Changelings

"Ke-ola, get in!" Mum cried. "You're exhausted."

"No room!" he bellowed back up at her. "Sink… you. Hang… onto… hull."

A huge wave slid the lifeboat back to the yacht, smashing into it and dumping everyone back into the raging sea. The crewmen were tossed backward, to sprawl on the deck, and the ropes went flying. The lifeboat, its hull splintered, sank beneath them as they scrambled for safety.

Murel saw Mum thrown against the yacht's hull and swam over to break her fall. Ke-ola grabbed Johnny, who, being unhurt, shook him off. Da started to sink with the lifeboat, but Ronan fetched him up again.

Otter clung to the Honu's tail.

The lines were tossed over the side once more. Mum, Johnny, and Ke-ola caught them. Then Ke-ola boosted Murel up on a rising wave so that she practically washed onto the yacht. He did the same thing with Da and Ronan. Mum, who was shaken but didn't seem injured, tried to help, but Ke-ola nodded to her own rope. Seeing that he had matters in hand, she climbed aboard and was helped on deck by Johnny, who had by that time helped Marmie pull Da and Ronan onto the deck. Sky scampered up across Mum's back and hair to safety. Johnny turned to pull Ke-ola aboard but the Kanaka boy rode another wave up and clung to the deck.

Darkness descended on them almost as quickly as the waves. Marmie bundled them all in blankets, which were soaked but not so thoroughly that the seals couldn't change back into Shongilis.

Wanting to stay human for a while, and unsure that they would do so if the waves kept washing over them, the twins tugged on their waterproof suits, pulling up the hoods.

Johnny tried to stuff Da into a waterproof suit too. Da struggled to sit up, saw Mum's face and said, in a voice much the same as the one they'd heard him use when he'd drunk a bit of the blurry at latchkays, "Jayz, darlin', what are you doing out here? The weather's terrible."

Mum made a funny half-sobbing noise Murel could barely hear as Da finally managed to sit up and pull on his own suit.

Because of the darkness and the fact that only their family and closest friends were helping, the selkies' secret was preserved as much as possible. They couldn't be sure, of course, but none of the crew members said, "Hey look, those seals they hauled up just turned into a couple of kids and their old man!" so it seemed their secret was intact.

But that kind of exposure was the least of their worries. Marmie and Pet Chan helped everyone but Sky and the Honu lash themselves with ropes-lines-to the sturdier and more permanent features of the yacht. Although Murel wondered how sturdy the boat could actually be since apparently it had come off the spaceship in pieces with some assembly required. "All secured, Captain," Pet told Johnny.

Johnny in turn shouted to the crew, "Okay, give her full throttle and get us out of here."

"Uh, Captain?" the nearest crew member said.

"Yes? Wait a tick. We are supposed to be idling. I know it's noisy here but we're not idling.

Why are we not idling?"

"Not actually sure, sir, but the engineer said something about ash clogging the fuel pumps."

"That's just-" Another huge wave washed over the deck. Murel felt paws wind tightly into her hair. When the water subsided with the yacht miraculously still right side up, she saw Ke-ola leaning over the railing, apparently communing with the Honu, who was in the water. "- brilliant," Johnny finished.

Sky, you're pulling, Murel told the otter.

Grooming, the otter mumbled through a mouthful of hair.

Da and Mum were hanging on to each other literally for dear life. Murel felt rather than saw her father staring at her and Ronan as if he could hardly believe they were there. How long have you been home? he asked.

Dunno, Ronan replied. Feels like not very long and nearly forever at the same time.

What happened to you, Da? Murel asked. Everyone thought you were a goner.

Far as I knew, I could have been. The last thing I recall was something falling on me, and then I woke up floating in the water beside you two.

So you don't remember anything about otters, for instance?

Oh, the sea otters were having a grand time bringing up clams from the lava beds when I left them but I finally swam onward. Not all that clever of me, really. It would have been a better job for people with two legs and equipment. It's dangerous around here, in case you haven't noticed.

We noticed.

Who's the big lad being chummy with the turtle? And for that matter, how did the turtle get onto Petaybee? No turtles were authorized that I recall.

That's Ke-ola, one of our classmates from the station. The sacred Honu is the turtle. I believe they're considering immigrating. Ke-ola just saved the lot of us, pulling us out of the water and sticking us in the lifeboat, so I think you might want to give their request special consideration.

Should Petaybee allow us to live through this, I promise to do that very thing, Da said.