"Take who away?" Luka asked with a slight frown, although he was slightly curious as to what it was that had Dave in such a good mood.
"The seals," Dave matter-of-factly replied. "Where have you two been all morning? They've been all over the news, both TV and radio. It's not everyday that a whole group of seals just shows up in the Chicago River." Dave then frowned. "I wonder what they call a group of seals. A group of walrus is a herd, and a group of dolphins is a pod, but I've never heard what a group of seals is called."
Then his smile returned. "So, how about it? You coming to see them? It beats watching footage of them on the news, and if you're lucky, the camera just might pick you up, too."
Luka glanced at his watch, even though he knew he and Abby were early for their shifts. "Why not? Like you said, it's not everyday you get to see seals in Chicago. Abby?" He wished he could have known without asking if she would want to see them, but her mind had been closed to him lately. Hell, it had always been a bit hidden from him, he could admit that. He hid things from her, too. But never before had she been so unreadable. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew that Abby and Carter hadn't been on comfortable speaking terms since the day the killer went on his rampage, Luka would be feeling jealous toward Carter, thinking that Abby was sharing things with Carter that she never thought of sharing with him. But, that friendship seemed to be dying, so he knew that she wasn't confiding anything to John Carter. A part of him was sad for Abby about that. A person needed friends, needed to have someone to talk with, someone to listen without judging. But another part of him was glad that it was over. Not that he'd ever really seen Carter as a threat where Abby was concerned, but it was just easier to not have Carter in Abby's thoughts.
"Yeah, sure. Let's go see them." Anything to get her mind off of Carter. She wished that the day by the river had never happened, that he had never told her he couldn't go on being her friend. But wishes didn't undo what had been said that day, and Abby found herself hesitating every time she wanted to share something with Carter. Just as she had hesitated last night when she wanted to call to make sure he was all right. Logically, she knew he was physically fine, that Dr. Kirn wouldn't have released him from the hospital if he hadn't been. But it was Carter's emotional and mental health that had her worried. And she had let her own fear of having her concern dismissed by Carter keep her from calling him.
The trio headed toward the river, easily finding the seals by the large crowd that had gathered. At least they weren't down at the spot that had been her and Carter's favorite place to talk, Abby thought as she glanced down the sidewalk to their bench.
The railing was crowded with people, all of them making admiring noises about what they were seeing. Abby had to ease her way between bodies to get to the railing, and as she finally saw the seals that were causing all of the commotion, she vaguely was aware that Luka and Dave were on either side of her. The seals were magnificent looking, Abby had to admit that. Two were dark brown in color, while the third was nearly all white. She didn't think that was quite right, but she was no expert, so it might have been possible. The trio were swimming up and down the river, keeping away from boats and staying out in the main channel.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" A man on the other side of Luka asked. "What's strange is seeing one that's white. Only seal pups are white, but it's quite obvious that the white one is a fully developed male. And that one," he pointed to one of the brown furred seals. "He's much older. The question is how did they get into Lake Michigan? Harbor seals don't come into the Great Lakes." He shook his head. "We're planning on sedating them, checking them over for injuries or illnesses, and then tagging them before releasing them back into the lake. Hopefully, by keeping track of them as they leave, we can see how they got here in the first place."
Abby felt a bit of sadness at hearing the plans to capture the beautiful animals. "Why not just leave them alone? They're not hurting anyone."
As if it had heard her, the white seal stopped in front of where Abby and the others were standing, its head bobbing just above the water's surface. It barked, a sound that sounded plaintive to Abby's ears. And it stared at her. It was a stare that made Abby catch her breath because she knew those eyes. There was only one person, one being, with eyes like that - John Carter. And yet, it was impossible, right? Just a coincidence that the harbor seal had eyes that reminded her of Carter.
"Luka, do you have your cell phone with you?" She asked, knowing there was one way to put her wild imagination to rest.
"Sure." He handed her the phone, a puzzled look on his face.
As she murmured thanks, Abby was dialing the number for the Carter mansion. She'd ask to speak with him, they'd exchange some small talk and that would be that. The line rang and someone, a man, answered. "May I speak with John Carter, please?" Even as she asked, Abby could feel Luka's eyes on her, but she couldn't look at him, not when that damn seal with Carter's eyes was still looking at her. "He's not?" Her voice cracked slightly on the question. "I see. Do you know when he'll be back? Yes. Have him call Abby. I'll be at work. Thank you." She ended the call and handed the phone back to Luka, her gaze now firmly on that seal. The man who had answered the phone had identified himself as John's father. And he had said that John was out with his uncle and another family member, and Mr. Carter had no idea when they'd return. He had sounded worried, Abby had noticed that immediately.
There was the sound of a boat motor and that got everyone's attention. "Time to bag these boys," the man said. "Excuse me." He left the railing, presumably to walk down to a place where the boat could moor and take him on board.
"Run," Abby cried out to the seals. "Swim away...go!" She knew it was stupid, knew that seals wouldn't understand her. But the white one winked and then disappeared under the water, as did the other two. The crowd joined in with her urgings, their voices raised in shouts for the animals to swim away. And it was exciting to watch the three seals swim in the water, their bodies sleek and fast. Abby knew they'd never be caught, not unless they did something stupid, such as stopping.
Feeling better, she turned away from the railing. "We'd better get back to the hospital."
"Yeah," Dave said as he turned to join her, Luka as well. "That was weird, wasn't it? The way that white one seemed to wink at everyone."
"He winked at me," Abby said without thinking.
Dave laughed. "So now you've got a soul connection to a seal? Dream on, Abby, dream on."
Abby ignored his teasing, her own thoughts turning inward. Dave was right. There was a soul connection there. But it was between her and Carter. She just had to find out how it was that Carter, *her* Carter, was a seal in the Chicago River. It sounded farfetched, but Abby knew with every fiber of her being that the white seal was Carter, and she wasn't going to rest until she found out just what was going on.
Forty minutes later, aided by a map that Susan had hastily drawn for her, Abby was walking toward the door of the Carter house. "House...yeah, right. It's a damn mansion," she muttered to herself as she rang the doorbell. A part of her mind kept telling her that dodging work just to run out to Carter's place to make sure he was home was stupid. Of course, he'd be home, he and his relatives would certainly be back by then. But another part of her brain, as well as her heart, told her that she wouldn't find Carter there. Worried for him, Abby had kept changing channels on the radio, listening for any news account of the seals being caught, but aside from one mention of the seals, there had been nothing further.
The door was opened by a man - a fairly good looking man at that. "Yes?" he asked with a definite Scottish accent.
"I'm Abby Lockhart, a friend of John's. Is he back yet?"
The man carefully regarded her and Abby had to fight the urge to fidget under his gaze. Finally he stood aside and made a gesture with his arm for her to enter the house. "Let me get my sis," he said as he closed the heavy front door, then walked past Abby, disappearing into another room. Even as she took in the richness of the foyer, Abby's ears were straining to pick up the voices she could hear from that room. Unfortunately, about the only word she did manage to make out was 'John', and then another name, 'Bobby'. Wasn't that the name of John's brother, she asked herself as she struggled to remember the things he had told her about his family. But, before she could delve too deeply into her memories, the Scottish guy was returning.
"Come on in and sit down. I'm Colin Ferguson, Eleanor's brother and just one of many of John's uncles."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Abby automatically replied as she followed him into the other room. She didn't remember John talking about any specific uncles on his mother's side of the family, but Abby did remember John saying that his mother was from Scotland.
There were two people in the other room; a beautiful woman and a handsome man. Abby could tell by her looks that the woman was Eleanor Carter, John's mother. Which meant that the man was Jack Carter, the father. Introductions were quickly made by Colin, and then Jack spoke directly to Abby.
"Miss Lockhart, please have a seat," Jack said, indicating a vacant chair. "Can we get you anything?"
"No, thank you," Abby replied as she sat in the offered chair, acutely aware of the tension in the room. "I was looking for John. I...I wanted to make sure he's doing okay."
"You called earlier," Jack said, but his eyes were on Eleanor. "John's still out with his uncle, and I have no idea when they'll be back."
"I see," Abby said, her intuition telling her more and more that something was going on, even if the white seal wasn't John. "I guess I'll be on my way, then." She got to her feet, accompanied by Jack Carter, and, after a moment's hesitation, Colin.
"We'll let John know that you stopped by," Eleanor said from her seat on the couch. "I'm sure he'll be sorry to have missed seeing you."
"Thank you. I appreciate that. It was a pleasure to meet all of you." Abby's face was beginning to ache from the smile she was forcing it to wear.
Jack escorted Abby to the front door, and even as Abby was leaving, she was trying to think up a way to stick around until John returned. IF John returned. What if those men had managed to capture the seals? Of course, that wouldn't matter if she was wrong...but...
Abby got into her car, wondering if she could park it somewhere else on the property and then walk back. And then she gave herself a mental shake. How could John, in seal form, get from his house to the Chicago River? She was just letting her imagination run away with her, and as she began to turn the car around, Abby felt foolish for ever having those thoughts to begin with...and then she saw it...a body of water. It was a small distance from the house, but it was water.
And, come to think of it, Susan had said something about Carter's house being on the lake. Had Susan meant Lake Michigan?
Abby slowly drove down the driveway toward the road, looking for some place where she could pull off to the side. She was pretty certain she could get to the lake and see if John Carter turned up. If he didn't, and ended up driving home, like a normal person, then Abby would merely feel foolish. But if he came out of the water...Abby could remember being a child and listening to Maggie singing songs about seal maidens...silkies...something like that...seals who could look human when they wished...Abby wished she could remember the songs, but she couldn't, and there was no way that she'd try to call Maggie right then to ask her to sing one of them to her over the cell phone. Abby found a spot to pull over, and was soon parked and carefully walking back toward that lake, with one thought above all the others - that John was all right.
John's body twisted sideways as Bobby playfully nipped at his neck, then also twisted away, hoping to avoid retaliation. What Bobby hadn't counted on was how quickly John had adapted to his body, and John gleefully took his brother by surprise when he darted at him, their bodies rolling over and over in the water. Their play was only stopped by their need for oxygen, and the brothers were joyously 'barking' at one another as soon as their heads broke through the surface of the water, and then their play resumed.
"Got you!" Bobby called out.
"No way! I got you!" John replied as their bodies met together again, flippers and teeth looking for grips along the heavily furred bodies.
"If you keep this up, you'll tire out before you get home," Ian said, although his voice didn't sound scolding at all. It was difficult to scold his nephews, not when they were having such a good time with one another.
John bobbed in the water, and he looked away from his uncle and his brother, his gaze lingering on the eastern sky. The word home was conjuring up images in his head that had nothing to do with Chicago or Illinois. Instead he was yearning for a cold sea and a shore far way. "Is it a long way?" he asked his uncle, wondering if he could swim there, or if he'd have to find another way to get 'home'.
"Aye, tis a very long way, pup." Ian had noticed the direction of John's gaze. The pull of home was strong in a selkie, the very blood that ran in John's veins was reacting to the call of the North Sea, where he had been conceived, where his parents, his *real* parents, Sean and Eleanor, had been birthed. Ian had been waiting a long time for the moment when John would be told of his heritage, and he had every intention of making sure that John returned to where he belonged. Jack's world was all right, but it wasn't for John, it never had been. He was Sean's pup, and belonged swimming in the Sea with his brethren. Back when Bobby had made his choice, Ian had hoped that Eleanor would tell John the truth, but she hadn't. And years went by with her keeping silent. Ian had offered to tell the pup the truth, as eldest brother, it was his duty to step in when needed. But Eleanor had refused his offer. She had all but hissed at him as she told him that when John was told, she AND Jack would be the ones doing the telling. As if Ian would fill John's head with lies. He only wanted to tell John about Sean, to share his memories with him. Sean had been his best friend, and Ian felt he owed that much to him, especially since Eleanor had broken with tradition and given birth to John here, and not in the North Sea.
Ian knew that Eleanor had wanted to tie John to these waters, but he also knew that the call of the ancestral home was stronger. John needed to go home, to the waters off the shore of Scotland, where he could swim with his cousins from both sides.
"It's not far at all," Bobby said, his voice firm as he looked from his uncle to his brother. "We're almost there now."
John pulled his gaze away from the eastern horizon and looked at Bobby. "Lead the way. I'm not too tired to make it there." And he fell in behind Bobby as his brother swam off. The feel of the water against his fur was Heavenly, and something John didn't think he'd ever get used to. The freedom of swimming, being there with Bobby, all of it, was almost overwhelming, and he felt like kicking himself for having said that he'd never do this, never put on the skin. Of course, as a selkie, he couldn't kick himself, John thought with a grin. He'd have to get out of the water to do that. His smile faded as he realized that he really didn't want to get out of the water. And that thought made him feel guilty as he remembered the look in Abby's eyes back at the river. She had seemed concerned, a little sad, even. And he winked at her, which had been really stupid. Seals didn't wink. Luckily, no one seemed to notice, and it had been time for them to leave, anyway. There was no sense staying around long enough to get picked up by humans. John could still hear Colin's voice, before he, Bobby and Ian had set out, warning them against going where many humans could see them. John had been willing to stay near the house, but Ian had wanted to swim in more open waters, and once out in Lake Michigan, it had seemed natural to go into the river. John couldn't remember if it had been Bobby or Ian who had suggested that, but once they were in the river, it had been John who led them down toward County General. The only thing was, he had no idea why. Had he wanted to be near his friends? Or had he wanted to show off? Or was it a bit of both? Because he had definitely showed off to the assembled crowd, and he had also seen many familiar faces from County, including Abby's, and, of course, Luka's. Wherever Abby went, Luka would be sure to follow, John angrily thought, wishing once again that instead of beating around the bush when he told Abby that he could no longer be her friend, that he had just come right out and told her he loved her.
And now - and now there was no way that Abby could ever love him back. He wasn't human and she was, and that right there meant they could never be a couple.
"We're here," Bobby said, his voice interrupting John's thoughts. He swam toward his brother even as Ian went past the two of them, getting closer in to the shore before getting out of the water.
"I had fun," John admitted as he gave Bobby the best hug he could under the circumstances.
"So did I. I've missed you, Scooter. Yeah, I know...I'm grown and I have a mate and pups, but...I've missed you."
"I've missed you, too. I'll come back out later, we can just swim around here."
"And without a chaperone," Bobby said, laughing. "I think I can be trusted to swim with you right out here without one or both of our uncles around."
"Or Mom," John added.
Bobby didn't have an answer for that, so instead he gently hit his brother in the head with a flipper. "Get out of here before they send out the search party. I'll be here."
John turned and headed in toward the shore, waiting until he could feel the sand of the lake under his back fins before he started to remove his skin. Putting it on had been pretty easy, almost instinctual. Taking off though, was looking a bit more complicated, and it definitely took all of his concentration.
Abby had been about to give up on waiting for Carter when she saw something out in the lake. Three somethings, actually. Three seals, one of which was white. Her heart in her throat, Abby got to her feet and slowly headed toward the water's edge. The white seal stayed out there with one of the brown ones, but one seal was coming in closer. Her mind screamed at her with disbelief as the fur seemed to part at the top of the seals head and then peel away, revealing a head, a man's head. And then more of his body until the man stood naked in the shallow water.
He didn't see her, Abby realized, and she was about to turn away, to run, when the man turned around, looking at the other seals. She looked out there, too, and saw the white one coming toward the shore. "John..." she whispered, her feet rooted to the spot. This had to be a dream, she told herself. Seal men weren't real, they couldn't be real.
She watched as the fur on this seal parted, peeling away to reveal a face she knew as well as her own - John's. But it couldn't be. Abby took a few more steps forward, her mouth dry as she saw more and more of Carter's body revealed. And also revealed were his surgical scars, proof that this wasn't just some dream - a person didn't dream that realistically, right?
And then it hit her - John Carter was a seal...the seal was John Carter. Abby made a small noise, something between a gasp and a small scream, and John saw her. Their eyes locked onto each other, his surprised, then pleased, then frightened.
"Abby?" He said. He started to move toward her, but the skin wasn't all of the way off yet, and instead he tripped over it, falling to his knees in the water. "Abby?"
It was Carter's voice, Carter's body - and it was all a bit much for Abby, even though the sight before her was confirming what she had suspected. The enormity of it all was too much, and blackness slowly veiled her vision as Abby felt her body pitching to the right, the ground coming up quickly to meet her.
To be continued