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I take off, not wanting to stick around to find out if the monster just wanted me for his own dinner—kicking my legs as fast as I can as I rush toward the shore. I can hear it behind me, its massive body seeming to create a wind of its own as it slices through the waves, and even when I’m stumbling onto the rocky shore, I think to myself that this might be the end.

So it’s a massive—pun intended—surprise when the monster rolls onto the shore behind me, its giant form slumping like a beached whale instead of a fearsome creature of myth. Its head lolls to the sand, and from where I’m standing several feet away, I can hear the harsh puffs of its breath.

I don’t know what compels me to move—maybe it’s the way it’s looking at me, not like it wants to eat me but with whatseemslike weary curiosity, and despite my best judgment, I take a cautious step forward. The monster doesn’t move to snap at me, and when I take another step closer, I notice the wound at the base of its neck, ragged and bleeding.

It’s really hurt.

I bite my lip as I hover, stuck between fear for my own safety and worried thatthe Loch Ness Monstermight die because of me—even having a horrible thought that at least there’s another one before coming to a decision.

“Okay,” I tell the creature, taking another slow step. “I’m going to have a look at that, but if you eat me, I’m going to curse you with theworstindigestion you’ve ever had.”

The monster gives a weak chuff, something that might almost sound like a snort on something that wasn’t the size of a small charter plane. I imagine it’s thinking that my threats aren’t much of an incentive not to take a bite out of me, but it’s all I’ve got.

It doesn’t move when I finally get closer to its wound, one big, gleaming eye rolling to watch me as I carefully assess the damage. Which is pretty bad, it seems. The bleeding is steady, and given that I know nothing about the beast’s anatomy, I have no way of knowing if it’s a fatal blow or not.

I rip my jacket off in a flurry of movement; it’s not much in the way of first aid, but it’s literally all I have. I press the fabric to the gaping bite mark, immediately seeing it start to soak with blood, and I feel a sudden onslaught of sadness for this creature, one that I’m pretty sure saved my life.

“You can’t fucking die,” I say raggedly, feeling my eyes burn. “Not now.”

I did it, I think distantly.I found it, Dad.

“You’re not fucking dying, do you hear me?”

I press harder at the wound, desperation clawing at my insides as I silently pray for the bleeding to slow. I don’t know what that will mean for me, and I don’t know if what I’m doing will make any difference, but the desire totryis so strong, it feels like it’s filling me up.Like earlier, I feel so…full. So full of emotion that I can’t seem to contain it.

My body feels too hot, and my eyes blur with tears as I press harder, as I silentlybegwhoever is listening tosavethis creature that is the only tie I have left to my father—and I feel my head swim with the effort of it. I feel that same sensation from Rhona’s house threaten to suffocate me, feel it pouring into my chest like liquid heat.

Heat I can feel in my hands too, weirdly. It’s in my chest and my arms and my palms, and my vision is so blurry now that I can barely see, and my head swims, and my lungs burn, and somehow, there is a faint glow, and then…

Everything goes dark.

10

Lachlan

I wake up to the sound of screaming.

I blink at the morning sun that streams down, feeling a faint twinge in my shoulder when I instinctively raise a hand to shield my eyes. For a moment everything seems fuzzy, like waking up from a dream you can’t quite remember, but when another feral screech sounds from nearby, and paired with the rumpled, irate redhead staring down at me with wild eyes—it doesn’t take long for everything to come rushing back.

The sound of his roaring. The crash of water. The weight of his body slamming into mine.

“Fuck,” I mutter, trying to sit up. “Can you just—” I press the heel of my hand to my forehead, trying to will the throbbing there away. “Can you stop screaming?”

One glance at Keyanna MacKay tells me this was the wrong thing to say.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She throws up her hands just to let them plop to her sides, still gaping at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. “You’rethe Loch Ness Monster?”

I could have just let her be eaten, I think distantly.But no.

I squint in her direction, her flaming hair seeming to burn brighter while backlit by the sun. “What makes you say that?”

“What makes me…Seriously?” She paces back and forth restlessly, gesturing at me with a wave of her hand. “I passed out last night next to a literal dinosaur, and I woke up and it’syou, and you’renaked.”

My eyes flick down, and it occurs to me that she’s right. “Huh.” I bring my knees up and rest my elbows on them, trying to hide the more sensitive parts of my body. She’s already blushing enough as it is. “I like to night-swim every now and again.”

“You like to night-swim,” she echoes blandly.

I stretch my arms above my head and groan at the tightness in my shoulders. “That’s right.”