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“Och, because I suppose your American nine-foot-tall ape man is so much more believable?”

“I’m not trying to argue which cryptid is more believable,” I say. “I mean, I saw the Loch Ness Monster last week. So…”

“Kelpies”—he stresses the word, daring me with his eyes to question him—“are known to be tricksters with great magic. Their power lies in their bridles, and it’s said that if you can take control of a kelpie’s bridle, you can control their magic as well.”

“Okay, that’s interesting, but what does it have to do with your ancestor?”

“My ancestor struck a deal with a kelpie witch. He promised her safe haven for her and all her kin if she would lend him the power to defeat the clans who sought to claim his land.”

“And did she?”

“Aye, she did,” he tells me. “But when it was through, she cursed him anyway.”

I frown. “But why?”

“And how am I to know?” He throws up his hands in frustration. “It’s not as if there’s some history book I can leaf through. Everything I know has been passed down in stories from one Greer to the next. It’s said they’re wicked, selfish creatures. Maybe he was punished for daring to think he could wield her magic in the first place. All I know is that, because of her, every son in my family turns into a beast at night.”

I look down at my shoes, considering. It seems too fantastical, everything he’s telling me, but then again, Iliterallyjust found out last week that the Loch Ness Monster was a hot, asshole-ish farmhand during the day, so I know I need to keep an open mind. Besides, magic horse witches seem as good a reason as any for Lachlan to turn into a dinosaur-looking creature every night.

“And that’s all the curse said? Was there any more?”

His lips part, and for the briefest moment there is a slight widening of his eyes, but then his mouth drifts closed, and he clears his throat. “Aye, that’s all there was. All I have to go on. It’s not been much help, I can tell you that.”

“So what happened to the rest of your family? Are they…are they in the loch too?”

He shakes his head. “We don’t live longer than any other human. We don’t have any special sort of powers. My grandpa passed away when I was a boy. My mother left when—” His jaw clenches as he goes quiet, and I notice the way his fists tighten at his sides. “My mother left when my da disappeared.”

“He disappeared? When?”

“When I was still a boy. Eight or so. My mum couldn’t handle it. I lived with my granny after that until she passed.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, meaning it. “Was it—was it something to do with your curse?”

He meets my gaze, his eyes hard and so angry-looking. “Aye, it was.”

“He didn’t— I mean, that is, is he still…?”

“He’s alive.”

“How do you know?”

“Well,” Lachlan says carefully, his eyes still locked with mine. “For starters, he tried to eat you the other night.”

My mouth gapes with the implication. “You mean—you mean he’s—”

“Aye.” Lachlan nods solemnly. “One night, my da changed into a monster.” His brow knits, a glint of sadness in his eyes. “And then he never changed back.”

“I…Wow.”

“He’s no more than a beast now,” Lachlan says quietly. “He doesn’t know me. Not anymore.”

His words send a sharp stab of pain through me, and I have the strangest urge to reach out and hug him, but I hold myself back. I have a feeling he wouldn’t be very welcoming of the gesture.

“I’m sorry,” I say again. “I know how hard that is. Trust me.”

“I reckon you do,” Lachlan answers just as softly. “Maybe that’s why I’m telling you.”

“So your dad…” My head swims as pieces fall together, the enormity of everything he’s saying crashing down on me and making it a little hard to breathe. “Your dad saved my dad.”