Read Online Changelings by Anne McCaffrey - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Anne McCaffrey
Tags: Fiction
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trying to scare us with will sink their big sharp teeth into us.
Yeah. As if. But I really want to play with them and I don’t want to scare them.
I think we ought to go home now anyway. Let’s just send a good-bye to our little buddy and say we were called away by our own family.
Yeah, but, Murel, we needed a swimming buddy and he could be it. If he went swimming with us, we could go all the time maybe.
True. I guess if he agreed to do that he’d find out about us being people part of the time anyway. Let’s see what he says. Oh, Otter!
Come, Murel! Come slide with us. You can slide waaaaay down! It’s long and steep but when you get to the bottom you just keep going and going until you slide halfway out to the coast where my cousins live.
We want to come and play, Otter, but we need to talk to you by yourself first. Please. It’s a secret.
CHAPTER 6
A SECRET? O TTERS
LOVE
secrets! Hey, everybody, I’ll be right back. My new friends the seals I was telling you about want to tell me a secret! Maybe they know a secret place where the fish are especially nice.
They had to wait a long time because he had already taken his first slide and had to climb back up the hill again. When he finally reached them, he dove into the hole they had made.
What is it? What’s the secret?
First we want to tell you why you should know about this,
Murel said.
Our parents want us to have a friend to swim with,
Ronan continued.
Someone who knows the waters and won’t get lost and could go for help if something went wrong.
I can do that. Nobody knows the water like an otter. Your parents don’t eat otters either, do they?
No. In fact, our mother isn’t like us at all. Our father is like us, but you’d only know it if you saw him in the water. See, Otter, it’s kind of hard to explain but our mother is human and our father is, like us, a seal only when he’s in the water. On the land he’s a human and, uh, so are we.
“Hah!” the otter said.
That’s interesting. Show me.
You won’t be scared?
Murel asked.
We don’t want to scare you. We really want to be your friends.
Otters don’t scare that easy,
he said, chittering a bit nervously.
Some of my coastal cousins can turn into people too if they want to. They can even get human beings who aren’t like them to turn into otters if they want. Oh, I shouldn’t have told you about that. It’s a secret too. No, not a secret. It was a lie. I was lying so you wouldn’t think otters don’t know about turning into humans and—
It’s okay,
Murel said.
Just so you’re not scared. Come on, Ronan.
They both jumped out of the water, slid to the bank, and shook themselves off.
“Hah!” the otter said and “Hah!” again. He pushed himself out of the water and slid over to inspect them and said “Hah!” several more times as he circled their legs, which were getting goose bumps.
I don’t know why you want to be human. You are all pale and too thin to be warm. You should jump back in and be seals again before you freeze. Being seals isn’t as good as being otters, but it’s much more practical on the river than being human.
Good idea,
Ronan said, running for the water hole.
Murel turned to show the otter the pack with her shiny suit in it.
If we were going to stay human, we’d put on these suits that are stored on our backs but we—
“Hah! Hah!” other otters called loudly from down toward the waterfall slide.
“Hah!” their new friend answered.
Wolves!
he told the children.
Wolves have come. Otter-eating wolves. And our den is up here, uphill from where my family is.
But your family has their big sharp teeth, right?
Ronan asked.
Not as big and sharp as wolves’,
he said, chittering, chirping, and growling aloud in answer to the distress calls from below.
The wolves will eat them all!
Is there a hole in the ice near the falls?
Ronan asked as he teetered on the edge of the ice hole.
Yes, near our slide.
Let’s go then!
he said, diving in. Murel
Yeah. As if. But I really want to play with them and I don’t want to scare them.
I think we ought to go home now anyway. Let’s just send a good-bye to our little buddy and say we were called away by our own family.
Yeah, but, Murel, we needed a swimming buddy and he could be it. If he went swimming with us, we could go all the time maybe.
True. I guess if he agreed to do that he’d find out about us being people part of the time anyway. Let’s see what he says. Oh, Otter!
Come, Murel! Come slide with us. You can slide waaaaay down! It’s long and steep but when you get to the bottom you just keep going and going until you slide halfway out to the coast where my cousins live.
We want to come and play, Otter, but we need to talk to you by yourself first. Please. It’s a secret.
CHAPTER 6
A SECRET? O TTERS
LOVE
secrets! Hey, everybody, I’ll be right back. My new friends the seals I was telling you about want to tell me a secret! Maybe they know a secret place where the fish are especially nice.
They had to wait a long time because he had already taken his first slide and had to climb back up the hill again. When he finally reached them, he dove into the hole they had made.
What is it? What’s the secret?
First we want to tell you why you should know about this,
Murel said.
Our parents want us to have a friend to swim with,
Ronan continued.
Someone who knows the waters and won’t get lost and could go for help if something went wrong.
I can do that. Nobody knows the water like an otter. Your parents don’t eat otters either, do they?
No. In fact, our mother isn’t like us at all. Our father is like us, but you’d only know it if you saw him in the water. See, Otter, it’s kind of hard to explain but our mother is human and our father is, like us, a seal only when he’s in the water. On the land he’s a human and, uh, so are we.
“Hah!” the otter said.
That’s interesting. Show me.
You won’t be scared?
Murel asked.
We don’t want to scare you. We really want to be your friends.
Otters don’t scare that easy,
he said, chittering a bit nervously.
Some of my coastal cousins can turn into people too if they want to. They can even get human beings who aren’t like them to turn into otters if they want. Oh, I shouldn’t have told you about that. It’s a secret too. No, not a secret. It was a lie. I was lying so you wouldn’t think otters don’t know about turning into humans and—
It’s okay,
Murel said.
Just so you’re not scared. Come on, Ronan.
They both jumped out of the water, slid to the bank, and shook themselves off.
“Hah!” the otter said and “Hah!” again. He pushed himself out of the water and slid over to inspect them and said “Hah!” several more times as he circled their legs, which were getting goose bumps.
I don’t know why you want to be human. You are all pale and too thin to be warm. You should jump back in and be seals again before you freeze. Being seals isn’t as good as being otters, but it’s much more practical on the river than being human.
Good idea,
Ronan said, running for the water hole.
Murel turned to show the otter the pack with her shiny suit in it.
If we were going to stay human, we’d put on these suits that are stored on our backs but we—
“Hah! Hah!” other otters called loudly from down toward the waterfall slide.
“Hah!” their new friend answered.
Wolves!
he told the children.
Wolves have come. Otter-eating wolves. And our den is up here, uphill from where my family is.
But your family has their big sharp teeth, right?
Ronan asked.
Not as big and sharp as wolves’,
he said, chittering, chirping, and growling aloud in answer to the distress calls from below.
The wolves will eat them all!
Is there a hole in the ice near the falls?
Ronan asked as he teetered on the edge of the ice hole.
Yes, near our slide.
Let’s go then!
he said, diving in. Murel
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