The Pinnothrope Mance by Eibhlín Valdys

Author:Eibhlín Valdys
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Upatree Press
Published: 2019-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

Saturday 3 November 2018

TERM STARTS AGAIN ON Monday and, judging by the amount of people currently trying to write essays whilst eating their breakfast, Zoe, Horace, and I are in the minority when it comes to organising our study schedules.

Phil flops into the chair opposite me. He has a plate of bacon sandwiches in one hand and a clear plastic folder housing an A4 lined notepad in the other. “Valerie, do you have a blue biro I can borrow please? Mine got broken.”

I stare at him from behind my pancakes, absently handing one of them to Hiss-Spit, who’s waiting patiently on the chair to my right. “Was it your boot gremlin?”

He blushes. “If I say yeah, are you going to tell me you told me so?”

“No, but I’m certainly not going to lend you any of my pens! Anyhow, I don’t have one on me at the moment.”

Phil pouts and sets his notepad aside in order to concentrate on his food. “I suppose you’ve already finished writing everything that’s due in this week, huh?”

I nod. “I’m falling behind with my ARC though. The creative aspect has me stumped! Pogo’s been teaching me how to draw, but I’m still rubbish compared to everyone else. I don’t know if I’ll ever manage to catch up. Don’t even mention the physical activity aspect. Ugh, who has time for all that exercise on top of studying and volunteering?”

He shrugs, swallowing his latest mouthful of bacon before replying. “I like running, so I guess it’s easier for me. Maybe you could try learning to swim again instead. James mentioned how much that worries your dad.”

My appetite vanishes abruptly. Passing Hiss-Spit another pancake, I manage to keep my voice level. “Oh?”

“Yeah; we were just hanging out in the common room, talking about our parents’ way of doing things, and he said R.J.’s always been like super patient about you not swimming, even though he gets criticised for it by the other selkie elders every time there’s a crash meet up. He sounds like a pretty cool parent really.”

I scowl at him. “What, you mean aside from his only having lied to me about my real identity for almost my entire life?”

“Yeah, okay, so aside from that.” Phil drops some bacon into his pocket for the boot gremlin and turns his attention to Hiss-Spit, presumably hoping to distract me from his gaff by changing the subject. “Uh, so do animals that become familiars all grow this fast?”

“He’s a kattakyn.” I might as well tell everyone the truth before they figure it out for themselves and panic. “It’s an extremely rare type of Scandinavian undead, actually.”

Phil splutters. A tiny bit of half chewed bread flies out of his mouth and lands on the middle of the table. Hiss-Spit promptly eats it, purring. “You mean he’s a zombie? Like for real, a zombie cat?”

The boot gremlin pokes its head out of his pocket. “Gnargh?”

I sniff. “No, not a zombie, a kattakyn, they’re completely different things. You can find them in Barrett and Grimm.

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