Selkie & the Beast: Part Three (special preview)

At night the sad songs returned, floating all around the moon castle and filling the air with their melancholy. Kota would often wake in tears, as his dreams were filled with a deep, unending loneliness. He would see the rocky shore not far from the castle and the song would reach out from the ocean, beckoning for a return that could not be.

It became too much one evening and Kota got up from bed. The heavy book that Muireann had given him slipped from the blankets and onto the floor.

“Be careful with that!” Muireann rushed out from under the bed and threatened him with her pincers.

“Sorry,” Kota huffed. He placed the book on the bedside table and rubbed his eyes, removing the last of the tears.

Muireann came further out from under the bed. “Can’t sleep?”

“I feel lonely,” Kota admitted.

“And what am I?”

Kota sighed. “It’s not-” he took the walking stick and stood up from bed. “It’s that song coming from outside.”

Muireann grunted in disgust. “I know right, it’s obnoxious.”

“No,” Kota fussed. “It’s sad. It’s kind of beautiful, but it just sounds so sad and a little frightening. It goes into my dreams and I see things there.”

“That does sound creepy.”

Kota shook his head. “I’m going for a walk. I can’t sleep like this.” He left his room and went down the hall where the glow from the fireplace illuminated the hallway. Esperance was asleep in his nest, curled and tangled amongst the blankets and pillows there. Kota tried to be as quiet as possible, but as he walked through the room, Esperance stirred and began to sit up.

“What’s wrong?”

Kota was frozen in his tracks. Although he had gotten more used to Esperance’s presence, even talking to him a bit, he still wasn’t out of his awkward ways. “Can’t sleep.”

Esperance rubbed at his neck and stretched, and Kota noticed something different about him. Before, his back had seemed to be so much more bent over, but now, it almost appeared to be level with his shoulders. “I don’t like sleeping alone either,” he muttered sleepily. “I haven’t had a good night's sleep since I came here.”

“How long have you been here?” Kota approached him, taking a chair from the table to sit down.

“A while now, I’ve lost track of time. But I can remember it wasn’t long after the castle rose from the ocean.” Esperance sniffed then twisted his head to crack his neck.

It had been a question that Kota wanted to ask, but had no clue about how to go around it gently. Esperance was cursed, that much he knew. What Kota wanted to know was why and how. Usually it was those who had done a great wrong who were cursed, but Esperance didn’t seem like that kind of person. Maybe. After all, he barely knew him.

“Why are you here though?”

It was a question Esperance never wanted to answer. It meant admitting something he wanted to keep away, especially from someone who offered a chance at redemption for him. “It’s a long story.”

“You keep saying that, but we have nothing but time here.”

“Not really,” Esperance grumbled. “The lunar eclipse ends all of this.”

Kota was aware, after all, without his coat he had no chance of escape. And when the castle would vanish again, he’d surely perish in the ocean. “Then can’t you tell me? Won’t it help things?”

Esperance sat up more and crossed his legs, which to Kota seemed a bit longer than before. “I was cursed,” he stated simply.

“I know that already,” Kota leaned his cheek onto his palm. “But why were you cursed? Did you touch some artifact? Did you say a foul word in front of a temple?”