Chapter 8
Delmar
There was one small harbor with an even smaller dock. Every slip was full, and I didn’t see any signs for temporary docking spots. I maneuvered us to the dockside fuel pump, the only empty place for us to dock besides the boat launch area. I needed gas anyway, so it was fine for now.
I was finishing tying the stern line when a teenager rushed down the dock toward me. The name Dale was embroidered on his shirt, there was grease on his jeans, and he had a big welcoming smile.
“Do you only need fuel, or do you need to fill your water tank also?” he asked, then must have sensed my kraken. He stumbled to a halt and paled. “Oh, fuck!”
We were in the right place because he was definitely a selkie. I could feel his animal’s fear.
“I’m not here to cause trouble,” I said quickly.
“All the fuel you want, on the house,” he stuttered, backing away from me. “And potable water! Fill everything, just don’t eat me.”
“Hey, no, don’t go,” I said. “Nina, could you come out here?”
Originally, our plan was for Nina to stay hidden on the boat. I’d go ashore and find out who to talk to, but it looked like all my presence was going to do was cause a panic.
The teenager paused long enough for Nina to step out of the cabin and to the edge of the boat. I reached out with a few tentacles to lift her onto the dock with me.
The young man looked torn. It was obvious part of him wanted to run, but the other part saw a fellow selkie and felt obligated to try and help her.
“This is Nina,” I said. “She was turned into a selkie by a spell. We came here looking for help.”
The teenager's expression went from scared to confused. “That’s not possible. You’re either born a selkie or you’re not; you can’t be turned into one.”
“Trust me, it’s possible,” Nina said. “Do selkies have a leader, like a president or king or something?”
“Yeah, uh, we have Mayor Norris. He runs the town and organizes our colony,” he said.
“Convenient,” Nina muttered, then turned on a bright smile. “Could we talk to him?”
“Mayor Norris is really busy, and you’re a girl,” he said. “Do you have a father that can talk to him? Women don't usually get to consult Mayor Norris on their own.”
“What?” My sharp question made the guy startle.
He took a half-step back. “Uh, sorry, Mr. Kraken, but women are governed by the men in their lives. It's up to their fathers or husbands to speak for them. Or a brother if you don't have a father or husband.”
“What in the Handmaid's Tale is going on here?” Nina asked. “Next thing you're going to tell me is that women don't have the right to vote.”
“What's a vote?” he asked.
“This is so bad,” she said under her breath. I had to agree with her. If we didn’t need to talk to Mayor Norris so badly, I'd fuel up and leave. Unfortunately, this was the biggest and closest colony. These people were our best chance of getting an answer and a cure.
“Nina doesn't have any men in her life except me,” I said. “I’m her mate.”
The teenager must've forgotten I was a scary kraken for a moment because he snorted derisively. “The most noble of creatures mated with a sea monster? Yeah, right.”
He must've realized how insulting that was, or maybe it was the sight of several of my appendages popping out and slapping down on the dock.
“What was that you said about sea monsters?” I asked.
He audibly swallowed and took another step back. “St-st-stay here. I'll get someone to talk to you!”
With that, he turned and fled.
“I don't like the sound of this place,” Nina said, turning to face me. “Women can't speak for themselves? The kid didn't know what voting was? Did we suddenly transport to 1700?”
I shook my head. “Honestly, I'd heard rumors that selkie colonies were old-fashioned, but I thought it was more about not mixing with other magical creatures. This is extreme.”
“I have no interest in becoming an Amish seal.”
I couldn't help it, I laughed. “Your seal wearing an Amish cap would be adorable.”
She cracked a smile. “You want to play dress-up with my seal? What's next, fishnet stockings?”
I laughed at the image of Nina's seal wearing both an Amish head covering and fishnets.
Movement at the top of a nearby pier made both of us look up. About a dozen people had gathered to stare down at us.
“What are they doing?" Nina whispered, pressing close to me. My appendages wrapped around her, one of them petting her back.
“Watching us,” I said.
“I know that,” she said, giving me some side-eye before speaking again. “But why?”
“We're probably the most interesting thing that's ever happened here in the last fifty years,” I said. “Let's go wait in the cabin.”
She shook her head. “Let's fill up first. I don't like the feeling of this place. If we have to leave, I'd like to know we have a full tank of gas.”
“Good point,” I said, giving her a quick hug with my arms and limbs, then letting go to work the ancient but well-maintained fuel pump.
I filled the small engine’s tank and the two spare cans I almost never bothered with.
The next closest selkie colony was all the way up near the Canadian border.
Without prevailing winds, we’d need all the gas we could get to motor that far north.
I also topped off the fresh water tank. By the time I was finished, the pier had filled with an oddly silent crowd.
“I think the whole town showed up,” Nina mumbled as we got back onto the boat. “I feel like we're at the start of a horror movie. If twins show up and start talking in unison, we're out of here.”
I barked out a laugh and shut the door of the cabin behind us. “Agreed!”
She slumped down on a bench with a yawn. “What do we do now?
“We wait,” I said. “I bet there's going to be some kind of meeting and a lot of talking. I don't think anyone is going to come talk to us tonight.”
She blinked a few times, all her energy gone. “I slept a lot today, why am I so tired?”
“We did a lot,” I reminded her. “You faced your fear of water and let your seal out. That's huge. I can't imagine ever doing something I'm terrified of. How about dinner and an early bedtime?”
She nodded, then gave me a curious look. “What are you afraid of?”
That was easy to answer. “Flying. I did it once and vomited the entire time and nearly did a full shift halfway through the flight.
It took me a week to recover. Mom and Dad can do it without freaking out, but they have to buy spells that act a lot like Xanax.
The spell makes them loopy so they have to get a human friend to go with them because they couldn't navigate anything.”
“That's horrible!” she exclaimed, standing up to join me in the small kitchen area. “I promise never to make you fly unless it's an emergency.”
I gave her a grateful smile. “I'd fly for you, even if it wasn't an emergency.”
“That's sweet, but not necessary,” she said, then pointed to the ingredients I'd pulled out of the pantry. “Can I help?”
I gave her an onion and a knife. “Grab the cutting board and slice this up for me.”
“On it,” she said.
We worked and chatted as I made my mom's fish stew. I could tell Nina was getting hungrier as the stew simmered because she kept hovering over the pot and smelling deeply.
When dinner was finally finished cooking, Nina was standing there holding a bowl cupped in both hands and giving me her best poor-little-starving-orphan look.
“Please, sir,” she said in a horrible English accent. “Can I have some fish stew?”
“All you want!” I said with a chuckle and took the bowl from her. “Grab some spoons and meet me at the table.”
I hadn't even finished setting the bowl down before she was dipping her spoon in.
“Careful, it's hot,” I said, but it didn't matter. She was eating fast enough to make half the bowl disappear before I returned with my bowl and got my first bite in.
I was flattered and worried. I needed to make sure she ate more, at least until we got rid of her seal.
I was going to miss that adorable harbor seal, but it was more important that my mate was happy.
Between the two of us, we finished off the entire pot. When it was all gone, she sat back and patted her belly.
“You can make that any time,” she said.
“It's my mom's recipe,” I said. “I'll tell her you liked it. She'll be pleased. Wait until they visit, and she makes seafood pasta. It's the best.”
Her expression went from content to wary in a flash.
I took a guess at what was bothering her. “You don't have to meet them until you're ready.”
She tried to smile. “I do want to meet them, it's just that I'm never what parents expect. I'm short, round, and do a lot of unconventional things. I don't fit into a neat box, so sometimes I make people uncomfortable by being me.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” I said. “First of all, they'll love you because I love you. Second, krakens are a strange group. We tend to collect things and none of them are normal.”
“What do you collect?” she asked.
I winced. I shouldn't have said anything, now she was going to think I was weird.
“I'll show you, but don't judge me,” I said.
“Now I have to know,” she said.
I got up and unlatched a high cabinet and pulled out a cardboard box. I set it on the table in front of her, pushing our empty bowls out of the way. I sat down and let her open the box. She looked down, confused.
“They look like oddly shaped bones,” she said, picking one up.
“You’re right, they're a bone,” I said.
“Which bone?”
“Um, they’re called baculum.”
She set one down and picked up another one. “What's a baculum bone?”
“Penis bone.”
She stared at the sea otter baculum held between her thumb and finger.
“Penis bone?” she repeated.
“So, um, some animals have penis bones,” I explained. Did it suddenly get hot in the cabin or was that my humiliation? “Walruses, seals, sea lions, polar bears, sea otters, and others. I don't kill any of them, but if I come across the bones when I'm searching for treasure, I keep them.”
“I crochet penises,” she blurted.
I hadn't expected that at all. “What?”
“You collect penis bones, and I crochet penises.” She set the baculum back down and pulled out her phone. She scrolled and then handed it over. It was a picture of a collection of brightly colored crochet penises. Some of them even had little plastic eyes peeking out from under foreskins.
“Some of them are based off descriptions of alien penises from romances I read,” she explained. “Some are just my imagination, or how much yarn in that color someone gave me.”
“These are gorgeous!" I said, making her giggle. “I like the green one with the ribbing."
“I think your collection is pretty interesting too. I guess we were meant for each other,” she said, throwing herself onto my lap. I laughed along with her as we hugged. “Our weird hobbies match!”
We spent the evening sharing funny stories and embarrassing moments. I don't know how late it was by the time we both started yawning.
“I guess we're not going to hear from them tonight,” she said. “Do you think it's safe to stay here for the night, or should we move to the open ocean and come back tomorrow?”
I debated for a moment before answering. “I think we're safe. They wouldn't be stupid enough to try something with me. Not to brag or anything, but there aren't many creatures that are willing to tangle with a fully grown kraken.”
“You're so modest,” she teased.
I grinned and shrugged. “What can I say, I'm a pretty big cephalopod in a small harbor.”
She giggled and asked me about my kraken form. We talked about it as we cleaned up, then headed to bed.
“Thanks for being a gentleman,” she murmured. She was asleep before I finished wrapping my arms and appendages all around her.
I was pretty sure she was thanking me for not pushing for sex, except I was scared. Krakens didn't have dicks, we had mating appendages. If my mate were a kraken, there wouldn't be an issue. Even another shifter would probably understand.
Nina was born human. I could only hope those books she read had prepared her for me!