CHAPTER FIVE
the black lake beckons

𖦹 ⋆｡˚⋆ฺ ⋆｡˚⋆ฺ˚⋆˚ 𖦹

  THE OWLERY OVERLOOKS THE VAST countryside, the fields sprouting green in the dregs of summertime as autumn begins to close its maw on the living. Flurries of auburn leaves streak through the tree branches and blossoms in the ground retract into themselves in anticipation of the colder months ahead. Bracken unfurls in the heather-swathed moors, withering to the colour of rust until next year when they'll resurrect, greener than ever. Cove decides that she has to stop focusing on all the plants dying before she gets too sad, because Fallon often says that she gets too attached to nature in the summer. She can't argue with that when her favourite thing about springtime is greeting the first bleary snowdrops like an old friend — she already looks forward to seeing them, despite it being months away.

  A chill surges through the tower, goosebumps dimpling her arms underneath her woolly cardigan. Perilously, she dodges a pile of rodent skeletons left by the owls and trudges over to the glassless window. She stands around tapping her foot for a few seconds until a black dot swoops over the horizon, and within mere minutes Goldie is perched in front of Cove, out of place in the company of so many owls. She offers up her scrawny leg to show off a piece of parchment with water damage curling the edges. The handwriting is almost illegible, ink smudging down the page like someone's mascara caught in a rain shower. Two curt paragraphs have been squashed onto the napkin-sized letter, every other word wonkier than the one before. If she squints her eyes for long enough, it's fairly easy to make out what the sentences say.

  Vee,

Your grandparents send their love. I'm sorry to hear about that rotten teacher, but you have to start being more careful! If you keep running your mouth about things like that, you'll get found out in no time. I'm sure the humans are stupid, but nobody's that thick. The storm has calmed down on our end, and your mother has begun to venture to the water's edge again, though she tends to back away as if the sea burns her before we can get close. It probably does. Poor Mairi.

P.S. Sorry the letter's so short, I accidentally dropped half of my paper in the water. Looking forward to seeing you during the holidays! Tha gaol agam ort.

— Cordelia x

Cove smiles to herself, folding up the parchment neatly. It finds a home in her pocket. She tosses Goldie a fish-flavoured treat, scratching her under the beak before making a getaway down the winding staircase. The sooner she gets out the better — seeing all of Aaron's letters gathering cobwebs in her pigeonhole makes her uncomfortable. Fallen leaves crunch under her boots as she hurries down the steps, dizziness bubbling into her head as the winding staircase twists further down the tower.

Mary and Fallon are stood outside the doors, passing a cigarette between them to warm up. A sight for sore eyes. They're muttering about the cold, still in uniform after being in classes all morning. Their free period every Thursday afternoon has become a saving grace.

"Success?" Mary asks.

"Yes," Cove confirms, waving the letter in front of them. "Hooray!"

Smoke huffs from Fallon's nostrils as if she's a dragon, curling around the beguiling grin that blossoms on her face and fading away into wisps. "You've got to let us meet this mysterious friend of yours one day. She sounds like a rockstar."

Cove feels the colour drain from her face. "Yeah," she says noncommittally. Cordelia's warning flashes through her mind. Be careful. "One day. She's, erm, she's shy."

  Cordelia is the antonym, if anything. It pains Cove to lie to her friends about most things, especially about her life outside school, the syllables souring on her tongue the more she gets tangled in her web of lies. They don't seem to pay it any mind and trust her faux honesty, which just makes the guilt sink even deeper into her bones. A part of her thinks that she should tell them everything after nearly seven years of unconditional friendship and support, after evenings filled with secrets that they entrusted her with. That word. Trust. It's driving her mad.

But Cove doesn't tell them anything. She knows that it would be wrong, and simply lets it eat away at her.

"Are you okay?" Fallon asks, resting a hand on her arm. "You're looking a bit... pale."

She shakes her head. "I'm fine. Don't worry yourself about it, my lovely."

  The two of them share a look that makes her feel uneasy. It's one that says 'we're going to worry about it anyway' and Cove doesn't like it one bit.

"Let's go down to the lake," Mary suggests. "I'm putting off my homework for as long as possible."

"Hear, hear," Fallon agrees. "That essay Rigby gave us is doing my head in. I need to unwind."

Cove frowns. "...You haven't started yet?"

She shushes her loudly. "Even the thought of it is exhausting to me."

  "Everything is exhausting to you," Mary snorts, flipping her curls over her shoulder.

  Laughing, Fallon swats at her shoulder, chasing after her when she dodges out of the way. Halfway down the hill, one of Mary's shoes gets caught in the grass and she trips over herself, grappling for Fallon's arm with a scream. They go tumbling down the slope without worrying about the grass stains or flecks of mud that cling to their uniforms, rolling onto their backs near the pebbly bank and bursting into cackles. Cove smiles softly at them but she hangs back, casting her stare out over the water.

  The loch is still, reflecting the sunlight in its obsidian face. Conifers stand tall amongst the lining of rocks that surround the lakeside in what Cove suspects is an attempt to conceal the school from prying muggles. A murmuration of starlings break through the faint mist lingering over the loch, twisting through the air in a dance so seamless it could've been choreographed. The wind picks up in their wake and blows a wavelet straight ahead of her, almost purposefully. Cove can feel the pull of the water, her eyes glazing over the more she looks at the hypnotising ripples that spring from whatever moves below the surface. She shakes herself out of it, but something heavy settles on her chest. A kind of burden that she can't get rid of.

"Come down, Cove!" She hears someone call from the foot of the hill. Hesitantly, she curls her arms around herself and begins to race towards her friends.

They're sprawled out on the grass, hair tangled up in the wildflowers as their eyes reflect the faded skies. Halfway down Cove gives up, tumbles into a clumsy roly-poly and lands somewhere in between them, her head colliding with Mary's funny bone and her leg accidentally knocking into Fallon's chin. The three of them exclaim in pain, collapsing into giggles immediately after.

  Mary sits up abruptly. "Hold on," she says. "Is that Lily and Marlene over there?"

  Cove's eyes widen. "No, no—"

  "Lily! Marlene!" Mary calls, hands cupped around her mouth. "C'mere!"

  The girls spot them and begin to wave back enthusiastically. They approach, jogging to reach them quicker. Cove hides her head in her hands for a second to collect herself, and when she looks up she's met with the pair up close. Lily is all fiery freckles and sugary sweetness, her smile outshining the sun in the sky — on the other hand, Marlene is made up of chunky jewellery and smudged makeup. They're certainly an odd pair, though they look so right standing next to one another, like two sides of the same galleon.

  Cove makes eye contact with Marlene and her heart lurches, coming to the realisation that avoiding her won't work forever when she's one of Mary's closest friends. She just hopes that their little run in at the shops won't be brought up anytime soon. Marlene smiles at her warmly and she tries her best to return it without looking too deranged.

  Mary beams up at them. "Hi, girls. Do you have a free period?"

  "Nah," Marlene admits proudly. "We're skiving Transfiguration. This is much more fun."

  Lily elbows her pointedly, looking around as if  she'll turn to find McGonagall towering over her. The coast is clear but there's a nervous air that settles over her. Cove doubts that she skips classes regularly.

  "I'm surprised you got Lily to come with you," Mary takes the words straight out of her mouth. "You're a bad influence, Marley."

  "I'm the little devil on her shoulder."

  Fallon hums. "Mary's right. McGonagall's definitely going to be suspicious when she sees Lily missing."

  Marlene waves her off. "Ach, McGonagall won't even notice we're gone. It's not like I contribute much in class, anyways."

  "Maybe this was a bad idea," Lily stresses.

  "What about Dorcas? Where's she?" Mary asks to take her mind off of it.

  "She's got double Potions," she says mournfully. "Poor soul."

Marlene leans against her, wiping away invisible tears. "She'll soldier through it," she sniffs. "I believe in her."

Cove finds herself laughing along with the rest of them unthinkingly. She hasn't quite come far enough out of her shell to join the conversation, too afraid that she'll say something to embarrass herself again, but simply observing is fine by her. The sun breaks through the thicket of cotton clouds, shining down on the group as they lounge on the neatly trimmed grass. There's a smile on her face that's been in hiding for months, her skin glowing in the sunshine, her hands burning—

Why are her hands burning?

She looks down to where they're lying in her lap, her thoughts going into overdrive trying to process what she's looking at. A thin membrane layer curves in between her fingers, straining excruciatingly against her rings to seal against her skin. Her fingernails are more elongated than usual, a darker tint overcoming them like a varnish. She even thinks that her finger bones are morphing into a different shape, the sickening crack! confirming her fears. She gasps quietly, turning them over to get a better look. Yeah. Just as she thought. Her hands are fucking webbed.

"What's wrong, Cove?" Fallon asks curiously.

She hides her hands behind her back, casually pretending to lean on them. "Nothing. Thought I saw a bee, s'all."

  That excuse seems to work.

  The rest of the conversation is like static in her ears. Agony surges up her arms as her anatomy begins to slowly rearrange itself, one finger bone at a time. She's just grateful that the process isn't developing faster. After racking her brain, Cove comes to the conclusion that she's heard her grandmother talk about an occurrence like this, something to do with her not transforming often enough. Her family has always schooled her on the importance of balance and how she shouldn't go too long without changing between her two worlds, but she's never seen the consequences in action.

  To steel herself, she pulls her sleeves down as far as they'll go and prays to Cailleach that nobody notices her hands turning into flippers. She hopes that she can make it to nightfall.

  Zoning back in on the conversation proves to be more difficult than she'd thought, especially with the searing pain gnawing at her. From what she can gather, Marlene is halfway through a dramatic story about a boy in their year Cove hadn't caught the name of and every new detail is only making her increasingly confused.

  "—So, he's almost finished his third pint, and I'm sat there thinking 'what is this lad doing?' when the bowtruckle comes back in the room and out of nowhere—"

  "Girls!"

  "Shite!" Marlene squawks, head whipping to between their group and the approaching figure. "It's McGonagall. Run!"

  She didn't have to tell any of them twice.

author's note!

this is a bit all over the place

cove going nonverbal when her friend brings over random people she knows is too real for me 😍 i'm just projecting now

i was trying to illustrate what happens when cove doesn't transform often!! i like to think that unless a selkie has their skin stolen, they'll begin to show signs of transformation, will lose touch w their human side and begin to return to their normal form — for example there are people in cove's colony that can't transform because they chose the sea over land

ik it doesn't *completely* make sense with the whole sealskin factor but everyone also has magic wands and goes to magic school so i think anything is possible atp 😭