Page 109 of The Secret of Drulea Cottage

But the scene before him remained. Someone truly was standing at the top of the hill, his hand raised to the sky, and there was also a second figure standing a few feet away.

Lightning was striking all around the second person, lightning that the first person seemed to be summoning at will. The second person crouched down with arms lifted to protect…herself—

“It can’t be her. It can’t be…” But Santiago was already racing across the deck, leaping down the gangplank, and making his way toward the town. He paid no heed to Costa’s calls, for his thoughts were only on one thing.

Regardless of what logic told him, he ran. Regardless of the fact there was no way he could recognize someone from that distance, he ran. He ran with everything in him, for his heart told him the truth: Briony Fairborn was under attack.

And if I don’t get there soon, it might be too late to save her.

A Soul for a Soul

The lightning instantly stopped as Niall’s target shifted from selkie traitor to self-professed killer. He bared his teeth at the fisherman, looking more beast than man, and when he spoke, his voice was pure menace. “What did you say,human?”

Mr. McLaren stared back into the selkie’s black eyes. Defiantly. Fearlessly. As if there was nothing Niall could do to him unless Mr. McLaren allowed it.

But then his eyes flickered over to Briony’s, sending her a silent message:Make yer choice, lass.

The woman’s mind flew back to her conversation with Mr. McLaren before he went to get Niall’s sealskin…

*

“He’s at my house right now. In human form.Without his sealskin.”

Vincent’s eyes widened. “And you know where ’tis.”

She nodded. “Aye, I do. And once you get it, we can use it as leverage.”

The mad fisherman smirked, showing off the many gaps in his teeth. “’Tis about time someone had the advantage over him. Where do I need to go?”

“Head toward the docks. Then turn left and go out to the beach. Keep going until you can see the McGuffs’ house above you and you’ve almost run out o’ land. There are some boulders near there. Look behind them and you’ll find the skin.”

Mr. McLaren nodded. “I know where that is. But before I go, there’s something else we need to discuss.”

“Hmm?”

“If we can’ get him to leave peacefully or we can’ trust that he’ll stay away once he does, then we’ll have to…”

“Have to what?”

The man sighed. “Then we’ll have to take away his powers.”

“Th-They can be taken away?” Briony glanced down at her hands, thinking about the abilities she had only just discovered. The thought of losing them was so repulsive, sowrong. “Nay, ’tis too much! I can’ do that to him.”

Mr. McLaren grabbed Briony’s hands in his own and looked at her tenderly. “I know how serious this is. You wish to save him, and I admire you fer that. But it may come to a point where ’tis a choice between him and the whole town. Can you live with it if everyone here is gone?”

Briony yanked her hands away with a huff, but there were tears in her eyes. “In the past, I might have said I could. But I realize now that I care about these people whether I want to or na. I might even be upset to lose the Olivers.”

Mr. McLaren’s lips turned up at the corners. “Truly?”

A tiny laugh escaped Briony’s lips, and she gestured with her thumb and index finger. “Just a wee bit.”

“Then you have a better heart than I do.”

“But to take away Niall’s powers… Would it kill him?”

Vincent shook his head. “Nay, but part o’ his soul would be lost, and his connection to the ocean would be severed forever.”

“H-How…” But before she’d finished her question, the answer came to her.