"Cummon, Celian," she whispered. "Please come back... please..."
Had it really been only a few days since she arrived at Afton-By-The-Sea determined to hate it—only to discover two of the most meaningful friendships she had ever experienced?
Thoughts of sharing memories with Celian on this very beach turned into the terrified expression frozen upon his face in the general store. Why? Had she done something or said something wrong? Was it a terrible memory that had nothing to do with her? Would she ever know, or would she spend the rest of her days tormented by guilt she could not understand?
Madi plopped down onto the sand, just beyond the ebbing tide. Drawing her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them, staring hard at the oblivious ocean before her, willing Celian—even in his Leonie form—to emerge from the surf. Tears blurred her vision and trickled down her face, but Madeline couldn't bring herself to cry.
"Please come back," she whispered hoarsely. "I need you."
Moments later, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck lift, and her seat warmed as if someone was wrapping his arms around her—but when she turned around, she saw no one. Feeling more alone than ever, Madi resumed watching the waves on that long, lonely beach. She shivered and wrapped her arms closer around herself, wishing she had remembered a blanket. Finally, the choking sobs shook themselves free, and Madi cried softly in the rushing wind.
Something darker than the sand caught her vision, and Madi glanced down at her hand where it landed.
A mother-of-pearl shell winked up at her—just like the shell she'd found right before discovering Celian.
Madi gasped and immediately looked up just in time to see the long, lanky form that could not belong to anyone else, almost folding on itself as Celian moved to sit next to her.
She couldn't help herself. Madi threw her arms around him, resting her head on his chest.
"I knew you would come back," she whispered. He even wore the clothes she had left for him.
Celian hesitated for a moment before patting Madi on the back.
"I'm sorry," he murmured softly.
Madeline sat up and regarded him through the tears of relief welling in her eyes and dribbling down her face. "It's okay now," she replied. "But why did you leave like that? Why did you run away?" She tilted her head. "What happened, Celian?"
He bent his knees up and rested his elbows on them. She left her hand on his knee, and he fiddled with it, tracing the fingers with his own, as if he felt the need to get used to the feel of human skin again.
"Madi," he said, "do you remember when I told you how whenever I change form, I take on the psyche of whatever I shift into?"
Madi watched him examine her hand, almost as if she was afraid he might turn again if she so much as blinked. What sort of psyche, then, would cause the sort of behavior she witnessed in the store?
"Well, there's another part to it," he went on. "When I'm in the psyche of a form that is not my natural state—"
"You mean, like your human form," she guessed.
He nodded. "Yes; when I take on another form, I must clear my mind of all memories of any previous form. If I witness something that triggers a memory I would have made in a previous form, it causes the present form to slip, and I start reverting back to a Leonie, and we can't survive long outside of water."
Understanding washed over Madeline as she recalled the limp, thrashing, flailing shamble she had witnessed the day before. "Is that why you had to leave?" She asked, eyes wide. "Were you changing into a Leonie?"
Celian nodded. "I knew I needed to get to the water before I couldn't run anymore." He smirked. "Could you imagine if I had been stuck in the middle of town when the change happened?"
Madi's awe dimmed somewhat. Abruptly, she let go of Celian's hand and jumped to her feet so she could look him in the eye. "Why didn't you tell us? Father and I could have helped you—"
Celian shrugged defensively. "I tried," he said. "The change happened before I could get the words out."
Madi fell silent as she considered the validity of this. "So..." she began slowly, "what was it? What was the memory?"
Celian grimaced. "Madi, I can't—" he stopped when he saw her face. That small tender smile crept over his face. "If you must know," he said slowly, "it was the woman you introduced, Miss Agatha Dalton."
Madi's jaw dropped and her eyes popped wide. "Miss Agatha?" She squealed. "But how? When did you meet her? I thought you'd never been human before!"
"I haven't," Celian answered, "but that doesn't mean—What I mean to say is..." his voice trailed off and his face grew very red as he rubbed the back of his neck, taking the time to scrub behind his ears. Finally, he took Madi's hand. "Madeline," he said slowly, "what I am about to tell you is going to be very difficult, as it might trigger another break just like the one I had in the store."
Madi would have drawn back in fear, but he held her hand. "What are you going to tell me?" She asked in a small, quivering voice.
With his free hand, Celian reached down and opened the shirt enough to give her a glimpse of the scar on his side. "I'm going to tell you how I got this."
Madi well remembered how afraid he had been on the day before the storm, when she had first asked him about it. She waited quietly for him to continue.
"Do you remember the story about the robbery at Miss Agatha's house, and the kitchen maid who raised the alarm?"
Madi nodded. Her father had steadfastly refused to talk about it, but the rumors flew about the young girl's ears. "The maid was caught by the robbers, and they might have killed
