She looked over at Erik and let out a series of grunts, clicks, and whistles. He answered in kind and it sounded like they were having an argument. Finally, Erik let out a loud growl and Analee shrunk back.
After a moment, she turned back at me. “You want to know? Erik says to tell you, while I’d rather you just mysteriously vanished. But since he’s our leader, I will obey.”
Now I was the one confused. I glanced at Erik—or the beast that had been Erik. “Yes, we want to know.”
“Very well. We’re Darconians. We are, indeed, related to Dragonkin, but we’re creatures of the water, rather than of the air. As for Mark, he chose to join us. And then, when it was actually happening, he changed his mind and managed to get free. But it was too late. Once the transformation begins, there’s nothing we can do to stop it. He’s out there now, wandering your streets, looking for a way back to the Mother.”
The Mother. Was this the mother they supposedly worshiped? But then her words clicked. They were creatures of the water, and he was looking for a way back to the Mother. Of course. The mother was the ocean—it had to be.
“It wouldn’t be hard for him to find his way to the docks. You can smell the water in the air,” I said.
“You begin to understand. That he has no guide is regrettable, but we can’t be everywhere,” Erik said. He and his goons—who had also dropped their illusion—spread out. “As to why we’re here, we only seek to expand our race. Too many of our kind have been destroyed over the years, strangled by the pollution that litters the water and shores. You have no case against us. We only accept those who are willing… Those who have nothing to lose. Those who have a history with our kind.”
I froze. As much as I wanted to plow into them right now, consent could alter everything. I motioned for the others to hold up. “You mean Mark chose to become one of you?”
“Yes, he chose to become a Darconian. As did the pair behind you.” Analee’s voice was cool, almost to the point of ice. “Each person we take has a faint connection, a drop of our blood line in their DNA that allows the transformation to take place. That’s why you couldn’t understand Erik’s speech tonight. Only those who have that inner spark can fully comprehend it. Others find themselves charmed, but quickly drift away.”
“Do you have proof of this?” Dante asked.
He had figured out what I had. If they did, indeed, have proof that Mark and the others had voluntarily stepped up to be transformed, it would be no different than a human who chose to become a vampire, who offered themselves up for the transformation. And that compliance would hold up in court. If they chose to file charges against us for assault, we could be tried with everything from assault to murder, depending on our actions.
Analee continued down the stairs. She walked past me, ignoring my dagger, to open the desk drawer and pull out a file folder, handing it to me.
I sheathed my blade, holding her gaze, and opened the file, flipping through the papers. Each was a signed consent form, along with a fingerprint, agreeing to undergo the “Ritual of Danerial.”
Attached to each form was a description of what the ritual entailed, including giving up their humanity for membership in the Darconian race. The stack of signed consents was thick. If I had to guess, there were over one hundred papers in the file, and the dates went back to 1908.
I glanced over at Dante and nodded, then turned back to Analee. “Why? Why this way?”
“We are seeking our lost ones. They crave a sense of completeness. They long for a family they’ve never had. And for those with the spark of our blood in their veins, that longing will never be fulfilled until they return to the Mother. Many were orphans, who never met their families. But each one—each member has an inner drive to return to the fold. And they’ll never feel complete until they find their way back to us.”
And then I understood. Like I had been driven to find out more about my heritage, so these people—with the faintest trickle of Darconian blood in their veins—felt lost and out of synch with the world. Their race was so strong that the smallest fraction of DNA could create unrest.
Feeling defeated, and yet understanding, I handed her back the file folder. “They need to know who they are. Where they’ve come from.”
She took it, and a faint light in her eyes gleamed. It felt almost like a smile.
“Our connection to the Mother is so strong, it echoes through time, it fills our hearts, and our waking and sleeping lives. Mark was afraid, at the end. Before we could calm him down, he escaped. We could have helped him through that one bitter point where every Darconian wonders if they made the right decision. But after meeting the Mother, every fear is erased. We’re searching for him, so we can guide him home.”
“Where’s home?” Dante asked. He, too, sheathed his blade.
“Far out in the ocean, down in the depths, in the city of the ancients. We came to land at one point, before humans were even a spark in the Mother’s eye, but we could not exist without her embrace. The distance is a physical pain, a deep hunger that we cannot shake away.” Erik motioned to the two creatures we had found. They joined him.
“Why were they caged?” Penn asked, stepping forward.
“For their own good. The transformation can be violent, and so we keep our changelings caged during the actual process. It prevents them hurting others, or themselves,” Analee said.
I sat down at the desk, and looked around. “Why do you take the money?”
“We have to have a place to live here in your society. A few of us, like Erik and I, are masters at disguise and we can interact fairly well. Others need more help.”
“How do you know where to look? Were you ordered into this job?” Orik asked.
Erik shook his head. “We’ve volunteered for this position, and we need to fund the meetings, as well as our research. We have developed a long list of places where our lost children might be found, so we travel all around the world, looking for them, and calling them home.” He let out a series of odd clicks. “We do not wish to hurt you. Neither do we seek exposure.”
I thought it through. Mark would have been forever searching for a part of himself that he couldn’t find on his own, if he hadn’t joined them. Yes, this would hurt Wendy, but she was a selkie. If anybody understood, it would be her. She had her pod, and now Mark had his family.
“Mark married a selkie,” I said.
