The Way of the Sea

Chapter Three: Protective Lies and Shapeshifting Money

"Dad?" Eden called through the closed door of Fredric's office. Behind her back she carried the book. "May I come in?"

She heard the shuffling of paper, the muffled screech of a chair against the floor, followed by footsteps making their way to the door. Eden stepped back in anticipation. The door opened and Fredric studied her through his wire-framed reading glasses. After a moment he stepped aside and invited her inside, pushing his glasses up onto his forehead. Eden shut the door behind her as Fredric sat back down at his desk.

She glanced around the bookshelf-lined room and her eyes fell on a framed photograph on the wall of a strange creature sticking out above a body of water. She squinted to see what the caption read--she had never paid much attention until now--but it was too far away. Finally, after a sidelong glance at Fredric and realizing he was watching her intently, she stood up straighter and faced him.

"Did you sleep well without Bonnie last night?" Fredric asked. His voice was full of concern, but Eden had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it, finding that to voice the words that needed to be said was more difficult than she had imagined. She took a deep breath and restarted. "That's actually why I'm here, Dad. I know you didn't believe me last night...but I really need to talk to you about the book I found."

She pulled the book from behind her, stepping closer to Fredric's desk.

Fredric quickly dropped his reading glasses to the bridge of his nose and stood, causing a few loose papers to fly off his desk in the process. "What--what is that, Eden?" He muttered, tugging at his collar nervously as he walked around his desk and came forward.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Eden replied softly. Her eyes bore longingly into his, yearning for answers.

Fredric seemed too appalled by the book to hear her comment. He gingerly touched the old, worn leather.

"How did you say you found this?" Fredric asked in a broken whisper. If Eden wasn't mistaken, sorrowful tears misted his eyes.

"It was in a drawer, in the closet with mum's things," she said, absently handing the book to Fredric as he reached for it.

Fredric looked up, though again, he was silent. His eyes held a vacant look, as if his mind had left his body and traveled miles away.

"Dad, there's a painting of me in there. But also not me -- in the painting, I have a tail."

After a few moments of agonizing silence, he shook himself back to reality, though he refused to meet Eden's gaze, which was riddled with growing suspicion.

"It's not you," Fredric said at last. "This is just one of your mother's keepsakes -- nothing more. I'm putting this away and you're to have nothing to do with it."

With the book firmly grasped at his chest, he mumbled a brief, "Excuse me," and strode out of the room, leaving the door creaking on its rusting hinges.

Eden stood still, staring at the spot her father had just vacated, questions writing themselves across her mind. Once again, the photograph on the wall caught Eden's attention. This time her curiosity won out, and she moved forward to brush the dust away from the caption, which, to Eden's annoyance, read, "The Loch Ness Monster, Scotland, 1933".

Eden rolled her eyes and sighed. Did everyone believe in such fairy tales? Though, she remembered the chill down her spine from the suffocating whispers, and the screams, and the frightening woman, and the fact that the painting of the girl looked exactly like herself, except for the pale blue, scaly skin. And then, there was the way Fredric looked saddened instead of surprised at the sight of that book....