Loch Nessa

by Clare Kauter

  “No idea,” said Henry. “Although I am starting to see what you mean about the dark magic in the air out here.”

  “You can feel it too?”

  He nodded. “Not as strongly as you describe it, but I can definitely feel it tickling at the edges of my senses.”

  “Do you think I’m cracking your clouding spell again?”

  He didn’t answer for a moment. “I can’t really come up with any other explanation.”

  “Then we definitely can’t rely on clouds too much tonight. I’ll tell Ed to stay out of sight just in case.”

  “Ed will probably just use that as an excuse to disappear.”

  I sighed. He was right, but we didn’t have much of a choice. I was about to say as much when I spotted something across the loch that made me forget my train of thought entirely. Another boat had just docked at the island’s pier, and thanks to a nearby orb of light the boat’s occupants were illuminated as they stepped onto the wooden jetty. They were a distance away, but these two figures were pretty distinctive even just in silhouette from a distance.

  Fach and Gladys.

  I turned to Henry who was staring at the island with his mouth agape.

  “But –”

  “I told you,” I said, voice filled with triumph.

  “But they run a Department approved safe house!” said Henry.

  “Yes, because it was so safe when we were there.”

  He ignored me. “Maybe they’re here to help. Maybe they’ve realised this is where Alora is being kept and they’re trying to sneak in and –”

  Then a wolf padded over to them. Gladys bent down to give the wolf a hug and it licked her cheek.

  “I think they might be in cahoots,” I said, mostly so I could use the word ‘cahoots’ in conversation. What a great word.

  “I can’t believe it,” said Henry, flabbergasted, as we watched more wolves greet and chat with Fach and Gladys.

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, because it’s not like I’ve been telling you this since we met them.”

  “She’s a fugitive. We’ve been looking for her for hundreds of years, and all this time…”

  “Do many creatures of the light go missing around here?”

  Henry pressed his lips together. I assumed that meant he knew what I was getting at.

  “They must tell the wolves about the creatures of the light travelling around the forest, right? And then the wolves capture them and –”

  POP.

  Henry and I both screamed for a second before Ed clapped a hand over each of our mouths. “It’s just me,” he said. “Shut up before you give us away.”

  Henry pulled Ed’s hand away from his face and wiped his mouth on his sleeve as if he was worried about having residue of murderer on him.

  “Did you find anything?” I asked after removing Ed’s hand from my own face.

  “Those people you were staying with are real pieces of work.”

  I poked my tongue out at Henry, who ignored me and asked, “What do you mean?”

  “They’ve been helping the wolves capture you light folk in this forest for years. They’ll either give magicals the wrong directions and send them into wolf territory or just tell the wolves where to find them. One of the wolves was worried that local police would bust up this little party since you guys had been sniffing around, but the others told him not to worry about it. Apparently Gladys has a propensity for clouding spells, and she’s made sure you can’t find this island unless you already know where it is.”

  I nodded. “It makes sense. Do you think she clouds the whole forest so people can’t feel the weird dark energy that comes off it?”

  Ed nodded. “That would be my guess.”

  “You know, part of me wishes your magical forcefield hadn’t broken that particular clouding spell for me, Nessa,” said Henry, wrapping his arms around himself and shivering in the night air. “I can feel the darkness more and more with each passing second and it’s setting my teeth on edge.”

  A thought occurred to me. “If Gladys is so good with clouding spells, do you think she can see through them?”

  Henry and Ed both shook their heads. “You’re the only person I’ve ever seen do that.”

  “Good,” I said. “Either way, Ed, when you cloud yourself over on the island, I still think you should stay out of sight.”

  He nodded. “Good idea,” he said. “Especially since I think the wolves might be on the lookout for a rescue party.”

  Frowning, I said, “I thought Gladys told the wolves not to worry because the island was clouded.”

  “She did, but then one of the wolves told her they’d captured two more witches trying to spring the other one and Gladys flew off the handle. She started swearing and throwing whips of energy at the wolf who told her,” he said. “She’s a bit of a psycho.”

  I was confused. “She was angry that they’d captured two more witches?”

  Henry spoke up. “I suspect she was more annoyed that it wasn’t three more witches and a shifter.”

  Right. I nodded slowly. “So they’re going to be on the lookout for us?”

  Ed nodded. “They’re upping security, apparently, so we’re going to need to be extra careful. Also, not to pressure you or anything, but I don’t think we have too long until they start the ritual.”

  “And I guess you didn’t manage to steal the dragon’s chest?”

  He shook his head. “It had a ward over it that I couldn’t get through.”

  I sighed. Of course it did.

  “Alright. I guess we’ll just have to head over there and do our damnedest.”

  Henry and Ed shared a moment of uncomfortable eye contact.

  “What?” I asked. They didn’t answer. “What is it?”

  “Nothing,” said Ed. “Let’s go.

  We took Hecate’s magic carpet across the water under the cover of a clouding spell and when we arrived on the island we left it parked behind a bush. The carpet was reluctant to stay there alone, but when I explained that we needed it to stay in place if we were going to rescue Hecate, it reluctantly agreed. I told it to hide if anyone came by and it thought they might see it lurking in the bushes.

  I wondered briefly why Hecate and Daisy hadn’t brought the carpet across when they came – after all, it was very loyal and it seemed like a much better getaway plan than a rowboat. Then I realised: their magic still hadn’t been working. They’d taken the boat because Henry had already cloaked it. Gritting my teeth, I tried not to think about how dumb it had been of them to try to rescue Alora by themselves.

  We’d parked close to the jetty and there were wolves patrolling nearby. By now lots of boats were arriving, so we hoped we’d be able to slip in with the crowd without anyone noticing that we hadn’t rowed across. We hid in the shadows as Henry shifted into a wolf and I cast a spell over him to hide his magical aura from the others. Ed took a cone from his pocket and cracked it over Henry, clouding his scent, then clouded himself with another. Henry and I could still see him, but the other occupants of the island wouldn’t be able to, provided everything went to plan – and provided they didn’t spend too much time around me.

  Ed headed for the castle as per our plan to see if he could somehow obtain the key to the dungeon where the witches were being held. My confidence wavered for a moment when he disappeared from sight, and I hoped to Satan that he wasn’t going to abandon me if things got dicey this time.

  Henry gently closed his wolf jaw around my arm.

  “You’re going to have to bite me properly, Henry.”

  His snout wrinkled in disapproval. “I’m not doing that.”

  “If you don’t draw blood, they’re going to wonder why you’re being so careful with me. They’ll know it’s you.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t bite you.”

  “Your chivalry is charming, Henry, but honestly, just this once –”

  “No,” he said. “It’s not that. I really can’t bite you. Remember what happened to Honey whe
n she tried to drink your blood?”

  The image of the purple froth pouring out of her mouth wasn’t one I was likely to forget any time soon.

  “I don’t want to risk it,” he said.

  I sighed. He had a point there.

  “Fine. Claw me up, then. Gouge my arm.”

  Henry hesitated. “I’d really rather not. I don’t like the idea of hurting you.”

  “Henry, I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. Just cut me up a little and I’ll let you heal me later tonight.”

  He was reluctant, but I think he recognised the necessity of it. He closed his eyes and raised his paw. I shut my eyes as well and waited for the pain.

  Nothing.

  I cracked one eye open and saw Henry eyeing my arm.

  “What?” I hissed.

  He looked up at me. “Are you sure you’re not going to accidentally kill me if I hurt you?”

  I glared at him. “I do have some control over myself, Henry. Although if you ask that question again I might kill you.”

  He sighed. “OK, brace yourself.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut and bit back a scream when his claws tore through my arm flesh like rusty knives.

  Breathing rapidly against the pain, I opened my eyes, finding Henry staring at the wounds on my arm in horror, tail between his legs.

  “It’s OK,” I grunted as we both watched the blood ooze from my wounds.

  I realised with panic that neither the stone in my pocket nor the key hanging from the chain around my neck had grown even slightly warm when I’d been wounded. Oh crap. Was there a dampener over this island? I took the stone out of my pocket and looked at it. The inside was lit up, shimmering and swirling, ready to kick in should I need its help. There was no dampener – it had just recognised Henry as a friend. Somehow that made me trust him more. Not that I hadn’t trusted him before, but I’d still been kind of suspicious of how OK he seemed to be with everything.

  Henry took my other arm in his mouth, taking care not to cut me with his canines (ha) as he led me from the bushes into a crowd of people heading towards the castle.

  “Excuse me,” growled one of the wolf guards, striding over to us. Henry and I stopped short as the wolf examined us both. “What are you doing?”

  CHAPTER 24

  “FOUND this one rowing over in a cloaked boat,” said Henry. “Don’t know what she was trying to do, but I figured an extra offering for the ritual couldn’t hurt.”

  The wolf bared his teeth and I wasn’t sure if it was a smile or a threat.

  “I don’t recognise you.”

  It took every ounce of self-control I had not to gulp. This was making me nervous. Why had I thought this was a good plan? Henry and I were both about to be mauled to death. Abort! Abort!

  “Not from around here,” said Henry.

  “You look like you’re from around here.”

  It was lucky I was meant to look panicked, being a prisoner and all, because I don’t think I could have kept the fear I felt in that moment off my face no matter how hard I tried.

  “My dad was,” said Henry. “Mum’s from a pack down south. They never really liked me, so when I heard about the pack up here I decided to move.”

  The wolf nodded, although I wasn’t sure he was entirely convinced. He leant forward and started sniffing Henry. I held my breath as he did so, hoping to hell that Ed’s clouding cone had worked. The wolf spent a lot of time on the smell test – he was really getting a nose full. Honestly, it was a bit creepy to watch. He seemed to be enjoying it a little too much. Eventually he straightened up.

  “Sorry about that. Security’s tight tonight.” The wolf leaned forward conspiratorially. “They thought a shifter might try to sneak in disguised as one of us.”

  Henry made a noise of disgust. “I’d like to see it try.”

  The wolf bared its teeth in what I chose to interpret as a grin. “Welcome to the pack.”

  Say what you will about Ed, he was very talented at using spell cones.

  Henry bared his teeth in the same menacing not-smile as the wolf had given us.

  “Thank you,” he said. He latched back on to my arm and I cried out in faux pain. “What do I do with this one?”

  “Guess you’d better take her in.”

  Henry nodded once, my arm still in his mouth. “To the dunshions?” he said, his words obscured by my limb.

  The wolf shook his head. “They’ve already taken the other sacrifices out to the graveyard.”

  My eyes widened. The graveyard? They were already dead?

  “The ritual’s going to start soon, so just put this one with the others.”

  “Uh…”

  “Up near the altar. You’ll see them when you head up there.”

  He pointed us to a mossy stone staircase that led around the side of the castle rather than through it. Henry nodded and dragged me off to the shadowy steps. Once we were out of earshot of the other wolves, I muttered, “What now?”

  Henry just looked at me, shrugging his doggy shoulders. He had no idea what came next either.

  With a pop, Ed appeared beside us. “The witches were already out of the dungeon when I got there. I had another go at getting through the ward around that chest and I think I nearly died a second time,” he said. “So since our plans are shot to bits, what happens now?”

  Good question.

  “I guess we just see what happens.”

  I stopped talking then because we were nearing the graveyard, which was now filled with wolves and other creatures of the night getting ready for the show. At the front of the congregation, a couple of wolves stood sentinel by Hecate, Daisy and a small, round, blonde witch who I assumed was Alora. Henry dragged me over to join them and stood guard next to me.

  Daisy looked stricken when she saw me. “Nessa, not you too.”

  I shrugged. “I was trying to save you. Didn’t do a great job.”

  “And Henry?”

  Shaking my head, I said, “He shifted into a bat and flew away.”

  “He flew…?” Daisy repeated. She caught the look on my face and raised her eyebrows. I didn’t dare wink or confirm anything, but I knew she’d understood my hint. Henry would never voluntarily fly. And if I was lying about it, then he had to be nearby.

  I nodded and Daisy’s brow furrowed. “Right,” she said.

  One of the wolves who was listening to our conversation snorted. “If you’re talking about your shifter buddy, I promise you that there’s no way he could get onto the island without us sniffing him out immediately.”

  “I’d like to see him try,” said Henry.

  The other wolves laughed low, gravelly laughs and agreed with him. The wolves went back to their own conversation after that.

  “So,” I whispered, “do you know why exactly we’re here?”

  Alora turned to me. “I’m sorry to drag you into this,” she whispered. “I – I just wanted to –”

  “Help the dragon, I know,” I said. “It’s not your fault.” I paused. “Well, it is a bit. But hey, you didn’t drag me here. If I’m going to blame anyone it’s going to be Hecate and Daisy.”

  “You joined the coven of your own free will,” said Hecate.

  “You tricked me into it!” I protested. “You held me down and forced me into a blood pact!”

  She shrugged. “Tomatoes, potatoes.”

  “That’s not… Never mind.” I couldn’t deal with Hecate right now. I turned back to Alora. “So you came here to get the chest?”

  She nodded. “They usually keep it buried in the crypt here, where the remains of all those wolves that were slaughtered years ago are kept. I came here under cover of darkness. It wasn’t full moon and there weren’t meant to be more than a couple of guards patrolling the grounds. Except when I got here, a hundred wolves surrounded and captured me. I’ve been in the dungeons since.”

  “They knew you were coming?”

  She nodded.

  “Did you tell anyone what you were planning t
o do?” Daisy asked. “Apart from the dragon.”

  She shook her head. “No, no one except…”

  “Gladys?” I guessed.

  She nodded. “I asked her for directions here. She seemed so trustworthy, though. I can’t believe she would tip the wolves off.”

  “She did.”

  Hecate and Daisy looked shocked.

  “You can’t go slinging accusations like that around without some serious proof!” said Hecate.

  “She’s here,” I said. “So’s Fach. They’ve been sending light dwellers here to be sacrificed for years.”

  Daisy put her hand to her chest. “How did you find out?”

  “Ed –”

  Henry trod on my foot, reminding me to watch what I said. Usually I was good at keeping secrets, but now that Henry knew everything and Daisy knew some things it was hard to keep track of who knew what.

  “Ed’s a long story,” I said, hoping that it would just sound like I had a cold and that they wouldn’t notice my slip.

  “Do you have a cold?” asked Alora.

  I nodded. “I think I got it from swimming in the loch.”

  She nodded. The others seemed to buy it too.

  “But anyway, I overheard Fach and Gladys talking to a wolf on my way in.”

  Daisy shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe they would have anything to do with this. They’re just so nice.”

  I wasn’t sure what spell or potion Gladys had used to trick everyone into thinking she was so great, but whatever it was, I could definitely use some of my own.

  Looking out at the crowd, I noticed it wasn’t just wolves present – there were all kinds of creatures of the night. Sitting beside Fach and Gladys was an army of redcaps. There were also goblins, which surprised me. Back home, and in Hell, goblins and wolves tended not to get along, yet here they were sitting side by side, not a care in the world. Amazing what a little human sacrifice can do to bring a community together.

  As we’d been talking, the wolves from all over the island, including those who had previously been patrolling the grounds, had assembled in the cemetery. One wolf, who wore a pendant that looked suspiciously like a dried, shrunken eyeball hanging from a leather band around his neck, walked up to the altar that was in front and slightly to the right of our group. A hush fell over the crowd the second he entered the graveyard and everyone watched in awe as he stood in front of the crowd, sunk back onto his haunches, threw his head back and howled at the moon.