“Well. Yes,” he muttered, and hauled on the oars. The sight of his muscles working in the lantern light was almost enough to distract Jacqueline from wondering who he’d been talking to, then.
She looked down at the warm bundle in her arms.
I did see what I saw, didn’t I?
Except it was… just a seal pup. And people didn’t turn into animals, that was crazy talk.
Doubt began to wriggle at the edge of her mind.
The rowboat crunched against gravel, and the man was already halfway out of the boat by the time Jacqueline looked up. He reached out a hand and, after a brief wrangle with her own mind over whether he could possibly have any other reason for doing so, Jacqueline took it.
His hand was calloused, but gentle. A rush of warmth found its way to Jacq
ueline’s cheeks. In the water, his arms around her hadn’t been noticeably gentle—but they’d been strong. The moment he’d touched her she’d grabbed on to him. Even before they’d broken the surface she’d felt safe in his arms.
You mean you grabbed on to him as a drowning reflex, she corrected herself. And then stayed so clingy he had to literally tell you to back off so he could reach the oars.
She sighed, then winced as she stepped out of the boat. The man’s grip might be gentle, but the stony shoreline was anything but. She grimaced and tiptoed up to the relatively foot-safe concrete by the old building.
“Ow,” she muttered, shaking off a piece of gravel that had gotten lodged—yes, in the tattered remains of her pantyhose.
There was a shout behind her, and a low bark. Jacqueline spun around to see…
Nothing.
She narrowed her eyes. The lantern was still on the boat, and only a little of its light filtered this far up the beach. But she was sure she’d seen something. A flash of movement.
“Who’s out there?” she called. There was no sign of the boy she’d seen on the rocks earlier. “Kid? You don’t need to hide. I already saw you, remember?”
A clatter of falling rocks closer to the boardwalk caught her attention, and she turned just in time to see another big fat nothing in the shadows.
“I just want to know for sure you’re all right,” she said, pitching her voice to carry into the shadows. “Your friend who called me, he was really worried about you.”
“Why would Eric call you? You’re human.”
Jacqueline spun around. The boy she’d seen earlier was standing just a few feet away. He’d found some clothes, thank goodness, and was wearing a pair of stained sweatpants and a thick sweater, with a ragged backpack slung over his shoulders.
“You say ‘human’ like there’s another option,” she said carefully, and the seal pup in her arms gave an impatient wriggle.
The boy’s eyes went wide. “There isn’t!” he exclaimed. “Um, but, do you want me to take her? It? The seal. I’m… studying them? For school?”
“Uh-huh.” Jacqueline was unconvinced, but the seal pup started wriggling more as the boy reached out and she decided to hand it over. The boy got a football grip on the pup and hunched over it, whispering.
“What’s your name?” Jacqueline asked.
“Dylan,” he replied absently, and then: “No, don’t! Not now!”
“Let me take her!” Another figure darted out of the shadows. This one was a young woman with her hair in a messy braid. Jacqueline guessed she was in her early teens.
The girl gave Jacqueline a suspicious glare and took the seal pup.
Jacqueline crossed her arms. “So you’re studying the local seal population too, huh?”
“I’m—” The girl glared at Jacqueline and closed her mouth with a scowl.
“We making introductions?” Jacqueline’s mystery rescuer strode up from where he’d been pulling the rowboat above the waterline. “I’m Arlo.” His eyes flicked to Jacqueline’s, and away again. “Arlo Hammond.”
His voice was a low rumble that seemed to reverberate through Jacqueline’s bones. She shivered. “Jacqueline March.”