here-and-now.
“She was walking along the shoreline, her feet in the froth of the water. I fell for her at first sight, just like some boy in a song, and she, I thought, fell just as strongly for me.”
“And?”
“I knew what she was, of course. As I said, my hobby was the study of mythology—even then, I knew more about selkies than most of the so-called scholars. But it didn’t matter to me. And it didn’t matter to her. I thought so, then. She gave up her seal-form, to live with me, to be my wife.”
“And you didn’t live happily ever after.”
“Five years. And then she left me, abandoned me without a word, without a note, to return to the waters. Her vows meant nothing, our love meant nothing. She made a fool out of me. But I didn’t care. I tried to follow her, but she was gone.”
Dr. Lee stopped, turning to face Cordelia for the first time since he started his story. His face was absolutely without expression, but his eyes were full of pain. “No reason, no warning. Suddenly, my life was meaningless. And yet no one would believe me, thinking me maddened with grief until I learned to keep silent.”
Then he looked up at her, as though half-expecting her to call out the loony police. “The ultimate betrayal—is that too fantastic a story for a young woman like you to comprehend?”
Cordelia forced a laugh. “Believe me, compared to what goes on in this neighborhood, that’s nothing! And, well, as for the betrayal bit, I know exactly what you mean.”
“Then you do understand.” Dr. Lee leaned forward, not quite taking her hands. “My dear Ms. Chase, I know a selkie is being harbored in this town, by that young girl, Willow, who has a very kind heart, perhaps the others helping her as well. It isn’t so surprising; selkies can be so very, very charming when it suits their mood. But a selkie isn’t human, Ms. Chase. It doesn’t think like us, it doesn’t act like us. It can’t. The destruction of a human life, of human lives . . . I haven’t been able to learn if they’re playing a cruel game with us, destroying us first with hope, then with despair, or whether they have some genuine, organized plot. But either way, I—I am determined to see that no one is ever taken in by one of those soulless creatures again.”
Cordelia drew back in her seat. “I, uh, sure. That’s very brave of you.” She felt like she was leaning over the edge of a really high cliff, her balance all shaky. On the one hand, Ariel. Cute, quite defenseless. Not what you’d consider a major threat to a town that faced vampires and demons on a nightly basis. On the other hand, Dr. Lee really, really believed what he was saying. And everything he was saying was pretty believable. I mean, look at Angel. Gorgeous face, and a vampire. Not all bad things are ugly on the outside.
“I warn you, Ms. Chase, your friends are in great danger. They’ve been taken in by the selkie’s charms. But it will not hesitate to do them harm if that suits its purpose.”
Please. A broken heart doesn’t mean all selkies are dangerous. Exaggeration—it’s not just for kids. “Oh gee, look at the time.” Cordy flashed her most charming smile. “I really do have to be going. Classes, you know?”
He didn’t try to stop her. “Remember, Ms. Chase. As long as they harbor the selkie, as long as they are taken in by her charms, your friends are in danger.”
She nodded. “Right. I’ll keep that in mind.”
What she really wanted to do was scrub the entire encounter out of her mind, the way one would scrape mud off the bottom of your shoe. But she couldn’t. His face, all scrunched up in pain, kept alternating in her thoughts with Ariel’s big brown eyes, all warm and trusting.
All right. She’d go to the library, warn Giles, and get out of there before any of the others could say anything. So everyone knew what everyone else was up to. Balanced scale, right? And whatever happened after that, well, it wasn’t her problem.
It’s not as if I care. Really. I’m just doing it to . . . to be fair.