Nine-year-old Annaliese has been abused by her stepfather since she was three. Her real father, Lord Hallewell, has sent his lawyer, William MacLeod, to rescue her, but their ship has just wrecked. As she slowly begins to trust him, he must help her navigate through the troubled waters of her past so they don’t affect her future.
Annaliese
“Don’t stand close to the surf. You’ll dirty your petticoat,” Rebecca said, primly as ever.
“You ain’t the queen of me.”
A wave of burning cold water hit, coming midway up Annaliese’s calf, leaving a stain on her pale blue skirt. Figures.
Lifting a washed-up fishing net, Annaliese jumped at the crabs scrambling back into their holes. This was the first time in two weeks they’d had any free time to wander the shore and Rebecca was ruining it. An odd noise made her spin. “Do you hear dogs barking?”
They froze, pricking their ears.
“This way.” Annaliese sprinted past the doomed Icarus to an area full of boulders.
Rebecca called, “We shouldn’t be out this far. It’s not allowed.” Annaliese kept going. “I’m telling,” Rebecca yelled, running back to camp.
The barking grew louder. Annaliese’s foot slipped on the slimy algae, but she climbed the rock right quick. Seamus and Jacqueline joined her. Turning on them, she said, “Ain’t you want to tattle on me, too?”
Seamus shrugged. “I want to see the dogs.”
Only they weren’t dogs. On a flat iceberg fifty feet from shore, plump animals with paws on fins and a long tail instead of legs napped and played. A huge one yawned widely, then dove in, swimming close enough to show his adorable face and long whiskers.
“What are those things?” Annaliese asked, fascinated.
“Selkies,” Seamus said.
Jacqueline said, “They’re seals, no? Look at the babies.” Her voice raised ten octaves as she cooed and pointed to the furry white blobs with big brown eyes.
Seamus said, “My cousins make good money selling their oil and skins. We should tell the captain.”
“But they’re babies,” Annaliese said.
“Money’s money, lass.”
“Annaliese Cameron,” called MacLeod.
Ah, hell. He’s using both my names. “Up here.”
“I can see that,” he said, climbing with Rebecca. “You found the selkies.”
Annaliese jumped to another rock a few paces away from MacLeod.
Rebecca cowered behind him. “Ew. What are those revolting creatures?”
Annaliese rolled her eyes. Back off, Rebecca, MacLeod’s mine.
“Ack, nothing to fear, lass. They say the Fairy Queen disguises herself in seal skins.”
Why is he calling Rebecca lass? I’m his lass.
Seamus said, “Well, my cousins never found a single fairy inside a selkie, and they surely would have told the tale had they done so.”
Jacqueline kneeled next to Annaliese, laughing. A white-gray seal dove into the water, swimming close to Annaliese. The pup’s large brown eyes and heart-shaped nose drew her in, making her giggle. Reaching out, she rubbed its soft, wet fur. The selkie splashed and barked in the pale blue water. “Can we keep her?”
MacLeod laughed. “And what would you do with a pet selkie? We need to get back. I dinna want any of you out this far until we understand our surroundings.”
“Look. A shark.” Seamus joined their rock and pointed.
A triangular fin cut through a dark patch near a rock thirty feet away. The seal made a break for it but realized the danger too late. In an instant, a slick gray monster burst from the water, showing a mouth rimmed with pink gums spouting six-inch dagger teeth.
“We have to help her!” Annaliese shouted, ready to dive in.
Jacqueline pulled her back. “That’s nature, ma chère.”
Black eyes rolled back in the shark’s head as he chomped the selkie’s tummy into bits. Annaliese stared into the pup’s terrified eyes as it thrashed trapped in the shark’s jaws.
Seamus laughed. “Wait till I write my cousins about this,” he said to Jacqueline.
“Stop laughing.” Annaliese balled her fist.
Dragging what was left of the baby seal below, the shark left a trail of bright red bubbles.
“Quite savage, aye?” MacLeod said.
Seamus framed his sunburned hands around his mouth, yelling, “Leave some for us. We’re hungry, too, mate.”
“Stop laughing.” Annaliese punched Seamus’s jaw, catching him completely off guard. He fell hard on the rock. Grabbing hold of his shirt, she pummeled his face.
“Annaliese,” MacLeod roared. He yanked her off, but she kept kicking the air. “What’s gotten into you?”
“She’s crazy, that’s what. Only you would get into a fight over a fish.” Seamus’s lip bled with a puffy bruise already forming.
“Stop laughing.”
Jacqueline pressed her handkerchief to Seamus’s lip.
Annaliese felt dizzy, crumpling over her knees. Her gasps grew shallow as hot tears streamed down her cheeks. Feeling everyone stare, she covered her ears and rocked. “Stop laughing. Stop laughing.”
“Go back to camp,” MacLeod said to the others. “I need to have a wee chat with Annaliese.”
The children left, muttering. MacLeod kneeled, searching her eyes. “What is going on in that brain of yours? You’ve seen animals killed in the wild. Has Seamus been teasing you?”
She peered into his eyes. “That was me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I ain’t—I don’t know how to say it.”
She felt so mad she shook, punching her thighs. How do you say it? How do you say every man in your life was a shark who wanted to drag you under while people laughed?
MacLeod understood, even without her words, and opened his arms. For the first time, she hugged him tightly.
“No more sharks,” he whispered. “They’re gone now.”
Knuckling away the tears, she forced her jagged breath under control. “Oh, there’s plenty sharks,” she said, staring at Rebecca in the distance. “I’m gonna be one.”
His face darkened. “Annaliese Cameron, the lesson is to avoid sharks, not to become one.”
