Loch Nessa (Damned Girl Book 4)

by Clare Kauter

  Daisy sent an orb of light out in front of us. It flickered like a lightbulb during an electrical storm. I tried not to let that concern me. Sure, the death draught had impacted Daisy's magical abilities, but that was nothing to worry about. Just breathe. Wait, no! Don't breathe. Just, uh, walk. Walk along in your lifeless body.

  Even in its diminished state, the orb managed to illuminate a decent patch of the water around us, which offered at least a little comfort. It was a hard slog, pushing against the currents and picking through the thick water weeds and trying not to get carried away by the movement of the water around us. It was especially hard when you were dead. God, why had Daisy done this to me? To herself? Henry was going to be furious when we got out of here. Well, if we got out. For a bunch of light witches, the Green Wattle sisters got up to some shady shit.

  A dark figure moving up ahead caught my eye. I put out my arms to stop the others and my hand slid across Henry's slimy surface. If I'd still had a gag reflex, it would have been working overtime at that. There was no time to waste on being disgusted by Henry's gross fishy self, however. Not right now. I squinted, trying to see better, but even with the light from the orb I was having trouble discerning what it was. It could be the monster or a massive piece of lake weed – I had no idea.

  The others saw what I was looking at and judging by the expressions on their faces they didn't know what it was either. I bit the inside of my lip, careful not to open my mouth again lest the festering lake water seep in. I didn't know if it was just my imagination, but the figure up ahead appeared to be getting closer. I waited for a moment, and then decided it was definitely getting closer – and at speed. I gestured at the others to get out of the thing's way and hide behind a nearby rock. The other corpses and I shuffled over to hide while Henry did his best to shield us from the creature's view. I guess there were some advantages to his gross slimy form.

  From our hiding place, now that the thing was closer, we could see that it was a shadowy four-legged creature of about my height. As it drew under the light, it occurred to me that maybe I should have told Daisy to put the orb out, but it was too late for that now. The thing had seen it.

  It stalked closer, eventually stopping right under the orb and sniffing it. Although the creature was dark and largely blended into the inky background of the loch, now that it was this close to the light I could finally see what it was. Not the monster, I realised. This looked like a... a horse. Not a horse, I realised. A Kelpie – the child-snatching water horse of Scottish legend. It looked over towards us and, seeing Henry, cantered away, presumably to abduct someone's kid.

  We shuffled out from our hiding spot and continued our search for the monster. A thought occurred to me and I considered frowning, but it seemed like too much effort. (Seriously, when your heart's not pumping, getting your body to do anything is a struggle.) What would happen when the Dora wore off? We didn't have any air in our lungs – would we be able to make it to the surface of the lake in time to get oxygen into our bloodstream?

  Again, I thought I saw the monster, but it turned out to be a group of mermaids watching us. They kept their distance and I didn't really get a good look at them, which was kind of annoying. Travel all the way to Loch Ness and I didn't even have time to stop and look at the mermaids. I didn't just want to look at them for a touristy thing to do – I was curious to find out more about them. Were they dark or light magicals? Were they a kind of faery? Mermaids had long been the subject of debate among scholars, and I wanted to form my own opinion. Unfortunately, due to my recent death my magic was on the fritz and I couldn't even send out my feelers to test their energy. Sigh. Scuba gear would have been infinitely preferable to this.

  Eventually the high pitched giggling of the mermaids faded as we left them behind and entered a somehow even darker patch of the lake. The ground dropped away beneath us and we sank to the bottom of a deeper pit within the loch. The orb did its best to illuminate our surroundings, but it had its work cut out for it attempting to penetrate the oppressive darkness down here. The light began to flicker and then it stopped. To help, I made a pitiful attempt at creating my own orb, but it only cast light for about a metre before dissipating. I glanced at Daisy, who tried to cast another orb, but this one spluttered and disappeared as well. She shrugged apologetically. The Dora was definitely inhibiting our abilities.

  What now? We were lost in complete darkness. Should we head back to the surface of the lake and cut our losses? Then we could invest in some proper dive gear and come back down here under a less dangerous set of circumstances.

  I was just about to start trying to perform an interpretive dance to indicate to the others that we should head back to the surface of the lake when the water around us seemed to grow lighter. I glanced around at the others, wondering who had managed to get their magic working. Henry would have been my first guess, but he looked just as confused as I was.

  The water around us turned blue, a bright blue like the ocean, as it filled with light. I squinted in the sudden brightness. Whose energy was responsible for this?

  Then the ground under my feet began to move.

  This was another one of those moments when my heart would have raced if it had still been beating. I slowly tilted my head down to see what I was standing on. It was a vibrant, glowing blue and it was covered in scales. I'd found the source of the light.

  It was the Loch Ness monster. And we'd woken him up.

  CHAPTER 16

  NOT THE BEST FIRST IMPRESSION, really, stepping on the dragon you want to question. I could only hope he would realise it was an accident. I looked at the others. Henry manoeuvred until he was vertical in the water and jerked his head upwards, indicating towards the surface of the lake. He didn't have to tell me twice. I pushed off from the dragon's back and kicked my legs as powerfully as I could, trying to swim up. I managed to get about a metre before I started sinking again. Henry took a deep breath in eel form before shifting into a whale. He beckoned us with his pectoral fin. We all clambered onto his back while the serpent beneath us uncoiled and slithered around. Once we were all on Henry's back, he began to swim up as fast as he could.

  Unfortunately, the dragon was faster.

  The giant serpent rose before us, his head and neck blocking our exit. Henry could have tried to swim around him, but the dragon's slinky body was much faster than Henry's. We were trapped. The monster's face split into a big grin and I tried not to stare too long at its teeth. Best not to dwell on what was to come. The dragon was long, impossibly long, with the body of a snake and the tiny, impractical arms of a tyrannosaurus. His head was unlike a snake's – it was rectangular, with big nostrils and navy and turquoise barbels like a catfish.

  The dragon clapped its vestigial limbs together in a way that might have been comical under different circumstances.

  More visitors? I'm so popular lately! said a voice in my head. OK, it was official. I'd been worried about this for some time, but now it had been confirmed – I was going crazy. There was no other explanation for why I would be hearing voices. Wait, maybe it was a side effect of Dora? That would be a comfort. Kind of. Unless the Dora had a permanent impact on my brain.

  Are you OK? asked the voice.

  Sure I am, I replied. Don't mind me.

  OK, said the voice. Well, do you want to tell me what you're doing here?

  Shouldn't I be asking you that?

  The voice didn't answer for a moment. Um, I've been here for hundreds of years. I kind of thought you would know that already.

  What the hell are you –

  And it was at that point that I realised it wasn't a voice in my head I was talking to: it was the dragon. Somehow he was speaking to me through my thoughts. I frowned, not quite sure what to say now that I realised I was communicating with the Loch Ness Monster via ESP.

  Oh, right, I thought back at him. Sorry. I got a bit confused. Thought you were someone else.

  You thought I was a different dragon who lives at the bottom of
Loch Ness? he asked incredulously.

  Um, yes, I replied, not really sure that I could – or should – explain what I'd actually thought.

  Sorry to be rude, but I don't know how much longer we can survive down here, said Daisy. So apparently I could hear the others' thoughts too. Interesting. Dragon magic was so cool. Daisy continued, We were hoping to ask you a question, Nessie.

  Why were you hoping to ask me a question? I asked Daisy, confused. Why didn't you just ask me while we were on land? Now really doesn't seem the right time to –

  Nessie, not Nessa. She's talking to the dragon, you idiot, Henry thought. Loudly. How did he even manage to think sarcastically?

  Oh. Right. Sorry.

  The dragon gave me a curious look before nodding at Daisy. What can I do for you?

  Not eat us? I thought.

  He put his tiny hand to his chest. How could you? I would never!

  He seemed genuinely offended. I frowned. Really?

  Of course not. For one, I'm a vegetarian.

  I raised my eyebrows, though it took some effort. Was the potion somehow making me deader the longer it was in my system? Or was there something down here that was affecting me? The cold of the lake or the dragon or...

  Of course. The dragon was dampening our magic. Not intentionally – it was a natural ability they had. Satan had mentioned it to me once when she was first teaching me about magic and magical creatures. The potion definitely wasn't helping, but the reason Daisy's orb had finally flickered out was because we were so close to the dragon.

  I'm sorry, I thought. He was a herbivore, which meant he didn't eat Alora. OK, so far, so good. That meant I could stop staring at his teeth, since he wasn't going to use them on me. I squinted. Wait, was that something green wedged between his canines? I tried not to shudder as I remembered seeing something similar stuck between Pierre's teeth. I didn't mean to offend you. You seem like a very nice dragon.

  Nessie's cheeks turned a bright purple. He was blushing at the compliment. Oh, you're too kind.

  Maybe it was seaweed in his teeth. Or lake weed. Loch weed. Whatever grew in here. Not rotting meat like in Pierre's mouth, definitely. I tried not to stare too long or think too loudly about it, which of course only made me stare and think about it more.

  We actually wanted to ask you about someone else who came here to visit you, thought Henry, forcefully enough that I hoped he was drowning out my thoughts.

  Who would that be, whale man?

  I frowned. Do you get many visitors down here?

  A couple.

  What about a witch? Daisy asked. She would have been here recently.

  Alora? asked the dragon.

  Daisy and I looked at each other. Bingo.

  So you met her?

  Yes, I did. Lovely girl. How do you know her?

  She's in our coven, Hecate explained.

  And how is she? Did she have any luck with my brother?

  Hark, was that a clue?

  Your brother? Henry repeated.

  Yes, she... His scaly brow wrinkled as he caught our facial expressions. You haven't heard from her?

  We all shook our heads (which is quite hard work when you're a zombie). The force of Henry's head shake just about pitched me off his back. With my compromised range of movement, this was basically a rodeo.

  His scales went from being an impressive glowing blue to a dull kind of grey. He didn't need to project his thoughts for me to know that he was worried.

  What is it? I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer, but I thought I'd better ask anyway. When I felt my toes start to grow warm, I asked again – more urgently this time. What is it, Nessie? Did Alora go to see your brother?

  He nodded again. I mentioned that my brother had anger management issues and she insisted that she could help him.

  Hecate scoffed. She should never have taken that psychology elective. She's forever diagnosing people and 'helping' them. It'd be more helpful if she just stayed away.

  If we don't find out where she's gone, Hecate, she might just stay away forever, I snapped. Yes, I admit, I was still angry with Hecate for tricking me into joining the coven and even more so that she'd tricked me into drinking a vial of Dora.

  Daisy, Henry and Nessie shifted uncomfortably and I began to feel the heat spreading up my feet towards my ankles. The Dora was wearing off.

  We need to get back to the surface, I thought.

  What's wrong? Henry asked.

  The potion's wearing off, I said. Nessie, quick. Your brother, the one with the anger issues – where does he live?

  He lives in another loch.

  Is it far?

  Nessie shook his head. I'll show you.

  He sent us all a mental image of the loch – if you could call it that. It didn't seem particularly grand as bodies of water go. It was located in the middle of a field, and if it went too many days without rain I imagined it would probably just dry up, although that wasn't so much of a problem in this part of the world. It just looked like a scaled-up puddle. (Particularly scaled up seeing as it had a dragon living in it, am I right?) Included in the mental impression he'd given us were directions to the loch.

  Thanks, Nessie, I said, anxious to get out of the water. I glanced up. It was a long way to the surface, and I could feel heat spreading up my limbs with every passing second. Once the warmth reached my lungs, I'd need to breathe. If we raced, we might be at the top of the loch before that happened, but it was getting less and less likely the longer we stayed down here.

  If you go and visit him, be careful, said Nessie. I hope he didn't hurt Alora...

  Do you think he could have?

  Nessie didn't respond, but that was an answer in itself.

  OK, Henry, I thought. I hope this whale body of yours is as turbo-charged as your gorilla form.

  Henry didn't actually think any words, but his mind sent out an uncertain sort of shrug. He obviously hadn't spent much time in his whale form, or if he had, he hadn't been carrying three corpses on his back and racing against the clock.

  I waved goodbye to Nessie, alarmed at the sensations moving through my half-dead, half-alive arm. I hoped that the experience of the Dora leaving my system wouldn't be as unpleasant as the feeling of it entering. I was spared worrying about this for too much longer, because Henry was now manoeuvring his massive body to point up towards the surface. He wasn't facing directly upwards, but staying on his back was still enough of a struggle.

  When Henry swished his powerful tail, I was impressed by how fast we were projected forwards. His whale might not have been as buff as his gorilla, but it still had some sweet muscles. (Was it weird to be so impressed by a shifter's muscles when they were in animal form? Would I ever stop asking myself that question?)

  Henry swam as hard as he could and he was going exceptionally fast for something so big, but I wasn't sure that it was fast enough. What if we didn't reach the surface in time? How long would it take for me to drown? I tried to look on the positive side. At least if I died here I could stop going on stupid quests to get the qualification needed to use magic I'd mastered as a teen.

  The heat had reached my legs now. My upper leg felt especially hot. With a sinking stomach (metaphorically; my actual stomach was as still as the dead), I realised that unlike in the rest of my thawing-out limbs, it wasn't the sensation of life returning to my cells that I could feel in my thigh. It was the Doomstone. We were outside of the dragon's magical suppression radius now and the stone's protective capabilities had kicked in. I panicked. What was I meant to do? On one hand, I probably wasn't going to die if Henry couldn't get me to the surface in time. The Doomstone would protect me. On the other hand, it would probably protect Hecate and Daisy as well, and as soon as we got back to shore they'd arrest me and haul me off to the dungeons where I'd live out the rest of my days in disgrace, going slowly crazy as I was starved of magic.

  My teeth began to chatter even as my body grew warmer – the heat in my arms slid up my wrists, over
my elbows, into my shoulders. It was growing dangerously close to my heart and lungs. I wished I had a way to tell Henry to hurry. A few more seconds and it was game over. The warmth would infiltrate my organs and I'd come alive, and the Doomstone would do what it had to do to get me to safety.

  Even though I hadn't said anything – couldn't say anything – Henry seemed to have read my mind. I checked briefly to see if Nessie was somehow allowing us to still communicate telepathically, but it didn't appear so. Maybe Henry had just felt us growing warmer against his back and decided he'd better hurry things up a bit. He tipped up further and we all scrambled to cling to him. I hooked an elbow over a pectoral as he pumped his tail back and forth, heading straight for the surface.

  The water around us looked brown rather than black now and I knew we were close to the top, but then things seemed to get darker. Oh no – my vision was going again. Why had they even bothered outlawing Dora? No one would take this stuff willingly, and if they did then they deserved what happened to them. My body began to shiver slightly, then it began to shake and shudder and jerk around violently. I clasped my hands together and hugged Henry's fin as close to me as I could, praying that I wouldn't slip off. If I didn't get to the surface some time in the next, say, five seconds...

  Then my skin caught fire, my brain exploded and all rational thought ceased.

  My symptoms stopped as abruptly as they'd started, and looking around I realised three things: I was alive again, I was still underwater and I desperately needed air. Henry was going at top speed but my lungs were screaming and the Doomstone was burning and I just wasn't sure we were going to make it in time –