Silver Skin by Joan Lennon

Author:Joan Lennon
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Birlinn

Cait: South of Skara Brae

Wailing woke them.

Seals, wailing. It was always an unsettling sound, even in bright sunshine like today. The cries faded and rose, drifting to them on the wind – eerie, alien, infinitely sad.

‘Is it for you?’ she asked Rab in a whisper. ‘Are they calling for you?’

‘What?’

She knew where they would be. They liked to haul out, fifty, sixty at a time. The tide was low now, and the skerry of flat rocks would be nicely out of the water. Perfect for basking.

‘Come on.’

She lead the way out between the rocks and down to the shoreline. They couldn’t see the skerry from here, but she knew how to draw the seals’ attention. She pulled a whistle bone out of her bag and put it to her lips. The sound was shrill and high-pitched, and almost at once, wet grey heads began to pop up in the waves. Long-nosed faces ending in splendid white whiskers, stiff with curiosity. The tune wailed and wavered. The seals seemed to find it mesmerizing. When she walked along the shore towards the skerry, they followed her, keeping pace like inquisitive, though nervous, aquatic dogs.

On the rocks, other heads lifted and dozens of dark, slightly bulging eyes turned towards them, watching them intently. The wailing stopped, but grunts and sneezes were exchanged. The ones in the water bobbed up higher to get a better view, sank under the waves, then reappeared further along the shore.

Rab smiled. He seemed delighted at the sight, but he made no move to speak to them.

Cait stopped playing. She found she was holding her breath.

Tell them you’re all right here on land. Happy and safe.

The words formed in her mind.

Tell them you’ve decided to stay.

She closed her lips tightly, refusing to say the words out loud, but they pushed at her control so that she wasn’t paying attention to anything else. To whatever it was that suddenly caused the seals to lollop into the water in a white, splashing panic.

Rab raised his arms in dismay. ‘Oh NO! What—?’

Abruptly she put her hand over his mouth, peering intently along the shore. She heard now what had spooked the seals.

Someone was coming. Fast.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.