The sun upon the surface of the sea is liquid gold. It is so bright it dances like sparks below the setting sun. So bright is the sea that one might easily miss the girl who breaches the surface and gazes ashore. She is as gold as the ocean that births her and she possesses all of a kelpie’s stealth.
Sereia pauses for a moment, scans the beach and ensures it is empty. Only then does she silently glide toward the shore. The secluded corner of the beach she aims for lies hidden around a corner, unseen. It is shame that drives her here and begs her body to change faster as her forelimbs touch sand. Her body morphes only as fast as it ever does, it does not heed her pleas. Sereia should know by now that her kelpie will not be rushed.
Water pours from her too-slim sides as she rises from the waves. The meandering, rocky path that leads to the cliffs above beckons her. Sereia wonders of her sisters and at the thought a butterfly takes flight in her abdomen in delighted anticipation of seeing them again.
She moves toward the path, across the sand, her limbs still feeling slightly strange. She does not see the other horse move in the dark of cliff’s shadow. Yet Sereia does smell the scent of meat upon the air and hurries on her way. The further she is from the sea, the more disconnected she and her kelpie become. Hurry. Her heart stutters in her chest.
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~Anna Funder
