Page 110 of The Secret of Drulea Cottage

Mr. McLaren turned and picked up two things from his table. His countenance was somber as he held them out to her. “With that heart o’ yers… I know you can do the right thing when the time comes. Whatever it might be. That’s why I’m trusting you to decide.”

Briony looked deeply into Mr. McLaren’s eyes. This was a man who’d lived a lonely existence, carrying secrets that most people would never believe. He was both the man who’d loved her mother and the one who’d killed her father. And he was the man who’d saved Briony’s life.

She took what he offered and slipped them both into her pocket. “Thank you, Mr. McLaren. Na just fer this but fer everything. You’ve been protecting me all my life. Na just from my da’ but also from anyone finding out my secret. I know ’tis a debt I can never repay.”

Mr. McLaren flushed and put a hand on his neck. “There’s no debt. After what I did to yer father, you don’ owe me anything. In the beginning, I did it out o’ love fer yer mother, but at some point…in the back o’ my mind… I started caring fer you as if you were my own. I know yer mother never felt the same way about me, but—”

Briony cut him off by wrapping her arms around him. Mr. McLaren stiffened in surprise, but then he reciprocated the embrace, and they stayed like that for a long time.

When Briony pulled back, her tears from earlier were sparkling on her cheeks. “You don’ know how much it means to hear you say that.”

Mr. McLaren cleared his throat and blinked a few times as though trying to hide tears of his own. “I better get going, lass.”

The fisherman moved around her to leave, and Briony called out to him as he did, “Do stop calling me ‘lass’ though! You’ve more than earned the right to call me Briony!”

*

I know what I have to do. And with Mr. McLaren’s life on the line, I can’ waste any time.

Niall was so focused on the fisherman that he didn’t notice Briony slip away and step over the threshold of Drulea Cottage. He didn’t notice her pull the sealskin from under her clothes and drop it onto the dirt floor. And he certainly didn’t notice her take the flint and steel from her pocket.

Briony’s hands shook as she moved to strike the steel, and before she knew it, she had dropped the flint on the floor. As she bent to retrieve it, she heard Niall say, “Well?”

“You heard me, selkie,” Mr. McLaren replied.

Niall let out a humorless laugh. “Aye, I did. I just wanted to be sure before I ripped you apart.”

Briony picked up the flint and vigorously struck it against the steel.

A spark!

But when Briony held it over the pelt, the light fizzled out.The sealskin must be too wet from the water that soaked through my clothes.

She looked up to see if Mr. McLaren was safe. He was holding a small dagger between himself and Niall, but the selkie didn’t seem intimidated in the least.

“Ah, you brought a knife. That makes this even easier.”

“Come no closer!” Mr. McLaren warned, swiping the dagger through the air. “You may be powerful, but yer na invincible!”

“That’s where yer wrong, murderer,” Niall sneered. And then, before Mr. McLaren or Briony realized it, Niall was right in front of the fisherman.

He seized Mr. McLaren’s wrists, smiling as he burned them. Mr. McLaren yelped and dropped the knife.

Heat! That’s it!Briony grasped the sealskin and forced her body temperature to rise. She felt the pelt begin to warm up and watched as steam lifted off it. Within seconds, it was completely dry. Ready to be set alight.

“Agh!”

Briony looked up at the sudden groan. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of Niall slowly pulling the dagger from Mr. McLaren’s stomach. Blood seeped from the wound, and the fisherman slumped to the ground.

Briony screamed, but she knew she couldn’t run to his aid.Na until I’ve finished this.

Again she struck the flint against the steel, but this time, the spark eagerly latched onto the now dry sealskin.

She dropped Niall’s pelt before she, too, could get burned and watched as the flames expanded outward until the entire skin was ablaze.

Niall, hovering over Mr. McLaren to stab him a second time, turned. Maybe it was because he heard the crackling of the fire, or perhaps it was because he smelled the odor of burning flesh. Either way, Briony quickly slid to the side to give him a better view.

“What are you…?” He trailed off as confusion gave way to acute comprehension. “M-My…s-skin.”