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A shiver travelled Ebba’s body as her father heaved the skin down from its hiding place.
It pulsed. She could feel it from where she stood, a good few feet away. She took a step forward, reached out a hand, hesitated, and glanced at her father, who shrugged his shoulders.
At first touch a spark zapped her fingertips, a tingle that travelled the length of her arm, and she shivered.
‘Should’ve told you to bring a coat,’ her father said apologetically.
‘It’s not that.’ The cave was cold, but the shiver was most definitely from the skin. She couldn’t take her eyes off it. It was thick and warm, despite being stored in a damp, wet cave. Her skin began to itch.
It was calling to her.
‘Don’t you start looking at it like that,’ Ronan warned. He allowed Ebba to unroll it a little way. ‘That’s how your mother used to look at it, all longingly, as if it were half her heart. I’m sure she still pines over the damn thing.’
‘Maybe so,’ Ebba replied. ‘But she chose you over it. Even now she’s not interested in seeing it again. She doesn’t want to know what you’ve done to it. It’s as if she’s scared of it or something.’ Ebba examined the skin more closely, before Ronan rolled it up and heaved it up into the high rocky ledge, out of sight of anyone who might venture in.
‘Right,’ he said, more grunt than spoken word. ‘Well then, let’s go.’
‘Have you ever thought about giving her the skin, to see what she would do with it?’
Ronan shook his head. ‘I don’t need to. I know what she’d do. She’d be gone, Eb, she’d leave us behind without a second thought.’
‘Is this because of what happened when I was three?’
‘She told you?’
Ebba nodded. ‘That’s her excuse, too.’
‘And you’re still asking about this? Do you want your mother to leave?’
‘Of course not!’ Ebba sighed. ‘But she’s always so unhappy, surely you see that.’
‘Of course, I see it!’
‘Don’t you want her to be happy?’
‘Of course I want her to be happy. But Eb, I honestly don’t think she would be. She loves us both; she’d miss us terribly if she was out there.’ He nodded in the direction of the sea.
‘Then why not give her the skin? If she missed us so much, she’d come back.’
Ronan frowned. ‘Do you want to test your mother?’ He put a hand on Ebba’s shoulder. ‘It doesn’t matter how much she loves you, Eb. Being out there is her natural state; you can’t fight that, no matter how many people you miss.’
‘So, you’ll just hide the skin away from her forever?’
He shook his head. ‘I love your mother, Eb. You know that. You can’t imagine my relief when she asked me to hide that damned thing. Every day I wake up wondering if today will be the day she wants it back. Because all she has to do is ask, and I’ll retrieve it. It would break my heart, but if that’s what she wanted...’ His voice broke. ‘But for now she wants me to keep it hidden, so that’s exactly what I’ll do.’
