Page 83 of Cold Curses

“The wards were powered by the cornerstones,” he said. “It’s a big magical daisy chain, so you break a connection to one, andthe entire system goes down. We were testing spells to reconnect the wards to the ley lines one ward at a time, starting with this one. And we apparently triggered it.”

“And that broke the bridge?” I asked, confused.

“Not exactly,” he said.

“Why don’t you just fix the bridge with magic?” Theo asked.

“We can use magic to move the chunks of concrete out of the water,” Aunt Mallory said, “but that wouldn’t make the bridge structurally sound. That would require engineers.”

And we didn’t need emergency vehicles in the river because their drivers thought the bridge had been fixed.

“And the ward didn’t break the bridge,” Mom said. “The triggering woke something up.”

“Something?” I asked.

She looked toward the river. “A demon ward’s Guardian.”

I walked over to the rail that separated the street from the river below, and looked down at the dark water. I saw nothing for a moment, but then something glinted, reflecting the overhead streetlights. But it was gone in a second, and I wasn’t sure if I’d actually seen something or just a trick of light on the water. And then I saw it again. It was long and dark and sleek, with skin the iridescent color of spilled gasoline: blues and violets and greens waving together. And then it submerged again.

“Whoa,” I said. “It’s big.”

“Is it a snake?” Theo asked beside me at the rail. His voice was low. “I really hate snakes.”

“We aren’t sure,” Mom said. “We just know it didn’t like the spell. It was literally triggered.”

“The ward was created more than a hundred years ago,” Theo said. “How long does whatever this is live?”

“Apparently a while,” Mom said.

“Did you call the CPD?” Theo asked, glancing back. There were no CPD or emergency vehicles nearby.

“Roger did,” Mom said. “We talked to him, and he talked to Gwen. She suggested not bringing in any human cops, given it’s not really our enemy and they aren’t really equipped to handle underwater creatures.” She looked at Theo, smiled a little. “Other than skilled Ombuds, of course.”

“Of course.”

“And there aren’t any demons nearby, so we aren’t certain how much more activity there will be anyway.”

The water rippled, and instinct had me grabbing Theo’s arm to nudge him prophylactically back from the railing…which I did a millisecond before the creature launched into the air: thirty feet of wet and claws and a mouth of dripping teeth longer than my arm—

I yanked Theo back hard enough to have us both toppling to the ground—and just out of the reach of those jaws.

The creature roared, blowing back our hair, but even stretched to its max, it was still a foot short of reaching us. It looked like a cross between a snake and a shark—or maybe like an ancient oceanic dinosaur. Its body was wider than its long tail, and its fins were elongated. Its head was viper shaped, its eyes ovals with wide pupils. It smelled of dark and wet and apparently made its home in the depths of the river.

It wasn’t unusual for humans to claim they’d seen a monster in the lake or the river. But that usually turned out to be trash, abandoned kayaks, or snakehead fish, which were nightmare fuel in their own right. I wondered if any human had gotten it right and actually seen this guy.

I glanced at Aunt Mallory and my mom, both of whom seemed really unfazed considering we’d all just learned the Chicago Riverhad its own Loch Ness monster. This was going to make Petra’s week.

“Aren’t you freaked out?” I asked.

Mom lifted a shoulder. “I mean, it’s not great. But I think the dragon was worse.”

Aunt Mallory nodded. “The Egregore was much worse.”

While monster seemed unbothered by the sentiment, hearing things like that made me wish I could crawl inside myself and disappear.

The leviathan broke the water surface with a clap of sound and a spray of water, then slapped its tail and hit the rail where we’d stood moments before. With the horrible screech of wrenched metal, it ripped away a section of balusters, and dragged a chunk of sidewalk and retaining wall into the water. It made a deep, bass roar before diving into the water again.

“How do we calm it down?” I asked, looking back at the Moms. “We can’t let it keep doing this. And we can’t kill it for helping.”