Red Rocks by Rachael King Read Free Book Online

be in there.’
    He was inclined to listen to her this time. Did she know about the sealskin? Could he trust her with his secret? There was only one way to find out. ‘I found something in there once. It was so cool. I don’t know how it got in there, though. Maybe you do, since you know about the seals.’
    A frown creased her forehead as she waited for him to go on.
    ‘I found a sealskin.’
    Jessie gasped, and looked more fearful than when she had confronted the seal.
    ‘It’s okay,’ he said quickly. ‘It wasn’t bloody, or anything.’
    ‘What did you do with it?’ she asked.
    ‘I took it home. It was heavy.’
    Jessie sat down on the rocks with a bump. ‘But Jake, you must not take it home. You must put it back!’
    ‘But why?’ asked Jake. ‘Do you know how it got there?’
    Jessie looked around, uncomfortable. Shescratched her head as if buying time. Jake waited.
    ‘Do you know what a selkie is?’ she asked.
    ‘A selkie? No. Should I?’
    ‘Selkies are seal-people. The seals come on land and they shed their skins so they can walk the earth like humans do. When they have finished their business, they put their skins back on and become seals again.’
    ‘But that’s just a fairy story,’ said Jake, who could now remember something he had heard a long time ago. A story, set in Ireland maybe, where his ancestors had come from.
    Jessie stared at him, hard. ‘It is not a story. It is real. Jake, if you have stolen a sealskin, then whoever it belongs to will be stuck in human form.’ Jake was surprised to see tears form in her eyes. ‘You must put it back.’
    ‘But that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!’ said Jake.
    ‘Jake!’ Jessie shouted. ‘You must put it back.’
    What did she know? She was being ridiculous , a baby, and he told her so.
    Sobbing now, Jessie stood up and ran away from him, disappearing into the rocks.
    Jake stood still, wondering whether to follow her or not, to comfort her, tell her he was sorry. But he was a little frightened of her. If she was upset, he didn’t want to provoke her any more, to see that wild, dark-eyed face again. Instead, he decided to wait for her to calm down and come back. In the meantime, he would explore the crevice once more.
    The rocks were sharp on his knees, and the scrapes on his legs from his encounter with the seal were aching. It was dark inside the cave. He waited for his eyes to adjust before moving forward. A thin musky smell, like the seals but fainter, hung about the air. He shuffled forward with his hands in front and once again, his fingers came in contact with fur. This time, he didn’t shout, but he pulled sharply away and backed out of the cave, then ran away as fast as he could.

8
    T he air was different when Jake got home. He felt it as the front door swung open. It was thicker, harder to breathe. He heard a murmuring coming from the living room, and was about to push open the door to investigate when he remembered his torn jeans. The last thing he wanted to do was explain to his father that he had been rescued from a seal attack by a little girl, let alone tell him about the fighthe’d had with Jessie about the sealskin. He ducked instead into his room and changed into trackpants, pulling them carefully over his scraped and bloodied calf. He’d clean himself later, in the shower. In his socks, he walked silently down the hall and opened the living room door.
    His father looked up sharply and a flash passed over his face — fear? No, it was the same look he’d worn when he’d told Jake he was moving out of their home. Guilt . But this time, it was gone as quickly as it had arrived.
    The room smelled of coffee and sea air; Jake filled his lungs with it. He recognised the deep red hair before Cara turned around and gave him a penetrating stare. He expected her to smile at him, but she didn’t — she just stared, as if he were a bug under a microscope that she was about to dissect. He remembered the strange effect