Keeper of the Loch

Chapter One

Architeuthis! This was the day Rogan MacClean had dreamed about for years. Here he was at the bottom of the ocean, just off New Zealand, with a giant squid right in front of him. “Come on, baby,” he softly whispered to himself. “Get a little closer. Let me have a good long look.”

A familiar voice echoed over the radio. “Daedalus to Icarus, come in.”

Rogan transmitted back, “Are you getting a good look at this, Wayne?” From the remote vehicle fathoms below, Rogan could hear his research partner, Wayne Davidson, attempting to calm the shouts of congratulations in the background. As the first man to ever encounter a living giant squid, Rogan was finding it hard to contain his own excitement. He could hardly begrudge his crew theirs, but he had to get pictures and film of the event. For that, he needed Wayne to verify what he received topside.

“Can you move the submersible in closer, Rogan? I don’t want to scare ’er away, but the pictures alone will be worth a mint. You were right about the outside lights attracting its attention. Good Lord, the thing is right on top of you!”

“I’ll see what I can do. Just keep recording the data no matter what.” Rogan brought the submersible a few feet closer to the creature. He guessed the fifty-foot-long adult squid weighed in at just over two thousand pounds. It was not only a huge specimen for its genus, but a megalith to maneuver around. As careful as he was to not frighten the floating giant away, the behemoth seemed that curious as to what and who he was. It moved closer and Rogan got a good look right into its inky black eye. That glassy orb was as big around as the mouth of a garbage can and rolled back and forth in its enormous socket. He grinned and felt as if he could reach right through the glass of the submersible, Icarus, and touch the body in front of him.

“Let’s see just how camera shy you are.” Rogan reached for the camera controls and began taking still pictures before the animal could be frightened away. His heart began to beat twice its normal rate when the squid refused to be frightened and actually moved in on him. When it hit the outside of the submersible and knocked him against the left side of the interior compartment, he heard Wayne’s warning over the radio.

“The video just gave us a good look at what it’s doing. Don’t get any closer, Rogan.”

Rogan wasn’t listening to that bit of advice. “Gotta do this, old buddy. We may never get the chance again. I want to know what makes her tick.”

“Dammit, Rogan! You’re close enough,” Wayne warned.

Ignoring his friend’s request for the second time, Rogan kept taking pictures until the creature actually bumped the vessel again. He knew it had one tentacle wrapped around the back of Icarus but didn’t care. This was a historical moment and nothing was going to stop him from spending as much time as he could with the animal. A few seconds later, he heard the hull actually groan in protestation.

“Rogan! Back off and that’s an order,” Wayne called out. “We’re getting some serious compression readings up here.”

Before he could make the decision to defy that instruction as he had the others, the squid withdrew a few feet, rolled its glassy eye at him once more then quickly fled. Despite its size, the thing seemed to accelerate at an alarming rate. Its cylindrical length slid into the inky darkness of the surrounding water. Rogan could hear Wayne speaking over the radio again, but he was so elated at the encounter that it was difficult to pay attention to what was being said. Over that same radio, he could hear the crew shouting out in relief and ecstatic jubilation. Today, they’d all made history. No man had ever done what he just had and Rogan knew he’d go down as a hero in all the scientific journals. It was his claim to immortality and he savored the moment before taking a deep breath and finally responding back to his crew member’s urgent calls.

“Yeah, I’m all right, Wayne. No damage here.” Just as he said it, a small leak erupted near a pipe. “Uh, maybe I spoke too soon. Guess you’d better bring me up, guys. Icarus is taking on some water. Do you copy?”

“Get the crane ready to haul him the hell up,” Wayne commanded, then let out a long string of colorful metaphors that even had his jaded research crew wincing. “That son-of-a-bitch won’t quit until he gets himself killed.”

As Rogan rode the submersible to the surface and waited for the crane to slowly lift it out of the water and onto the deck of Daedalus, he could feel every nerve in his body react with the sheer joy of discovery. This was why he’d become a marine biologist in the first place. To research the last unreachable places on earth—the depths of the ocean and its inhabitants. For years, he and Wayne had begged grant money for this one instant in time. When the scientific world learned of what they’d done, he and his staff would be reeling in money from lectures and could have their pick of research posts and interviews. There would be no more scraping and kissing butt for money any longer and he hoped the pictures and data the Icarus had gathered would prove invaluable to future studies. From here on out, he and Wayne could call the shots with the Architeuthis studies as well. The world would hail them, specifically him, as the expert on the subject. It was a moment of pure victory and he felt it as keenly as he would have experienced a deep orgasm. It was pure heaven.

When the crane gently lowered the Icarus to the deck of the Daedalus, Rogan popped the hatch and emerged to the cheers of his co-workers. He stayed there, half in and half out of the exit port, not wanting to leave that den of discovery for a few more moments. The crew was busy taking pictures that Rogan knew would be distributed to every scientific journal and newspaper in the world. Because of the close call with the ruptured seam, Rogan could see Wayne was trying his best to look pissed as hell. But his loyal partner and friend of over ten years wasn’t doing a very good job of pretending to be angry.

“We did it, buddy,” Rogan held up the palm of his hand and Wayne jumped up to slap his to it. The next moment, Rogan was embracing the man with the same gusto as he was being hugged. Wayne had to hang off the side of the submersible to do it, but it would make a great picture for the magazines. Then Rogan heard someone open a bottle of champagne. The telltale pop of the cork had everyone cheering even louder. One of the crew leapt up and poured some of the golden, bubbly fluid over both him and Wayne. Rogan threw his head back and yelled at the top of his lungs. At that moment, he truly believed there would never be another instance in his life to equal this experience.

“You flaming idiot,” Wayne began between bouts of laughter, “you could have got yourself killed. Nobody knows how those things will react.”

“Well, we know a hell of a lot more than we did yesterday, don’t we?” Rogan enthusiastically countered. “And what about the pictures? Did they come through?”

Wayne broke into a broad grin. “Every last one. We’ve got video and sonar readings to go with it.”

Rogan finally pulled himself out of the small hatch, jumped down off the submersible and landed on the deck. He did what he always had when he and Wayne had a successful day, he rubbed the older man’s head vigorously, making his graying tawny hair stand on end. “Come on, I need a hot shower and I want to get a look at the data.”

“Here, don’t waste it,” Wayne said as he handed Rogan a plastic cup full of champagne. “It’s a hundred bucks a bottle. The crew has a lot of faith in you.”

Rogan laughed, swallowed down the champagne then made his way to the graph room and his quarters beyond. Wayne left him to set up the video and replay what Rogan had seen with his own two eyes, fathoms beneath where the Daedalus floated on top of the ocean’s waves. And all Rogan could think about was the euphoria and pure energy he still felt from having encountered a creature of such immense size and one that had been, until now, completely elusive to man. He remembered, once again, that this event might never happen again. He could end up not only being the first man to have done what he just did, but the only one. He quickly pulled off his clothing, turned on the shower and let the hot water pour over his body. If he slept at all this night, he’d be greatly surprised. His entire mind was still reeling with impressions and adrenaline. He couldn’t wait to go over the data with Wayne and the rest of the crew and have another round of expensive French champagne.

When he entered the graph room where he knew the crew would be waiting for him, however, Rogan was met with stony silence. There was a grim look on the faces of all the crew and Wayne stood to one side with a piece of paper in his hand. An eerie feeling went up Rogan’s spine. He glanced at Wayne and saw the older man motion him to follow. Rogan did as Wayne indicated, wondering if this was some kind of practical joke. The crew sometimes pulled them, especially after a hard day of work. But that explanation for the sudden gloomy attitude quickly fled when the door to Wayne’s small office was closed and his long-time friend and colleague motioned him to sit down.

“Okay, what’s up?” Rogan suddenly leaned forward as a horrifying thought gripped him. “We did get all the data, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, Rogan. This isn’t about what happened today.”

Rogan watched the older man, run his hands through his thick hair. It looked as though he was trying to find a way to say something that he’d rather not. “Just spit it out, Wayne. What the hell’s going on? We’re supposed to be celebrating.”

“There’s no easy way to say this. The radioman just got this a few minutes ago.” He passed a piece of paper to Rogan and waited.

Rogan looked down at the message and felt his heart fall into the pit of his stomach. He read, The Scottish Coast Guard reports that Kyle MacClean and Patricia Avery-MacClean have been reported lost while on a research dive in Loch Ness. Advise son, Rogan MacClean, aboard the United States research vessel Daedalus, to come with all haste. Search efforts have been called off due to weather. The note was dated three days earlier. It had taken that long to be relayed. All that time, Rogan hadn’t given a single thought to them.

“Dammit, Rogan. I’m really sorry. Today of all days…”

Rogan sat numbly and stared at his friend. His parents couldn’t be dead. There had to be some mistake. In their early sixties, neither of the elder MacCleans dove any more. Certainly not in water as cold as Loch Ness. But then they’d always done just the opposite of what propriety or even common sense dictated.

“We’ll head for port and get you on a plane as soon as possible. Kyle and Pat were…Well, we didn’t always agree, but they were good people. I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Rogan.”

Rogan sat still when his best friend rose, squeezed his shoulder as he passed by and moved toward the door. “No,” Rogan mumbled, “this isn’t happening.”

At the door, Wayne turned. “I know this might not mean much now, but they died doing what they loved.”

Rogan lowered his head in guilt. “You know what happened the last time I saw them. You were there.”

“I remember, Rogan, but all families have arguments. You can’t eat yourself up about it. I knew them for years and they wouldn’t have wanted you to think about that, buddy. Trust me about this.”

When Wayne finally walked out of the room, Rogan began to shake. All he could think about was his final visit with his parents and what had transpired. The things he’d said to them would forever be locked in his memory and he couldn’t recall the last time he’d ever told them he loved them. That was the worst part. He looked back down at the note. There was nothing in it that told him exactly what happened in Scotland. Somehow he couldn’t connect the piece of white paper with the reality of the situation. They were gone. Just like that.

All he could remember was telling his father, for the hundredth time, what an idiot he was for throwing his life away and that his mother was equally insane for following his old man around the world on one wild goose chase after another. He’d ridiculed them until his father had finally slapped him into silence. His parents had both turned around and simultaneously walked out of the room and his life forever. Nothing would ever change that last encounter. He could feel as sorry about it as he wanted, the words would never go away. Knowing them, they’d dove in the damned loch just to prove him wrong.

When Wayne walked back into the room, Rogan didn’t even realize he was there until the other man’s soft voice filtered through his shattered mind.

“Just think about the good times, Rogan. There’s nothing you can do now except get to Scotland and try to make peace with this.”

Rogan could only nod. He finally pushed himself out of the chair and meandered, listlessly, toward his cabin. He was aware that the crew stood near the office and murmured their sympathies, but none of what they said really sank in. All he could think of was that he’d spend the rest of his life sorry for what he’d said and the way he’d behaved. What did any of the familial arguments and his old wounds mean now?

When he got to his cabin and finally shut the door, Rogan sank onto the bed. There was a picture sitting on a small desk across the room. It was a photo of happier times when he was young and believed everything his parents told him. The day the picture had been taken was one of the best of his life. They were on the beach together looking into a small tidal pool. His enormous, bearded father was holding up a starfish and his mother had her head tilted back. Her lovely face lit up with pure joy as she laughed, and her hair fanned out behind her as the breeze had lifted the long red strands. The picture caught a moment of pure joy in all their lives.

“I’m sorry,” he brokenly muttered. “I’m so sorry…” he couldn’t finish. The tears finally came. He dropped his head and bitterly wept. An interminable time later, there was a soft knock on the frame of his door. Rogan looked up and saw Wayne standing there with another piece of paper in his hand. “What the hell did they think they were doing?” he asked his friend. “My dad was specifically told his diving days were over. His doctor warned him about it. And Mom’s ears wouldn’t let her do anything but snorkel. What wild hair got up their butts that led them to believe they could dive in the loch?”

Wayne shrugged and shook his head. “We got another message from someone they were supposed to have been working with. It says you should contact a woman by the name of Enora Brighton when you reach Scotland. She’ll explain everything.” Wayne handed Rogan the note so he could read the information himself.

Rogan glanced at it and felt a sense of rage seep through the sorrow. “Dammit! This doesn’t tell me anything.”

“No, it doesn’t. But you should try to get some rest. You’ve had a hard day and didn’t get any sleep last night getting ready for the dive. We can only deal with this when we get to Scotland. There’s about a thirty-hour flight ahead of us.”

Rogan looked into his friend’s face. “Us?”

“You didn’t think I’d let you go by yourself, did you? Your parents were friends.”

Rogan nodded then dragged his hands through his hair. “Truth is, I’d be glad of the company. I’m not sure I know…” his voice trailed away. He had experience with all kinds of disasters and tribulations brought on by sea exploration. But no one had ever taught him how to bury parents.

“Just get some sleep,” Wayne advised again. “I’ll tell the crew to hold off on the video.” Wayne turned to go, but Rogan’s voice stopped him.

“No. Don’t do that. They worked their butts off on this project. Let ’em see what they were killing themselves over. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“This can wait, Rogan.”

“No, it can’t. I guess this is the part where life goes on. Mine as well.”

Wayne expelled a deep breath. “All right. You call the shots on when the data gets viewed.” He paused for a moment. “Ya know, you could look at today as a kind of tribute to your parents’ work. They hunted monsters too. Until today, that’s what Architeuthis was. Sort of.”

Rogan watched the other man turn and leave the room. Wayne hadn’t meant anything by the remark but it left a hollow place in his heart. He was everything his parents weren’t. What he was doing was bona fide research as opposed to the elder MacCleans’ insane quest for elusive creatures that not only didn’t exist, but from a scientific perspective, couldn’t. Still, his parents had argued their right to do so and Rogan felt himself continually denying any connection with them to the legitimate scientific world. They were not him.

He looked back at the paper in his hand, wadded it up and tossed it into the trash receptacle for shredding. His parents’ deaths echoed their life. Both were pointless. And that, more than anything, hurt Rogan to the very core. As he had many times before, he swore he’d never be like them. His life would stand for something. His name would go down in history for the research accomplished and scientific information he’d gathered. Not as the butt of jokes. Still, they were his parents and he felt an obligation to find out what the hell had happened to them.

* * * * *

“What’s all that for?” Wayne asked as he looked at the pile of equipment next to their luggage.

“I’m going to find out exactly what went on at Loch Ness.”

Wayne rubbed his chin for a moment before continuing. “You know, diving in a loch isn’t the same as ocean diving. You do remember that, don’t you, old buddy?”

Rogan only responded by shooting what he hoped was a very sarcastic look at his friend, then continued to inspect the equipment to make sure everything he needed was properly packed.

“Excuse the hell outta me. Just thought I’d mention it,” Wayne muttered as he threw up his hands in resignation.

“First, I’m going to check with the Scottish Coast Guard and find out what happened. Then I’m going to my parents’ last known dive location and check the water myself.”

“And what if their bodies are recovered by the time we arrive? You won’t learn anything by going into the loch then.”

“I’m gonna find out what it was that killed them. Whether it was the depth, the cold or some combination of other factors augmented by my parents’ typically crazy behavior, I still want to know.”

“Okay, Rogan. Okay. But you know I don’t dive anymore. You’ll have to get somebody to back you up.”

“I’ll worry about that when the time comes. Just help me check the gear to make sure I haven’t overlooked something.”

Wayne began to sort through the paraphernalia in front of him and frowned. He pointed to one particular tank. “You’re not using that.”

Rogan ignored him.

“Rogan! I’m not gonna watch you use that. I don’t want any part of it without the proper backup.”

Again, Rogan kept sorting through his equipment and pretended not to hear Wayne’s protest.

“You’re more like your parents than you’ll admit, you sorry son-of-a-bitch! Just as hard headed.”

Rogan immediately stopped what he was doing and grabbed Wayne by the front of his jacket and shook him. “I’m nothing like them. The difference should be obvious after all the years we’ve known each other. It’s simple, Wayne. I know what I’m doing. They didn’t. Now shut up and help me or leave.”

Surprised by the angry outburst and the physically threatening encounter that went with it, Wayne put his hands up until Rogan let go of his jacket.

Rogan suddenly shook his head, smoothed out the front of his friend’s jacket and drew his hands back. “Sorry. Guess I’m just edgy.”

“Forget it. I’ll help in whatever way I can, Rogan, you know that. But I’m not going to stand by and watch you do anything stupid. You hear me? It’s bad enough we’ll be saying goodbye to your parents. I don’t want to see this disaster become a family affair.”

Rogan nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control.”

As they were on their way to Auckland airport the next day, Rogan was aware of how silent Wayne had become. He began to wonder if it were a good idea that his friend was coming along. The last thing he needed was to have his actions questioned. He had to keep his head on straight, especially if he were going into the dark water of a very deep and cold loch. Though he hadn’t mentioned it, Rogan was pretty sure Wayne knew what his parents had been doing there. What would any self-respecting cryptozoologist be doing in Loch Ness but looking for the totally imaginary monster reputed to live within its depths? This entire mishap was just the sort of thing Rogan feared would one day happen to his aging parents. That they’d die chasing dreams—unheard of, unpublished and disrespected. Again he vowed that their slow sink into obscurity would never be his fate. He wasn’t throwing away his life and career on such utter nonsense. Wayne was simply kind enough not to have mentioned the obvious. Still, the episode was bound to be embarrassing when questions were asked and the answers came back that his parents had been hunting Nessie. Rogan knew Wayne would never offer judgment or ridicule, but the demeaning situation was still there and he would have to endure it while his best friend looked on.

Rogan tried to remember that his parents were dead and that he truly did love them. At least as much as their behavior had allowed. He told himself that their memory deserved more respect and dignity than the situation in Scotland would probably allow. He desperately tried to dredge inside himself and be the loving, dutiful son all parents would have wanted under similar circumstance. After his initial shock at their deaths, however, all he could manage to do was hide his resentment and shame. That caused him to feel even greater guilt and to question his worth as the only surviving family member. But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how he did love them, Rogan just couldn’t get over what he knew to be the same conclusion. His free-living, hippie-remnant parents were dead because they had chased a myth right to the bottom of a Scottish lake. There was no getting around it. And there was no getting over the humiliation he felt. And that single emotion warred with the loving son he’d once been, the son who wanted to hold them once more as he had when he was very young. Guilt shredded him into pieces while his repulsion for the situation made him experience bitterness.

“Are you okay?”

Rogan turned his attention to his friend and tried to honestly answer the question. “Yeah, I guess so.” He was surprised by Wayne’s next statement and wondered if he was that easy to read.

“You shouldn’t listen to what anyone says about them. In fact, most people wouldn’t have the guts to do what they did. Even if the respectable world we live in wouldn’t give a tinker’s damn about their efforts, you sort of have to admire people who spit in the face of established procedure to do what they think is right.”

“You’re beginning to sound just like them, Wayne.” He took his eyes off his friend and stared out the airplane window. “All I want now is to find out what happened, bury them if I can find what’s left and get back to California. We’ve got work waiting on us.”

“Somehow, I don’t think you’re as coldly nonchalant and calculating as you just sounded. At least I hope not.”

What else have they left me? Rogan silently wondered to himself. And the guilt grew as he realized how totally selfish the thought was.

* * * * *

Enora Brighton looked across the hotel lobby and saw the older woman’s imperceptible nod. Shayla Gallagher, the Sorceress of the Ancients and leader of all the magical creatures of the Order, was signaling her that the two men coming through the foyer of the Cambridge Court Inn were those she was supposed to meet. One of them was an average-height man, considerably handsome, about forty-five years old and with a stocky build. His hair was a grayish tawny color. But the other one was very tall and built like a heavyweight prize fighter she’d once seen on TV. Muscles on his biceps bunched as he picked up a piece of luggage and moved it aside. As he checked on the reservations she had made for them and their larger bags were taken away by porters, Enora surveyed the younger man’s dark, shoulder-length hair and several days’ worth of stubble on his face. His expression was grim and he looked tired after his very long flight. Of course, neither of those men knew the Sorceress was sitting on the opposite side of the room and making sure Enora was aware of their arrival. It occurred to her that the Sorceress shouldn’t trust her quite so much. This situation could be very volatile if not handled with extreme care.

As the travelers picked up their keys and hurried to a waiting elevator, the Sorceress got up and joined Enora. She explained, “The taller of them is Rogan MacClean. My staff tell me the other one is Wayne Davidson, his research partner. Apparently Rogan does the physical work while Wayne writes the grants and gets the documentation recorded.” Shayla pulled on a pair of dress gloves and opened her purse to take out her sunglasses.

Enora took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before turning to the older woman. “Shayla, please don’t leave this in my hands. It would be better if you were here. Or maybe the Fairy leader could come.”

“My dear, I simply can’t be everywhere at once and you are the Keeper, are you not?”

“What if something goes wrong? What do you think MacClean will do when he finds out about my part in his parents’ disappearance?”

“You’ll deal with this as you have everything else, Enora. I trust your judgment. The only thing I ask is that you keep me apprized of the situation and not frighten us all half to death by disappearing the way you did. Your family worried themselves sick. You’ll have Keelin to help you from now on. So there’s no need to cloister yourself inside that cave without communicating.”

“I am sorry, but I couldn’t leave the baby. I was afraid of what would happen to her if I did. But thank you for letting my sister come. She’ll be of great help to me.”

Shayla perched the sunglasses on her nose and stood up. “We’ll talk about all this later. Right now I have to get back to the forest. My presence is needed there. Once MacClean knows what’s going on, I’m sure you’ll have no problem getting the help you need. It’s a pity his parents had no knowledge that was useful in this situation.”

“I’m sorry making them disappear was the solution. Their son could be a big problem.”

Shayla waved at the taxi driver entering the door. “I know you’ll handle things splendidly. You shouldn’t doubt yourself so much. You’re a leader. Act like one.” She shot Enora what she hoped was one of her more stern looks, then walked toward the taxi.

Enora watched the older woman walk away with a sense of dread. She glanced at her wristwatch then decided to go up to her room. The note she left would let MacClean and his friend know where she was, but she doubted they’d be in any shape to talk after a string of connecting flights from New Zealand. But she was wrong.

Just an hour later, there was a very solid, no-nonsense knock on the door to her room. When she opened it, MacClean stood there and his expression was very determined.

“You’re the one who left the note at the hotel desk? You’re Enora Brighton?”

“Yes. And I know who you are, Mr. MacClean, but I didn’t think you’d want to meet with me tonight. You have to be absolutely wrung out from the traveling.”

He shook his head and nodded toward the interior of her room. “May I come in? I’d rather not discuss this while standing in the hall.”

She reluctantly stepped aside while he strode by her. She could almost feel the intense deliberation within him as well as sense an undercurrent of masculine boldness. This man was what people referred to as an Alpha male. Even in simple blue jeans and a t-shirt, he radiated power and virility. Enora felt she could have been standing in the sacred forest watching any warrior march by. His long dark hair was wet as if he’d recently showered. After a thirty-hour trip, she assumed he would want more than just a change of clothing and a hot shower before seeing her. But then, he would want to know what happened to his parents. And that would have kept her from resting too if the situation had been reversed. She slowly closed the door and took her time turning around. For the hundredth time, she wished Shayla Gallagher would have stayed and seen to this herself.

“What happened, Ms. Brighton? Tell me everything.” Rogan tried to push back all the emerging sensual thoughts about the ravishing beauty before him. He was here to find out about his parents. Nothing more.

“Just call me Enora. Maybe you’d better sit down.”

“The name’s Rogan,” he told her as he quickly sat. “Now, what about my parents?”

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Exactly what was she supposed to say? “Maybe you’d better know something about what they were doing and how they came into contact with me.”

“Neither of them was supposed to be diving. Did you know that?” Rogan blurted out.

“Yes. When they put word out that they were looking for someone to help them find a boat and equipment for a research dive, I offered my assistance. They told me they really weren’t qualified for the kind of diving they wanted to do, but were determined to go ahead anyhow.”

He nodded. “Sounds like them all right.”

“Well, they went along fine for some weeks. Nothing unusual happened.” She stopped, unable to go on and let him know what he was supposed to be told.

“So did one of them go in after the other? Or did they both drown at the same time? Which is it? And where did they dive?” Rogan determinedly asked.

“They both went missing at the same time and why do you want to know where they dove?” Enora knew she’d have to tell him the truth and quit prevaricating, but was afraid of what his reaction might be.

“I intend to go down and get them,” Rogan responded. “I assume you haven’t found the bodies yet, as I heard no news during the flight.”

“Uh, Mister…Rogan,” she corrected, “I know what you’ve been led to believe and I wish the situation could have been handled differently. I’m truly sorry, but your parents didn’t think you’d come unless their deaths were reported. They said you didn’t exactly agree with their hunting lake monsters and such. So they naturally assumed you’d be reticent about joining them if they called and told you what they found. Simply put, they didn’t think you’d believe them.”

Rogan quickly stood up and walked toward her. “What are you trying to tell me?”

She cleared her throat and let him have it. “Your parents aren’t dead.”

Chapter Two

“What!”

“I’m sorry. I let your parents talk me into this, but they said you could help and that you’d only come if you believed they were dead.” She nervously clenched and unclenched her fingers and waited for the inevitable explosion.

Rogan felt a rage build in his gut that he hadn’t known for years. He wanted nothing more than to hit something very hard. “Of all the…where the hell are they? I want to see them right now.”

“I’ll have to take you to them. They can’t be seen in public after all the commotion made over their disappearance.”

Rogan walked to within a few inches of her. “I don’t know who the hell you are, or what part you’ve had in all this, but you’d better start talking fast or I’m going to the nearest police station.”

She heard the very menacing tone of his voice and saw every muscle in his muscular neck tighten. Enora was certain he wanted to do a great deal more than just go to the police. She was afraid he might actually become violent. Rage seemed to ooze from every pore he had. But she really couldn’t blame him.

“I said I’d take you to them and I shall. But not just yet. You’ll get your explanation when you can listen calmly. And if you go to the police, you’ll never see me or your parents again.”

Rogan felt his last nerve unravel. He lifted one hand and pointed the index finger of it right under Enora’s nose. “Listen here, sweetheart, you and my parents have broken more than a few laws by concocting some scheme for money. And I don’t guess any of you gave a damn about the Coast Guard crew and their safety when they went searching for missing people in the middle of bad weather. I was given to understand the search was only called off because the crew couldn’t safely navigate anymore. How many charges do you think they’re going to file when they find out about this fraudulent, get-rich scheme?”

Enora tilted her head. “What in blazes are you talking about? This isn’t about money.”

Rogan snorted and paced in a slow circle around her. “Please, I think I know what’s going on here, so don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot, honey. My folks probably needed some dough. So they came up with a plan to get it. They ran short of cash like they always do and devised an insurance scam. That’s the only way they have of getting real cash these days. And they probably even named you as beneficiary if you agreed to go in on the deal. I’m just here to make it look good. Like the grieving bereft son. Is that it? Well, your big mistake was to tell me about it at all. I can’t think why you would ’cause I’m sure as hell not going to be any part of some plot my hare-brained old man dreamed up.”

Enora’s race was one of trusting, loving beings. But when she heard Rogan’s ludicrous accusation about his own parents, she did the one thing she’d never have believed possible. Before she could stop herself, she wheeled around to face the circling fool and struck his face with the flat of her palm. The sound of it seemed to linger long after the completion of the angry act.

“Why you little bitch!” He grabbed her right forearm and stalked to the door, forcing her to go with him. “We’re going to the police right now. To hell with all of you.”

She jerked her arm away and pushed him backward.

When Rogan’s backside hit the inside of the closed door, he was stunned by the strength the lithe English woman had just shown.

“Now you listen to me, Rogan MacClean. Your parents said you’d probably react like some kind of wild animal. But I happen to be acquainted with quite a few members of the animal kingdom and none of them does anything without good reason. You, on the other hand, have just behaved like a deranged maniac and you’ve also just jumped to the last asinine conclusion to which I’m going to be subjected.” She pushed him hard again and had the satisfaction of seeing surprise on his face when she did. “This hasn’t got anything to do with money or any illegal conspiracy.” She pushed him once more to make her point. “Finally, if you ever put your hands on me without my permission, I’ll tear your heart out and fry it up for breakfast. Is that clear?”

Rogan had never been so angry…or so turned on. And that primal urge had him completely confused. Not knowing how else to respond, he relented and held up his hands in resignation. “I didn’t want to hurt you. All I wanted to do was get you to the police so you could explain what the frickin’ hell is going on.” He ran his hands through his hair then put them on his hips as he stared down at the floor.

Enora sensed deep, aching weariness. Not just the fatigue being awake for a very long trip would bring, but the exhaustion born of pain. He was hurting inside. His parents had said he would demand an explanation and would react much as he had. They also said that his reaction wouldn’t be so much because of their loss as because he wouldn’t like being dragged away from an important expedition where he could make a name for himself. What she was sensing didn’t come across that way. Rogan was aching very badly over his parents’ supposed death and their charade. She felt his sorrow and his outrage. But neither emotion had to do with the interruption in his lust for fame. That kind of emotional surge wouldn’t be so strong and elemental if the man in front of her wasn’t deeply wounded to the heart.

She took a deep, calming breath. “Rogan, why don’t you meet me in the hotel restaurant for a late meal tonight? Get some rest this afternoon. I’ll bring some documentation with me and maybe you’ll understand why all this has happened.”

He raised his head and looked into her striking silver-gray eyes. “Are they really all right?”

She nodded. “They are, I swear it.”

He lowered his gaze to the floor again so she wouldn’t see the telltale moisture gathering in his eyes. “I’ve brought a friend with me. Since he came for a funeral, I’ll have to tell him.”

“That would be Mr. Davidson?”

“I guess my parents told you about Wayne. He and I have been research partners since we both got out of the Navy.”

“And you and he are good friends? You can trust this man?”

“He’s about the only…” Rogan stopped. He was going to say that Wayne was about the only family he had. They were more like brothers than partners. Since Wayne’s family was dead and Rogan considered his parents completely out of touch, holidays, birthdays and any event normally celebrated by families were shared by the two men.

Enora thought for a moment and tried to sense his next emotions. It seemed Rogan considered Wayne to be a very important, pivotal figure in his life. So she made a decision she hoped the Sorceress wouldn’t hold against her. “All right. You can tell your friend about this, but understand that if he becomes involved there’s no turning back.”

“I wasn’t under the impression I had to get your permission before telling anyone I liked.”

She walked toward him and stood as close as she could without actually touching him. “I’m putting my life on the line here. I know you don’t know me and probably couldn’t care less, but what I’m doing is very dangerous. If you tell the wrong people and this gets out and into the hands of the media, I could be in a great deal of trouble. More than the law could ever heap upon me.”

Something about the urgency in her voice alerted him. “Has someone threatened you? Are you involved in this charade because you’ve been forced into it?”

“I’ll try to explain later tonight.” She glanced back over her shoulder at a newspaper lying on the nearby desk. She walked across the room and held it up. “The news about your find with Architeuthis has reached the papers. This is a small village so the locals won’t recognize you or understand the importance of this discovery. At least not until the bigger city papers send out reporters and they find out you’re staying at this hotel. The word will be out that you’ve come to find out about your parents and their deaths. It has to appear that way. That was another reason I think your parents came up with this subterfuge. Your showing up at Loch Ness would garner quite a lot of unwanted media attention. Especially since you have a reputation for discovering rare and unknown species of marine animals. There would be questions asked about why you left New Zealand to come here for any reason other than your parents’ deaths. And I believe them now when they said you wouldn’t come if they called about a certain discovery they made.”

“What discovery? What could be so important that they’d pull this kind of shenanigan? And you’re still not saying why your life is at risk.”

“You’ll understand tonight. I’ll gather the data from your parents’ research and you’ll see why this has to remain secret. And I suggest you dress warmly if you want to see them. After we eat, we’ll be going where there’s quite a chill in the air.”

“I don’t like this.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “If you think this is some kind of setup or something it isn’t.”

“You’ve said that you’re afraid for your life. Why wouldn’t I be cautious?” he suspiciously asked.

“Bring your friend with you. There’ll be no one else but me, your parents and one other person where we’ll be going.”

“And who’s this other person?”

“My sister Keelin. She might be in a great deal of trouble as well if you tell anyone about all this. Can I trust you, Rogan?”

He gazed deeply into her eyes. “Okay, I won’t say anything to anyone but Wayne. And he won’t talk to anybody. But our silence depends upon what you tell me tonight. Is it a deal?”

“I suppose that will have to do.”

He watched her turn away and push her long brown hair off one shoulder. When she lowered her hand, it was shaking. “Look, if this data is so important, why don’t I just order up something from room service tonight. We could meet in my room. That way you can tell me and Wayne whatever you want without fearing somebody might overhear. As you said, reporters might show up at any time.”

She turned around quickly. “Yes, that would be a better idea. I’d have suggested something like that, only you were so angry that I…”

“You were afraid of being alone with me in case I lost it again?”

She nodded. “Something like that.”

He ran one hand through his hair. “I’d never hurt you and that’s the truth. It’s just that I’ve had one hell of a bad shock and the situation doesn’t seem to be getting any better.”

She smiled. There wasn’t anything Rogan could do to her that her powers couldn’t handle. But being alone with him had already alerted her to feelings she’d thought were long dead. Even in his anger and confusion, Rogan MacClean was immensely attractive. Better not to go down that road when so much was at stake.

Rogan sighed and held up his hands. “Look, I’ll call you when chow is on, okay? I really do need to get some rest. And Wayne would only keep me up asking a lot of questions, so I won’t tell him about my parents until this evening. He’ll be confused as hell, but it’ll be all right. I just want to see my parents and find out what in hell is going on.” He turned and walked out of the room.

When the door closed, Enora felt as though some invisible barrier had just been crossed. Nothing would ever be the same again and she hadn’t had that feeling when the elder MacCleans had made their auspicious discovery. So it was definitely something about Rogan that was causing the upheaval where her senses were concerned. But it had more to do with his relationship with his parents than anything. It would outwardly seem that neither the son or the parents cared all that much for each other. At least that’s what they all wanted others to think. But if both sides could feel what she did, they’d know how much emotion was roiling just below the surface where all were concerned. And she found it sad. If this was what families in the outside world were like, she was glad not to have been born a part of it.

* * * * *

When Rogan got back to his room, he closed the door and sunk into the nearest chair. They weren’t dead after all. He closed his eyes and softly whispered a prayer of thanks. At the same time, he tried to fight back waves of anger at having been misled so outrageously. Only his parents could do something so unbelievable and think nothing of it. He quickly got up to let Wayne know they’d be eating in his room later, but he found his partner lying on his bed in the adjoining suite. After the long flight, multiple delays and concourse changes at all the airports, the travel had finally caught up with him. But as tired as Rogan was, he couldn’t possibly sleep. All he could do was pace and try to think through what the pretty English woman had told him, wonder about her part in all of this and why his parents were hiding, pretending to be dead. He could only surmise they’d done something illegal. But not just any infraction or small misdemeanor that could be cleared away by paying a fine, like all the other times. This had to be something monumentally felonious and unethical. If he wasn’t careful, he could be dragged into a scenario that could lose him and Wayne their jobs or worse, their reputations. And the more he thought about all the circumstances and Enora’s warning that she could be in danger, the more Rogan paced. Finally, he called room service, barely caring what food he ordered. He heard Wayne showering in the bathroom next door and realized that hours had passed. Weariness was catching up to him. Still, he couldn’t rest.

Wayne walked through the adjoining door and saw Rogan sitting on the side of the bed. His friend’s head was lowered and his hands were shaking. “Didn’t you get any rest at all?”

Rogan slowly raised his head and simply stared.

Wayne quickly walked forward, pulled a chair opposite his friend and spoke softly. “I know this has been hell, but if you don’t get some sleep you’re not going to be worth a damn. And I’m sure as hell not going to let you dive in a cold water loch with that equipment in the state you’re in. You look like crap.”

“They aren’t dead, Wayne.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Who the hell do you think?”

“Your parents?” Wayne paused for a moment. “Rogan, what makes you say something like that? The rescue team still thinks they’re somewhere in the loch.”

Rogan slowly shook his head. “The woman who booked our rooms told me they aren’t dead. This is all some kind of elaborate hoax concocted to get me here.”

“Son-of-a…” Wayne stopped speaking and ran his hands through his hair. “Why would they do something like this? What possible reason could there be?”

“I don’t know. But this person…this Enora Brighton told me she would take you and me to my folks tonight. She’s going to meet us here. I’ve ordered up room service and she’s supposed to be bringing me some kind of information that will help explain everything. We’re supposed to keep our mouths shut because there’s some kind of threat to her safety. Possibly to my parents’ safety as well.”

Wayne sat back in his chair. “Rogan, you don’t know this woman. I don’t like this.”

“What else can I do but wait and see what she says? Either she’s telling the truth or she’s as bird-brained as my parents were…are,” he corrected.

“What was your first impression of her?”

Rogan got up and began to pace again. “I don’t know. I can’t even think straight right now.”

Wayne put a hand on his shoulder to stop his back-and-forth march across the room. “Why don’t you go take a hot shower? I’ll take care of room service when it gets here. You really should have tried to get some sleep. But, considering the circumstances, I don’t guess you could.”

Rogan stopped and leaned against the dresser. He looked at himself in the large mirror above it and then at his friend’s reflection. “I swear, if they really are okay I’m gonna kill ’em!” He walked into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. What he just said hadn’t made any sense at all, but his mind was completely fogged over from lack of rest and anxiety. Thirty minutes later he emerged wearing a towel and began to pull on some warm clothing as Enora suggested. He called out to Wayne to make sure he was equally well protected against the cold Highland elements and was about to explain why, when room service arrived. Only ten minutes later, there was a soft knock on his door and he opened it to find the pretty bearer of unbelievable tidings at his door. As tired and emotionally bludgeoned as he was, he could still appreciate a beautiful woman. But only just.

“Come in.” He motioned Enora into the room. “This is Wayne Davidson.”

“I’m Enora Brighton,” she said, holding out her right hand to Wayne before Rogan even had time to make introductions. In her left hand, she clutched the handle of a briefcase containing all the documentation she’d ever need to blow the two scientists’ beliefs sky high. She prayed to the Goddess that she was doing the right thing and that the Sorceress would approve.

Again, despite his weariness, Rogan was struck by how outright lovely the woman before him was. Her thick brown hair was braided and hung over one shoulder. Her face was more striking than any woman he’d ever met and she carried herself like a graceful athlete. Tall and sure of herself. It seemed she meant to keep her promise of taking him to his parents. She wore an Irish wool sweater, blue jeans, high leather boots and an expensive leather jacket. Good leather gloves stuck out of one of the pockets. He glanced at Wayne and saw his friend’s gaze glide over Enora’s slender body. So Wayne wasn’t immune to her allure either.

“We’d better eat and get on with this,” Rogan suggested. In truth, he didn’t want a morsel of the food placed on the nearby table. He just wanted this frickin’ game over and to see his parents again.

Enora glanced at the two men, dropped her briefcase onto a nearby chair and shed her jacket. “I know what I’ll have to tell you is absolutely incredible, but you must try to understand why this has to remain among us. But as Rogan suggested, let’s eat first then discuss business.”

Wayne nodded in agreement. “Rogan hasn’t eaten much or slept more than just a few hours since we left New Zealand. I hope this isn’t some kind of joke, Ms. Brighton, because it sure as hell isn’t funny.”

“I can assure you it isn’t any joke. By the end of the evening, you’ll understand a great deal more.” She pulled a chair away from the table, sat down and waited for the two men to join her. Rogan looked as if he might collapse at any moment and she sensed a mixture of utter exhaustion and confusion within him. None of what he radiated matched what his parents had told her. Their description of their son was way off what her senses relayed.

She watched the men closely as they ate. Wayne kept looking at Rogan and Rogan barely touched a bite of food. But he drank enough coffee for any two men. It seemed he was trying to keep himself going by swilling caffeine and wasn’t able to sustain a healthy appetite at the moment. His anxiety was so strong she could certainly feel it and see his friend’s blatant concern. Wayne watched Rogan much the way an older brother would. And she suddenly thought better of taking Rogan to his parents so soon. “This might not be a good night to go out. You’re not up to it, Rogan.” She lowered her tea cup to the table.

Rogan glanced at her, then Wayne before speaking. “I didn’t come all this way to be conned. You said you’d take me to my parents after you explained what’s going on.” He threw his napkin aside and stood up. “Let’s get down to it, Ms. Brighton. What the hell is this all about? I’m tired of waiting.”

She slowly stood up and faced him. “All right, you asked for it.” She walked to her briefcase, picked it up and placed it on a desk at the far end of the room. Enora was aware of the men walking toward her, but she busied herself with aligning the documents in proper order beneath the brilliant glare of a desk lamp. “Take a look at your parents’ data. I think it speaks for itself, but I’m sure you’ll want to ask questions.” She watched as Rogan sat in the chair behind the desk and waited while Wayne pulled up a seat near Rogan’s. Enora simply stepped back and let them peruse the papers at their leisure.

Rogan picked up one document after another and handed each one to Wayne as he finished with it. As the information became clear, he looked up and stared at the woman standing in the shadows. “This is impossible,” he whispered.

“Your parents didn’t think so. That’s why they came to Loch Ness. And I’m charged with making sure no one finds out about it.”

Wayne stared at her.

Rogan stood up.

She glanced at the two men. “If this information ever got into the hands of the outside world you can see what would happen, can’t you?”

Rogan wasn’t sure he would be able to speak. His throat seemed too tight and it felt like there was a knot in his chest. He pointed to the papers on the desk and finally croaked out, “All of this can be faked. It’s been done before.”

“I agree,” Wayne chimed in.

“You think I’m lying to you, or that your parents are?” she asked.

Rogan frowned. “Maybe my parents got tired of all the ridicule and decided to do something about it. I wouldn’t put it past them.”

“I’m not here to settle whatever animosity there is between you and your parents, Rogan. I’m here to protect something my kind has been protecting for centuries. I’ll do it by whatever means necessary.”

Rogan tilted his head. “What’s that supposed to mean? Who is ‘your kind’?”

Again, Enora looked at the faces of the two men. One was skeptical, but open to discussion. That was Wayne. The other was angry, tired, at his wit’s end and becoming increasingly aggressive. Rogan’s voice was low and hostile when he spoke. It would have been disastrous had this discussion taken place downstairs in the pub or the restaurant. That would have been a serious mistake considering Rogan’s rising ire. She was thankful he’d saved them a great deal of notice by suggesting the meeting take place in his room. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself or this situation. Keeping in mind the difficulty the situation presented, she allowed him to vent his frustration without returning any rancor herself. All she could do now was explain things as quickly as possible, the best way she knew how.

“When your parents went looking for some local person to help them in their research, I applied for the job for a very specific reason. I did what I, and others like me, always have. Any way I could, I tried to keep your mother and father from finding what’s in the loch. But they’re better scientists than I bargained for. And they’re very tenacious and wouldn’t give up when others before them have. But when they knew what they’d found and I explained who I was and the seriousness of the situation, they understood. They even made the decision to help. But a situation arose over which none of us had any control. Your parents need your help, Rogan. They believe you have more knowledge than their combined background concerning certain anomalies with marine creatures. To get you here, they devised this scheme, as you put it, to turn up missing. I reported them as such to the local authorities. It was against my better judgment, but I felt I had no choice at the time. I can only hope you won’t make me regret my decision, or that your parents won’t come to regret theirs. They’re waiting for you and Mr. Davidson right now.” She picked up several of the papers on the desk. “If you’ll come with me, you’ll see that all this data isn’t contrived. It isn’t faked.”

Rogan crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but if it gets me to my folks, then I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear, honey.”

Enora swallowed hard, gathered the papers on the desk together and stuck them back into her briefcase. “Please, get your jackets and gloves. As I warned, it’ll be quite cool where we’ll be going.” She saw the two men glance at each other. Wayne left the room, presumably to gather his outer garments. She stared at Rogan for a moment before speaking. “This will all make sense when you see your parents again. But I’ll have to reiterate that they only went to the lengths they did because they didn’t believe you’d come if they called you. They seem to believe you have something against their profession.”

“They have no profession, Ms. Brighton. They’re chasing fairy tales just like they always have. This time, it seems they’ve found some pretty, clueless little local to buy into their ravings. I don’t know whether to feel very sorry for you or have you arrested along with them.”

Enora’s hands clenched and she moved very close to him. “Do that and you’ll have some of those fairy tales crawling right up your egotistic, pretentious ass, Mister MacClean. There are more things in this world than you can possibly know about. Your scientific society tosses their importance aside and that’s exactly how they keep existing. You pay no attention to legends and stories, though they’ve been persisting for centuries. It’s all so much rubbish to you. Well, I don’t give a flaming damn about what you or your colleagues think. And I’ve tried very hard to give you the understanding, under the circumstances, that you won’t give your parents or myself. But I swear, if any harm comes to those I help protect because of you, my life won’t be the only one in danger. I’ll hunt you down if I have to crawl across the globe to do it. I’m not crazy and neither are your parents. And if any pity should be shown here, it should go to you. I can see now that I was mistaken. I shouldn’t have given you the benefit of the doubt. Your parents were right about you.” She walked away, stood by the door and glared at him.

Rogan grabbed his gloves from a night stand, tossed his hair back and pulled his old Navy pea coat on. The woman wasn’t making any sense, but that wasn’t his problem. He was bone tired and all he wanted to do was get to his parents. If he had to anger her to goad her into action, then that was the way it had to be. He tried not to care what her opinion of him was. But something deep inside him balked at having her take his parents’ side in what should have been a private family issue. When Wayne walked back into the room, Rogan returned her glare with what he hoped was a sarcastic expression. “Lead on, Ms. Brighton. Let’s get this farce over with.”

* * * * *

As they walked into the hotel lobby from the elevator, Rogan got a good look at himself in a mirror outside the elevator doors. He looked like something a cat would bury. His eyes were bloodshot and there were circles under them. His hair hadn’t been brushed in hours and it stuck out in places where he’d run his hands through the length of it repeatedly. If his parents were truly safe, there would be hell to pay.

“I have a van waiting outside,” Enora told them as she glanced over her shoulder to make sure they were following closely.

Exacerbated by his weariness, Rogan’s suspicions kicked in. “Just where are you taking us?”

“I can’t tell you that. I want you to see what you’ve been brought here to look at first.”

In the parking lot, Rogan paused by the van Enora was unlocking and crossed his arms over his chest. “No blindfolds?”

“If it was up to me, you’d be chained, bagged and thrown in the back, Mr. MacClean. I’m tired of your sarcastic tone every time something is explained to you. Why can’t you be a bit more accepting of the situation like Mr. Davidson?”

Rogan glanced at his friend, who waited for the door to be unlocked on the back passenger side. “I’m not Wayne. And his parents aren’t the ones who lied about being in a diving accident while being aided by a woman I’m not sure I can trust. I’ve been brought here under false pretenses when I was involved in a very serious research project elsewhere. I suggest you be the one who gets used to my behavior, which is perfectly reasonable under the circumstances.”

Enora clenched her teeth together and tried to keep from blurting out something she knew she’d regret. When she flipped the door latch on the driver’s door, the locks on all the other doors opened. Rogan was quick to grab the seat beside her. “We’ll be driving about fifty miles or so. It’s a place called Glen Dorth, between Dores and Foyers. It’s on the opposite side of the loch from Drumnadrochit. The road is narrow and I’ll have to keep the speed slow. So this could take about an hour or a bit longer.”

Rogan sullenly settled himself into the seat and adjusted one of the vents so the heater blew warm air on him. He noticed that, like himself, Wayne kept quiet for most of the ride. And Enora wasn’t in much of a mood to talk after the argumentative attitude he’d taken with her. But that couldn’t be helped. He was past caring about his parents’ welfare, sure they were entirely safe and that this ruse was concocted purely to get in the way of his research. It wasn’t the first time his parents had done something similar. He remembered his first tour of duty while in the Navy and what had happened outside San Diego Harbor. Reliving that old memory made him even angrier. More time must have passed than he’d been aware of. Enora turned off the road, stopped the van several hundred yards into a narrow dirt lane beside a thicket and got out. He quickly did the same and Wayne followed.

Enora took a flashlight out of her jacket pocket and turned it on. She didn’t need it but the outsiders with her certainly would. “Stay very close to me. We’ll be heading into a cave that will slope down at a very sharp angle. You can’t fall off the path as the walls are quite narrow. But you can tumble forward and break your neck.” She shot what she hoped was a contemptuous look in Rogan’s direction. The flashlight illuminated his face just enough that she could see him scowling at her. She turned and led the way through a thick variety of gorse and shrubbery to reveal the small opening of the cave into which they were entering.

“I can’t believe this bullshit!” Rogan groused.

“Hang on to your temper, Rogan,” Wayne warned. “Whatever’s going on, I’m sure there has to be a very important reason. Even your parents wouldn’t go this far just to get you away from Architeuthis.”

Rogan snorted. “Oh, I believe they would. They faced down a United States Navy destroyer without so much as batting an eye.”

That was a story Enora wanted to hear. The elder MacCleans had never said they’d done such a thing for any reason. And she’d spent a great deal of time getting to know as much about them as possible. It concerned her that the Sorceress hadn’t mentioned any such scenario. Surely if Rogan’s parents had confronted the U.S. Navy, she should have been told about that escapade. But she kept her thoughts to herself and kept walking. She only spoke when it was necessary to warn the tall men to bend over where the ceiling was low. And at each level they descended, the air became very much colder.

“Damn! When you said it’d be cold you weren’t lying,” Wayne said and pulled his collar up around his neck.

Rogan refused to give the woman the satisfaction of seeing how cold he was. Or how desperately tired. He plowed gamely along behind her as if he’d been strolling the downward path his entire life. After about a half hour of trudging into darker and darker blackness with only Enora’s flashlight to light their way, he finally stopped. “All right, Ms. Brighton. Where are you taking us? How do we know what’s at the end of this path, if it even has an end?”

“It’s only a little farther. But you must remain quiet from this point on. Sounds carry a great distance within this rock and those below may be startled by us if we aren’t careful.”

“And why should I care if I startle my own parents? Especially after what they’ve put me through?”

Enora stopped walking and turned to face him. She lifted the flashlight up to shoulder level so she could see the face of the man towering over her. “It isn’t for your parents’ sake that I’m telling you to keep your mouth shut, Mr. MacClean. There are…well, let’s just say there are some things in the world below you wouldn’t want to startle or frighten.”

Rogan glanced at Wayne who shrugged his big shoulders.

“Let’s see what’s up, Rogan. We’ve come this far.” Wayne motioned for his friend to follow Enora as she struck off down the narrow rock path again.

After walking about another hundred yards, Enora suddenly turned. Rogan stopped within inches of her. “We’re here,” she told them. “Keep walking slowly, try not to make any sound and follow me into the cave.”

“Cave. Should’ve expected something like this,” Rogan quietly complained, but he kept walking and did as Enora instructed. As he worked his way into the darkness ahead, they made a very sharp turn to the right and were suddenly bathed in light. A good-sized campfire was blazing before them, the smoke of which was rising to the cathedral-like ceiling above. The smoke seemed to be drawn upward and Rogan surmised it was headed toward numerous cracks in the cave ceiling high up. By the time the smoke exited the cave, it was probably dissipated enough that it would never be visible even in the daylight. Within the cavernous space of rock, there was no sign of his parents or anything else but that campfire. Light reflected on small mica and quartz particles within the stone of the cave, making it reflect eerily and look a bit like some enchanted place from a fairy tale. From his reading, he wouldn’t have thought any such cave like this existed within the loch. The geology was wrong. But here he was, standing within its depths.

“This is beautiful,” Wayne uttered.

Enora nodded. “It is, isn’t it? There are many like it around the loch. All below the water level. And look there.” She pointed toward the far end of the cave behind them. Both men turned to look and she couldn’t help smiling at their mutual gasps of surprise. “It’s like a small beach. They come up on shore here and rest.”

“Who is they?” Rogan asked. Just as he made the query Rogan felt his face go slack. Out of the water rose a huge creature the likes of which he’d never seen. With the animal were two human figures wearing dry suit diving gear and standard scuba tanks. They walked alongside the beast as it strode onto the sandy beach-like space. The man on the animal’s right side pulled up his face mask.

“Hello, Rogan, meet Nessie.”

Chapter Three

Rogan stood and silently watched his parents take off their flippers and tanks. The creature between them could have been a statue. It neither moved nor even blinked its fist-sized black eyes. It seemed as shocked by his appearance as Rogan was by the beast’s. His mind registered the fact that his parents, Kyle and Patricia, were moving toward him, but he didn’t seem to be able to make his vocal cords work. He was, however, aware that his heart was pounding very hard and thundering in his ears so incessantly that hearing anything anyone said would have probably been impossible anyway.

“Did you hear me, Rogan?” Kyle MacClean put one hand on his son’s shoulder to get his attention. “I said your mother and I are sorry about all this, but we had to get you here without any argument and as soon as possible. We knew you wouldn’t come if we just phoned and said we’d found a creature in Loch Ness. And that isn’t the kind of thing we wanted to announce over a telephone or relay through a dispatcher anyhow.”

Rogan glanced at his mother and father who were now standing on his right side. Then he put his full attention on the massive animal in front of him. In the light of the fire he could see that it was a mottled forest green in color and had a long serpentine neck and body that vaguely reminded him of a Plesiosaur. But unlike that marine denizen, the thing before him didn’t have flippers for feet but stood on rounded elephant-looking appendages. At the other end of its ten feet of body, Rogan could see a long tail, which the creature began to swish back and forth much the way a dog would when greeting a familiar human. It tilted its watermelon-shaped head as if it were trying to figure his importance among the other beings in the cave. And on top of its elongated head were two antenna-like stalks with bulbs on the ends that were about the size of tennis balls. They were just as green as the rest of animal. It opened its slit of a mouth and let out a low vocalization that reverberated around the cave and sounded like something a whale would make while under water.

“She’s something, isn’t she? And this one is just a baby,” Patricia MacClean said as she held out her hand and crooned to the animal. It stepped slowly forward and put its big muzzle in the palm of her hand the way a horse would when wanting a treat.

“I can’t… This isn’t… Not a Plesiosaur… Not a reptile…” Rogan brokenly muttered.

Behind the group, Enora watched Rogan struggle with the reality of what was right in front of him and fail at any attempt to describe it. She glanced at Wayne as he stood to her left with his jaw hanging. It looked as if the older of the two men was frozen with shock. “Rogan and Wayne have had a very long trip. I didn’t want to bring them here so soon, but it seemed necessary to get their cooperation.”

Kyle nodded and stared at his son. “You don’t look like you’ve had any rest for a very long time, boy. We should get you and Wayne back to the hotel now and discuss this tomorrow.”

Without taking his eyes off the monstrosity now nuzzling his mother’s arm, Rogan muttered, “I’m glad you and Mom aren’t dead.” Then he walked slowly forward to get a better look at the creature.

Kyle smiled and shook his head. “So much for the tearful, heartfelt reunion.”

Pat gently pushed the baby’s head toward Rogan. “I think Rogan has other things on his mind, Kyle.” She turned her attention to her son. “Speak quietly to her and be very gentle. She listens to every sound we make and even responds to simple commands.”

As if he were approaching any wild animal, Rogan’s instincts and years of experience took over. “You referred to it as a she?”

“That’s right,” Pat responded. “It’s a female and a very young one at that. And she’s ill. We didn’t know what to do about it. We tried various remedies, but nothing we or Enora did helped. Your father and I thought you might like to look her over. There aren’t that many of them left and we don’t want this one to die.”

Rogan turned his head only enough to acknowledge his mother’s voice. “There are more of these things living in the loch? And they’re bigger?” he squeaked out.

“Yes. But we can go into all that tomorrow. I think you should really get some rest, dear.”

“I will, Mom, but first…” He let his words trail away as he quietly walked forward. He was aware of Wayne finding his voice and issuing a warning to be careful. But Rogan was in control now and he couldn’t have stayed away from the creature if a command to do so had been issued from the most remote reaches of heaven. When the baby began to back away, Rogan immediately stopped and began to speak to her. “It’s okay, green girl. I’m not gonna hurt you. Just let me touch you, baby.”

Enora watched in amazement as the baby tilted its head, considered the tone of Rogan’s voice and immediately lumbered toward him. It had taken his parents weeks for the baby to let them get that close and that was with a lot of encouraging from herself. She was even more surprised when the big head arched down and was firmly planted in the middle of Rogan’s broad chest.

“That’s okay, honey. I’m here now and I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.” He put both hands out slowly and stroked each side of the baby’s head like he would if she were a puppy. He kept his voice very low and calm and was completely mesmerized by the trust the animal put in him when it pushed into his body with its head. It made a low sound that began to rumble against his chest. The two antennae were just under his chin and folded back as a cat might fold back its ears when being petted. “It sounds like this thing is purring.”

Enora grinned. “She is. Well, that’s what I call it. She only does that when she’s comfortable with someone.”

He looked at Enora. “What’s wrong with her? What kind of symptoms has she been exhibiting?”

Enora shook her head. “I really think this should wait. You’re tired…”

“Just tell me,” Rogan insisted.

Enora shrugged and told him. “She won’t eat. At times she moans as if she’s in pain but we can’t find the source. And there’s one other thing that I’m sure is causing her a great deal of stress. Her parents are missing. Normally an animal this young would never be left alone by its parents. But neither of hers have shown up in over a week.”

Something finally filtered into Rogan’s weary brain. He glanced at both his parents, then her. “You aren’t my parents’ assistant at all. It’s like you were trying to tell me at the hotel. You’ve known about these creatures for a long time and tried to keep my parents from finding them. In fact, it sounds like you know a great deal about them.”

Enora nodded. “I’m what’s referred to as the Keeper of the Loch. Someone in my family, for centuries past, has always looked after these animals. Now it’s my turn.” She reached inside her jacket and the clothing beneath and pulled out a two-inch shard of green quartz, which was attached to a leather cord around her neck. It began to glow and the baby slowly moved away from Rogan to stand in front of her. She hugged its neck and it uttered a low kind of moan in response.

Rogan began to shake. There was more here than just a strange creature whose ancestry was a complete mystery. Coupled with his utter exhaustion, finding his parents safe and diving with this gargantuan animal, the unexplained glow of that crystal and the way the baby responded to it was just about all he could take. He began to visibly shake though he tried hard to control it. Glancing at Wayne again, he could see his friend’s expression was incredulous.

Strong emotional upheavals were always the easiest for Enora to sense. She left the baby and moved to stand in front of Rogan. “I think you should get some rest. There’s a lot more you need to know, but now isn’t the time.”

He slowly shook his head. “If you think I could possibly relax after all this, then you aren’t dealing with reality.”

Enora smirked, slowly closed her left hand to make a tight fist and concentrated. “Reality is in the eyes of the beholder.” She raised her left hand, spread her fingers and flattened her palm so that it faced upward. Then she blew gently across her palm. The sparkling silver dust collected there drifted into Rogan’s face.

Before he could interpret her odd gesture, the dust floated into his eyes and Rogan felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.

* * * * *

Marissa Talbert tapped her fingers against the hard wood of the hotel desk and waited for someone to attend her. Finally, a clerk came from a back room and approached.

“May I help you?”

Marissa sighed heavily and gave the clerk what she hoped was a stern look. “I’ve been waiting almost half an hour for someone to help me. I was wondering if I’d have to stand here the rest of the night.”

“Sorry, ma’am. The hotel is very small and we weren’t expecting anyone this time of night. What can I do for you?”

“First, I want a room. Actually a suite for me and my friend.” She pointed to the lanky, blond man standing behind her. “Second, I wanted to know what room Rogan MacClean and Wayne Anderson are in.”

The clerk eyed her for a moment before answering. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it’s our policy not to give out room information about other guests. If you’d care to leave a note, I’ll see they get it.”

“Do you know who I am?” she asked and pulled out her press card.

“If you’re staying here, you’re one of our guests,” the clerk tactfully replied, then took her ID.

Marissa heard her blond companion snort in appreciation of the clerk’s humor and she glanced over her shoulder to shoot him a cold sneer. When she put her attention back on the clerk again, he had his hand out.

“I’ll need to see a credit card, ma’am, then I can get you that room,” the clerk told her.

Frustrated in her attempts to track Rogan MacClean down, Marissa quickly fished in her purse for her credit card. She handed it to the man and began to tap her foot in impatience.

Her blond companion stepped closer to her. “Not everyone has heard of you, Marissa.”

“Wally, my friend, there’ll be a lot more who know me after this interview with Rogan,” she countered. “No one has ever found a living Architeuthis before. I want first crack at talking with the only man to do it.”

“Your history with MacClean isn’t all that good. Besides, what makes you think he’ll talk to you or any other reporter right now? The guy is here to bury his folks. If he can find ’em, that is. It’s pretty cold-blooded to track him all the way to Scotland for an interview under those circumstances. Even for you,” Wally said.

She smiled. “Why is it that when a woman goes after what she wants, she’s cold-blooded and when a man does it, he’s just being assertive?”

He shrugged. “Okay, I’m just your camera man. Do it your way. But I still don’t think Rogan is going to talk to you under any circumstances.”

“He owes me,” Marissa growled out. “It was my father who got him all that grant money to study reefs in Palau. As I recall, Rogan even got a sweet deal on some very expensive diving equipment, courtesy of my dad. And he’s got to talk to somebody sooner or later. Why not me?”

“Why not give the guy some time to bury his family?”

Marissa sighed and signed the paperwork the clerk gave her. “You’ll never understand business, Wally. That’s why you’ll be a camera man all your life.”

* * * * *

Wayne knelt beside Rogan and checked his pulse. “What the hell did you do to him?”

Enora glanced at Kyle and Pat before speaking.

“He can be trusted,” Kyle assured her. “Wayne is a good man. It’s Rogan you have to worry about.”

Enora saw Wayne shoot Rogan’s father an angry look. It seemed he decided to ignore the comment and simply knelt down on both knees beside the unconscious man. “Rogan isn’t hurt,” she explained. “He’ll sleep for about twelve hours or so, as long as he isn’t disturbed. And he needed the rest. I’ll look after him for the time being.”

“But what did you do?” Wayne angrily repeated.

“I’ll tell you later. Or maybe, since you know Pat and Kyle, they would like to tell you. It’ll be very hard to believe and understand, but you may as well know everything.”

Wayne looked at Enora, then into the faces of his friend’s supposedly dead parents. “Why do I feel like I’m not going to like this?”

Kyle gestured toward the back of the cave. “Come with Pat and me, Wayne. It’s a long and incredible story. And it’s part of the reason we wanted people to believe we’re dead.”

Wayne ran one hand through his hair. “I don’t understand.”

Kyle held out one hand to help Wayne to his feet and spoke softly while guiding him toward the back of the cave. “Pat and I can’t ever be seen again. For all intents and purposes, we really are dead.”

Enora watched Wayne, Pat and Kyle walk slowly away. She heard the older couple’s voices as they explained her existence and where she came from. Then she looked down at Rogan and wondered how she’d explain what she was. And she questioned whether she was doing what the Sorceress would want and handling things appropriately. If the Sorceress trusted Kyle and Pat, then it wasn’t up to her to question the elder MacCleans’ judgment where Wayne was concerned. But they’d just told her, not for the first time, that their son might be the one she should really worry about. If his parents didn’t trust their own son, how could the Sorceress have ever permitted his being brought here?

She threw another log on the nearby fire, grabbed a blanket from a trunk the MacCleans used to store their gear and draped the thick wool covering over Rogan. When she knelt beside him and got a close look at his face in the firelight, it was like looking into the face of a granite mythic hero. Like one of those Italian or Grecian statues of heavenly beings, Rogan’s features were perfect and very masculine. His nose was straight, jaw a bit on the square side, lips full. And if he chose to, Enora believed he’d have a smile that could rock a woman’s world. And his muscles seemed, as she’d previously judged, like those of a swimmer or another athlete who needed speed and agility to perform well. They weren’t exactly bulky, but very pronounced all the same. The only difference between him and one of those granite sculptures was that Rogan wasn’t pale and cold as stone. He was tan, warm and his long dark hair curled at the ends as it splayed out over the sand. He vaguely took after his mother in looks, his father in physique.

Glancing back at the conversing party, she gently lifted Rogan’s head and slid close enough to put it in her lap. There was no sense in letting him wake up angry and stiff as well. The least he could get was a good night’s rest. If making him more comfortable now would keep him from being quite so angry later, then whatever she could do was worth it. And she suddenly found herself wishing her older sister Keelin would get back with supplies for the baby. As if it sensed something was different with Rogan, the infant lumbered toward her and lowered its head. It snuffled at her hair, its big nostrils flaring like a horse’s would when trying to sense by smell. Finally, it moaned and lay down on the other side of Rogan. Enora shook her head in wonder. Normally, the creatures never accepted someone so readily. As far as the loch creatures were concerned, she’d never recalled anything like the baby’s response to Rogan except in connection with herself and others who had been previous Keepers.

“What do you sense that I don’t?” she whispered. “What is it about this man you seem so taken with?” The baby blew out air in a small sigh, which made its lips flutter comically. It placed its nose right across Rogan’s muscular chest then closed its eyes to sleep. And Enora knew it would die if Rogan couldn’t save it. Whatever was wrong was getting progressively worse. For some reason, the baby seemed to find comfort in being near Rogan. Maybe, like many species of animals, it had some intuition about him she couldn’t sense. Something that made the animal want to trust him. If that was so, how could Rogan’s own parents claim he wasn’t to be trusted? And how could anyone say some of the things about their own son that Pat and Kyle had? Enora knew they loved him, despite what they had told her. She could sense their deep affection for him. But that love seemed conditional. It seemed they only wanted to love him if he acted a certain way or believed a certain fact with which they agreed.

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly then leaned against a small boulder at her back. Everything would have to wait until Rogan woke up. In the meantime, she could expect a great many questions from Wayne. Questions that perhaps Pat and Kyle couldn’t yet answer.

* * * * *

Rogan slowly opened his eyes and waited for his blurred vision to clear. He was in some cold, quiet place where everything on the walls seemed to sparkle in a dazzling display. Then, as he remembered where he was, he also remembered he’d been having a conversation when the lights went out. He closed his eyes only for another moment when someone ran their fingers through his long hair. It had been a long time since anyone had touched him so gently.

“Would you like to rest some more?”

That lilting English accent filtered into his brain and he slowly opened his eyes. The face above him was shockingly lovely. All that soft, long brown hair and those haunting gray eyes. He forgot his current reclined state for a moment and how he’d got that way. He smiled up at her, turned his head slightly and snuggled a little closer.

Enora couldn’t help smiling back. But she quickly looked away when her imagination conjured a vision of what waking up next to him could be like. He’d probably be playful, sensuous and very cuddly. Maybe he was even one of those men who liked taking a long shower together or liked giving slow massages. When she looked back into his eyes, the smile was gone from his face. He was finally recalling the previous night’s events. She stood to put some distance between them.

Rogan quickly sat up, threw the blanket aside and stood near her. He had to place his hand on a nearby rock to steady himself as the last of whatever she’d drugged him with wore off. “What did you do to me?”

“Nothing that would harm you.”

“Like hell! You drugged me somehow and I want to know exactly what you used,” he angrily shot back.

“I don’t use drugs, Rogan. I’d explain what it is, but that can come later. Right now we have to do what we can to help the baby. She’s ill and won’t survive if you can’t find something to counter whatever is wrong.”

Rogan dragged his hands through his hair, took a long look around and couldn’t see any sign of his parents or Wayne. “Where is everyone?”

“The cave goes back into the hillside for some distance. I suspect they’re still asleep.”

Rogan saw saucer-shaped footprints leading away from where he’d been sleeping and into the water. The prints were round and about a foot across, so there was no question what had made them. “Where’s Nessie?”

Enora raised her eyebrows as she leaned back against a rock. “I’ve never given her a name and that one isn’t particularly imaginative.”

“Tough. Where is she?”

Enora sighed, wishing she could get back the man who had awakened so sweetly. “She went back into the loch. I tried to call her, but she was determined to get into the water. I suspect she’s missing her parents and wants to find them.”

Rogan took a deep breath and tried to focus. He had to set his priorities and the most pressing of those was the existence of a creature no one ever believed existed. At least, no one with any good sense. He put both hands on the stone before him, leaned forward for several moments and collected his thoughts into some kind of logical order. “How old did you say that thing is?”

“She’s probably just a few weeks old.”

“Damn! And she’s already that big?”

“Aren’t cetaceans born fairly large and don’t they grow rather quickly?”

Rogan pointed toward the water. “I hate to break this to you, Ms. Brighton, but that thing isn’t a cetacean. And what would you know about mammals like whales anyhow?”

She pursed her lips and tried not to say anything too nasty. “I can read, Mister MacClean. I may not have your education nor am I likely to ever have the opportunity to get one, but I have read your research papers. Aside from that, I think it’s common knowledge that whales and the like are born big and grow fast. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. And even if the baby isn’t a cetacean, one can still logically deduct a few simple principles.”

“So, can you guess if the thing is a mammal?” he sarcastically asked.

She ignored his tone of voice and simply answered, “Yes, she is. Obviously she’s a vertebrate, breathes air, they give live birth, nurse their young and you can see she has a light covering of hair just under her chin.”

Ignoring her attempts to match his sarcasm, he looked toward the water and considered his options. “Okay. If she’s too ill to eat, as you say, then why does she feel like getting into the water? If it’s true that she’s trying to find her parents, then why hasn’t she? If I remember correctly, you said they wouldn’t have left her under normal circumstances.

Enora nodded. “That’s true.”

“I need to look at her. It may be that she’s stressing over being left or there really is some pathological reason for her sickness. And that might be the reason her parents left her behind in the first place.”

Enora put her hands on her hips. “I know what you’re suggesting. That the mother and father left because she wasn’t right to begin with. Well, that’s just not the case. She was fine. Whatever is wrong only happened after they left. She was eating solid food, even while nursing, and seemed quite content.”

“It’s normal for these things to eat solid food when they’re this young?”

“Our records say so.”

“Whose records? Your family’s or someone else’s? You did say your family were the ones who’ve always looked after these things, didn’t you? So where are the other babies? Aren’t there more?”

Enora didn’t want to say too much. The sensations she received from him weren’t working in conjunction with his behavior. But if she wanted to help the baby, she had to be honest on some of the issues. “She’s the first I’ve ever dealt with. They live very long lives. Probably over a thousand years. While the babies do grow quickly at first, their growth slows in the first year. That’s according to the records I’ve seen. The creatures live in pods. There are enough pods still in existence for a decent genetic supply, but not enough to lose even one infant.”

Rogan leaned back against the rock and crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me more. Everything you can.”

Sensing his seriousness about the situation, Enora decided to give him the information she could without bringing her own heritage into the subject. “They’re omnivorous, which accounts for why they’re sometimes seen on land, crossing nearby roads for instance. They like to graze on certain plants and trees as well as fish and other loch marine life. But the accounts of their sightings, as you well know, are always discredited.”

Rogan raised one hand. “Hold on. Even accounting for their being omnivores, there just isn’t enough fish in the loch to support colonies of animals this size. Even with the new data saying there’s more fish than once thought.”

“The creatures have very slow metabolisms. Except for the babies, who can eat a huge amount until their growth rate slows, they can hibernate in underground caves like this one for very, very long lengths of time when food becomes scarce or predators become abundant.”

“And what predators could there possibly be for any animal that size? Especially in a loch?”

Enora paused before speaking and spread out her hands. “Man. You have to realize what would happen to them and to the loch itself if anyone ever knew these animals really existed.”

He heard the pleading tone in her voice and certainly did understand what would happen. Tourists along with news people would flock to the area by the thousands. Still, he might not be able to help the baby if he couldn’t use scientific equipment to diagnose what she had, never mind what species she was. And that meant that he needed a large vessel along with a research team. All that would certainly attract attention. He thought for a moment and decided there might be another way to help the infant. “These pods…are a lot of them hibernating now? In caves like this one?”

Enora waved a hand to encompass their surroundings. “Some of the caves are much, much larger. The pods are never all awake at the same time. The creatures realize they can’t all feed and swim in the loch at once without depleting the food or being spotted. They sort of overlap their hibernation periods. And those can last for years. It’s recorded they can put themselves in some kind of dormant state for hundreds of years if necessary. They’ll awaken to intermingle with other pods, mate, then go back into dormancy if necessary. But sometimes, a certain pod can remain awake for decades. It’s sort of up to them. They take turns when it’s their time to emerge.”

Rogan shook his head in wonder. He knew of all kinds of amphibious life that could entrench in some way while waiting for the right conditions to return to normal life. But what he was hearing sounded almost like a collective consciousness. It was as if the animals were acting on more than instinct or genetic embedding. “How did your family come to be…what did you call it?”

“Keepers,” she responded, but didn’t want to tell him her particular personal secret just yet. “Our position as protectors of the creatures has been handed down through generations. How it started doesn’t matter so much as what we should do to keep the baby from dying. She will if you can’t help. I’ve tried everything I know. There might not be another baby born in our lifetime. That’s why she’s so special to me. She’s the first I’ve dealt with. And that’s one of the reasons it’s so hard to know how to help her. I just don’t have that much information about the infants.”

“Something that can live as long as you say these things can is incredible. But I’ve heard of cases where animals existed under severe circumstances and even thrived. Given that these creatures aren’t supposed to exist at all, I suppose I can accept that they can live as you’ve described. But I don’t know if I can help. It might take too long to get tissue samples sent in. Blood and other specimen samples would be necessary. While all that would certainly help the others, it might not be in time for the little Nessie. You do understand that, don’t you, Enora?”

At least he was using her first name and contemplating what could be done. But one thing had to be understood. “You can’t send off tissue samples or any other data to any lab or person, Rogan. It’s forbidden.”

“By whom? You?”

“No. You’ll know who forbids it when it’s time. But I thought you already understood why. These animals can’t be discovered. At least not now. There may be a day, sometime in the future, when it will be acceptable to let mankind know of them, but that time isn’t now.”

He slowly walked toward her and stopped about a foot away. “And if I decide otherwise? Is that the reason you told me your life might be endangered? Is there someone threatening you to keep your mouth shut?”

She lifted her chin and kept silent. The revealing of any creature of magic to the outside world was up to the Sorceress of the Ancients. Shayla Gallagher would know when that time was right and no one else in the world could make that decision. But Rogan didn’t yet know that magic surrounded the Nessie, as he called the baby. It followed, therefore, that he couldn’t know about her. Not yet. She had to gauge how he was going to respond before revealing more. The Sorceress had left all this in her hands so she must handle things wisely.

Rogan stroked his chin thoughtfully as he studied the determined, silent beauty before him. There was more to the story, he was sure of it. For now, he’d see what he could find out from the infant Nessie first. Then decide what to do later. “Okay, Enora. I’ll take a look and see what I can do, but I’m not promising anything. You’ve pretty much tied my hands without any scientific data to go on.”

She sighed in relief when her senses told her he was telling the truth, if only reluctantly agreeing. “Thank you, Rogan. Anything you can do to help will be appreciated, I assure you.”

He decided to store that little offering for later use and wondered just how appreciative she might be. “You’re going to have to get her back here.” He pointed to the crystal around Enora’s neck. “If that thing sends out some kind of light to which they’re attracted, then you might want to use it.”

If the light from the crystal was what he thought attracted the creatures, Enora decided to let him believe that and get on with business. Saving the baby came first. The time to reveal other magical details might eventually come depending upon how Rogan reacted and what she could sense from his behavior. She quickly turned away, lifted the crystal with her fingers then concentrated. Whether the infant responded or not was up to the baby herself. The crystal only helped Enora make the request. Summoning the creatures wasn’t a command and never could be.

Rogan watched as the crystal around Enora’s neck began to glow as it had the first time he saw it. He’d like to get it to a lab and try to determine what kind of phosphorescent qualities it had but that could wait. For now, he wanted to get a good long look at the baby. He didn’t have to wait. As Enora walked toward the water, there was a bubbling and churning commotion, which indicated a creature of size was emerging. Sure enough, the little baby’s head came up first, then the rest of its green back came to the surface. It walked forward and, as it left the water, Rogan could see some webbing between its toes. He compared the way the webs retracted and the feet became round again to the way a hunting dog’s feet responded. The webbing probably didn’t become visible unless the toes were spread or unless the animal was actually swimming.

As the Nessie walked forward, Rogan could immediately see what was going to happen but couldn’t move fast enough to stop it. The baby’s bulbed antennae were lying flat on its head and the creature lumbered forward at an odd angle. Before Rogan could shout out a warning, little Nessie tried to keep standing but couldn’t. Crying out in what Rogan interpreted as a moan of intense pain, she lurched forward and tried to get to Enora but wobbled. Instead of scrambling backward as she should have done, Enora ran forward to try to comfort the little infant and got right in its way. Rogan bolted toward them both but wasn’t in time to keep the baby from knocking the woman backward about twenty feet. Enora was thrown sideways against a very large boulder. He reached her just as the baby fell to her side and lay still.

Chapter Four

Enora felt intense pain shoot up her left side as she struck the hard surface of the stone. She slipped down to the sandy beach and tried to push herself up to get to the baby. But the pain was so severe she could only manage to move a few inches.

“Don’t move,” Rogan commanded. “You could be hurt worse than you think.” He put his hands on Enora’s shoulders and sat behind her.

Enora reached out her right hand toward the quiet animal lying in the sand before her. “No,” she whispered. “I was supposed to take care of her.” The image of the still infant swam before her as tears gathered in Enora’s eyes. “She’s just a little baby.”

Rogan glanced at the animal and sadly shook his head. “There’s nothing you can do, honey. We have to make sure you aren’t hurt now. Can you feel your toes and fingers and move ’em?”

Enora couldn’t answer. All she could think about was the way the baby had trusted her from the first time she’d seen it. And how it had played so gently around her, sensing Enora’s smaller size and frailty next to its own weight and strength. She lowered her head and wept.

From behind her, Rogan gently put his arms around her and lowered his head until his left cheek touched her right one. “It’s all right, honey. I’m sure you did everything you could.” He carefully moved his hand over her left side and felt a bone move when it shouldn’t. “You’ve got a broken rib. Maybe more than one. We’ve got to get you to a doctor.”

“No, I can’t go.” She tried not to openly cry, but couldn’t help doing so.

“Honey, you don’t have a choice.” He turned his attention toward the back of the cave and shouted out to the others. Several minutes later, he heard Wayne calling and saw him and his parents rapidly moving forward. They had to have been some distance as they’d needed flashlights to get to the back of the cave. Rogan could see the light from them coming closer, toward the fire still blazing some fifty yards away.

“What’s happened?” Pat asked as she quickly knelt beside Enora.

“The baby accidentally knocked her down when it fell,” Rogan responded and nodded toward the animal lying so still. “Enora needs to get to a hospital and get her ribs checked. I’m sure she’s broken at least one and might even have some internal injuries.”

Wayne, Pat and Kyle all protested against that decision at the same time.

Rogan looked into each of their faces, then held up one hand to silence their mutual objections to taking Enora to any doctor. “What the hell is wrong with you people? Wayne, you know how serious an injury like this could be if it isn’t checked.”

Wayne glanced at Pat and Kyle before speaking. “She can’t go. Trust me about this, Rogan.”

“They’re trying to tell you that I can’t go to a regular physician,” Enora quietly reiterated. “There’s more going on here than you know about and I can’t tell you at the moment. But please don’t worry about me, Rogan. My sister Keelin will be here soon. She’ll know exactly what to do.”

Rogan put one hand against her cheek and turned her face so she was forced to look directly at him instead of staring at the body of the Nessie. “Are you sure about this? You could be hurting much worse by tonight.”

She nodded. “I’m sure. Just help me up. I want to see the baby.”

Rogan exhaled in frustration over her stubbornness and his family and friend taking leave of their senses. Why couldn’t Enora be taken to a hospital? Why was that such an issue?

Enora struggled to stand and grit her teeth against the pain in her side. Rogan helped her and she was surprised at how gently he put his arms around her hips and held her steady. When she glanced over her shoulder to look up into his face, his gorgeous eyes reflected deep concern. Again, she sensed his turmoil as well. These feelings she picked up on weren’t those of the callous, fortune-seeking man his parents portrayed. Trying to block out the pain, she slowly half-limped to the baby’s body with Rogan’s help. When she placed her hand on the little thing’s head, however, its eyes flickered momentarily. “It’s not dead.” Her eyes filled with tears of relief.

Rogan got down on one knee, ran his hand over the long neck and felt a slow pulse. The baby’s skin was warm, but clammy. “This thing really wants to live. Poor little devil. It’s trying so hard to fight.”

Enora put her hand on his shoulder. “Help her, Rogan. Please?”

He turned his head and gazed into Enora’s lovely eyes. They were filled with earnest emotion. “I don’t know what I can do.” He looked back down at the creature in front of him when it tried to lift its head and put it in his lap. “Poor little girl. Okay, baby. If you’re going to die anyhow, I’m gonna give you a fighting chance, okay?” he softly told her.

“Thank you, Rogan. Thank you,” Enora whispered.

He stood and turned to face her. “What if the best I can do is prolong her agony? I don’t even know what this thing is, much less how to help it.”

Wayne stepped forward. “You’re one of the best marine biologists in the world. Give her a chance.”

Rogan looked at his parents. “What do you think?” For a moment neither of them spoke.

“We’ve had our differences, son, but it’s like Wayne says. You’re the best at what you do. Your mother and I wouldn’t have gone to the lengths we did to get you here if we didn’t believe that.”

That was the closest thing to praise his father had given him in a very long time. His mother stared down at the creature lying at his feet and kept silent. “All right. First we have to get Enora back to the hotel.” He would have insisted some medical attention be given to the injured woman, but the Nessie took the opportunity to roll over onto her stomach, making an attempt to rise. When she failed and lay there moaning pitifully, Rogan doubted anything could save her. The infant’s eyes were already beginning to glaze over and this time he knew she wouldn’t rally. As if to corroborate those very thoughts, Enora spoke up.

“Quickly, we don’t have much time. I have some herbs in my room. My sister will be back with some supplies I asked for that might help. I have to get back to the hotel.”

“Someone should stay with her,” Rogan pointed at the sick animal. If she died, at least the poor creature wouldn’t be alone.

“Since your father and I want to remain missing, we’re more or less living in the back of the cave where we can’t be seen. We’ll stay with her,” Pat offered. “Even if we wanted to go out, the sun will certainly be up by now and that would make it easier for someone to spot us. Even in this remote area, we can’t take that chance.”

Rogan glanced at his mother’s wrists. As always, she never wore a watch and didn’t really care about any time except what suited her. She and his father had always done things by their own clock. Never mind anyone else’s needs. “Fine. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He helped Enora to her feet and, accompanied by Wayne, they made their way slowly to the surface.

* * * * *

“It’s amazing how you get what you want,” Wally said and shook his head in disbelief.

Marissa smirked and lifted her cocktail for another sip. “Lie convincingly enough and you can get away with murder.”

“MacClean isn’t going to be too pleased about you telling the cleaning staff you’re his fiancée. Only in a burg this small would anybody let you into the man’s room on nothing more than a story.”

“People in these backwater places still trust everyone, Wally. But I thought I did a pretty good job of acting, wouldn’t you say?”

“I say that I don’t ever want to get on the bad side of you. A man could end up castrated.”

She laughed. “As angry as I was with Rogan when he left, doing that to him would have been a huge shame, believe me.”

“Personal knowledge?”

“Very personal,” she replied.

Wally rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “You’re a real piece of work, Marissa.”

The sound of approaching footsteps alerted her. She quickly stood and waited for the door to open.

When Rogan walked into his room, the last thing he expected to see was Marissa Talbert sitting on his bed. He paused for only a moment before tossing his jacket onto a nearby chair and slamming the door closed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Hello, Rogan. Long time no see,” Wally said as he waved a careless hand in Rogan’s direction.

Rogan only glanced his way, then stared pointedly at Marissa, waiting for an answer.

“Is that how you greet a fiancée?” she laughingly asked.

“A what?” he angrily muttered.

“Well, that’s the story I used to get the cleaning staff to let me into your room. I told them I arrived as a surprise and was so convincing that they let me in without calling security. Can you believe it?”

“It’s true, MacClean. You should have seen her. Watching her wheedle the cleaning women was pure entertainment,” Wally chimed in.

Rogan glared at him. “If it isn’t Wally Burdette.” He paused and looked the man over in what he hoped was an insulting way. “And how did you get in my room? Did you say you were her pet poodle? If not, they saw the leash she has on you and assumed it.”

Marissa stood and walked forward. “Now, now, let’s not get nasty. All I want is an interview. I want to be the first reporter to talk to the man who found Architeuthis. You let me have the interview and I’m as good as gone.”

“Got news for the both of you. You’re gone anyway.” Before either one of them could utter another sound, Rogan grabbed Wally’s camera off the dresser, opened the door and tossed it into the hall.

“You son-of-a-bitch! Do you know how much that’s worth?” Wally shouted.

“More than you, I’m sure.” Rogan walked slowly toward him with his hands clenched.

Wally held up both hands. “Okay, man. I’m outta here. You’re nuts!”

Marissa opened her mouth to call her camera man back, but Wally was already out the door, picking up his beloved photography gear and jogging down the hall.

“Get out, Marissa.”

“You owe me,” she bitterly responded.

“Since when?”

“Since my father financed that expedition to Palau and got you that prototype diving equipment you wanted. If it weren’t for me, Dad would have never given you that money.”

“Just because your father owns one of the biggest newspapers on the west coast doesn’t give you the right to follow me wherever the hell you please or lie your way into my hotel room. And in case you hadn’t heard, I came here to find out what happened to my parents. I’m not discussing Architeuthis with anyone. Not right now.”

Marissa tried a different tactic. She lowered her head, tucked one strand of hair behind her ear, then looked back up at Rogan with what she hoped was her best sultry stare.

Rogan had seen the act before. She was good at getting her way. “I’m not the cleaning staff, baby. Your act won’t work on me. Now get out.” He watched her shove her short blonde hair back with one hand and put her other hand on her hip in the stubborn stance he’d seen so often.

“Why can’t you give me a break?” she pleaded. “You were supposed to radio any information to me in Auckland. You know what this means to me. A story like Architeuthis could put me in line for an anchor spot in Los Angeles. All I need is an hour, Rogan. Then I’ll get out of your life.”

“You can get out now,” he angrily responded. “And don’t you ever do anything like this again, Marissa.”

She snorted and angrily raised her voice. “You know I’m sorry I ever got involved with you. All I got out of that expedition were some stories about undiscovered tropical fish. Tropical fish, for Christ’s sake! I wanted something bigger than that. Something phenomenal.”

“And you weren’t above sleeping with me to let you have the story instead of one of your father’s other reporters.”

She stared for a moment. “That’s a low blow.”

“It’s the truth and you know it. Your dad assigned someone with a background in marine biology to cover my work in Palau. And, unlike you, your father understood the importance of funding that study for the sake of science. It should have been reported by someone with scientific knowledge in the field. You, on the other hand, got the original reporter fired so you could take her place. I stupidly let you get away with it because of a few nights in the sack.”

“For your information, I didn’t get her fired. I just talked to the editor and had her reassigned. I wanted…”

“What? What did you want?”

She swallowed hard. “You. I wanted to be near you.”

“You want anything you think you can’t have, Marissa. And you’ll use your father’s money and position to get it. I told you it was over in Palau. And I’m not giving any interview about Architeuthis. Certainly not to you.”

“Don’t send me away, Rogan. Please?” she tearfully begged.

He slowly walked to the door. “Go away, Marissa. Your father did do me a favor, however it came about. Tell him I’ll give him a call and let him have the information, but only if I can talk to a reporter who has some background in natural science and will treat the discovery as a scientific find. Not a tabloid headline.”

“Dad doesn’t know I’m here. He…he fired me, Rogan. Screwing with that reporter pissed the science editor off and he and my dad go way back. Daddy said he’d had enough. He even canned my camera operator…Wally. When he gets mad, my old man is hell on everyone he doesn’t like.”

For a split second, Rogan completely identified with her. All because of the last remark. But he couldn’t let it get to him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. I suggest you take the time to learn some responsibility and quit manipulating people. I’ve got personal things I have to do and there’s no place for you here.”

“You wouldn’t have said that once,” she quietly told him. “You wouldn’t have told me I had no place in your life a year ago.”

He turned his back on her, crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her to leave. Too much time had already been wasted. While he felt sorry for the spoilt, beautiful ex-reporter, there wasn’t anything he could do to help her. There was too much at stake right here. The last thing he needed was a reporter snooping around. Especially someone desperate to get her job and the love of her father back.

Marissa lifted her hand to touch the thick long hair drifting around his shoulders, but quickly withdrew it and walked out of the room.

Rogan ran one hand over his face and tried to clear his thoughts. A soft knock sounded on the door between his and Wayne’s room. “Come in.”

Wayne came in and glanced at Rogan’s closed door. “Was that who it sounded like?”

Rogan nodded. “Yeah. She’s here looking to get information about Architeuthis.”

“I was in the hall, coming back from Enora’s room when I saw Wally Burdette hauling ass away from here. Do you think they’re going to get in our way or cause any trouble?”

Rogan shrugged. “I hope the hell not, Wayne. We can’t afford that. More importantly…how is Enora? Is she in a lot of pain?”

“She’s a tough lady, Rogan. Even if she was in agony, her concern is all for the baby Loch Ness monster. Still, I only left her because her sister finally showed up and I wanted to see why you were in such an all-fired hurry to get back to your room instead of seeing to Enora.”

“I need the rebreather.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Rogan knew there was going to be one hell of an argument.

Wayne held up the index finger of his right hand and slowly walked toward his friend. “Now you listen to me, you crazy bastard! I only let you bring that thing because you were still in shock over your parents’ deaths. I wasn’t going to stand there and argue over it when we had a plane to catch. But I’ll be damned if you’re going to use that equipment. Do you understand? I’ll toss it in the loch before you can get the opportunity.”

Rogan almost smiled. Wayne only used insulting names like bastard when he was pretty damned upset about a safety issue. And the rebreather wasn’t all that safe. “Do you want that animal to have a chance?”

“What does that creature have to do with you putting on a prototype piece of gear and diving into a very cold loch?”

Rogan held out both hands in a pleading gesture. “Don’t you see what it’s been doing, Wayne? No matter how sick that little critter is, it keeps dragging itself back into the loch for some reason. I think whatever is making it so ill might have something to do with where it’s going. Especially since it was physically worse when it got back from its last dive. I intend to see what’s down there that interests it to the point of going through agony to get back in the water.”

“And what if it’s still just looking for its parents out of instinct and there’s not one damned thing down there? What then? Are you willing to risk your life on a hunch?”

Rogan smiled. “It was a hunch that led me to the Architeuthis, remember? Give me the benefit of the doubt, Wayne. Besides, it isn’t like I don’t know what I’m doing. There are five people in the world who can use one of those rebreathers and call themselves an expert. And I’m one of them.”

Wayne stubbornly stared at him. “There were six. One died, remember?”

“I’m doing this.”

“You’re not.”

Rogan walked toward the large trunk where his diving equipment was stored. Wayne made the mistake of standing in his way.

* * * * *

Wayne woke up with his head pounding, looked across the room and cursed. The lid to the dive trunk was up and the equipment, including Rogan’s dry suit, was all gone. When Wayne checked his pants pocket for the keys to Enora’s van, they were gone as well. He quickly made his way to Enora and her sister’s room and pounded on the door. When it swung open, Enora’s older sister Keelin stood there. For a second, he was as shocked into silence by the brown-haired beauty before him as he had been when he’d met her a few minutes ago. At present, he had no time to waste on pleasantries like admiring a pretty woman. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’ve got to find a way to get back to the loch in a hurry. Rogan cold-cocked me and stole the keys to the van. I forgot to give ’em to Enora when I drove us back. He searched my pockets and found ’em.”

“Who is it, Keelin?” When Enora half stumbled to the door and got one look at Wayne’s face, she could see he’d been in a fight. There was swelling just under his right eye and it looked as though he’d be sporting a deep purple bruise the next day. “What happened?” She motioned Wayne into the room and quickly closed the door behind him.

Wayne wasted no time in blurting out, “Rogan took off with a piece of diving equipment he brought to look for his parents. But I never intended to actually let him use it. I tried to stop him, he took me out. We’ve got to get to the loch. I can’t let him use that gear.”

Enora put one hand to her injured side before speaking. “Why on Earth would he want to dive?”

“He’s got some crazy idea that by doing so he can figure out what’s making the baby so ill. But he can’t use the equipment he has.” Wayne put one hand to his swelling eye and winced.

“Why not?” Keelin asked. “Mr. MacClean is an expert diver, isn’t he? At least that’s what I’ve read.”

Wayne adamantly shook his head. “You don’t understand. He’s using a rebreather. It’s not even a model the military uses, but one of two special prototypes. A man was killed using the other one about a year ago. Rogan intends to go down deep. Very deep. That’s the only reason for ever using a piece of equipment that specialized.”

Hearing the concern in his voice caused Enora to put a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “His parents are there. Though I know they shouldn’t be diving, they have dry suits and go down to a shallow depth. Surely they won’t let him do anything unsafe.”

Wayne pointed to his eye. “I tried to stop him and you see what happened to me. He means to do this no matter what. I can’t tell you how incredibly dangerous it is.”

Enora turned to Keelin. “We’ll need to use your truck.” She watched her sister grab her purse, then turned to look at Wayne again. “How long ago did he leave?”

“Maybe only five or ten minutes. I think it took that long for me to come around after he hit me.”

Enora grabbed her jacket and gloves. “Then he’s got that much head start. We’d better hurry. Since cell phones don’t work in caves, Rogan’s parents can’t be warned. If he did this to you, I can’t imagine what will happen if he confronts his parents. And I’d better drive while Keelin takes a look at your head.”

“You’re not intending to go too? You’ve got a nasty break in one of those ribs, Enora. I think you should stay here,” Keelin advised.

“I’m supposed to be in charge of this entire fiasco. Since I’m responsible, I’ll bloody well be there,” Enora angrily replied as Keelin helped her into her jacket.

As Enora drove the truck out of the hotel parking lot, she silently cursed the minute that Rogan had showed up. All this wasn’t worth it. Even the baby’s life wasn’t worth the trouble that could be caused if Rogan MacClean got himself killed right after his parents had supposedly just done the very same thing. How was she going to explain all this to the Sorceress? And how would the Sorceress find a way for her to explain it to the rest of the world? “Tell me about this rebreather. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything like that before.”

From his position in the backseat where Keelin was gently tending his wounded face, Wayne leaned forward to speak. “A rebreather is a kind of diving apparatus that allows a diver to go to unbelievable depths because he can use gases more efficiently. His decompression time is therefore decreased. Mostly, only the military has used such things because they’re silent and there are no bubbles. A diver can approach an object very closely without being detected. Its later uses have been adapted to marine biology research because a diver can get much closer to aquatic life without disturbing their behavior. You follow?”

Enora nodded. “Why is it so dangerous?”

“The apparatus Rogan is using is a prototype. Theoretically, he could stay down for several days with that thing, but he has to rely on electronic devices to control how much oxygen he’s getting. The same electronic controls on Rogan’s tank were used on another prototype about a year ago and they failed. The diver died and he was at a depth of about four hundred fifty feet. The concentration of oxygen can’t be too high or too low or it can be fatal. Rogan could get too much oxygen, never know it and black out. It takes an unbelievable amount of training and education to use this particular equipment and even then it’s not reliable, as far as I’m concerned.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone being able to dive that deep without being in some kind of submersible,” Keelin pointed out. “Is that possible?”

Wayne nodded. “That’s one reason the military developed these things. They’re mostly used for deep sea special operations and rescues. The system in Rogan’s rebreather is closed-circuit. That means pure oxygen will be injected into a breathing loop. It’s in a special supply source and makes up for what he uses during a dive. The other gas supplier is called a diluent. It can either have compressed air or some kind of gas mix. Rogan’s has a trimix. That’s a mixture of helium, nitrogen and oxygen all together. But if that mix isn’t maintained properly, I can’t begin to tell you the problems that can come up. His sensors have to work precisely so that the proper gas ratio is always maintained. That’s what makes it possible to go to depths like he can and not sustain injury.”

Enora started to really worry. “Just how deep are we talking here?”

“The equipment Rogan has can take him all the way down to five hundred fifty meters. The acceptable dive duration is actually just under seven hours.”

“I’d better tell you that the loch is over seven hundred feet in some places, Wayne. But it could possibly be much deeper from the cave,” Enora warned. “And the temperature in the water at the top one hundred feet is dependent upon local weather. Below that, it’s almost a constant forty-four degrees Fahrenheit. Even with a dry suit, he’ll be in terribly cold conditions and the loch has almost no visibility. He could get caught on something and never even see what he got himself into. And there’s more water in the damned loch than in all the lakes in Scotland, Wales and England combined. How can he possibly hope to find whatever he’s looking for? It’s insane.”

Wayne nodded. “Yeah. Like I said.”

“Where did he get a dangerous piece of equipment like that? It sounds highly exotic,” Keelin said as she leaned forward to join in the conversation.

Wayne looked at her. “It is. It’s one of a kind. We never found the body of the other man who was using this apparatus in the south Pacific. So the other prototype was lost with him. The only reason Rogan ever got his hands on something like it is because he made an arrangement with a newspaper mogul who financed one of our research projects. That was part of the deal Rogan made to do the dive in the first place. He got the equipment and a huge bonus, the newspaper guy got the scoop on whatever new or unusual marine life Rogan found while using it.”

“Damn him!” Enora cursed. She stepped on the gas and hoped she could get to the cave before Rogan got the equipment on, or that his parents would try to stop him and buy Wayne, herself and Keelin some time. If the idiot was crazy enough to strike his own best friend, then he would certainly try the dive.

“Aren’t divers supposed to always be with partners?” Keelin asked.

Wayne shook his head. “That kind of equipment was made initially made for special forces. They don’t usually work together. And even under the very best of circumstances with other divers I, as operations manager, wouldn’t allow Rogan to use that thing. But he was pretty damned determined.” Wayne rubbed his face again and scowled. “We really do need to stop him, Enora.”

* * * * *

Rogan sank to his knees beside the groaning infant. “Okay, baby. Next time you go down to whatever it is you want, I’m gonna be with you.” He readied his face mask, rechecked the electronic reader on his tank and moved with the baby as it laboriously dragged itself toward the loch. She was already halfway there and Rogan kept his hand on her head as a way of comforting her. He totally ignored his father and mother caterwauling in the background.

“Damn you, Rogan! This kind of behavior is what drives me crazy. You and this constant grandstanding. It’s all about you, isn’t it?” Kyle bitterly complained. “You think you can just take a discovery like this to the world and get the data you need to make everyone believe you. Never mind what happens to these creatures or the people who make their living around the loch. Just so long as you get your freakin’ discovery. There isn’t anything you can see in that water, you know. Your mother and I have been down.”

Pat knelt behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. “For once in your life will you listen to your father, Rogan? We’ve only been down about a hundred feet and it’s unbearably cold. Even in a dry suit like the one you’re wearing. It won’t protect you. And a rebreather for God’s sake! Where in hell did you get something like this? I don’t believe we raised a son so irresponsible.”

Rogan kept his mouth shut about the grandstanding comment and all the rest. His parents had done enough of that very thing in their time. But that had always been acceptable as far as they were concerned. For all his scientific accomplishments, he was still a showboat. They believed he was only in the research to make a name for himself and gather himself a personal fortune. As if someone in marine biology could do so just by making a few discoveries. That proved how little his parents knew about the reality of his research. And truly, what was wrong with garnering the acknowledgment if he helped save endangered species in the process? The only thing his parents had ever done was chase legends and waste their lives doing so. This time, however, their chase had been righteous. Rogan could almost believe they were afraid he’d claim the discovery as his own and leave them out of it. That was the way their minds worked. That was what they thought of their son. It showed how little they knew him. Instead of arguing with them, he kept his mouth shut and his concentration on the job ahead. The baby kept crawling toward the water. A few more yards and he wouldn’t have to listen to his parents bitching any longer. But voices from the direction of the cave path made him turn his head. He lowered his face mask as Wayne, Enora and a beautiful tall woman he took to be Enora’s sister ran toward him.

“Rogan! Don’t you do this, you bastard,” Wayne yelled.

Rogan watched as the baby slipped its round front feet into the water. He held onto her neck as she did so. “Sorry, Wayne. I can’t hear you.” He put the mouthpiece into his mouth, slipped into the cold black water and hung onto the baby.

“Tell me he knows what he’s doing,” Enora begged as she stopped and tried to ease the ache in her injured side.

“I can only tell you that he’s the most stubborn man I’ve ever met,” Wayne answered.

Pat sank into the sand and slowly shook her head. “Heaven only knows what he’ll do with whatever information he finds. It would have been better if we’d never lured him here.”

Enora couldn’t believe what Rogan’s mother had just said. “Pat, your son may die. He’s using equipment that killed a man in another part of the world. Don’t you care?”

“Of course I do. But it’s more important that he doesn’t reveal this, isn’t it? What about you, the Sorceress and your ancient Order of mythological creatures? If Rogan survives and learns about all that, he’ll take it straight to the nearest government agency or private research facility. Whichever has the most money to offer for the discovery.”

Wayne was at the edge of the water looking where the man and beast had last been seen. He slowly turned toward Pat and Kyle. “Why don’t the two of you get off his ass? He’s your son, for cryin’ out loud. Cut him some slack.”

Kyle looked him straight in the eyes. “We’ve tried, Wayne. But Rogan went his way years ago. There’s nothing to do now but make sure he doesn’t endanger these creatures, or the Order.”

Wayne walked forward and stood within inches of the older MacClean. “You trusted me enough to tell me about all the creatures of the Order and the Sorceress of the Ancients. Why wouldn’t you trust your own son? I could just as easily go to the outside world and tell them what you’ve told me and bring scientists from all over the globe to show them what’s in this loch. Why tell me and not Rogan?”

Pat was the one who answered. “We needed someone on our side, someone to back our decisions and the need for secrecy. You’re the one with the more open mind where strange phenomena are concerned. So far, you haven’t let us down. Rogan, on the other hand, has let us down many times. He’s always been critical of us and what we do. And he never misses a chance to tell us just how he feels. I believe he’s down there right now getting whatever samples he can from the baby or anything else he finds. And with others in the scientific community, he’ll be the first to want to cut one of these gentle creatures open, dissect it and see what makes it tick. That’s the way he is, though we certainly didn’t raise him to be so callous.”

“You sure as hell don’t have a very high opinion of him, do you?” Wayne angrily muttered.

“He turned against everything we taught him,” Kyle responded. “I don’t expect you to understand though it’s admirable for you to stand by him the way you have. But he’ll turn on you too, Wayne. Rogan is in the research for whatever name he can make for himself. And if there’s money in it, so much the better. Pat was right. It would have been better had we never brought him here. Even if it meant losing the baby.” Wayne turned, put his arm around Pat and they walked toward the back of the cave together.

Enora waited until they were farther away before approaching Wayne. “I’ve heard them talk about Rogan this way before. They say even more harsh things.”

“If they’d seen the look on his face when Rogan thought they were dead… Do you know that when he found out, we were on a research vessel off New Zealand? Rogan sat in his cabin and cried like a little kid. He thinks I don’t know, but it’s true. And how is a guy supposed to react when he finds out his family was destroyed? Rogan wasn’t dancing a jig. He was torn up. And his old man and mother treat him like they never wanted him.”

Enora walked toward the water and stared at the black surface which was being illuminated by the glow of the constantly burning campfire. She hadn’t misinterpreted the pain she’d felt when she first met Rogan. He loved his parents. But they, it seemed, only thought of him as a man who would take advantage of any situation. No matter how sensitive the circumstance might be. Still, she wanted to know the other side of the story. But to get it, Rogan had to survive. And she found herself praying to the Goddess for his safe return.

“Don’t die down there, Rogan. Don’t die,” she quietly murmured.

Chapter Five

Rogan kept his gloved hand on the baby’s neck as they slowly descended. As if the animal didn’t want to lose contact, she remained by his side. He had to trust that wherever she was going would give him a clue as to why she struggled to get back into the water and swim when her life was slipping away. Because the blackness engulfed them both, he reached down to his left side and lifted the flashlight attached to his belt. He switched it on but the small amount of light only lit up the few feet surrounding him and the creature with which he descended.

As if the youngster knew or understood that he couldn’t see, she turned her head to look at him and a strange thing happened. The bulbous little protuberances on the top of her antennae began to glow a soft green. At first, Rogan was startled by the Nessie’s ability to do such a thing and was in wonder as to how it could be accomplished. His mind began to click off various animals who displayed bioluminescence even as he automatically checked their depth, direction and time on his dive watch. Despite his amazement at the unexpected lighting display, the water was horribly cold. Even with a custom-made dry suit with gloves and hood, he began to shiver. Or maybe it was the entire situation catching up with him, making the cold seem that much more biting. Even his vast experience couldn’t account for the shock of seeing this creature he was swimming with for the first time or its strange skills. Now this lumbering entity was leading him to…where?

Rogan dredged up every bit of training and experience he had to keep his mind on the task ahead and on checking his readouts. Wayne’s warning about the last man to use the other prototype edged into his thoughts. While Rogan had certainly used the tank before without mishap, there was no one to come to his aid now. He had no radio communication with anyone aboard a research vessel, no diving partner and no one even knew where he was in the murky water. And as the baby undulated its way into the cold darkness and he approached two hundred feet, Rogan began to wonder how much farther they’d go until the Nessie found whatever it sought. All he could do was hang onto her neck and let her lead where she would. It was the most reckless, foolhardy thing he’d ever done, but the most thrilling of his life. Even discovering Architeuthis couldn’t compare with this adventure.

Rogan checked his electronic readout again and was satisfied that the gas exchange on the rebreather was working properly. At this depth, and because of the design of this particular prototype, there would be no way to get back up without decompressing. If his tank malfunctioned as it was assumed it had for that other dead diver last using this same equipment, there would be no air left for decompression. And no way to a hyperbaric chamber. He’d die alone in the cold depths of a freshwater loch in Scotland. He was now approaching three hundred feet and was amazed at the ability of the baby to descend so gracefully in her ill state. And her air supply didn’t seem to be dwindling at all. He wondered, along with a thousand other things about her, just how long she could stay down.

Soon the baby’s descent began to slow. In the silty water below him, he used the infant’s glowing antennae and his own flashlight to try to get a better picture of what lay down there. Rogan could see what looked like a small rise against the rocks on a slope. Probably the very slope that led up to the cave from which they’d come. But as the little Nessie got closer, he could see an irregular pattern forming. He felt his eyes go wide in shock. What he’d first thought was a geological formation turned out to be decaying matter of some sort. Bits and pieces of something floated in the water around him and became more prevalent as the baby eased closer. Rogan put out his hand and felt soft tissue give way. He directed his flashlight to the left and right and saw something that made his heart both ache and pound at twice its normal rate. The sound of it throbbed in his ears like thunder.

Before him was the decaying corpse of an animal about ten sizes bigger than the one with which he swam. The infant with him made a horrible crying sound that reminded Rogan of the sound a lone whale made in the depths of the ocean. The youngster with him nudged at the still form, which only had the effect of spreading more decaying tissue in the surrounding water. Rogan looked at his swimming companion and gently stroked her long neck. Poor little thing. His full pity was with the Nessie. She was desperately trying to awaken what he assumed was a parent. It had long since died and was wedged into the cliff side of the loch. As Rogan perused his surroundings, it was very difficult to see everything, but he began to make out some kind of outcrop about fifty feet below their present location. The dead carcass rested upon it.

He let go of the baby and began to swim the length of the rotting animal. As his gloved hands ran over that part of its body that was still intact, he felt a rope. Then the rope began to take on a shape. It was a net or what seemed to be a fragment of one. Tragically, he began to piece together a sad tale that had repeated itself in other parts of the world in various oceans, reefs and waterways. It looked like the parent had been swimming, become entangled in what was left of a fishing net and the net had got caught on rocks that jutted out from the cliff side. Unable to free itself, the larger version of his little friend had probably drowned. And as Rogan continued his inspection, the little Nessie followed him, crying plaintively. Its wail of grief was a poignant and terrible thing to hear under water. To calm her, Rogan again reached out to stroke the oblong head and its glowing tipped antennae. She gently nudged him as if encouraging him to make the dead animal get up and swim. The baby repeated the motion against the body of its parent. I’m sorry, little girl. Really damn sorry, he thought. And he tried to convey his commiseration by taking her head between his hands and putting his glass mask right up against what he took to be her forehead. And when it responded by looping part of its head and neck around his upper torso, Rogan almost wanted to cry. He fancied he could feel the little one’s grief and loneliness. But the worst was yet to come.

As he continued his slow inspection with his flashlight and the light from the baby’s glowing antennae, another scenario unfolded. On the outcropping below them, Rogan could see an immense shape in much the same condition as the one he now swam near. As he descended farther, a body that dwarfed the first one lay rotting as it too was caught up in remnants of the same fishing net. But instead of just being hung up on the rocky face of the slope, this immense body was completely tangled in pieces of loose nylon rope and rigging. Crying out in a heartbroken-like pitch, the infant swam swiftly past him and began to gnaw at the net and rigging holding down what was probably its other parent. Rogan began to see what was making the baby so sick. It knew its parents were dead, there was no doubt in his mind about that. But the little thing kept descending to the depths to free them anyway. When one of the enormous beasts became tangled in the net and couldn’t get free, it looked as if the other had stayed with it and had eventually become trapped. Both of them had drowned. Their offspring had probably been saved because it was on dry land in the cave far above. If it had been swimming with its parents, it surely would have been caught up in the frenzied fight for freedom conveyed by the overlapping and torn pieces of netting. Bits of it lay about on the outcrop and floated in the water with the flesh of its unwitting victims. Their infant had been steadily chewing away at that net and had probably swallowed enough of the indigestible mess as to make it quite ill.

To confirm his suspicions, when Rogan flashed his light on the Nessie infant, it was busily eating away at the net and chewing through a foam float-ball sometimes used by fishermen on nets. He swam toward her and pulled her head away, but the determined little critter went right back to work to free its parents.

Rogan took out his dive knife and began to methodically cut away the rope and tangled webbing that made up the bulk of the net. As if it understood, the baby swam right beside him, making urgent pleading noises that would have broken the heart of anyone listening. But there was no one but him to hear. And because of the sound of it, Rogan ignored the time on his watch and kept cutting. It was an overwhelmingly large task, but he kept at it until the larger form began to float more freely. Then he went to what he surmised was the mother on the ledge and repeated the process with her. When that was done, the bone and weight of both animals’ carcasses caused them to finally slip free from their death bonds. More and more dead tissue clouded the water and his visibility, but the bodies finally floated completely free and began to sink. Rogan swam deeper and followed the freed bodies another hundred feet and ran into logs and debris that would probably keep their victims submerged for the rest of the time it took to decay.

It was then that he remembered the containers within the pouch on his belt. He unfastened the nylon pouch and took out two sample bottles. Into these he gathered tissue from each of the rotting animals before they could sink completely out of sight. As he watched the carcasses slowly drop lower and lower, he returned the small vials containing the samples to his pouch. The still living member of the family swam up behind him and carefully dropped her muzzle over his shoulder. She cried pitifully for a few more moments while he petted her neck and caressed her head. Then he checked his readouts again before slowly making his way up. At first, the baby stayed behind and he feared she might not come up with him. But he made a show of waving his hands to get her attention and the baby took one last look below before following his ascent.

Rogan kept checking his decompression time against the depth and moved only when it was safe to do so. The baby swam up past him and he guessed she might finally be out of air. Before long, however, she rejoined him by swimming back down to his depth and that scenario repeated itself until Rogan was within about twenty-five feet from the surface. He was sure about his location given the direction the infant was swimming and his own compass. And he looked forward to getting out of the biting cold of the water and entering the cave where the warm fire was probably still burning. But he didn’t see the huge dark shape approaching from beneath. Only the baby’s agitated movements alerted him to the monstrosity approaching from below. A long low moan resounded around him and Rogan knew the baby hadn’t the capability to make a sound so utterly menacing. That sound echoed through the water and into his very bones.

Too late he saw the behemoth accelerate toward him and he couldn’t have moved out of its way with any amount of help. It was just too immense and moving too silently fast. Even a shark couldn’t imitate that deadly swift motion. And just before it was about to strike, Rogan accepted the fact that he’d die. Still, he could spend his last seconds enthralled that the beast could move that fast and totally undetected.

Like the smaller version swimming near him, its antennae were glowing fiercely. But instead of being the size of his fist, the bulbous tops of them were roughly the size of beach balls. And though Rogan believed animals couldn’t express anger, he truly believed this one approaching was furious. From the light its antennae produced, he could see that its eyes were narrowed and focused and its mouth hung open. Huge incisors the length of his forearm jutted from its upper jaw. It circled him and he knew it was going to attack. But out of all the amazing things he had seen since coming to Scotland, the next set of events boggled his mind. The baby swam from its position just over him and placed itself directly between him and the circling leviathan. As the littler one did so, the larger beast slowed its pace and began to circle at a more steady speed. Still agitated, it watched Rogan carefully but came close enough to the baby to nudge it occasionally. The littler animal responded to the resounding moans with a short set of squeaks and clicks. This had the effect of slowing the bigger version considerably and it finally stopped about twenty feet away from Rogan with its head tilted at a strange angle. Rogan had his knife in his hand but hadn’t remembered grabbing it. He carefully lowered the useless blade and sheathed it again as the large beast slowly swam closer. He felt his heart was going to burst from his chest. The fear he experienced was only controllable from years of close encounters with marine animals that had become suddenly aggressive. But he knew this thing could kill him and the small damage he could inflict with his knife wouldn’t be worth mentioning at his funeral. He glanced at the baby and she seemed to have her head tilted also. The freakin’ things are communicating. That was when Rogan began to understand there might be some greater intelligence to these animals he hadn’t attributed to any other living creature.

Fearful for one of the younger members of its species, this bigger beast probably thought it was defending the baby. Perhaps it had picked up on the infant’s sorrowful cries from somewhere in the depths of the loch and decided to investigate. The baby was seemingly putting itself between him and the much larger animal in order to fend off whatever danger might befall Rogan. It kept itself at a constant distance from him, no matter how he moved or how the bigger Loch Ness monster maneuvered. And the baby kept making the same squeaking sounds to its large counterpart.

Suddenly, the menacing eighty feet of colossus stopped its aggressive movements, changed the sound it made and moved slowly in. Rogan kept absolutely still. Only at that time did the baby move out of the way, leaving him on his own. It took every nerve he had to remain absolutely still and let the giant approach. Its large head kept tilting right then left. Rogan lowered his gaze so as not to stare it in the eyes. But when its large nose pushed his body and caused him to move backward several feet, he automatically put his arms up to fend it off. His black gloved hands fell on its long muzzle and both of them stayed there, motionless.

Rogan felt the minutes pass and the body of the beast stayed still. There they both were. It with its head between his hands and he with his hands on either side of its enormous snout.

When the infant nudged him from behind, he grasped the side of the gargantuan head in front of him more tightly and held on to keep from being pushed completely over the bigger Nessie’s head. At that moment, the bigger of the two animals began to make a sound that was puzzling at first. Then the baby joined in. Rogan’s glance shifted between the two creatures and realized they were making that same strange purring sound he’d heard the little one make when he’d first touched her. That sound was different underwater, but it was definitely a non-aggressive vocalization.

Instead of the angry, menacing monster the huge beast had been, it began to carefully move its massive head against his chest and body as if begging to be petted. Overwhelmed with complete awe and rising excitement, Rogan complied by stroking the large animal’s head. Then he reached out and repeated the gesture with the small Nessie next to him. His joy at the encounter was enthralling. Charmed by the antics of the two, Rogan began to lose all track of time and playfully pushed the beasts. And they responded as gently as a large dog would to its beloved and protected master.

It was only then that Rogan looked down and saw several other megalithic shapes swimming in slow circles below and to the left and right of him. Like the baby, all the antennae of the adults were also glowing. At least he took them to be adults from their size and the way they maneuvered. All he could think about was the pure enchantment of the moment. No human on Earth had ever done what he had, he was certain of it. And as long as Rogan lived, the thrill of that moment would never leave him. Only a slight dizziness began to intrude on the moment. At first he checked the gas readout device connected to his rebreather but it appeared to be normal. As the dizzy sensation increased, he was forced to release his touch on the animals and put his hands to his head as a way of trying to clear a buzzing that began in his ears. The buzzing soon became a loud roar and he had to bite down hard on his mouthpiece to keep from losing it.

He closed his eyes and tried to shake off the horrible pain that now burst from deep within his head. Worse than any headache he’d ever experienced, Rogan instinctively knew this was not the result of equipment malfunction or a decompression problem, but something else. When he opened his eyes, the baby, the larger animal and several like it were around him. Their heads formed a circle around his body while their enormous bodies dropped down. It was like watching a group of porpoises readying themselves for a command. The pain in his head was almost unbearable and he knew he had to reach the surface fast. But as quickly as the pain began, it suddenly stopped.

In its place, Rogan felt something in his mind open. Like a door to a room, a dark unused portion of his brain breached and he began to hear something from far away. The animals around him were absolutely still, including the baby. And they were all staring at him as if they expected something from him. Confused, Rogan kept still and waited for the part of his consciousness that was evolving to catch up to the moment. When it did, he heard one word resound through his brain. It echoed there and reverberated throughout his being.

Keeper.

As if a message had been delivered and those relaying it were needed elsewhere, the beasts began to swim slowly away, leaving Rogan with the baby and the one larger animal that had first approached. The big adult came forward again, gently nudged him in the chest then carefully turned and swam off like the others. It was only then that Rogan tasted the unmistakable copper flavor of blood in his mouth. Dizzy again, he tried to fight off whatever was wrong and began to swim to the surface. When he couldn’t coordinate his movements, the baby came from behind him and literally pushed him up and forward until he surfaced back in the cave, a few yards from shore. He heard a woman’s scream, then everything went black.

“My God, he’s bleeding!” Pat cried out. She ran forward with her husband closely behind her. Together, they pulled Rogan’s limp form from the water and up on the small beach. The baby lumbered forward and fell onto the sand, groaning loudly.

“He’s been down for the better part of four hours,” Wayne said as he wiped the blood from under Rogan’s nose and pulled back his hood to check the bloody streams running down the sides of his face. More blood was dripping from Rogan’s nose. “Dammit! He didn’t decompress right.”

“We’ll never be able to get him out of this cave and to a recompression chamber in time. Why in hell would he ever use this piece of crap?” Kyle bitterly complained as he quickly unstrapped the suitcase-sized apparatus from Rogan’s back.

“He’s stubborn. Just like his old man,” Wayne shot back.

Enora forced herself into the crowd and quickly checked Rogan’s pulse. “Let’s get him closer to the fire.”

“Good. And lay him on his left side and raise his feet. It might help a little,” Wayne instructed.

Enora knew a little about diving from having read Rogan’s papers. Wayne was telling her to position Rogan in such a way that there would be less of a chance of having an air embolism getting to his brain. But she’d never read about so much bleeding from the nostrils or ears. There was only supposed to be a bloody froth at the nose and mouth in an instance of an air bubble or embolism in a vessel. Despite the pain of her injury, she grabbed up a blanket she’d been sitting on and draped it over Rogan’s still form. When she checked his pulse again, it seemed very strong and normal to her. His mother was tearfully commanding Rogan to awaken while his father was on the other side of Rogan’s body stroking his hair back.

“Come on, boy. Don’t give up on me. Wake up, Rogan,” Kyle chanted over and over as he unzipped the one-piece dry suit at his son’s neck and put his hand on Rogan’s chest.

Enora glanced at Keelin, who had pulled Rogan’s flippers off and was keeping his feet elevated as Wayne instructed. Wayne was at her side watching Rogan with a fearfully lost look on his face. She heard him also mutter a request for Rogan to wake up. But something deep within her knew he would and that he would be all right. “Please, let’s give him some room and a couple of minutes. His pulse is very good,” she told them. But his parents were almost apoplectic with fear. At that time, she knew they were almost all bluster where their protestations about Rogan’s behavior was concerned. She sensed their absolute panic and love for the man lying on the sand before them. And anyone without any empathic powers at all could feel the profound relief of the entire group when Rogan’s eyes opened and he tried to push himself off the sand.

Kyle put his arm around Rogan’s shoulders. “You lie still and take it easy. You bloody damned fool! Look where your showboating has got you. Who taught you how to decompress with that idiotic piece of equipment?”

Rogan’s head was spinning but the sensation eased as the seconds passed. He looked at the faces of all those around him and knew he’d lost consciousness. “It’s not a decompression problem, Dad.” Of that he was absolutely certain. He attempted to stand, but everyone seemed to be on top of him at once. “Let me up. I’ve got to get to the baby or she’s gonna die for sure.” He pushed the numerous pairs of hands off his body and rapidly stood. The dizziness was gone.

Enora grabbed one of his biceps to stop him. “Rogan, you were bleeding from your nose and ears when the baby pushed you out of the water. What happened?”

Not surprised by that announcement, Rogan let it pass and stumbled toward the animal lying yards away on the beach. She was moaning loudly and gasping for air. What little reserve she’d had was spent in protecting him and bringing him to the surface. And Rogan wasn’t about to let her die. Not after having been approached by her kind and actually having made sentient contact. He sank down beside her even as the hands of his family and friends were trying to check his pulse and their combined voices were urging him to lie down and be still. He ran his hand down the baby’s body and saw her head jerk up in pain as his hand lingered far down on her side. His mind grasped for a way to save her. Barring any kind of replacement for blood, he couldn’t just cut her open and gut her like a fish. But there was another way. It was a bizarre solution and might not work. “Get me some kind of lubricant. Something like…like cooking oil. It would be better if it’s sterile, but anything greasy or oily will have to do.”

Enora knelt beside him. “Haven’t you heard a word we’ve been saying? You were bleeding. Something with the way you decompressed didn’t go right.”

“I’ll say this for the last time. It is not a decompression problem. Now get me some grease or this baby is gonna lie here and die in agony.” He stared at Enora to get his point across.

At that moment, she felt the full earnest nature of his emotions. And she sensed he wasn’t in any pain or ill. Whatever had caused him to pass out the way he had was over. The bleeding had ceased the minute they pulled him away from the water. She turned to the others. “Do as he says.” She watched the others reluctantly leave Rogan’s proximity and go searching for the requested lubricant.

Suddenly, Pat snapped her fingers and made a dash for the back of the cave.

“She might have something back there that can help,” Enora said as she watched the older woman’s retreat. “But I think it’s too late, Rogan. This little one doesn’t have much time left.” She put her hand on the baby’s head and saw the look of pleading in its eyes. It might be better to let it go than to let it suffer on in such agony.

Several minutes passed and Rogan gently prodded the baby’s side, getting an idea of just how he was going to go about his intended treatment. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it was a chance. He looked up as his mother hurried back with a white tube in her hand. It was about eight inches long.

“Here. This is sterile and it certainly lubricates,” she said as she handed the tube to Rogan.

He looked at the item and felt his jaw drop open. For a brief moment he didn’t know what to say, then finally found his voice. “This is vaginal lubricant, Mom.”

Pat shrugged. “Well, it works for your father and me.”

Rogan tried not to think of the picture his mother’s words had just painted, shook his head and moved to kneel directly behind the baby.

Wayne pointed at the animal’s rear. “Are you gonna do what I think you’re gonna do?”

“Why? You want a shot at this?” Rogan sarcastically offered as he opened the tube, clenched his jaw and began to smear his mother’s vaginal cream up and down his left arm and gloved hand. He hoped the material of the dry suit would help eliminate friction and that the sterile lubricant would keep the baby from suffering infection. But this crazy idea had to work first. If it didn’t, secondary problems wouldn’t make any difference.

He swallowed hard, thrust his hand under the baby’s thick green tail and slowly entered her lower abdomen area from her rectum. “Hold her still. She isn’t going to like this any more than I do.”

Enora was right in front of the baby. The infant’s head suddenly shot up and she cried out so loudly that it echoed off the cave walls. Despite her hurt ribs, she clenched her jaw against the pain and threw her entire torso over the baby’s head. “Help me!” The others quickly grabbed the Nessie’s neck and lay across her upper body to hold her down. But aside from crying out in pain and surprise, the animal seemed to understand that it should stay still. It panted, groaned and wheezed but didn’t otherwise fight.

At the other end, Rogan kept his eyes on Enora’s face while he gently pushed his hand farther along what he hoped amounted to the baby’s lower intestine. She nodded her encouragement and he moved a little faster, putting his other hand on the animal’s side so he could get a better idea where any foreign matter might be located. Soon, his fingers grasped what he assumed was nylon cord. It was the same stuff he feared she’d been chewing. Rogan gently tugged at it and began to work at the knot of stuff clogging the beast’s digestive tract. “It’s a wonder she didn’t rupture or go septic before now. Poor little mite. She sure wants to live.”

Enora’s eyes met his and she nodded in understanding. Rogan knew exactly what he was doing, even if he’d deny it. Whatever he’d seen in the water gave him a clue as to why the huge, groaning presence beneath her was so ill. She’d get him to explain later. But whether the baby lived or died, Enora was satisfied that Rogan MacClean was not the man his parents’ warnings depicted. At the other end of this rare creature was a man who loved animals and would do whatever it took to save them. Maybe how he went about it was the point of contention within his family. But Enora couldn’t help but think of him as a very brave, intuitive individual with a great heart and the mind of a genius. People should count themselves lucky just to know him. She certainly did.

Rogan carefully began to pull the lodged matter toward him. The animal he worked on cooperated by lying still though he knew by her cries she was in considerable pain. “Just a few more minutes, baby. Hang in there,” he crooned while continuing the process of reaching deep within the intestine and pulling matter out. When his shoulder was up against the Nessie’s rump, his fingers touched a rounded object he believed might be the key to the entire problem. “She’s got a foam float lodged next to some other organs. If I can get to it…”

Enora watched the concentrated expression on Rogan’s face. By now, his father, mother, Wayne and Keelin were all talking to the baby, trying to soothe her. Enora kept her own position hanging onto the head, but her injured ribs were throbbing. She ignored the pain and kept her arms wrapped around the big green head and hoped Rogan could finish soon.

Rogan knew he had to be very careful. If his grasping fingers pushed the object farther up into the digestive tract, he’d never be able to dislodge it without surgery. And even if they could find something that would serve for a blood replacement and if they had the proper tools and anesthesia, the little animal would die tonight if they had to put her into shock cutting her open. “Come on, dammit! Come on,” he swore to himself.

“You can do it, boy. I know you can,” Kyle encouraged.

Just as his father uttered the words, the grapefruit-sized ball rolled past his wrist. Rogan gently guided it toward his end of the intestine then began to carefully empty the intestine of the foreign matter. As soon as the foam float was free, the Nessie took a deep gasping breath and pushed. A basket load of rope, foam pieces and other matter Rogan didn’t care to think about emptied onto his left shoulder, down his side and chest. Despite Enora’s effort to keep the baby’s head down, it lifted its long neck, grunted several times and emptied itself of the rest of what it had swallowed. Not content that all the garbage was out, Rogan carefully searched what area he could reach again and found only smooth intestinal wall. He freed himself from her body, stepped back, shaking the remains off his left hand and arm, then nodded. “I’m not sure, but I think that did it. She’ll do the rest herself.”

Enora stepped away as everyone else did when their patient stood up on its feet, tilted its head and whistled loudly. The baby’s response so relieved her that she broke into a laugh. “I think she’s trying to tell us she feels a great deal better.”

Rogan walked around the animal to join Enora while trying not to get too close to anyone. What he had on him should be washed off immediately, but he was too excited by the animal’s response. The infant lowered her head and strongly pushed him back a few feet with her muzzle. He was a bit embarrassed when she put her mouth right on his face and made soft snorting sounds. “I hope that amounts to a kiss. Otherwise, she just blew me a raspberry.” Everyone burst out laughing and the creature bobbed its head up and down and stomped its front feet.

“By gosh, I think she’s gonna be just fine. You did it, Rogan.” Wayne lifted one hand to slap his friend on the back but quickly dropped it when he got his first good look at what now covered most of Rogan’s dry suit. “Uh, I think you’d better get cleaned up. Do you have anything to wear?”

Grinning, Rogan looked down at himself and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got the clothes I changed out of before I put on my gear.”

“Well, get the hell out of that suit then give it to me so I can clean it up. You’ve earned a break,” Wayne advised.

Enora knew she was smiling just as broadly as everyone else, but had to support her injured side with her opposite hand.

Rogan saw her guarding the injury and quickly looked at Keelin. “I forgot about her ribs. She needs to be looked after.”

Keelin quickly went to her sister’s side.

Enora waved Keelin off. “I’m okay. I just need to sit down for a while.”

Keelin put her arm around her younger sibling. “Enora, you and Rogan have both done enough. We’ll look after the baby for the rest of the night,” she declared as she slowly walked away with her younger sister.

Wayne nodded in agreement and looked at Rogan. “My sentiments exactly. As soon as you get cleaned up, lie down and stay put. I’m not forgetting you were bleeding when we dragged you out of the water.”

As Rogan turned and retrieved the black bag containing his clothing, he surreptitiously fished the vials of samples he’d taken out of his belt and dropped them into his bag. When he stood up and turned, he found his mother and father blocking his way.

Pat quickly came forward and hugged him, despite all the decaying matter covering him. “I’m so proud of you, Rogan.” She kissed both cheeks and his forehead before releasing him.

Kyle put his hand on the top of Rogan’s head and ruffled his son’s long hair. “You did good, fish.”

A large lump formed in Rogan’s throat. He couldn’t remember the last time his mother had said she was proud of him or when his father had used that stupid nickname. It had been bestowed when he was very young and his parents had learned he seemed equally at home in water as out of it. “Th-thanks. I uh…I did my best. It could have gone wrong.”

“But it didn’t,” Kyle responded. “You saved this creature’s life and it was nothing short of ingenious the way you did it. Now you go get cleaned up. Keelin probably took Enora to one of the chambers at the back of the cave. There’s a small waterfall there where the water seeps down through the surface rock. It’s cold, but clean. You’ll find plenty of soap and towels. And after you’re scrubbed yourself, get some rest and we’ll let you know if the baby shows any sign of infection.”

Rogan nodded. “Don’t let her eat anything for a while, but she can have all the water she wants.” With that, he smiled at his parents and they returned it with what he felt was absolute sincerity. Something in the vicinity of his heart grew warmer than it had been for a long time. Maybe all the harsh words could be mended and the past put behind them all. He picked up the bag containing his clothes and followed the path Keelin used to take Enora away. It wasn’t too long before he saw a light at the back of the cave and heard voices. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

Keelin turned to greet him. “I guess you know I’m Enora’s older sister. If no one told you, I’m called Keelin. I’m sorry we didn’t meet under better circumstances, but I wouldn’t have missed this for all the gold on Earth. What you did was absolutely…”

Rogan stopped her by raising his hand. “It was crazy,” he finished for her. “I might have killed that animal.”

“But you didn’t. And I know now that everything I’ve read about you only paints part of the picture. I’m so very glad to know you, Rogan.”

He smiled and looked down at his hands. “I’d offer a handshake, but under the circumstances…”

Keelin laughed. “I’ll give you a hug instead. Uh…later. For now, I’ll get you something hot to eat and drink.”

Enora watched her sister leave to round them up some food. She looked Rogan over and sensed weariness mixed with extreme satisfaction at having helped the baby. “How do you feel? Does your head hurt?”

Rogan regarded the woman lying on a bed of blankets and pillows that had been propped against the cave wall. “I should be asking if you’re okay. You had no business getting near the Nessie in your condition. Broken ribs shouldn’t be ignored.”

She shrugged off the comment and pulled a blanket around her shoulders. Even with a wool sweater on, the cave was very cold. “I had to be there. We all did. But, for your part, that was one of the most selfless, brilliant things I’ve ever seen anyone do.”

“Yeah,” he joked, “I’ve got the smell to prove it.” He paused to look around. “I was told there was some kind of makeshift shower around here someplace.”

She pointed toward an entrance to the side of the room. “If you go through there you’ll see it. It’s just a small waterfall that spills into the bottom of a rock pool.”

“Thanks.”

Enora watched him stride away and noticed for the first time how very tight that dry suit fit his body. It hid nothing. She felt no guilt or shame in eyeing his muscular thighs, tight butt or broad, well-defined shoulders and chest.

“See anything you like?”

On hearing her sister’s amused voice, Enora immediately turned toward the door to see Keelin standing there watching her. Her elder sibling had probably just got an eyeful of her ogling Rogan. “I didn’t hear you.”

“You should have, sister dear. But I think you were so busy checking out that man’s goods that you didn’t sense me approach.”

Enora grinned wickedly and wagged her eyebrows. “Well, I can certainly look, can’t I? And why are you here anyhow? I thought you were going to watch after the baby with the others.”

“I am. But I needed to check on a tin of soup heating in the other room for you and Rogan. And I volunteered to help Wayne clean up that mess out in the cave by shoveling it under the sand. Very deeply.”

“I still don’t know how all that garbage got in the baby’s stomach to begin with. But I’ll ask Rogan. He must have seen something in the loch that led him to do what he did.”

Keelin nodded and glanced at the shower room where Rogan had disappeared. “If you can, get him to tell you what happened to him under the water. His parents are worried to death about him and Wayne has been asking questions about it as well. Seems all that bright red blood isn’t a normal symptom for decompression sickness or an embolism.”

“What makes you think he’ll talk to me any more than he would any of the rest of you?” Enora asked.

Keelin crossed her hands over her chest before responding. “Didn’t you see the way he was looking at you, little sister?” When Enora waved a hand in dismissal, Keelin continued. “I think if asked properly, that man would do just about anything you wanted him to.”

Enora arched one brow and shot her sister what she hoped was a bawdy leer.

The older woman sister laughed. “Be careful what you ask for. You might just get it.” She turned her head toward the room where the subject under discussion was showering. “I think our hero of the day is finishing up.”

Only a moment later, Rogan entered the room carrying his bag.

When he saw the two sisters standing there, he gripped his sweatshirt in one hand, ran the other hand through his wet hair and looked for anything resembling a comb. Keelin tossed him one from a nearby trunk and held out her hand.

“If you’ll let me have that dry suit, I’ll take it back to Wayne. Then you can grab yourself and Enora some hot soup off the cook stove in the next room. I’ll…I’ll make sure the two of you are left alone to get some rest.”

The words were innocently said, but Enora understood her sister’s real meaning. And as Rogan handed Keelin the rolled-up diving gear, Enora shot her older sibling an exasperated look. Clearly, Keelin hoped something would come of the time when she and Rogan were left alone. But the two of them barely knew each other. And that was probably the way things should stay. Still, when Rogan left the room to retrieve some soup for her and himself, he hadn’t yet pulled on his sweatshirt. And her body responded quite inappropriately to that massive and bronzed exposed chest. She had no idea swimmers had that kind of muscle. Regretfully, the sweatshirt was covering his torso when he returned and he had two steaming mugs of vegetable soup in each hand. He handed one to her, then sat down.

“I can use this. The loch was cold as the bottom of a glacier.”

“You shouldn’t have gone down so deep or stayed so long,” she quickly chastised. “Why did you?”

Sitting at the end of the smooth blanketed outcrop that served as a bed, Rogan considered how to explain what he’d found. “There were two very large animals caught up in some fishing nets. It looks like they got entangled trying to escape and drowned.”

Enora lowered her head and stared into her mug. “That’s why they didn’t come back for their baby. I knew it must be something like that.”

“I cut ’em loose from the net and let them fall to the bottom. The baby had been trying to chew them free. She won’t have to do that now, poor little thing.” He slowly sipped the hot soup and tried not to remember the terrible sounds the infant made when it saw the older animals rotting down there.

“Thank you, Rogan. You risked your life doing this and I won’t forget it.”

He shook his head, ran one hand through his damp hair to help it dry and took another sip of hot soup before speaking again. “It was worth it. I just hope I didn’t do more harm. I could have ruptured some soft body tissue or bruised an organ.”

Enora put her mug on a rock ledge, stood up and walked toward him.

Rogan didn’t object when she took the mug from his hand, placed it on a nearby wooden crate and carefully wrapped the blanket covering her own shoulders around his. And he didn’t make a move to stop her when she tilted his face up and pressed her soft lips to his mouth. In fact, he welcomed the contact and didn’t want it to end. He raised his hands to her hips and, careful not to do more injury to her rib cage, pulled her gently forward between his thighs.

Chapter Six

Enora put all the warmth she could into that kiss. His weariness, confusion and determination to help the creature warred with his scientific curiosity. She sensed all that and more. He was as attracted to her as she was to him. “I’ve wanted to do this almost since the first time I saw you,” she whispered against his full lips.

Rogan moaned in response and let his hands gently slide up underneath the wool sweater she wore. “I’ve been thinking pretty much the same thing.” He kissed her jaw and lowered his mouth to taste her soft throat. All the while his hands edged farther up. And when his thumbs reached the flesh of her breasts, he circled them around to her back and broke contact with Enora to look at the bad bruise on her left side. “As much as it pains me to say this, I don’t think we should really be intimate right now. We could make this injury worse.”

The pain in her side was still there even with her body’s sexual response to his proximity. She leaned her forehead against his. “I guess you’re right. But I still want to be with you. I find you pretty damned attractive.”

He kissed her lips and let linger over hers. “That makes two of us. Maybe I can figure something out. I’d hate to think I left you aroused with no way to satisfy the urge.”

She smiled. “There are ways, of course.”

Rogan glanced back at the mound of pillows against which she had been resting. He carefully put his hands around her waist and pushed her backward until she was sitting on the side of the bed again, near the place she’d reclined. “Just lean back slowly and don’t do anything. I’ll take care of this.”

Breathing heavily now, Enora didn’t know what would happen but she enthusiastically anticipated whatever solution he had to the problem. She felt his physical need to enjoy a sexual encounter was just as strong as her own. The pain in her ribs would be nothing compared to the unsatisfied desire she’d feel if she couldn’t be intimate with him.

When Rogan was sure she reclined comfortably, he helped her out of her sweater and stared at the perfect, braless breasts he’d exposed. They were full, pert and just the perfect C-cup size he loved. He wasted no time immediately covering her nipples with his lips, trailing slow kisses over both pert mounds until Enora moved against him and thrust her hands into his hair. “Just lie still,” he softly instructed.

She nodded and did as he requested. When he pulled off his sweatshirt and cautiously leaned toward her to rub his chest against her own, Enora encouraged him. “Yes, I like that. I love the way you feel against me.”

Panting softly now, Rogan lifted her hair up with both hands and planted tiny kisses across her shoulders and neck. Then he moved backward and removed her boots. She lifted her body so he could help her out of her jeans and swore softly when he saw the tiny pair of lacy black panties. “I’d like to see all of you in lace. Very…sheer…black…lace.” He delivered kisses down her throat to punctuate each word. Then he trailed his fingers over her abdomen and let the tips of them slip just under the top of the panties.

Enora closed her eyes and gasped when his slow exploration led to gentle circling motions exactly between her thighs, right where the motion would achieve the best results. That he’d been with women was obvious. He had a definite talent for pleasing and had probably pleasured many. She was certain he could charm any woman he wanted right into his bed and produce results that would have her wanting to stay in it. But there wasn’t any sensation of his needing to gratify an urge brought on by their proximity. This was something deeper. She knew it.

For a moment, Rogan withdrew his hand from her body and lowered his head. He closed his eyes, tried to gather control and take his time. Enora Brighton was the most excitingly sensuous woman he’d ever been with. And she had a sweet little body that had him so aroused he was afraid of doing her further injury if he wasn’t careful. But when she put her hands on either side of his face, pushed his hair back and kissed the top of his forehead, he knew he had to have her. He quickly stood up, unlaced his hiking boots and kicked them off. Then he leaned forward until the zipper of his jeans was very close to her chest. Enora didn’t have to be told to unbutton the top and lower the zipper. She did so automatically. Her soft palm reached within the opening to caress his erection and Rogan moaned loudly. He put the palms of his hands against the cold rock wall of the cavern and watched as she pushed the fabric down his hips, then did the same with the thigh-length underwear he preferred. And when he was finally free of all the clothing, even the cold of the cave didn’t affect his pronounced erection.

Enora put her hands on either side of his hips and urged him toward her.

Rogan’s breath caught in his throat as he saw the top of her head and all the soft brown hair moving against him. From where he stood, she could easily lie back and still taste him. He put his hand on the back of her head to guide her, but wanted her body next to his. It was hell pushing her away, but he did so and quickly straddled her body. “You don’t move,” he panted.

She looped her hand around his head, brought it down so she could give him a full, open kiss. And Enora felt him shaking with excitement. It thrilled her to know she could affect this huge, muscular giant in such a way. It emboldened her.

He planted soft, slow kisses across her face, shoulders and chest and gradually made his way down to the top of those pretty panties again. She lifted her hips slightly and let him pull them from her body. Rogan took a moment to look her over and finally stared straight into her silvery-gray eyes. He leaned forward and put his hands on both of her cheeks. “Tell me what you want. I’ll do anything you want me to.”

She heard his raspy breath and saw his chest rising and falling in tandem with her own. Enora’s response was to loop her hands around his shoulders, caress his back and pull him toward her. “Keep us both warm tonight. Let me hold you very close,” she whispered and opened her thighs for him.

Despite his resolve not to further injure her, Rogan knew he might if he weren’t careful. But the soft entreaty left him wanting her in a way no man could have resisted. He slowly moved forward as she raised her long, soft legs and circled them around him. And when the tip of him came into contact with her vagina, he slowly, slowly pushed forward and tried to keep her upper body as still as he could. But he heard no protestation of pain or remorse coming from the beauty beneath him.

“Don’t stop,” she pleaded. “Just put your hands on my shoulders, hold me steady and I’ll be all right.”

He smiled down at her, did as she requested and finally thrust forward. When her forehead rested against his cheek, Rogan whispered against her hair, “I’ve never felt anything so right.”

With his hands supporting her shoulders in just the proper place, she felt only a bit of discomfort in her side. Then almost none when he began to slowly move in and out of her body. And the repeated hard feel of him soon swept away anything but her desire to climax. His encouraging words and description of how it felt to be within her had Enora at the brink of release within minutes. And as the sensation overran her and took her to a wonderful feeling of completion, his own body relented and she felt him shudder through a very intense orgasm. But he didn’t release her yet. He held on and stroked her so gently and spoke to her so softly and lovingly that she felt the sting of tears in her eyes. This strong, frustrating man could easily exert a hold over her heart that could be far more painful than any physical injury she could ever suffer. But he held on and didn’t let go. And she felt herself falling asleep almost at the same time she saw his eyelids close. Even as he held her close and gently to him.

* * * * *

Marissa snapped her fingers at the waiter and ordered another double scotch.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” Wally asked.

She glared at him but kept her mouth closed until the drink was delivered. “I want that story. It doesn’t rank up there with famine, pestilence and the state of the world insofar as wars or threats of them are concerned, but it’s enough to get me back on the paper again.”

Wally shook his head and sipped the same drink he’d been nursing all evening. “What are you gonna do? If MacClean doesn’t want to talk, there’s nothing you can do about it. And I think this is more about him dumping you than that squid, isn’t it?”

She slammed her glass down on the tabletop hard enough that several diners in the restaurant glanced her way. But she kept her voice low. “He didn’t dump me. It was a misunderstanding.”

Wally raised one hand in resignation. “Okay, whatever you say. But we’re still sitting here in the Highlands chasing after something you obviously aren’t going to get. Why don’t we find a story somewhere else that’ll appeal to an editor? We’re wasting our time.”

Marissa stared into her drink and thought for a moment. “He’s got that rebreather with him. The one my father bought him. At least the case for it was in his hotel room. I recognize it.”

Wally carelessly shrugged. “So? The guy’s an expert diver and his parents just drowned. He wants to find ’em. There’s no mystery there.”

“So why haven’t we seen him out on the loch? Why hasn’t he been back to his room or rented a boat to dive from?”

Wally ran a hand across his face and took another drink. “You’re obsessing.”

Through clenched teeth, she muttered, “If you don’t want to be here, go back to California. I can get someone local to operate a camera. I want that story. Rogan owes me and I’m not leaving until I get what I came for. So help me, I’ll be in that man’s face until he gives me the information I want if for no other reason than to shut me up.”

Wally leaned forward. “You saw what MacClean did to my camera. It was lucky he didn’t do any permanent damage. And the next time, it might not be a piece of equipment, Marissa. It’ll be me he picks up and tosses through a door. It’s real easy for you to sit there and piss him off when my butt is the one he’ll kick.”

She snorted. “What makes you think he wouldn’t kick my tail right along with yours?”

“Rogan MacClean is a lot of things, but a woman beater isn’t one of ’em. I don’t want to be around when he loses his temper again. Especially not when the man is trying to find his dead parents in the bottom of a loch and doesn’t seem to be having any luck doing it. That kind of situation doesn’t lend itself to congenial circumstances. You know what I mean? It’s likely to just make him more hot-headed.”

Marissa tapped the top of her glass with her finger for a moment. “If he’s so intent on finding them, why hasn’t he been to the Coast Guard, or hired a boat crew and search party? I still say it’s odd that he’s trying to do this all on his own and seems to be avoiding outside contact.”

“Rumor has it he didn’t get along with his folks all that much. They were supposedly a couple of kooks who searched for everything from Big Foot to the Abominable Snowman.”

“Maybe there’s another story here. One we’ve overlooked,” she said as she leaned back in her chair and interlocked her fingers. “Rogan never talked to me about his family, but I’ve heard those same crazy stories.”

Wally leaned forward. “What are you thinking about? Going at this from a different angle?”

“I’m thinking that if Rogan’s parents were up here on another wild goose chase and he doesn’t want their memory dragged through the dirt, he’ll talk to me. I think I can get him to give me exclusivity on the Architeuthis or I’ll just threaten to do the story on his parents’ deaths and all their insane exploits instead.”

“That kind of crap isn’t newsworthy for your dad’s paper. Oh, it would go over well with a tabloid print, but not with any righteous publication.”

Marissa smiled and pushed back her hair with one hand. “Whatever Rogan’s problems were with his family, I’m sure he wouldn’t want a seedy story printed up in some rag. I’ll tell him that since I’m out of a job, that’s the only story I’ve got at the present.”

“Damned near enough to the truth,” Wally announced.

“If Rogan doesn’t want his parents’ drowning turned into a monster-chasing story, he’ll talk to me. One way or another, I’m not leaving Scotland without something. He either tells me what happened off the coast of New Zealand, or I tell the world his parents died searching for the Loch Ness monster. It’d be a pitiful end to their lives.”

Wally shook his head and stared at her. “You’re one cold bitch, Marissa.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you’d thought of it.”

He swallowed the last of his drink and picked up a menu. “Just remember, you piss him off…you take the consequences. I don’t want to see eight thousand dollars worth of camera equipment thrown against a wall again. In case you haven’t forgotten, we’re outta work. I can’t afford to lose the only way I have of making a living.”

“When we get our jobs back, I’ll see to it you get brand new gear. And I think my old man is going to want this story badly enough that he’ll give us anything we want.”

“So what’s the plan?”

She took the menu out of his hands, which had the effect of making him shift his total attention to her. “From now on, Rogan MacClean doesn’t go anywhere unless we’re right on his butt. My instincts are telling me he’s up to something. A man doesn’t travel halfway across the world to look for his drowned family and not ask for help from the local police or water authorities. As far as I can tell, he’s probably using a highly sophisticated piece of equipment and hasn’t even told the police, the Coast Guard or anyone else that he’s diving.”

Wally nodded. “Yeah, I gotta admit. That doesn’t sound kosher.”

* * * * *

The cold cave chill was all the more reason to hold Enora closer. He carefully wrapped his arms around her as his dreams took him to another world. In that other, unearthly place, he could hear the cries of strange animals that floated to him from the total darkness. But the dark was soon dispelled by the illuminating quality of their antennae. As the colossal beasts circled him, Rogan knew they could easily take his life. One whip of their long, snake-like tails or a single crunching bite and he’d be a memory. But they neither attacked nor threatened to. And the longer he stayed in the dream with them, the more certain he was that they’d do no such thing. He had the eerie feeling they were considering his place among them. In the non-reality of his dream, he needed no breathing apparatus and wasn’t bothered by the inhuman cold. So his attention could be completely focused on the creatures around him and their actions. Just as it had happened in reality, however, Rogan began to suffer the same dizziness. And the circling animals stopped and faced him. He heard a sound that originated from the animals, but it didn’t travel through the water. Somehow, his mind simply received it the way a radio received signals from a distance. The message was clear, deep and insistent. Keeper. They repeated the one word over and over. Rogan floated there, transfixed. What did they want from him?

The sharp pain from her injured side woke Enora. She had been sleeping against Rogan as his arms held her gently and close. Now she was on her uninjured side and quite alone. As she sat up and her eyes quickly focused, she saw Rogan sitting on the end of the rock dais that served as a bed. He was staring at the far wall and there was a look of intense concentration on his face. “Rogan, what’s wrong?” She ignored the pain in her side and moved to sit next to him. When he didn’t respond, she fell silent and tried to sense his emotions. But it was like he was far away, in another place, and focused totally on whatever he saw. She put one hand on his shoulder. “Rogan?”

From the depth of his trance, he heard Enora call. Rogan closed his eyes, blocked out everything but the sound of her voice and was able to finally come back to reality. He slowly turned his head toward her but couldn’t speak for a moment.

She curled her legs beneath her and pushed his thick long hair back from his face. “Rogan, are you all right?”

“Yeah,” he quietly responded. “I-I think so.”

“You were dreaming, weren’t you?”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m not sure if it was a dream or a nightmare.”

She pulled him to her and was gratified to hear him sigh in response. When he lowered his head against her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her body, Enora could sense his intense confusion and relief at being awake. “What happened down in the loch? What did you see, Rogan? How did you get hurt?”

He took a deep breath before speaking. “I guess that bigger animal must have got too close and knocked me against something. Maybe I hit my head.” He couldn’t tell her the truth. She’d think he was crazy. Animals weren’t able to communicate the way those in the loch had. And maybe what he told her really was the truth. If he’d hit his head just the right way, his mind might not make sense of what happened. So it would piece things together, out of order and make of the actual event some kind of nonsensical scenario. How was he to know?

“Maybe we should get you to a hospital.” She pushed away from him and looked up into his face.

The concern he saw there warmed him. It had been a long time since anyone but Wayne gave a damn about what happened to him. All in the same night, his parents and he had finally made some headway as far as communication was concerned. And now he was in the arms of a very sensuous, beautiful woman who could drive all his cares away. He didn’t want to lose one moment of this precious time. And certainly not one second of this interlude with her. “No. If you don’t think a broken rib is worth a trip to the doctor, then a little bump on the head isn’t going to send me to the emergency room.” He smiled and leaned down to softly kiss her. And the way she responded made him want to melt into the cave floor.

She finally broke the kiss and pulled a blanket toward them. She lay back against the pillows and looped one hand around one of his well-developed triceps. With the other hand, she pulled the warm covering over them. “Let me hold you. I won’t let any nightmares bother you again.”

Rogan settled next to her and stared into her eyes. “You never told me what you used to knock me unconscious. I never even saw it coming.”

“I won’t do that to you again. And sometime, when you’re ready to hear it, I’ll tell you what I did. For now, just sleep. Just let me hold you for the rest of the night.” And when his eyes closed and his breathing came deep and steady, Enora knew she’d have to tell him about the Fairy glamour. He’d have to know what she was and about all the other magical creatures of the Order. She just didn’t know how to do it. Nobody had ever prepared her for falling in love with an outsider or any man so quickly for that matter. After all, he’d been a total stranger but a few days earlier.

For the rest of the night, Rogan slept peacefully. Occasionally, he’d awaken briefly. And in those times, he deeply appreciated every move she made and every caress she gave. It was the most wonderful night of his life. Nothing, with any other woman, had ever made him feel so alive, needed and virile. There wasn’t one detail about Enora Brighton that was too small or insignificant. He wanted to know everything. He felt, for some strange reason, that this night was a major turning point in his life. Even more important than discovering an unknown species of animal that was living in the bottom of Loch Ness. And when he finally awoke and she was still lying next to him, Rogan knew that experience was one he wanted for the rest of his life. He had to have Enora at any cost. He lifted one hand, swept the long strands of soft brown hair off her shoulder and began to kiss the skin there until she moaned. There was a dark bruise across her rib cage, but she still smiled sweetly in her sleep. Apparently, the lady was a lot stronger than she looked, or just as bewitched with him as he was with her. No other woman would have let him get near her with an injury so painful. But some gut instinct told him that Enora Brighton wasn’t just any other woman.

* * * * *

Wayne sat and stared into the fire.

Keelin took his hand and looked at the elder MacCleans for support. They nodded in unison, so she continued. “Do you understand why we can’t let anyone know about the creatures in the loch, Wayne? There would be a lot of questions asked about why your parents pretended to be dead and where they were hiding out. The police will want to know why Enora and I are staying down in the cave and what she knows about the MacCleans, as their assistant. All that questioning could lead a tenacious investigator right back to the Order. And the Sorceress of the Ancients will hold my sister responsible for whatever you or Rogan says to anyone about this. Do you understand?” she asked again.

For a long moment, Wayne kept his thoughts to himself. But he eventually turned his attention toward the lovely woman speaking to him. “Yeah. I-I can relate to all that. But how do you expect me to act as if nothing has happened in front of Rogan? I mean, the guy has known me since we were in the Navy together. Why shouldn’t he know all about what you just told me?”

Kyle threw a log onto the fire, glanced at the baby who was sleeping peacefully on the beach, then turned his attention back to the very bewildered man asking the questions. “I love my son, Wayne. Make no mistake about that. But Rogan can’t know. Not until Enora thinks the time is right. For all our sakes and for the safety of the Order, it would be best if she can just convince Rogan to keep the creatures of the loch secret and never tell him the rest. His career comes first.”

“It always has and always, always will,” Pat confirmed.

Wayne pushed his hands into this hair and slowly shook his head in utter confusion. “I can’t believe all this is happening.” Then he gazed at Keelin. “How did you come to be? How are you possible?”

She took both his hands in hers and smiled. “I’ll try to explain everything. But isn’t it enough to know for now that we trust you? That I’m putting my life and my safety into your hands?”

He put out one hand and touched her face. “You’re the most beautiful thing I ever saw. That you let me see you as you really are is…I can’t…I have no words.”

Keelin smiled at him. “I can sense a deep honesty in you, Wayne. I’ve trusted you from almost the first time I saw you. The way you defend Rogan and care about his safety is the mark of a true friend. And I’d count myself lucky if you’d be mine as well.”

Wayne watched her duck her head rather shyly. He put one finger under her chin to force her to look at him. “I’d die before letting anyone or anything hurt a glorious entity like you. However you came to be, this Earth is all the better because of it. I’m the luckiest man alive to have seen what I have. To have learned your world exists. And I know Rogan will feel the same way.” Wayne glanced at Rogan’s parents, shook his head and directed his next comments to them. “I won’t address all the problems there are between you. But the guy you keep accusing of having so little respect for the research he does has risked his life a dozen times to protect the animals he studies. You never saw him dive off the deck of a boat and into a tuna net to let a baby porpoise loose, or into an oil spill to drag a sick otter to shore. I once saw him come close to getting run over by a ski boat to get a manatee out of the way. How is it you could know him so little? Especially when he cares about the both of you so much? I’ve seen the guy after the arguments you have and it isn’t a pretty sight.”

Kyle sighed and dropped is gaze. “I know he loves us in his own way. And the things you’re describing aren’t news to us. We’ve heard of him pulling stunts like that and a lot more. But he’s always got an angle. There’s always something in it for him.”

“Like articles being written up in the paper, more grant money and a better deal with his funding sources because of those stunts,” Pat explained. “But it’s a sad fact that Rogan loves the media and plays to it when he gets a chance. I’m not sure he hasn’t created a few incidents just when it’s convenient for the newspaper reporters to get a picture of him.”

Wayne stood up. “How in hell can you say something like that?”

Pat held out her hands in a pleading gesture. “Didn’t you see that article in all the major magazines? He was actually chosen as one of America’s ten most desirable bachelors, for heaven’s sake. He’s had his picture taken with beautiful women and their very wealthy parents from San Diego to Newport. The way he poses and preens, you’d think he was anything but a serious, dedicated researcher.”

Wayne snorted and knelt before the older couple. “The guy can’t help it if he has women chasing him or if their parents see fit to donate research money. If he’s playing politics, that’s what half the scientists on earth are having to do just to get a few dollars floated their way. And if you’re so serious and dedicated about your own studies, why haven’t you published what you find or document it in any way? Rogan just finished his third book on data gathered during deep sea exploration. That kind of information isn’t kept to just a chosen few. He’s sending it to every lab and university for practically nothing, just so the latest information is in the hands of the next generation of scientists. But I don’t guess all that matters to you, does it? This is really about Rogan going his own way and doing things differently, isn’t it?”

Kyle stood and raised his voice. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Wayne stood when Rogan’s father did and took a strong stance in front of the older man. He put one finger in the middle of Kyle’s chest to emphasis his point. “You’ve been taking digs at Rogan ever since that day in San Diego harbor. You talk about somebody pulling stunts? Man, that was the mother of ’em.”

“Maybe we’d all better calm down and keep our voices lower,” Keelin suggested as she stood and looped one hand through Wayne’s arm. She tried to pull him away from Kyle and glanced toward the back of the cave.

“No. I’m tired of this,” Wayne told her. “Rogan is a friend of mine and I’m not gonna stand here and listen to this or let you and Enora hear just his parents’ side.” Wayne turned away from Pat and Kyle to look at the beauty beside him. Every word he said was for Keelin’s sake, so she’d understand.

“Rogan and I were stationed on the same Navy destroyer. Neither of us was much older than any other kids out of college, but we both had an interest in marine biology. Aside from wanting to serve our country, which is an honorable thing to do despite some people’s opinion to the contrary,” he nodded toward Rogan’s parents, “we saw the Navy as a way to get into research. Rogan badly wanted a position with the Navy’s dolphin program.”

“They were teaching animals to deliver bombs,” Kyle declared. “The military have always taken a dim view of conservation efforts and have a record to prove it.”

Wayne took a deep breath and continued speaking to Keelin. “That dolphin program at the time was working on finding a way to use the animals’ intelligence for rescue efforts on the open ocean. Nothing more. But Rogan’s parents became so disgusted with the idea of his allying himself with the military and his interest in dolphin research that they got some of their wild-ass friends together and tried to block our destroyer from leaving San Diego harbor. Our captain was told, by the port authorities, that the couple leading the protest were Rogan’s parents. They said they did it to protest the Navy’s use of nuclear weapons, not to protest any dolphin programs.”

He glared at the couple, then put his attention back on Keelin. “You see, I don’t think they really cared what the protest was about. Pat and Kyle were there just to get in a good solid dig where their son was concerned. And don’t think it didn’t cost him. Rogan’s next fitness report wasn’t as good as it could have been for no other reason than the captain wanted to retaliate. And that report, while still very good, wasn’t good enough to get him into the dolphin research program.”

Wayne finally confronted the couple again. “So please don’t talk to me about somebody pulling stunts and posing for the media. I was there and saw all the reporters on the docks when we tied up. They couldn’t wait to get an interview from the two of you and the other protesters and you certainly looked more than willing to oblige. And Rogan wasn’t a popular guy in the Ward Room for a long time.”

Pat stepped forward. “What you’re saying isn’t true, Wayne. We didn’t do what we did to hurt our son. We believed in a cause Rogan could never understand. And I don’t know how he changed so much or why. When he was a boy, he thought of us as heroes. He helped us stuff envelopes to send out for animal rights causes and even stood in protest lines with us.”

“And it was a huge disappointment when he didn’t see your way of doing things as the only way. Right?” Wayne asked and didn’t pause to wait for their response. “Maybe he saw you get arrested one too many times and decided there might be a less confrontational road to the same end. You know…better the carrot than the stick? Did you ever think of that?”

Keelin waited for the older couple’s explanation of the issue, but they stared at each other and appeared to clam up. Wayne, however, kept going. Intent on defending his friend.

“I’ve seen pictures Rogan carries with him. I’ve seen that old converted school bus you used to live in. If I remember, it was painted deep purple and had psychedelic symbols all over it. It was designed to stand out and make a statement for yourselves, but wasn’t much of a home for a kid. And Rogan told me once, when I pried it out of him, that he used to worry you’d get yourselves into real trouble with the law one day and not be able to come home again. I think there were a couple of times when you were supposed to be at school for one function or another and never showed up because you were at a protest or rally to save something.” Wayne sarcastically snorted. “Save the world and to hell with your son, huh?” He paused to let what he was saying sink in. “I can remember an old photo of him in a high school football uniform. I was talking to him about it, ’cause I used to play nose-guard myself. He said his team, his senior year, almost made it to the state finals. I commented on the fact that his old man must have been there going crazy in the stands the same way mine was when I played, but Rogan got kind of quiet and didn’t say much after that. And he didn’t hang those pictures up anymore. That’s when I really knew the two of you never gave a damn about him the way you did your causes. And while there’s nothing wrong with believing in something, it’s my opinion that you ignored him and put your beliefs first. You weren’t at his football games, plays or anything else he ever participated in, were you? He never said so, but that’s the drift I’ve gotten over the years.”

Keelin was getting a picture of the older couple that she didn’t like and her paranormal senses were telling her that what Wayne said was all the truth. She also perceived that Rogan’s best friend had finally had enough of what he believed was a very unfair situation. He was finally getting it all off his chest.

Wayne kept going while he had the chance to say everything he’d always felt. “You know, even after all you two so-called parents have done to the guy, Rogan never used to say one word except in your defense. Even now, the guy seems to dredge up some emotion where you’re concerned. He still displays an old picture taken at the beach when he was probably ten or twelve years old. It’s the one where you’re all gathered around a tidal pool, looking at starfish. He takes it with him everywhere like a good luck charm. But that’s gonna come to an end.” He moved closer to the couple and dropped his voice to a low snarl.

Pat and Kyle stared at him, speechless at his heartfelt and bitter onslaught. They both backed away as the big man moved in on them.

Wayne had to work hard to keep from losing total control. “You know something? My folks are dead. I thank God I had ’em for the time I did and that they gave a crap about me. And the more I hear from you two, the more I miss my own parents. Had the situation been reversed, I don’t think I could have put up with what Rogan has over the years and still want to see you two anymore. You keep going on like this and one day he’ll walk out on you for good. I swear to God, he will.” Wayne slowly turned around, walked toward the sleeping baby Nessie and said no more.

Keelin watched Pat’s and Kyle’s faces turn quite pale. She faced them squarely. “Rogan couldn’t have won that kind of loyalty from the baby if the things you’ve told Enora and me about him are true. Perhaps you think it’s none of Wayne’s business to speak the way he has, but you’ve both said quite a lot about Rogan that was very negative. If Wayne defends him now, perhaps it’s because he feels the need to. Perhaps someone should have defended your son long ago.”

Kyle took a deep, shuddering breath before venting. “I’ll say this until the day I die. Pat and I love Rogan with all our hearts. But as far as the people of the Order are concerned, you and Enora are in danger if you tell our son about yourselves, Keelin. He’ll want to reveal that discovery to the world. He won’t stop to consider the consequences. And for that, I’m sorry. But it’s the truth. No matter what anyone says. And while I can applaud Wayne’s attempt to defend his friend, Rogan showed his true colors when he knocked the crap out of him back at the hotel. Just to get what he wanted. Yes, Rogan seems to have even resorted to physical violence, if for no other reason than to get a piece of equipment he had no business using in the first place. Rogan’s actions are reckless and dangerous to others, not just to himself. To that end, he isn’t worth defending.” Kyle turned his head toward Wayne and loudly stated, “My son doesn’t deserve the kind of camaraderie you’ve shown, Wayne. Rogan will always do what’s in his own best interest. He’d strike out at a friend or anyone else who gets in his way. There’s no getting around that. Not now or ever. He will betray all our trust, just to make a name for himself.”

Wayne ignored the older man and kept kneeling beside the sleeping baby while stroking its neck.

Kyle shook his head in frustration, took Pat’s hand and walked away with her.

“If he does reveal us, the Sorceress will kill him. Or she’ll order Enora to,” Keelin softly murmured. She slowly turned to join Wayne.

From the back passageway, Rogan heard everything. He was nowhere near them, but their voices had echoed off the walls of the cave. Now he stood frozen in place. Both mortified that Wayne had pieced together so much of his familial problems and grateful for his support, he didn’t exactly know how to approach the situation. He was either the object of pity or scorn depending how one looked at it. And neither picture left him feeling very good about himself. Worse, his parents didn’t trust him with some secret that was beginning to make sense. Enora had once warned him that she would track him down if he went to the police concerning his parents’ faked death. He recalled her saying that her own life could be in jeopardy if he revealed too much. But what was it he couldn’t know that Wayne and everyone else, including his parents, did? What secret was even more unbelievable than the discovery of previously unheard of creatures actually living in Loch Ness?

He glanced behind him, hoping his sojourn to check on the baby hadn’t awakened Enora. He needed to get some space between himself, these people and the events of the past few days. Anywhere was better than staying there and facing those who now knew all the painful secrets he’d been trying to hide his whole life. Everything he’d heard made him feel as though his guts had been metaphorically spilt on the cavern floor and left lying for anyone’s perusal. And he was certain Enora now knew every single personal detail his parents cared to share. Apparently, they had opened up the familial closet full of old skeletons and let it all hang out. He hung his head in shame and embarrassment. All he could think about was getting away from the cave. He had to get back to the hotel and to people who didn’t know a thing about him. People who wouldn’t look at him with pity or mistrust in their eyes. Anywhere he went would be better than in that confined cave, so close to his parents and their cold-hearted depiction of a son they never really knew.

Chapter Seven

Stealing the van keys from Enora’s pockets proved no problem. When she almost woke up while he was gathering his gear, Rogan quickly kissed her bare shoulder, pulled the blanket up around her and waited until he was sure she wouldn’t awaken again. Then he quietly picked up his black bag, crept back down the path to the cave’s main chamber and up to the surface. No one saw or heard him. They were so engrossed in their thoughts, he could have been anyone sneaking into their domain and he seriously doubted the members of his secretive little group would have known.

As he walked down the hall to his hotel room, all he could think about was who gave a damn about him and who didn’t. Wayne, it seemed, could be relied upon until the end. His family would be better off without his presence and he without theirs. It was time to break that bond, if any still existed. Whatever they once had in the way of ties was gone. They were dead and cold as the empty place in his heart. All he had to answer for now was himself. As far as the world was concerned, his parents were dead and maybe it was better that way. They could go on researching for the pure knowledge they could glean for themselves and he could go his own way and take on new career challenges without their embarrassing escapades.

As to what Keelin had said about someone called the Sorceress and an empty threat to do him harm, he didn’t give a damn. He’d survived a swim with the Loch Ness monsters. He could fend off any freaks if it came down to it. He sullenly slid the card key into his door lock, felt a hand on his shoulder and spun around to take a piece out of whoever stood there. His nerves were shot to hell, he’d had enough.

Marissa gasped when Rogan shoved her against the wall opposite his door. She had to struggle to get him to let her go as his strong grasp pinned her firmly in place. “What the hell is wrong with you, let me go,” she demanded and pushed at his chest.

Rogan immediately did as she asked and shook his head to clear it. He’d been in the mood to thoroughly kick some ass. Her unexpected contact angered him and he’d reacted out of pure instinct. “Sorry, Marissa. I didn’t know it was you.” He took a deep breath to steady himself and backed away from the reporter. “What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave me alone.”

She took the time to straighten her jacket and matching scarf before responding. “I don’t take no for an answer. And you can’t order me to stay or leave. I do exactly as I please.”

He dropped his head back, closed his eyes for a moment and tried to dredge up some patience. “What do you want from me? I’m not giving you an interview and that’s final.” He turned to pick up the bag he’d dropped, but her hands grasped his wrists before he could actually finish the small task. He looked into her eyes and saw a steady determination there that wouldn’t be assuaged by any entreaties to leave him alone.

“I think you’d better hear what I have to say,” she advised. “I’ve got enough to go to print. It’s tabloid stuff right now, but questions could certainly be raised. And I could have every sleazy, no-account reporter from here to New York pounding on your door unless you want to do this story right, give me exclusivity and let me take it to a reputable paper like my old man’s.”

Rogan leaned his forehead against the door and exhaled slowly before turning to her. The day was just getting worse by the moment. “And just what do you think you’ve got, Marissa? Why should I give a flaming damn about what you report?”

She smirked at him. “Because my friend Wally has a very good lens on his camera. I know you’ve been seen up in the hills surrounding the loch. You’ve got the rebreather that Dad bought for you. I saw the case for it when I was in your room. And I’ll lay odds you’ve been using it in the loch and diving for something…shall we say…unusual.”

He tried not to let his immediate sense of trepidation show in any outward way. He had to stay calm and appear as nonchalant as possible. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against his door. “Okay, if I have to stand here and listen before I can eat or sleep, let’s get this over with. I’m sick and tired of having you on my case.”

“I think we’d better go into your room and discuss this in private. Unless you want some of the other people staying on this floor to overhear our conversation,” she warned.

Rogan couldn’t see any way of getting her to tell him what she was talking about without doing as she suggested. And if she really did know more than she should, she was right. The hotel hall was no place to discuss things. “Fine. But you’ve got five minutes before I throw you out.” He opened his door, let her go through it first and wondered if he hadn’t made a monumental mistake. She could be fishing for information. He’d seen her do it before and had experienced other reporters’ efforts to get him to talk about some research project or his private life. Often, they’d lie just to get him to spill his guts. But he wasn’t that stupid or naive. Many years of dealing with the media had given him the experience he needed. But the situation now was so much more crucial. He had to be particularly careful what he said, how he acted and how she perceived his responses. As soon as he closed the door behind them, Marissa rounded on him.

“I want first rights on everything you’ve got.”

Rogan looked down at the floor put his hands on his hips and responded as if he couldn’t give a damn. “What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t I just tell you that Wally got some very interesting pictures?” When Rogan didn’t respond, she walked toward the door. “Fine. I’ll go with what I have and you can fend off the tabloid crowd when they get here. I’ll still get credit for the initial story.”

Rogan grabbed her upper arm to stop her. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about, Marissa. Why can’t you just leave me the hell alone? I came here to bury my parents. Why is it so hard to believe I’d want to have something to put in the graves, for God’s sake? Of course I’d use the rebreather to find them. It’s the best apparatus available for what I’m doing.”

“And you don’t know what they were looking for or what they found?” she quickly responded. “Please, Rogan, don’t screw with me. This is bigger than the giant squid ever was. Bigger than anything discovered this century.”

She was fishing. She had to be. Otherwise, her cameraman had followed him, Enora or the others to the cave entrance and made some very improbable deductions. And that wasn’t possible. He’d have certainly known if anyone was stalking them in the dark. A light on the darkened roads around the loch could be seen for some distance. And no one could have followed them from the hotel without doing so at night. So far, Rogan hadn’t gone to the cave at any other time. He shrugged off his initial concern, walked to the door and opened it. “Get out. Now you’re the one who’s screwing with me and I don’t like it. I’m only gonna tell you one more time to leave me alone or I’m calling the police.”

“Go ahead and do that. You aren’t diving anywhere near where your parents were reported missing. We’ve had that area staked out and you’ve never been close to it.” She walked to the trunk where the rebreather her father had bought him was normally stored. When she flipped the lid open, the apparatus wasn’t there. “Where’s the rebreather? What are you diving for, Rogan? Why haven’t you been to the Coast Guard about your parents’ death? Who is the woman who was with you and Wayne in your room?”

He rolled his eyes and ran a weary hand over his face. “What woman?”

“The woman the cleaning staff told me came to see you.” She held out her hands in a supplicating gesture. “Why won’t you just tell me what you’re doing? Why all the secrecy?”

“I won’t say it again. Get out. Now.” He watched her expression change from one of determination to anger.

“I’ll be following you everywhere you go,” Marissa coldly promised. “I’ll find out what you’re doing and you’ll give me the information I want before this is over. Count on it.” She boldly faced him one last time before leaving the room. “You’ve got forty-eight hours to contact me. I’ll leave word at the front desk that you’re to be given my room number and extension. If I don’t hear from you, I go to print with whatever Wally and I can find out. And I will get to the bottom of this, Rogan. Make no mistake about it.”

He closed the door after her and quickly ran his hands through his hair. “Some days just don’t get any better,” he softly complained. Then he picked up the phone to order some food while he shed his clothes in preparation for a long hot shower. Before he did so, however, he took the tissue samples of the creatures and placed them in the hotel closet safe. They were the only tangible proof that he wasn’t crazy and imagining the entire episode in the cave.

* * * * *

Certain she knew where Rogan had gone, Enora went to her hotel room to shower and change. Then she used her borrowed room key from Wayne and headed to the suite the two men shared. The shower was running when she arrived and a knock on the door proved to be breakfast that Rogan had ordered. She let the server put the food on a table, then helped herself to some hot coffee while Rogan finished showering.

When Rogan entered the room with a towel barely draped around the lower half of his body and saw Enora sitting there, he was shocked enough to stare blankly for a moment.

“I got Wayne’s key and came through his room,” she offered in the way of an explanation.

Rogan nodded, pulled on a bathrobe and sat at the table to pour himself some coffee. He leaned back and took in her appearance. She was as lovely as any model in her white wool sweater, black leather pants and high boots. Her hair was still damp from her own shower and was beginning to dry in long soft waves that he wanted to smell and feel. There was no getting their sexual encounter out of his mind. Other than to ask after her general health concerning her injury and learning she felt much better, he waited for her to initiate any other conversation.

“After talking to Wayne and Keelin, I think I know why you left. Your parents opened their mouths, didn’t they?” she asked.

Rogan sighed and shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about that. Let’s just say I needed some space, a good meal and a hot shower.”

She nodded and decided to drop the subject of his parents for the time being. “The baby is so much better that Keelin had a hard time keeping her out of the cabbage bin. She’s quite hungry.”

“I guess you should let her eat then.”

Enora smiled and refilled his coffee cup. “We had to. It’s hard to stop anything weighing about a ton from eating exactly what it wants.” She saw him flash a grin in response and noted how beautiful his smile was.

“I’ll take a look at her later. But having no physiological background to go on, I’ll be guessing if she’s really recovered or not. I don’t suppose you know what their temperature or resting pulse should be?”

Enora shook her head. “No. They pretty much do their own thing. Keelin and I help feed those of them that aren’t hibernating. As to their health, none of them has ever needed us for much of anything until now. The baby’s was the first emergency I can ever recall.”

He ate his breakfast and considered how to approach to Enora with the subject on his mind. “I’ve got about a million questions I need to ask.”

She looked down at the cup between her hands. “I know. I’ll tell you everything, but you’ll have to be patient. It’s going to take awhile to explain. And it’s going to sound quite unbelievable once I do. But you should know the truth. I owe you that much.”

He considered her guarded expression, took a few minutes to finish eating, then finally threw down his napkin and stood up. “First things first. Come here.”

Enora looked up at him. “Why?”

“Just come sit with me for a minute, will you?” He sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her to join him.

Enora pushed her hair back with one hand and did as he asked, expecting he’d want to start the conversation with his first questions concerning her position as the Keeper. But the question he actually asked confused her.

“We got into a very intimate relationship pretty quickly, didn’t we?”

She half-ducked her head. “Yes, we did. But I’m not sorry.”

“Good. Neither am I. It’s just that I’m not in the habit of doing what I did.” He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pulled strands of soft brown hair forward.

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“I use protection, Enora. First and always. But with you…everything happened so fast that I wasn’t thinking straight. Even though I didn’t come here expecting a situation like this, there’s no excuse for my being unprepared and going ahead and having unprotected sex anyway.”

She gazed into his eyes for a brief moment before speaking. “I trust you, Rogan. I’d have never let you touch me if I didn’t.”

“I just wanted you to know that I don’t play around with things like that. That I’m safe…okay?”

She smiled and kissed him softly. “I am too. I wasn’t raised not knowing how to protect myself. There won’t be any unwanted pregnancies, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

He sighed in relief. “I’m concerned about one of us having had our heads on straight. Thank God you did. And…I trust you too. It seems so easy to do so. Especially after showing me everything you have in that cave.” He gently pulled her to him and rocked her for a moment. “I guess you thought I was some kind of jackass by acting so hostile when I first arrived.”

“I think you were very concerned about your parents as anyone would be. But whatever I thought then, I’ve got a totally different impression of you now.”

He put his palm on one side of her face and lifted it up so he could see into her eyes. “Yeah? So I’m less of a jerk now?”

“I never thought that.” She kissed him very softly and heard his moaning response. Before the intimate moment could proceed to its ultimate conclusion, she leaned back and gazed up at him. “I think, before this goes any further, that you’d better ask all those questions you have, Rogan. What you find out may make you think twice about being with me again.”

He tilted his head, confused by the comment. “That was a pretty odd remark.”

She stood up, turned away and walked a few steps to get her distance from his warm, masculine presence. “I’ll wait in the hall. Get dressed and come with me. If you still want to be with me after hearing what I’ve got to say, then I’ll sleep with you tonight.”

Rogan stood and watched as she thrust her hands into her front pockets and considered the closed door to the room as if it were an escape. “Okay, baby. But it doesn’t matter what you say. I won’t change my mind about how I feel. You’re very special to me, Enora. I know we’re still strangers when it comes to personalities, but you have to realize that what we’ve experienced with each other is unusual. It’s like we were meant to be together somehow. At least, that’s the way I feel.”

Without turning she slowly nodded. “That’s why I have to be totally honest with you now. I wish I had been before, but it was so difficult. There wasn’t time and, as you said, everything happened so fast.”

He quickly walked forward and turned her to face him. “Is there someone else? Someone in your life you feel you’ve betrayed?”

“No. It’s nothing like that. I was…engaged once. But that was a long time ago and we parted friends. He found someone who shared his interests and who wasn’t continually running around the loch trying to keep these animals safe.”

“I can imagine that keeping secrets about what you’re doing and being involved in a relationship could be quite daunting. But whoever that guy was, I’m glad he didn’t marry you, honey.”

She had to correct that misinterpretation before continuing. “He knew about the creatures in the loch, Rogan. All the people where I come from do. But get dressed and let me explain what I mean. When I’m through, we’ll see if you still feel like you and I were meant to be together. I just hope you can understand.”

He let her leave the room only because the tone in her voice had turned quite serious. No matter what she’d tell him, that wasn’t about to change the way he cared for her or the intense need he had to have her in his life. Enora was different. And it was that difference that called to him on a very basic level. Still, it was a bit unnerving to realize how sure he was when they’d known each other such a brief time. His gut just told him this woman was his as surely as he was hers. He quickly dressed and joined her in the hall. She took his hand and led him out of the hotel and down a pathway leading into the hills overlooking the loch. Neither of them spoke, but Rogan kept her hand tightly clasped in his. He had to convey that nothing was going to change his mind. Whatever her past had been or wherever she was from just didn’t matter.

The sun was out and lit up the green hills. The setting was all the more striking because she graced it. And scenes came to him involving his future and her place in it. The discovery of the creatures, if handled very carefully with the announcement, could put him at the top of the scientific world. And Enora would be there right along with him. But he had to get past what made her think this secret couldn’t or shouldn’t be revealed. What was it that had her so frightened she felt her very safety was at risk? Frightened enough to even threaten him if he told anyone?

When Enora reached a spot on the path that led into a shady glen, she led Rogan within its thick growth and slowly turned to face him. “You’re used to seeing animals no one else has ever seen, aren’t you? I’ve read your research papers about all kinds of exotic life living in the world’s oceans. And each time you write about them, you convey a great deal of passionate conviction. Your parents aren’t right when they say you’re only doing what you do for the fame. I know it.”

“Let’s not discuss them or what they think, baby. Just tell me what’s got you so nervous. Why couldn’t you tell me whatever you had to say back at the hotel?”

“It was too intimate there. I…I wanted you too much and what I have to say can’t be put off. We can’t be together again until you know everything.”

He took her hands in his. “Okay. Let me have it. What’s the big mystery? And what has my past research got to do with anything?”

“Because, even with all you’ve experienced, you’ve never come across anything like the creatures in the loch. As a scientist, it’s natural that you’d want to study them. But you can’t. At least, not in the outside world.”

“Why would you bring me here to save one animal if not to help the rest? To do that, I have to bring them to the attention of the scientific community. We need to know what it is we’re dealing with, Enora. Surely, researching these animals, their habitat and origins is the best way to protect them. Don’t you see that?”

“What if there are stranger creatures whose life might depend upon you keeping the creatures of the loch secret? What then?”

He stared at her for a moment. “What are you saying?”

She pulled her hands from his warm grasp and raised her chin. “You won’t want to believe me when I say this, but you must. Please, try to understand.”

“What is it, Enora? Just tell me,” he insisted.

She took a deep breath. “I’m not human, Rogan.”

Stunned, all he could do was stand there. What was he supposed to say?

Sensing his deep shock at her words, Enora plunged ahead anyway. “You want to know how I got to be the Keeper, how the crystal I wear works and how these animals have been kept secret. I can tell you all that and a great deal more.”

“If you aren’t human, then what are you supposed to be?” Rogan blurted when he finally found his voice worked again.

“I’m one of the Fin Folk. The Scottish people sometimes refer to us in Gaelic as Sidhiche, or just Fairy. Some believe we’re made of light and air. That without certain ethereal elements magically woven together, we wouldn’t exist at all.”

Rogan put the index finger and his thumb against the bridge of his nose and shook his head. When he looked up again, he waited a moment before speaking to keep his temper in check. “A Fairy? With wings, I assume?”

“Yes.”

“Uh huh. And that’s why you didn’t go see a doctor when you hurt your ribs? You thought something might come up on an x-ray that was strange?”

She could hear the derision in his voice and expected it. But the explanation had to be made so she continued. “It’s not my body that’s different. Everything in my current form would appear perfectly human. But my blood is different. Or so the doctors of our kind tell us. Though Fairies and certain humans have interbred and their mixed blood shows up as completely normal, those of us with pure Fairy lineage find our blood appears quite different. But I am stronger than a human woman. That’s one reason why my broken ribs didn’t hurt as much as they might have done. What would have put a normal woman on the floor in pain is only a mere discomfort to me.”

Hung up on one part of her explanation, Rogan’s scientific brain immediately grasped at that part of her little speech. “Doctors? You have Fairy doctors?” The sarcasm in his voice was thick and he knew it. But what else could she expect?

“Listen to all of this before you judge. The doctors I’m talking about are part of an Order of magical creatures that exists in the British Isles and throughout Europe and Asia. We even have a colony in America now. Our doctors are Druids who were trained and schooled in your world right alongside other physicians. Druid humans are the ones who’ve interbred with fairies. And their blood appears normal for some reason.”

Rogan tried to stay calm in light of this ridiculous information. “So what do these Druids do that make them magical?”

“They have limited powers over the elements. But there are other creatures that can shape shift. Goblins, other clans of Fairies like myself and every other magical creature exists among us that you could probably name from any fairy tale.”

Rogan took a deep breath, closed his eyes and turned away. He opened them again and stared at the horizon over the loch and tried to process what he was hearing. Then he remembered parts of what he’d overheard in the cave. “The others know about this…Wayne and my parents?”

“Yes. Keelin told them. We intended to let you know too, but you left the cave. And you’d have been told much sooner, but your parents had us convinced it wouldn’t be wise to do so.”

He turned to face her again. “I can just imagine what they’d say. But you know I’m going to ask you to prove all this, don’t you? And you’ve gotta know that until I believe it, I’ll think you’ve made all this up so I’ll be angry and confused enough to leave.”

“What are talking about? Why would we want you to leave and why would making up some story like this be necessary?”

“None of what you’re saying makes sense. It’s not physically possible for any person to have wings, nor can humans have control over the elements.” He moved closer to her. “Honey, I made love to you and I’d sure as hell know if you weren’t human.”

“Fairies and humans are sexually compatible, Rogan. At least they have been where Druids are involved in the mix. I’ve explained that already. There are children in the Order who are the products of such unions and they’ve still kept their powers. Some are even more powerful than their parents ever were separately. And they look perfectly normal too. I’ve told you that it’s my full Fairy blood that’s different. Our blood has magical qualities that allow us to shift into Fairy form and it’s what gave me the power to make you go unconscious. The magic in our blood helps us to produce Fairy glamour. That’s what I blew into your face when you first got here. It’s because of my blood that I didn’t want any ordinary doctor to look at my ribs after I got hurt. I was afraid someone would want a sample of it and find, in me, an oddity that was beyond explanation.”

That had him taking a step backwards. For a moment, he thought about the incident where he fell, helpless, into unconsciousness. He didn’t know about illicit drugs. He’d never used them the way his parents had smoked marijuana thinking he didn’t know. But he was pretty sure whatever she’d used had to be something pretty powerful to render someone totally unconscious with limited contact. “How do you produce this Fairy glamour?”

She shrugged. “No one really knows. It’s like asking a person how they breathe. For us, it’s just automatic. We concentrate, close our hands into fists and it’s just there. It’s thought that it’s produced in times of anxiety. Strong emotions like anger, fear or deep frustration may help us produce it the way a snake spits venom. We know there’s something in the glamour that matches our blood. Some kind of enzyme. Without a lot of very expensive equipment that you can only find in certain laboratories, we might not ever know. Our doctors can’t just run to a lab and have it analyzed. That would be too dangerous for us. It’s the same with shape shifting. We think about it and it happens. It’s just routine in our world.”

“Dammit, Enora!” He ran his hands through his hair. “Do you realize the implications if what you’re telling me is true? Half the scientific world will be proven wrong about some very basic laws of physics.”

“Yes, I do realize there are implications. So does the person who heads up all the creatures in the Order. She’s called the Sorceress of the Ancients and her name is Shayla Gallagher. She’s a Druid with powers even more extensive than any other being in the Order. She’s the one I warned you about when I said I could be in serious trouble if anyone found out about your parents being alive.”

“I don’t get it.” He put his hands on his hips, shook his head in frustration and stared at her.

“It might help if I told you how I got to be the Keeper and a little of our history. Then you might understand why all this business about Loch Ness and its creatures has been kept so secret.”

He snorted. “Yeah, just start from the beginning and maybe I can get a handle on all this crap.”

She ignored his rudeness, as it was born of disbelief, and sat on a nearby rock. When he joined her, crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her with a go ahead and amuse me expression Enora cleared her throat and began. “Centuries ago, we weren’t in hiding. Beings of the Order were ministers to kings and used their magic to help the common people. But, as so often happens with humans, the people began to argue and fight over land and the ownership of it.

“They warred over who should ultimately rule it all. Instead of staying out of the fray, some members of the Order took sides. And when their magic couldn’t bring about the results certain warring factions desired, the creatures of the Order were collectively blamed for all the chaos that existed. It was easier to accuse us of miscasting spells or evil trickery than for humans to blame themselves for the death that war causes. The British Isles were in ruin. From the human perspective, it had to be our fault. After all, if we used magic to help, then why couldn’t we have used it to stop the devastation and achieve victory for preferred chieftains? What reason could we have for not doing so except that we were inherently evil, bent on taking the land for ourselves and destroying humankind in the process?

“Our powers became something to fear and ridicule. Only evil had come from using them, according to the humans of that time. But the one thing mankind forgot is that no creature is perfect. Making bad judgments is just as much our habit as it is anyone else’s. And if magic was used to achieve a goal, it could also be blamed for undoing all that was good. It was thousands of years ago when a single common command came from all the tribes of the land. All those living their lives connected to magic were to be hunted down and put to death so our powers couldn’t be abused and so that no tribe would have more of an advantage over another. After that, we went into hiding. Run to ground, as we say. And we’ve been there ever since. All this is written in our history. Our Sorceress is trying to keep that history from being repeated.”

Enora took one of his hands in hers. “Think of what certain men would do with our powers if they could force us into using them for their benefit. Singly, none of us amounts to much. Together, we could be perceived as a great threat. Even though we won’t use our powers to harm anyone or take sides anymore, there are those who would want us to and feel intimidated by our refusal to do so. And the same thing as happened thousands of years ago would happen again today. Only the weapons wouldn’t be swords, spears or crossbows. The devastation could be massive. Even when people say they can be open-minded, live and let live, they’ll fear what they can’t understand and what they believe might be used against them. Can you understand?”

Rogan digested everything she said and couldn’t find fault with the story, though that was all he believed it to be so far. “Even if everything you’ve told me is true, do you think you could hide forever? Do you think you could keep the creatures of the loch from ever being found? And what is it about them that would make your people keep them hidden anyway? They’re just a new species of animal, honey. A tremendous find, for sure, but nothing more than a new mammalian branch.”

“You’re wrong, Rogan. Our Sorceress knows we’ll be discovered sooner or later. Technological advances make it almost inevitable. But it’s up to her to set up certain safeguards before that happens. She’ll reveal us on her terms, no one else’s. As to the creatures, they’re just one part of the Order. They belong in our ranks because they have magic qualities the same as the rest of us.”

“What qualities? They swim, they eat and they even get sick. They’re animals.”

“They’re sentient beings with knowledge of right and wrong.” When he threw up his hands in disbelief, Enora caught them and pulled them down. “Just like anyone, I could be forced to do something with my powers that’s wrong. Someone could threaten my family, for example, and I’d do whatever it took to see my mother, father and sister safely home again. But these creatures can’t be threatened. They’ll die rather than be forced into a cage or have their powers used unwisely. They won’t let themselves be studied or dissected the way some in your world would do any new species. In that respect, they’re ahead of us all.”

“And how is it you came to be this…Keeper?”

Enora pulled the green crystal from beneath her sweater and looked at it. “One of them was supposed to have given this to one of my ancestors centuries ago. It’s been passed down to whomever the creatures choose to help them ever since.”

Rogan prayed to keep his temper in check over all this nonsense. “And how does that happen?”

“They can communicate with us. They call us and we hear them.” She tapped her head to indicate how that communication took place. It wasn’t an audible contact, but a mental one.

That part got his attention. Rogan sat quite still. “Telepathy?”

“I guess that’s what you’d call it. I was eight years old when my uncle brought me and my sister from England to visit the loch. He showed us the underground caves where the creatures hibernated. It was then that I heard one of them. It came up out of the loch and straight to me. My uncle knew then that I would succeed him. It’s been that way for generations of us. The young people of my family have always been brought here when the older Keeper knew he or she would need a successor. But since I was so young, I went back to England where most of the people of the Order are residing. I stayed there until I was old enough for my uncle to train me in the ways of hiding in the world and until I could leave for the loch and take up my place as Keeper. It was about five years ago that I took my uncle’s position and he retired back to our most sacred forest.”

“And where is this sacred forest?” he asked suspiciously.

“It’s near London, on an estate people think is owned by an Earl. But that particular Earl is really a Druid,” she told him. “To the outside world, or outsiders, the forest on the estate is just like any other privately guarded woods. In reality, all the magic creatures you could imagine exist there.”

Rogan stood up and could almost feel his blood run cold. He’d heard the creatures in the water as they attempted to make sentient contact. It hadn’t been his imagination as he’d first believed. Enora’s story corroborated that some form of telepathy was being used. But he wasn’t one of these magic creatures Enora claimed existed. How had he heard the creatures communicating and why would they do so with him? Still, if one part of the story was true, it followed that all or most of the rest of the tale was true as well. “W-what happened when you say you heard the creature for the first time? What was it like?” he asked unsteadily.

“I was playing in the cave with Keelin and I just heard the name, ‘Keeper’, in my head.”

That did it. He knew he’d heard them and there was certainly no magic in his very human blood. He fought to maintain control and show no sign that he was shocked to the core, other than what surprise she might attribute to his hearing her story. He swallowed hard. “Nothing else happened?”

“No. It was just that simple. The way it’s always been for the others who came before me. The creatures simply acknowledge the Keeper by that one name.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “But why your family? What is it about them that’s so special among all the other magic beings you say exist?”

She shrugged. “Before the Order went into hiding, there were certain clans that always took care of magical creatures. One clan took care of the unicorns, another looked after the dragons. My clan and kin have always looked after the loch creatures. We’re Fin Folk—our family or branches of it have always lived around the loch. My mother, however, is English. When my Scottish father handfasted with her, they decided to make their home in England. But I have cousins who live here, not far away. Uh, handfasting is what we call marrying,” she quickly interjected when she saw his look of confusion at the use of the term. “At any rate, the creatures don’t really need looking after so much as protecting from the outside world. We feed them only because they can’t get out of the loch anymore without the entire world seeing.” She raised her hand to point at the loch. “There are web-cams feeding live views of the loch to everyplace on earth via the internet. And since the creatures are omnivores, we have to supply some of their diet.”

Rogan put one hand to his forehead. “I’ve gotta see Wayne.”

“All right. We’ll go back to the caves. But you’d better understand that he’s seen Keelin as she really is. She and your friend have struck up quite a friendship. After finding out the truth, Wayne says he’s willing to help in any way he can. Just like your parents. Who, by the way, didn’t just decide to disappear so they could study the creatures, Rogan. They want to become members of the Order. The Sorceress has permitted it. She’d be here now but for some rather pressing business back in England.”

“And this is the woman you say wields a lot of powers, right?”

“Absolutely. And you should also understand that until she’s ready to make our presence known to the world, she won’t tolerate anyone revealing our existence. She’ll do what she has to, to protect the Order and everyone in it. That includes the creatures in the loch…what you and everyone else have named the Loch Ness monsters.”

He stiffened, not sure what to believe. But he didn’t like the tone in Enora’s voice. “Did you just issue a threat?”

“Whatever it takes.” When he turned away and she sensed anger, Enora put one hand on his arm. “You should meet her. Shayla is a vision. She isn’t a threatening person. Not when you understand her. All she’s trying to do is keep us safe. But you’d like her, Rogan, I know you would.”

“Why would I like anyone or anything that makes me feel like…like I’m going crazy for just listening to all this?”

“Does that include me too?” she softly asked.

“What do you think?” he shot back.

“If a man of your education, a man who’s seen creatures no one else ever has, can’t accept what I’m telling you, what do you think less open-minded people with weapons or scientific equipment might do? Think about it, Rogan. It should be obvious that people with weapons aren’t always the good guys. And every scientist with a microscope isn’t necessarily moral. Some are willing to do anything to get what they want. Even find a way to use us and our powers. You’ve had people throughout your human history who would kill millions to get and obtain power, all because they didn’t like how others worshiped or the color of their skin. We might be seen as a threat to every human unless we’re revealed in the proper way at the proper time. You aren’t the person to do that and now isn’t the time.”

His mind was reeling with all the information she’d just imparted. Coupled with having discovered a new species, Rogan had been through almost all he could take. “Just get me back to the cave. I want to talk to Wayne and my parents. And…since everyone seems to have known all this before I was told, maybe you’d care to let me see you shape shift or whatever it is you do.”

She took a deep breath. “All right. But promise me something.”

“What?”

“You have to swear not to go public with any of this. Tell me you won’t betray us the way your parents think you will. A man of your reputation could have the entire academic world crawling all over these hills. And that’s the last thing the creatures or the people who live in this area need. Bringing the scientific community here could threaten the Order if your parents are discovered alive and I have to explain to the police why they faked their deaths. If, because of all this, the creatures are revealed, attention to them could pose all kinds of problems for the Order, Rogan. Not to mention the fact that they won’t survive any attempts to capture them or be studied out of their environment they way scientists will want to. I have to protect them. I’m the Keeper. Tell me you aren’t the kind of person who could threaten a part of the Order that has remained only a legend to the outside world for hundreds of years. Just tell me what I sense about you is real. I want to hear it from your own lips.”

He heard the urgent pleading tone of her voice, but he couldn’t honestly make a decision concerning the enormity of the situation. Where her supposed powers were concerned, he had to be certain about one thing more. “You can sense things like emotions? That’s one of your powers?”

“Yes. It’s a kind of empathic ability.”

“Then, honey, you’d better not let your senses crawl around inside me right now. What you find there won’t be pretty.”

She watched him stalk away and literally felt his anger at having these secrets kept from him and the frustration with the entire unbelievable episode. But she felt one more thing. Pain. Unsure of its cause or what he’d do now, she followed Rogan back to the path. And it was only a moment later that she realized he’d never promised not to go to the academic world with his findings. Since the Sorceress had left her in charge, she’d be the one left to deal with him if he tried to contact the outside world. She hurried to catch up to him and hoped that if she couldn’t convince him of the need for secrecy, Wayne, Keelin or his parents could as a very last resort. Otherwise, his fate would be in her hands. Enora didn’t know if she could do what was necessary. It would be very easy for him to appear to have drowned while looking for his parents. But could she bring herself to actually harm him? Tears came to her eyes. Her heart would hurt forever if she had to kill a man she was coming to love.

But if she didn’t, the Sorceress would send someone who would. The warrior assigned that task wouldn’t pause an instant in taking Rogan’s life. By the time that assignment could be completed, however, Rogan could have caused all kinds of problems the Sorceress and all her powers might not be able to resolve. So Enora knew she’d have no choice but to do the deed herself. And she wondered, like his parents now did, if it had been smart to bring him to the loch in the first place. Even though the Sorceress approved of the entire plan, it would have been better to have let the baby die than to be forced to kill him. But the damage was done.

“Please don’t make that decision for me,” she whispered at the retreating figure before her.

Chapter Eight

Rogan kept his silence during the entire trip back to the cave. Remembering Marissa Talbert’s promise to follow him, he surreptitiously watched for signs of any covert activity in the hills while they drove. Still, even though he could see no sign of her or Wally Burdette following them, he knew Marissa would never give up. She’d stay on him until he gave her something by intent or accident. And what a story he could now deliver. Especially if there was any truth to all that garbage concerning a hidden Order of magical creatures. But somewhere, deep in Rogan’s heart, he felt a terrible sense of foreboding mixed with anticipation. He either had access to information that, with the samples he’d taken from the creatures, could catapult him into the top of the scientific world and the prizes that went with such discoveries, or he had information that could threaten an entire community of men and women, some of whom had been born different from everyone else on the planet. It was up to him.

As he followed Enora back into the cave, making sure to cast a very careful look around the hillsides, Rogan knew there was only one thing he could do. But he had to have one more dive to make sure.

As they walked into the main chamber of the cave, Enora could see figures gathered around the huge campfire. The baby was standing to one side, happily chomping on some heads of cabbage that Keelin had apparently fed her. She walked up to the baby and put her hand on its neck. “She seems so much better.”

“She is,” Keelin said as she joined her sister. “She’s been playing and bobbing around in the water like a little whale.”

Rogan stopped and eyed Keelin for a moment. “So you’re a Fairy like Enora says, huh?”

Keelin glanced at her sister before speaking. “She told you about us?”

Rogan took a deep breath and tried to hold in his frustration. He critically eyed Wayne as his best friend got up and walked toward him. The older man’s eye was mottled with purple and black where Rogan had hit him. “Sorry about hitting you.”

Wayne stood before him. “Guess I won’t be getting in between you and your diving gear anytime soon.”

Rogan only acknowledged his parents’ presence with a nod. He was sure they knew he’d overheard their conversation about him with Wayne. According to Enora, they all knew he’d overheard so there was no sense mentioning the event and risking an argument with his mother and father. That was what he knew would happen if the subject of his scientific motives came up. That was the way every argument they’d had over the last ten years had begun. It just hurt that his parents seemed intent on telling everyone that they couldn’t trust him. But there was enough hurt to go around on all sides, so he silently regarded the baby and her sudden rebound from near death. “Where is all my diving equipment?”

Wayne dropped his head and muttered a curse before responding. “I’ve gathered the gear you used and put it with the rebreather. It’s in a trunk at the back of the cave.”

Enora turned to him in alarm. “Why? Why do you want to know where it is?”

Rogan held out his hands as the baby stepped forward and put her head against his chest. “I’m going back down.”

“No you’re not,” Kyle said as he stepped forward. “This time you’ll have to go through me and Wayne.”

Rogan slowly shook his head. “Why the hell would you care?”

It was Rogan’s mother who stepped in front of the others and spoke. “You can be a fool once and get away with it. Next time you might not be so lucky. You’re not using that contraption again, Rogan. None of us will let you.”

Rogan dropped his head back, let out a slow breath and nodded. “Okay. You win. I was just gonna go down out of curiosity’s sake. Just to see if I could find another creature nearby.”

Enora didn’t believe him. Something about the way he said it and the feelings she perceived made her think he was lying. But before she could say anything, Keelin walked forward and wrapped her hands around one of his arms.

“If that’s settled,” she said, “why not let Enora and I show you what we look like in our other forms. Wayne has already seen me. Wouldn’t you like to as well?”

Rogan held out his other hand and sarcastically replied, “Oh please. I wouldn’t miss this for all the money on Earth.”

Wayne pointed one index finger at him. “You’re about to have that cocky attitude knocked right out of you in a few minutes.”

Standing there watching all of them, Rogan had never felt more alone in his entire life. He simply rolled his eyes, walked to the campfire and sat on a nearby rock. When he found some coffee brewing there, he helped himself to a cup and resolved himself to letting them get on with the charade. But something in him was unsettled. He knew there would be something to see, but how could the two women pass themselves off as Fairies? But if their antics kept their mind off the rebreather and his determination to dive, then let them do what they would. He looked back over his shoulder. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute, Wayne?”

The older man came and sat beside him as Enora and Keelin headed toward the back of the cave. “What’s up?”

Rogan made sure he and Wayne were alone before speaking. His parents were occupied with feeding the baby more cabbage and looking toward the back of the cave as if something monumental was about to happen. “Enora told me all this stuff about the Order and the Fairy thing, but she also said she has the ability to clue in on what I’m feeling.”

“Yeah, Keelin can too,” Wayne responded. “No big deal. They don’t normally do that. I’m told that it’s considered rude where they come from. But you and I have to sort of pass inspection. They have to check us out before we can join too.”

Rogan stared at him for a brief moment. “What are you talking about…what does that mean? Join what?”

“The Order,” Wayne told him and poured Rogan some more coffee.

“I beg your damn pardon?”

“I intend to stay here,” was Wayne’s simple reply.

“Are you outta your frickin’ mind?” Rogan softly asked and looked back over his shoulder to make sure his parents were still with the baby Nessie.

Wayne considered his friend for a moment. “I’m going to turn in my resignation with the research institute, reassign all my projects and come here to live. Nobody will care, Rogan. I’m not the world-class scientist you are. And this would be the chance of a lifetime for me.”

“You want to live down in a cave and study these animals for the rest of your life with no financial resources or scientific equipment? That’s the way it’ll be, you know. Especially if you want to keep this setup secret the way Enora, Keelin and this Order head-person of theirs wants it to be.”

“The person I think you’re talking about is called the Sorceress.” At Rogan’s look of contempt, Wayne continued. “I know all about her, Rogan. I was told a lot by your parents the night Enora got hurt. Then Keelin told me more and showed me what she really looked like. But I think I wanted to believe it all from the very beginning. Even before I saw Keelin with her wings.”

Rogan tried to keep the anger out of his voice. “Why in hell would you want to believe in all this? You’re a trained scientist, Wayne. Not my parents. This is all some kind of setup. You’ve gotta know that.”

Wayne sat back and contemplated Rogan’s attitude for a moment. “I’ve been with you since the Navy. And I’ve seen a lot of things you’ve discovered at the bottom of the ocean nobody on Earth would have ever guessed existed or believed. Does it make me less of a scientist just because I think something might be real? Even though I haven’t seen it? Hell, Rogan, I’ve never seen other galaxies either, but I know they’re damn well out there.”

“You’re not even arguing intellectually anymore.”

Wayne suddenly stood up. “No, Rogan. The problem here isn’t me. It’s you. Everything has to be black and white, down on paper and studied to death before you really see it.” He pointed to his head. “You see things only with your brain.” Then he pointed to his heart. “I see them in here. And that’s the difference between you and your parents. They might be wrong about a hell of a lot, but they’re right about one thing. Not every damned animal on this planet has to be identified, classified and diced into a Petri dish. Some things ought to be left to the imagination. At least until such time as men are ready to accept them with an open mind.”

“Can you hear yourself?” Rogan asked as he stood up to confront Wayne. “You sound more like my parents than I would have ever believed possible.”

“Without imagination, Rogan, why would we have ever wanted to study anything? If you take that quality away, what’s the point in life? Where’s the drive to seek new discoveries at all?” When Rogan’s face registered only confusion Wayne continued. “Don’t you get it, old buddy? Science doesn’t exist to explain everything away. It’s there to make us appreciate how little we really know. And maybe we shouldn’t know so damn much. Maybe being a little ignorant and humble about the world around us helps maintain our humanity.”

Rogan watched his friend of ten years walk away and realized he’d lost that camaraderie forever. He tossed his coffee into the fire, listened to the sound of it hissing and threw the coffee cup against a nearby boulder. To hell with Wayne. Let him waste his career the way my parents did. He sat back down and considered what his next move would be. That’s when Wayne motioned to him and pointed toward the back of the cave.

Rogan stood up and faced the direction Wayne indicated. He saw a bright light illuminating the cave walls and causing the quartz embedded there to sparkle like millions of small gemstones. His parents were also waiting with an absorbed expression on their faces. As the light came forward, Rogan could see two figures, each of whom was surrounded by a white glow. His mouth went dry and he backed away until he tripped over a small boulder behind him and sat, unable to move, on the sandy cave floor.

Wayne glanced at him. “Guess you can’t classify everything into a genus or species, can you, old buddy?”

Before Rogan stood two women of unearthly, ethereal beauty so intense that there was nothing in his experience with which to compare it. “Wh-What are they?” he croaked out as Enora and Keelin approached. The older sister was wearing a long, shimmering, halter-top gown of blue and her wings matched its shade exactly. Enora wore one similarly fashioned but it was silver. So too were her wings. And both of them now sported pointed ears and their skin seemed to glitter like the walls surrounding them. But while Keelin’s wings were very long and floated out behind her like those of a butterfly, Enora’s wings were more like that species of flying garden insect known as a dragonfly. They were mesmerizing to look at and as they both walked toward him, he finally found the strength and presence of mind to push himself to his feet. Keelin spoke to him first. Her sage green eyes seemed to glow with some kind of inner light and they were beguiling.

“You see us as we really are, Rogan.” She held out her arms so he could get a good long look.

Rogan swallowed hard and tried not to take in the voluptuous body the gauzy material she wore barely covered. Then he turned his head a fraction of an inch to look at Enora. Her silvery gaze was bewitching. It was like looking into two pools of bright stars.

“You see, I wasn’t making it up,” she reminded him. “I know you wanted to believe that I was using a crazy story to get you to leave. But everything I told you is the truth.”

He tried to keep from visibly shaking as her voice, unlike Keelin’s, had a crystalline sound to it. As though small shards of glass were hitting one another as she uttered every syllable. “How c-can you exist? W-What are you?” he brokenly muttered.

Enora tilted her head. “You don’t want to believe even now, do you?”

Rogan backed away, careful not to fall over anything this time. “If this is some kind of joke, it’s not funny.”

Enora lowered her head. “I’m sensing something very much like repulsion. Only I can’t take it all in because he’s so confused. There’s too much going on inside him.”

“Stop it! Quit crawling around in my emotions like they’re something you should invade at will,” he demanded.

“You can stop her from doing that. All you have to do is make a blank space in your mind. Just think of nothing at all and neither of us can sense what you feel,” Keelin explained. “We have to have some impression of what you’re thinking to absorb or sense your emotions. They go together.”

Rogan did as she instructed and forced himself to envision blackness where nothing dwelled.

“That’s it,” Keelin instructed. “It sort of blocks your head from your heart and we can’t pick up on anything.” She glanced at her sister. “Enora shouldn’t have been prodding into your feelings so much. It isn’t proper.”

Enora held out her hands. “I didn’t mean it to be an assault on your emotions or to make you feel violated, Rogan. But I had to know where you stood. Your actions don’t match what you’re feeling sometimes and it’s difficult to know how you’ll respond.”

“How I respond to anything is my own damn business,” he angrily replied. Then he looked her over and had to physically turn away from the magnificence her grace and beauty presented. It was like seeing a piece of artwork come to life and it panicked him. He’d never been so intimidated before. In the face of their awe-inspiring presence, he felt insignificant. And it made him question everything he knew about science and all the work he’d ever done. For if beings like Keelin and Enora could exist, how many more were out there waiting for mankind to know about? And how foolish did people like him look that they spent their existence hunting for one small species of reef fish or a rare whale only to find out their studies were really nothing? Just a waste of time in the vastness of the unknown.

Rogan couldn’t deal with the fact that his life’s work was nothing compared to what he now saw. His mind was geared for questions of science that could be quantified, analyzed and measured. There was nothing in his training or his personality that allowed for myth or magic.

“I-I’ve got to get outta here,” he quickly asserted. Then he turned to Wayne. “Where is my equipment?”

“I told you it’s at the back of the cave… Rogan, you’re not using that rebreather again. You could have died the last time.”

Rogan ignored his former friend, walked around the two women as if their presence meant no more than another rock or impediment in his way. He stoically kept his mind on finding his diving equipment. Reality would create an explanation for all he’d seen. But he just had to have time and space away from these fanatics so enough realism could sink back into his consciousness. When he returned, almost an hour and a half later, he was dressed in his dry suit and carrying his equipment. It had taken that long to quit shaking so he could get his gear and his act together.

“If I have to stand in your way and get the hell beat out of me this time, I’m not going to let you use that,” Wayne asserted as he pointed at the rebreather. He stood in between Rogan and the small beach, forcing his friend to make that decision.

“Let him go,” Enora softly implored. “He doesn’t want to believe in us. He doesn’t want to have anything more to do with any of us.”

Rogan angrily rounded on her. “I told you to stay the hell out of my head and I meant it.” He was unprepared for the vehemence in his tone and watched as everyone backed away in shock. Having expressed himself so virulently, however, he couldn’t take the words back. The baby animal, now standing near the water’s edge, was the only being present not to back away. She stomped forward, put her head against his back and made a soft snuffling sound. He quickly turned, put on his flippers, gloves and the arm strap holding his compass, diving watch and depth indicators. Then he slipped into the rebreather, fastened the straps and adjusted his face mask.

As with the rest of them, Enora stood and silently watched as Rogan walked the few steps it took to get into the water. The baby followed him and entered into the cold blackness as Rogan did. Apparently, the young animal was intent on following the man wherever he’d go. Enora took a deep shuddering breath when the water engulfed the diver and the baby Nessie. “I guess…he didn’t care about me the way I thought he did. I don’t understand how I could have been so w-wrong.” The tears came and she couldn’t stop them. All Enora could do was lower her head in shame and stand there while Keelin put her arms around her shoulders.

Pat came forward and pushed Enora’s hair off her shoulder in a motherly fashion. “It may be that your senses were confused with your own emotions where Rogan was concerned. Maybe you superimposed your own feelings on what Rogan really felt. God knows his father and I have had many similar experiences, though we can’t claim your powers of perception. Rogan will act as though you can congenially converse with him one moment, then insult your opinions the next. He’s very much into himself and I’m sorry that an intelligent and sensitive being like you has had to suffer through his intemperate mood swings.”

Kyle nodded in agreement. “I’m very much afraid our son is very narrow-minded when it comes to some things. We didn’t teach him that. He somehow learned it. Somewhere along the way, money and fame became too important. I’ve tried to tell you before…he’d be interested only in what advances him and his career and not in anything he can’t explain. Eventually, everything else just becomes insignificant. If he can’t touch it, smell it or measure it, it just doesn’t register. And he’ll eventually explain you away somehow. The way he’s explained his mother and me away to the rest of his colleagues.”

Wayne stared at the water where Rogan and the baby disappeared. “I can’t believe he’s acting like this. I’d have thought…” He let the rest go unsaid.

Enora slowly shook her head. “I just don’t see how I could have been so wrong,” she softly repeated.

* * * * *

Rogan let the baby take him where she would. At the moment, he cared about nothing except escaping the confusion in his head. The intellectual side of his nature and his heart were at war with one another. But he knew his brain would eventually win out. He’d been hurt by his family too many times to let the emotional part of his nature rule.

Only habit commanded him to check the illuminated accouterment on his wrist band. There was no need for any flashlight on this dive. He wasn’t looking for anything except a way out of his current situation. But when the baby continued in a straight line, parallel to the submerged wall of the cave, Rogan finally took notice. She wasn’t even swimming at a depth where he needed to decompress.

Finally she brought him to the surface, in a cave many times larger than the one where he’d originally seen her. Light from above filtered through the entire space, making minerals in the walls shimmer and catch the daylight. It was like being in the presence of thousands of tiny lanterns. Pulling off his face mask and looking up, Rogan could see that there were large cracks in the cave ceiling. These high crevices actually let in sunlight. In fact, everything was so bright that no bonfire or flashlight would ever be needed here so long as the sun was up. He could see every rock and boulder in the room. The entire scene gave him the sensation of being in an immense cathedral. There was a kind of serenity in the place. It was a space where he could think or just sit and go numb if he chose.

As the baby pulled him from the water, Rogan somehow sensed a purpose for her having brought him here. Still, that purpose wasn’t readily apparent as he walked onto an expansive beach of clean sand. There was nothing there except sunlight reflecting off the walls and open space.

To make himself more comfortable, he took off the heavy rebreather and flippers then pushed back the hood to his dry suit. He had time to look over his surroundings. What else but diving and exploring could give him respite while his mind was so jumbled with bizarre information? In less than a week’s time, he’d been put through a wringer no human could imagine. His nerves were shot and he was one infinitesimal step away from a nervous breakdown. All he’d have to do was let it happen. His brain would be gone and he’d be quite irrational. Maybe for the rest of his life. He briefly closed his eyes, clenched and unclenched his hands and stood there. Absorbing the silence helped. It sank into him. He used it to his benefit.

For a solid twenty minutes, Rogan took deep, slow breaths and focused on anything that was real. Finally, he shook his head as if the gesture would fling away remnants of his recent experiences. It was best to force everything that wasn’t concrete out of his brain. It was emotionally healthier to guide his thoughts back toward science. For right now, he didn’t want to think about the Nessie or what ties to the animal kingdom she had. There was no point in even dwelling on her existence. There was even less rational reason to ponder over how he’d seen two women actually change their appearance and sport wings when the laws of physics disallowed any such action. Analytical thoughts were his only sane retreat. If he didn’t keep his logic, he’d lose his mind.

He slowly circled around the beach and tried, with his limited knowledge of geology, to focus on the exact cause for the crystalline shimmer in the walls around him. That was something he could do that was lucid. From the back of his mind, he dredged up all the articles he’d ever read on the region. Doing so calmed him more and more as time went by. He thought about depth charts, sonar readings and species of fish. All kinds of technical subjects came to mind and he was strengthened by his memory of them. So long as he didn’t consider anything magical or anything having to do with the discovery of new species, he was all right. He could feel himself getting more clear-headed by the moment.

“That’s it, Rogan, just think about facts. That’s the ticket,” he whispered to himself.

Sensing his anxiety, the baby lumbered closer to him and nudged him gently.

That one gesture was all it took to shatter his resolve. Rogan couldn’t ignore the reality of her existence. There she was, right in front of him and wanting attention the way a small puppy might. He reached out to her both physically and emotionally. Tears filled his eyes when he did. There was no one and nothing left to him that he could call real. And all the science he’d ever known couldn’t come to his rescue. Everything he’d ever believed in had been torn asunder. What was left but the comfort of one infant creature that wasn’t supposed to exist? He tried to smile, as if humor could eliminate the severity of the situation.

“Guess I’ll have to call on you as a substitute friend, little girl. I’m running out of them pretty damned fast.”

The little Nessie bobbled her head and blew on him with her nose.

“You’re a cute little thing. But cute won’t help me now. I need somebody to tell me what the hell to do.” He rubbed her head and watched her halfway close her eyes in pleasure. It was the same gesture a pet might make when being scratched behind the ear. “I’m out of options, baby. What do I do now?” he softly restated. “Who do I turn to?” He leaned against her, closed his eyes and let his mind go blank. Doing so was the first real peace he’d had in days. But his respite was short-lived.

The baby suddenly backed away from him and turned toward the water. She stared at the surface and didn’t move a muscle.

Rogan watched her fixed gaze. Maybe she was ready to go back to the other cave and that was her way of letting him know. He had a feeling she wouldn’t leave without him, so he picked up his gear and put it back on. In doing so, he felt drained to the core. He was so damned tired that he no longer cared about anything or anyone. Whether the source of his exhaustion was his mental state or some physical malfunction he didn’t know.

He was resignedly adjusting his face mask when the baby uttered a very high-pitched squeal that almost took his eardrums out. To muffle the sound, he put one hand over his left ear and tried to put his other hand over her mouth. That was when the water near the beach began to churn as if something of great size and weight was releasing air and rising. What he saw made him take several steps backward. His retreat was halted by the baby’s muscular body as she moved behind him. It seemed she didn’t want him to back up.

Out of the water rose a head, then a series of colossal back humps appeared at the water line. The head itself was gray-green with a white thatch of fur under its chin. Its undulating torso seemed darker gray and stretched out far behind the body itself. The massive, mostly submerged animal was staggering in size. It was probably well over eighty feet long, if Rogan had to take a guess. Unlike the baby on the beach, this large Nessie’s antennae rose more than two feet from its massive skull. Rogan stood quite still so as not to alarm it.

Aside from the shock and fear that he quickly tamped down, Rogan knew that this animal was a very senior version of the baby. And as its head slowly rose up and into the height of the cavern on a snakelike neck, his first guess of its actual length seemed comical. This thing was huge. And through the bubbling water around it, other creatures of various ages and sizes rose. Rogan had to let his head fall back a very long way to look up at the largest and first of the emerging animals. Its dark eyes blinked at him as the head came to within a few feet of hitting the almost ten-story-high roof of the cavern. Rogan felt his mouth go dry and waited to see what would happen. Even his scientific insight and experience seemed to desert him in the face of this splendor.

A tickling sensation on his upper lip automatically caused his hand to rise. And when he brought his fingers back down, he saw blood on the fabric of his diving glove. But the dizziness seemed to be absent this time. And something deep inside his head began to clear and flow free. It was like someone opening a door deep within his brain.

“…are here for a reason. No pain you suffer longer.”

Rogan suddenly realized the oldest of the creatures was looking right at him and actually communicating. Apparently he’d caught the last part of some message as it searched his brain for a way to relay what it thought was important. But how did he respond? Nothing in his life had ever prepared him for sentient communication with another life form. It was a bit like meeting someone from another planet for the first time and not knowing what to say or do first. So he stood and waited.

“Keeper. Know you well. Creatures of Millenniums are we. Know this of our past and those who tried to protect.”

Rogan fell to his knees as the massive head swiftly plummeted toward him. It stopped right in front of his body. Mesmerized by the elderly animal’s gaze, he waited. Then everything in front of him went dark. Though a black cloud, he felt as if he was drifting through a vortex and traveling somewhere. When the darkness cleared and his eyes adjusted, he was in new surroundings.

Rogan was now outside the cavern and standing on the edge of the loch. Some scene was playing out before him though he consciously knew he was not part of it, only a witness to it. He could only guess that what he was watching was something from the past. There was no sign of a village or a roadway nearby. People were suddenly around him. All of them were dressed in leather and cloth that seemed to be from another era. Their hair was long and the men among the group had beards. The expressions they bore were horrific, as they brandished axes, spears and swords.

As a group, they simultaneously turned away from the water and faced something coming down the hillside toward them. Then the people around him raised their weapons as if readying themselves for an attack. Some of them threw off the garments from their upper bodies. As they did this, brilliant Fairy wings emerged from their backs. Before he could even take in the beauty and wonder of this ethereal event, he heard a battle cry from the hillside above. Those around him shouted out to each other in some unfamiliar language, but he somehow understood that it was an ancient form of Gaelic. He saw the Fairies around him take up fighting stances and ready themselves for an onslaught.

Leather-armored men on horses and on foot raced down the hillside toward them and they too were carrying weapons. That those magical creatures around him had made a mistake by putting their backs to the loch was evident, even to someone as unskilled at strategy as he. But one of the loch creatures rose from the water behind these cornered men and seemed prepared to take their side in the battle. Rogan then understood why the Fairies and their friends had chosen that spot to fight. They were protecting the loch creature.

Still, the armored warriors careening down the hills toward them didn’t slacken their pace at all. Rogan saw some of them unfurl a net and attempt to make his way around the defenders even as their compatriots met the rest in battle. Axes swung, shouts of anger and malice rent the air as the attackers outnumbered the defenders at the water’s edge. Rogan could do nothing but watch.

One of the mounted men was able to throw part of a thick webbed net over the loch creature’s head while another from an opposite side did the same. The animal could have left. He sensed it could have swum away at any time, but it would not leave its defenders on the shore. And those defenders were badly outnumbered. Some of the Fairies attempted to raise their hands and use glamour to blind their foes. But as soon as they did, an order in English came to lob off the hand of any of the Fairies attempting to do so. He watched in horror as the marauding soldiers, for he now knew that’s what they were, did exactly as they were commanded. And the fight didn’t last more than half an hour before every single man at the water’s edge was dead or lay dying at the feet of the leather-armored warriors. One of the dying Fairies looked to the creature now suffering arrows being shot into its body, yet still unwilling to leave its allies. This fallen, be-winged man raised one remnant of an arm toward the frightened and squealing animal.

“Caraid,” the Fairy croaked, “fág seo àite a chaoidh.”

In Rogan’s mind, the words Friend, leave this place forever were instantly translated. And as he saw a brawny, armored soldier approach the dying Fairy to deliver a butchering deathblow, Rogan ran to the winged man’s aid.

“Get off him, you son-of-a-bitch! The man’s down. What kind of cowardly asshole takes a man out when half of his arms are gone?” And Rogan raised his hands in an attempt to keep the soldier’s axe from tearing the prostrate Fairy into pieces. But the hand he had on the butcher’s arm did no good. The soldier swung as if Rogan wasn’t there and his axe came down on the Fairy’s unprotected back. Rogan looked down as the beautiful Fairy’s wings were crushed beneath the weight of the blow.

As a witness to the past, he understood that he couldn’t help, but Rogan still fell to his knees by the man’s side and tried to take the Fairy’s face in his hands. The ethereal being was drawing his last, gasping breaths. And suddenly, the Fairy tilted his head at an odd angle. It was as if he could actually see the stranger that Rogan was to him, kneeling there.

Rogan looked into the dying man’s eyes and slowly shook his head. “I don’t know how to help you,” he whispered. “What the hell is happening?” Blood from the Fairy’s mouth spilled down his chin and into his long blond hair. Rogan watched it drip onto the ground and looked one last time into the death-glazed eyes. The Fairy tried to raise one remnant of his arm to Rogan. He almost smiled, as if he recognized that help had come from an ally. But then the gaze went suddenly cold as his head dropped to the sand. Rogan felt a helpless rage come over him and he stood to face the soldier who’d attacked. He gazed around the area and witnessed a scene of absolute carnage. The dead loch creature was being pulled from the water, arrows protruding from its body. Soldiers were actually pulling wings off some of the dead Fairies as souvenirs only to find that they blew away as soon as they left their dead owners’ bodies. The marauding soldiers laughed as the pulled necklaces and trinkets from the other men’s torsos. One who was mounted and better armored than the rest let his magnificent war horse prance forward.

“Dead is dead,” the man muttered in English. “We need no magic to win the day, nor that which is unholy in our lives. Quickly take what spoils you will from these foul creatures. Others of their kind live near. Their seed escapes even as these dead warriors thought to give them time. Hurry, we ride.”

Rogan cursed loudly at the man and lunged for him only to fall to the ground. He raged at the retreating leader. “They were outnumbered ten to one. What kind of savage attacks people just for being different?” But he knew he couldn’t be heard. The events he witnessed weren’t anything he could alter. They’d taken place centuries earlier. And as the soldiers rode away, leaving their butchery behind, Rogan closed his eyes and silently prayed not to see any more. In the distance, he could hear the frightened cries of children and women as some of the soldiers and their horses bore down on them.

Chapter Nine

As the screams echoed through his brain and melted into the distance of time, Rogan slowly came back to the present. He was in the large cavern again with the older Nessie staring at him.

“Come again they will. Fear what they do not understand. And killing will seem more kind than events to come. See all as it might be.”

Rogan slowly shook his head. “What could be worse than what I just saw?” The animal didn’t answer his question and Rogan’s vision suddenly went black again. Back through the black cloud he went on a new journey. This time, he was standing on a hillside where the soldiers had ridden down the Fairies and their friends. But there were now modern buildings skirting the edges of the loch and helicopters flew overhead. There was a bustle of activity everywhere Rogan looked. Boats of every conceivable kind pierced through the water of the loch and news people packed a nearby pier. He slowly walked forward and saw Marissa Talbert with her cameraman, Wally Burdette. Rogan saw her lift a microphone to her mouth and nod at Wally, indicating he should begin taping her report.

Marissa had written the words she’d say carefully. “We’re here at the scene of the most important discovery of the millennium and will be bringing you a live report as the scientific teams, headed by Dr. Rogan MacClean, bring up one of these magnificent creatures from the depths of Loch Ness. And we’ll have that exclusive story for you as it breaks. Stay tuned to LIVE ACTION at five for the latest concerning this story of immense scientific importance. Again, we have the exclusive story for you and an interview with Dr. MacClean as he arrives back at the pier with one of the animals the world has just learned really exists at the bottom of this ancient lake.” She lowered the microphone and Wally switched off the camera and its light.

“We’ll hit the covers of every paper and magazine that can print a late edition,” Wally proudly proclaimed.

Marissa turned toward the end of the pier and gazed at a large research vessel still bobbing in the middle of the loch. “And just think. We though Architeuthis was worth a damn. This will make that giant squid look like a minnow by comparison.”

Rogan angrily walked forward and wanted to knock the microphone out of Marissa’s hand. But as he swung, his hand went right through her arm as if he was only a specter. As far as time was concerned, he was just a haunting spirit, standing by and watching impotently. “This isn’t right. This isn’t how I’d do it. I wouldn’t make it into a circus side show,” he loudly declared. But it seemed his voice was just as spectral as his body. Then he saw a large, fully equipped research vessel pulling toward the pier and every reporter with a camera crew, tape recorder or note pad ran forward. Rogan almost vomited as he saw what the vessel towed behind it. The body of the baby bobbed in the water like a dead whale. “No,” he whispered and heard his voice crack. “I would never hurt her.” He heard one of the reporters speaking from behind him.

“Somebody said it died when he tried to bring it out into the open. Something about them not surviving captivity,” the reporter said.

Rogan slowly backed away. “Not like this. It wouldn’t be like this,” he repeated over and over. Then his attention was captured by uniformed officers. Policemen were leading his parents away from the shoreline. They were in handcuffs and reporters swarmed them like a hive of bees. His father’s face was red with anger. His mother kept her gaze glued to the ground. Wayne and Keelin tried to hide their faces as they too were led away in handcuffs and the police tried to widen a path for their departure. And Rogan turned to hear words from nearby newsmen that made him furious.

One Scottish reporter remarked, “They’ve already taken the girl away. Somebody said she was hurt trying to keep the monster from being captured. An ambulance took her to the hospital earlier. I’m going there now to see what I can find out. There’s a lot of secrecy surrounding her and the police are keeping it quiet for now.”

“Aye,” a second man replied. “Seems they found some other people in that cave. Dead as stone, they are. At least, that’s the rumor. But nobody is saying anything until MacClean gets back to shore and he gives his side of this to the police. It’s just too damned bad that the American newswoman has exclusivity.”

The first man clapped the other one on the back and said, “You go to the hospital, Hamish. I’ll stay here and see if I can get any piece of information to send to Edinburgh. If the staff at the home office isn’t too busy, that is. They’re takin’ reports from every source they can find.”

Rogan stood rigidly as his heart raced. The callousness of the reporters around him was sickening. “Who’s dead? What happened to Enora? She can’t go to a hospital.” But the local reporters who’d been having the conversation hurried off like the others. He wasn’t there to them. Just an unwilling, spirit-like participant. And as he scanned the loch and watched the research vessel pull closer and closer to the pier, an elderly woman walked by him. Judging by her accent and what she said, she might have been a nearby resident.

“They should have left what was there alone,” she uttered and began to silently weep. Then she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “The loch will never be the same now. And the bastard that done this can burn in hell! Damn that Rogan MacClean!”

Rogan reached out to her but knew he’d never make contact. “No! I could handle this better. It wouldn’t be like this.” But his vision left again and he was suddenly back in the cave. The gray-bearded Nessie was still before him.

“Enora will die. Others coming to her defense will die. The Sorceress’ protection lasts not. All will be revealed. Captivity a Fairy cannot stand, just as we cannot.”

Rogan shook his head. “I wouldn’t do something like this,” he desperately tried to explain.

“Keeper will betray us.”

“Enora? What’s she got to do with this? She wouldn’t betray anyone, I know it.”

“Not Fairy.” The big animal swung its head in denial and the others surrounding it moaned as if they were in deep sorrow. “YOU.”

The word resounded in Rogan’s brain and actually caused him to put his hands to his ears for a moment. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I’m not your damned Keeper.”

“Sorceress brought you here. Want or not. Like or not. You are Keeper of the Loch. Fairy Keeper is but your guide now.”

Horribly confused, Rogan could only stand there. And part of his agitation was due in no small part to his actually arguing with an animal. Sentient it might be, but he couldn’t equate what was happening to any scientifically known phenomenon. So it had to be something in his head. What he was experiencing was either imagined or from the injury he received when his nose and ears bled. He decided he’d been part of enough extraordinary activity for one day. All he wanted was to get out of the cold cave, back across the loch and to his hotel room. But as he put his mouthpiece in his mouth and rechecked his bearings, the baby lumbered away and sank beneath the water of the loch.

“Wait for her return,” the oldest creature ordered.

When he would have ignored what he was hearing in his brain and moved forward, the elder animal raised its head toward the roof of the cavern again and the others swam forward together and blocked his path back into the loch. “Let me go,” he commanded.

“Command us not do you. We go or stay as we please.”

Determined to leave, Rogan continued to check his gear and his compass direction back the way he’d come. When he was almost ready to confront the animals again, the baby arrived back at the surface and walked onto the beach. He saw something glittering in her slit-like mouth when she walked forward. Not wanting her to swallow something else that might get caught in her gut, he automatically reached out to take it from her. When he saw what the object was, however, he held it up toward the elder animal. “This is a green crystal like Enora’s.”

“For you, Keeper. So we may find you in caves. Many caves are there. Fewer of us now. Crystal always is held by Keeper.”

Totally bemused now, Rogan shook his head and stuck the crystal under his dive belt. His action in keeping it must have satisfied the elder of the animals because it slowly sank down into the loch and the others followed. He watched and likened the event to seeing a group of stalagmites falling into a sink hole. “What the hell have I got myself into?” he quietly asked himself. Then he put his hand on the baby’s neck and walked toward the water with her, almost certain she’d take him back to their original starting place.

It took longer to get back than he expected. The baby seemed to be taking her time to the point where Rogan almost left her to return on his own. It was as if she was deliberately delaying being parted from him and she needed to be nudged now and again to keep her from turning her head back to playfully push at his body. But they finally made it back. And as he left the cold water, he patted the baby’s head and walked back toward the continuously burning campfire in the original cave floor. Rogan couldn’t see anyone there. He considered calling out but tamped the urge. It might be better if he was by himself. It was beginning to be almost impossible now to discern what was real and what wasn’t. And the more his mind tried to make sense of all the situations he’d experiences at the loch, the more he knew he should be alone. Either he’d finally lost his battle with an encroaching fantasy world, or the laws of science as he knew them were seriously flawed. And that wasn’t an option he wanted to consider.

He made his way, shivering, toward the back of the cave and neither saw or heard any sign of Enora or the others. But as he found his dry clothing and checked his rebreather for any gas mixture problems that might cause hallucinations, he saw a leather briefcase tucked behind one of the trunks nearby. Rogan recognized it as the one Enora had used to carry his parents’ underwater photographs and sonar and global positioning evidence that the Loch Ness monsters really did exist. It was the same evidence she’d shown him on the day she’d dropped the bomb that his parents weren’t really dead. It made perfect sense that she wouldn’t leave the briefcase lying in a hotel room where any cleaning staff or hotel employees needing to get into her room might see it. And he thought about that day for a moment.

Then, in an almost blinding surge of inspiration, he began to form a plan. He stood and paced for some minutes, the details filtering through in his brain. “It could work,” he whispered to himself.

With an idea still being plotted, Rogan took his parents’ evidence, tucked it all into his jacket and left his diving gear to dry at the back of the cave. He had to get back to the hotel and find Marissa Talbert.

* * * * *

“They’re here to talk to Rogan,” Wayne explained as he waved one hand at all the cars crowding the hotel parking lot. “By now, they’ve all got wind of what we did off the coast of New Zealand and have their questions all primed.”

Enora stood on the hillside just east of the hotel and took in all the frantic activity near the hotel. People were trying to find parking spaces, camera crews were trying to set up for any glimpse they could get of Rogan or Wayne and the valets and porters were valiantly doing their best to park all the extra transportation and bring in luggage. “Thank goodness, we could see this on the road down the hotel, or we’d have walked right into all that mess. And while I wouldn’t be much of an attraction, those reporters would certainly know who you are and plague you for Rogan’s whereabouts,” she told him.

“What about Kyle and Pat?” Wayne asked as he glanced back at the van. “If the reporters get a glance at them, everything you and Keelin are trying to hide could be blown sky high.”

Enora took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “Go back to the cave with Keelin and Rogan’s parents. It’s a shame I couldn’t get them to the far hillside where they could get some sun, but I can’t risk driving by the hotel and having someone recognize them. By now, those reporters might even know that I was working with Kyle and Pat before Rogan got here. It’ll be hard enough for me to get past them, but I have to get word to the Sorceress about what’s happening.”

“What about Rogan?” Wayne checked his watch. “If he hasn’t surfaced by now, then he could be in real trouble.”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do for the eminent Doctor MacClean if he’s gone and got himself drowned,” Enora sarcastically replied. “Somehow, I think he’ll make it back to the cave in one piece. Or the baby will drag what’s left of him there for you and the others to find.”

“I hope you don’t really mean that.”

Enora turned to look at Rogan’s best friend. “No, of course not. But the way he’s behaving, I can’t tell what he will and won’t do. And I don’t care to sense what he’s feeling anymore, even if he didn’t know how to block my empathic powers and he does. Keelin saw to that.”

Wayne put a hand on her shoulder. “Everything will be okay, Enora. I’ll get everybody back to the cave and if Rogan is there, I know he won’t want to walk back into that snake pit at the hotel. Not after everything we’ve been through the last couple of weeks.” Wayne took one more look at the people converging on the small local hotel. “Bunch of vultures. As far as they know, Rogan is still trying to find his dead folks and they can’t wait to get up in his face about that damned squid.”

Enora snorted. “Don’t feel too sorry for him, Wayne. That’s the life he chose. He wanted to be famous and famous people these days shouldn’t have a realistic expectation of privacy.”

Wayne ignored her comment. “How will you get to your room? And is it safe to contact your Sorceress from there?”

“Everything will be fine about that. Just leave it to me. But you really should get Kyle and Pat back to the cave before anyone can see them. Even if they’re inside the van, I don’t want to take any chances.”

Wayne nodded and headed back to the van and those waiting within it.

Enora braced herself against the cool evening breeze of the loch and made her way down the hill, toward the hotel. As she got to level ground, however, her worst fears concerning her attachment to the elder MacCleans and their initial disappearance into the loch were realized. A striking blonde woman and a lanky blond cameraman converged on her from a nearby utility vehicle.

“You’re Enora Brighton, aren’t you?” Marissa asked.

Enora looked the tall slender blonde over and wondered what Rogan had seen in Marissa Talbert. She especially tried to pinpoint any virtue that had made him want to sleep with her. Fortunately, while Rogan had managed to conveniently forget his hotel encounter with the reporter, Wayne had truthfully filled her in. But rather than acknowledge that she knew the reporter and her cameraman from anyone’s description, Enora played it cool. She stood there a moment while the blonde woman and her camera operator sat up for what looked like an interview.

Marissa finally lifted her microphone when Wally nodded his was ready. “I understand your name is Enora Brighton and you were employed by Dr. MacClean’s parents while they were diving in the loch. Can you tell us anything about Kyle and Patricia Avery-MacClean and their disappearance, or where Dr. Rogan MacClean is now?”

Not wanting to be interviewed, Enora did the one thing she was pretty certain would stop the camera. She lifted her hand, grabbed the microphone away from Marissa before the woman could react and threw it across the parking lot. “Get out of my face with that microphone, you greasy strumpet. And don’t you ever do that again without asking permission or you and your friend there will be fishing yourselves out of the loch.” She stalked by them and into the hotel. Luckily, no one else either noticed or paid attention to the incident.

Marissa smirked. “Get the microphone, Wally. Nobody acts like that unless they have something really big to hide. I knew a little snooping around would pay off. She’s been coming and going into those hills for days now. It was lucky that the hotel staff knew she was working with Rogan’s parents before they disappeared.”

Wally set his video camera down to do as Marissa asked.

Inside the hotel, Enora ducked her head and managed to make it through the crowds of reporters without anyone seeming to care who she was. The rest of the media crowd seemed to want Rogan MacClean. She was a small fish except to that Talbert woman and she thanked the Goddess again that Wayne had explained who she was and that she was hanging around the hotel. It was evident that Ms. Talbert had done her homework about her own connection with Kyle and Pat.

* * * * *

When Rogan found the keys to Keelin’s van still in the ignition, he glanced around the hidden crevice area and could find no sign of the other van that Enora used. It puzzled him that his parents would have left the safety of the cave and that Keelin and Enora would leave the baby Nessie unattended except for his presence. But then, what they did or why was as confusing to him as everything else in his world at present. He would concern himself with all that later, all he wanted to do was get back to the hotel and find Marissa. Rogan drove a longer route back to the hotel so he could finalize his plans in his head and get his information together. He was still trying to convince himself he could do what he had to when his entire focus was pulled away from anything except all the emerging traffic and activity around the hotel. He quickly parked the van in the first place he could find, got out and was immediately surrounded by several members of the media he recognized from the States. He realized the newspapers and magazine editors had finally caught up with him and sent out their people to get whatever information they could about the giant squid being found. But he wasn’t in the mood to talk to any of them. Ignoring their repeated requests for information about the squid, he pushed his way through the mob and saw Marissa standing near the entrance to the lobby. He motioned for her to come to him, which she did with all the speed of a jet.

Over the din of the cameras and questions, Rogan commanded, “Get me outta here if you want the story of the century.”

Marissa slowly smiled, pulled Wally in front of them and let him and his video camera clear them a path into the hotel and an empty service elevator. “I knew you’d come through.”

“Yeah, but that forty-eight hours you gave me is up,” Rogan reminded her. “Did you call in all these vultures like you promised?”

“They got here on their own,” Wally supplied. “Everybody and their Aunt Petunia knows about Architeuthis by now. Every nature columnist from here to the moon is waiting to talk to you.”

“If you want the story, Marissa, meet me in my room in half an hour. Alone. And don’t tell anybody you’re meeting me or you can kiss your exclusivity goodbye.”

She gripped his arm. “This is something bigger than that squid, isn’t it?”

Rogan didn’t answer. He waited for the elevator door to open and pushed himself past another bevy of reporters to get to his room. He finally turned to them when he got to his door. “I suggest you leave me alone, or you can talk to the local police about harassment charges.” That seemed to back most of the more bold members of the press up, but Rogan knew it wouldn’t really keep anyone at bay. Still, if he gave exclusivity to Marissa, then the rest of the reporters would understand that no further information would be coming their way. Not for the present time. That might buy him some time and space. And he needed to get out of Scotland to finalize his scheme. He finally made it safely to the confines of his room and began to really formulate his scheme.

Some time later, he had exited the shower and was pouring himself a cup of fresh brewed coffee when a knock sounded on his door. Rogan quickly opened it and let Marissa into the room.

She boldly looked him over and let her gaze linger on the vee of his bathrobe, the muscular chest and his long dark hair. “You’re looking better than ever.”

“Sit down and listen,” Rogan commanded and motioned to a nearby table. He poured her a cup of coffee, handed her the cup and then took up a seat on the other side of the table. “You want a story that’ll make Architeuthis look like nothing?”

Marissa immediately opened up her bag, took out her tape recorder and turned it on.

Rogan just as quickly grabbed it up and tossed it into a nearby wall. It hit with enough force to shatter the components and scattered them on the floor.

“What the hell! Why did you do that?” she angrily demanded.

“I’m giving you exclusivity on the biggest story of the century. But you do it on my terms, down to the last comma and quote. Understand?”

Marissa swallowed hard and leaned back in the chair. “You’re not joking around, are you?”

Rogan shook back his damp hair and simply stared straight into her eyes.

“I-I need to contact some paper that will take the story. Whatever it is,” she croaked. “You seem to forget that daddy dearest fired me.”

“I’ve already got that all worked out. But you go to anyone about anything…anything at all…and you’ll be the very last person on Earth to hear the news.”

“All right. I’m listening.”

Rogan glanced at her handbag, pulled it toward him and dumped the contents on the table. Then he slowly rose, gently pulled her toward him and ran his hands over her body.

She grinned. “Searching for wires, Rogan? God, you are paranoid.”

“No. I just know you,” he shot back, then returned to his chair.

“I’m clean. You can see I’ve got no other recorders or anything to take notes with. Now what’s this about?”

Rogan pulled his parents’ data out from under the table, pushed the spilled contents of her purse onto the floor and shoved the papers at her. “Take a look at this.”

Marissa quickly glanced at him before doing so, then unrolled the graphs and other paraphernalia before her. “What’s all this?”

“Underwater photos and sonar readings. My parents got a good look at something in the loch right before it killed them.”

She audibly gasped. “What are you saying?”

“Dammit, Marissa! I don’t think I could be much clearer,” he sarcastically replied.

“Y-you’re saying there’s something really there? Your parents really did find something…a creature living in the bottom of the loch? I was just pulling your chain when I suggested such a thing. I was just trying to get you to talk to me. But your parents really did find something?”

“Yeah. It cost them their lives. And I don’t want one word of this leaking out of this room until I’m ready to report it.”

She half-rose out of her chair. “You said I had the story!”

“Sit down. You do. At least you’ll get the data before anyone else so you can release before the competition. And you’ll have the right to set up any press conferences. I’ll answer your questions first and you get front row center. But I have conditions.”

She slowly did as he commanded and sat back down. “How do I know all this is real?” She looked down at the data before her. “Why should I believe you now when you gave me such a hard time before and blew me off?”

“I’m one of the top ten marine biologists in the world. I think I know what I saw with my own two eyes. Why in hell would I lie about it, Marissa?”

Marissa stared at him, speechless, for a moment. “Y-you actually…saw…”

“And I have tissue samples.”

“Oh my God!”

“But you hear me one more time. And get it right because I don’t want any screw- ups, Marissa. You double-cross me by trying to print anything before the press conference and all you’ll have is over-published tabloid garbage. I have all the data. The proof. And it stays with me until I give it to a select committee of scientists to analyze. You get me a research vessel, fully equipped with a submersible and cash backing for a complete study. And I get copyrights on data publication.”

She held out her hands. “And just where do you think I’m going to get that kind of dough? Do you know how much money we’re talking about? That’s millions of dollars worth of equipment, Rogan.”

He slowly sipped his coffee. “I know. But you can get it.”

“Oh really? And just how…”

“Your father,” he interrupted. “He’d back me on any study I want to do. But I’ll insist you be put on the writing staff as chief editor, in charge of all scientific columns concerning my studies in the future.”

Marissa slowly smiled and nodded. “Now I understand why you gave me the story. I use you, you use me and we both use my old man. But I know he’d do it. I’ve known he’d back anything you did. My old man would even hock his underwear for first story rights to one of your discoveries.”

“Again, if you cross me, I’ll take every single piece of proof I have right to your father’s major competition. Then I’ll tell your father it’s your fault that I didn’t give his paper first rights. You got that?”

She put up her hands in a gesture of supplication. “Of course. Whatever you want. With your name on the press conference announcement, every scientist and media organization on the face of the planet will take this seriously. And if you’ve got actual samples, that’s undeniable proof.”

“Oh I’ve got the samples all right. And my parents’ data will be clear enough for anyone to accept as real.”

Marissa looked back down at the information before her and quickly sifted through it until she got to the photos. “This looks like a tail and this…it’s a body, isn’t it?”

“See? Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”

She glared at him then smiled. “You can insult me all you want, honey. Just give me the story and I don’t care what you call me.”

“We set it up like I say. Two hours before the conference, I’ll give the tissue samples and my parents’ research to a team of indisputable experts at the San Diego lab. The lab’s initial findings, including one copy, will be sealed and handed to me just before we go live in front of the cameras. The copy goes to you so you can get a story in your old man’s evening paper first. The original data and the committee’s findings will be opened at the conference itself. That way, no one can say there’s anything underhanded going on.”

“That’ll work. In fact, it’s ingenious. Nobody can refute the proof if it comes right from a respectable group of researchers.”

“So can you guarantee your old man’s backing?”

She frowned. “How can I do that without something to show him up front?”

“You said it yourself,” Rogan pointed out, “my reputation should be good enough. But I don’t make a move without that research money and a guarantee on a submersible.”

She thought for a moment. “I think he can get one of the Russian submersibles. He’s done it before.”

Rogan grinned. “See? Now you’re thinking. That’s the same equipment we used in conjunction with our rebreather dives in Palau.”

“Okay, Rogan. Just give me some time to talk to Daddy. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

When she stood up to leave, Rogan stood as well. “Remember, you don’t tell him anything except that I’ve got a story of major significance and need financing. I’ll back you up on that much when I speak to him. And I’ll make good on my promise to hand over everything to his competition if he knows more than he should. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” She quickly shoveled everything back into her purse and gathered the rest of her belongings.

“Oh, there are two more things.”

She faced him squarely ready to do anything he wanted. “Yes?”

“I need a one-way ticket, first class, back to San Diego. And you’re coming with me. Next thing…find a way to get rid of the reporters crawling all over the place so I can get out of here without being pestered.”

She snorted. “You don’t ask for much, do you? The ticket I can get. And of course Wally and I will come with you. As to the people I’m competing against for your attention, how am I supposed to get them to leave?”

He shrugged. “Make a complaint for me. Go to the local constable or whoever’s in charge and tell them you’re my personal assistant and I can’t even get out of my hotel room safely. If they call, I’ll verify that.”

She tilted her head and took several steps toward him. “Why don’t you do that yourself? Better yet, have that pretty little English thing, the one who was your parents’ assistant, do it for you.”

“She was my parents’ employee, not mine. All she did was hire equipment and get a crew for them and that was it. She’s ignorant of any of this and I want it kept that way. This is between you and me. Not her, not Wally or anybody else.”

“Okay, you’ve made all that quite clear. I’ll get it taken care of. Somehow. But just out of curiosity, what is that woman to you?”

He raised one eyebrow in what he hoped was a suggestive expression. “Why? Are you interested in her yourself?”

She slowly exhaled and glared at him. “All right. It’s none of my business. But I was going to offer myself with this deal, you know. It could be like old times.”

“I don’t think so. I’m not having the discovery of the millennium tainted. Certainly not by any suggestion that financial backing came from sleeping with the daughter of a very rich man. This is by the book. Professional. All the way.”

She smirked. “We’ll see. But I’ll get back to you with what Dad says as soon as I can.”

For some time after she’d gone, Rogan stood there. Then he walked to the small closet safe and brought out the vials of tissue he’d stored there. The future, or the oldest creature’s version of it, could be avoided. He knew what to do. Perversely, the discovery had to be made public to keep it safe. It was a gamble, but he could pull it off. He had to. If not, a very ugly scenario had been revealed to him and Rogan couldn’t imagine how it would end if it came true. “I’m doing the right thing. It’s the only way,” he muttered to himself. Then he put on a black wool sweater, a pair of jeans and hiking boots and waited. Marissa couldn’t go back on her word. He had the only evidence in existence. As long as it stayed that way, he maintained control of the entire situation.

* * * * *

For over three hours Rogan waited. Finally, there was a soft knock on the door and he opened it to find Marissa standing in an empty hallway. “You got rid of the predators?”

“That’s not a very flattering way to describe my fine comrades in the journalism field.” She walked into his room, slowly turned and waited for Rogan to close the door and face her. “It’s done. I called in every favor anyone ever owed me, talked to my dad and he’s even paying for the conference setup. It’ll be five days from now at the research facility in San Diego. He doesn’t know what you’ve got and he doesn’t care. So long as his paper gets the story before anyone else’s, he’s quite satisfied. And he’s forking over an ungodly amount of money for your research.”

“And the plane tickets?”

“Waiting for us at the airport. We leave tomorrow morning. But you’d better know my conditions, Rogan.”

He leaned against the door. “I wasn’t aware you were in the position to make any.”

“I don’t know where Wayne is and I’m wondering why he isn’t involved in this scheme. As long as you two have known each other, he’s always been a part of every research team you’ve put together. I find it very curious he hasn’t been mentioned. And that makes me not only curious but decidedly suspicious.” She slowly approached him. “If you pull any crap and hold back information to give to anyone else, I’ll have your balls hanging off my rearview mirror.”

He grinned. “If you can take my balls, they’re not worth having. And Wayne and I have come to a parting of the ways. He says he doesn’t want the creature revealed. He fed me a woeful soliloquy where I’m supposed to believe he’s actually thinking like my parents. He says he fears the world will abuse, misuse and otherwise destroy the poor beastie in the loch. But what I really think is that he’ll try claiming the discovery for himself. He’s secretly always had it in for me, being top dog in everything.”

“Well, that’s an explanation. Don’t know whether I buy it, but it sounds perfectly reasonable given the significance of this discovery and all. And I do hear that if you aren’t the lead dog, the view never changes.”

Rogan snorted. “Well, it’s my belief that Wayne wants a better view. That’s why I want this done quietly. As soon as we can.”

She looked him over. “I’ve got to hand it to you. You really will do whatever it takes to stay on top. Won’t you? You’re not even going to take the time to make sure you test the samples yourself or confirm the data like you normally do.”

“No time for that now. Besides, I know what I have. Part of the evidence was collected by me, remember? And as for being on top, this will put me in every scientific journal for eternity. It’s a little ironic my parents’ crazy ideas led to this discovery, but hell…they’re dead. And as far as anyone knows, their data is mine.”

“You’ll take full credit and leave any mention of them out of it?” Marissa asked in surprise.

He put his hands on his hips. “Why not? I had to listen to their crap for years. Payback is a bitch!”

She slowly smiled. “I think you and I are going to go places together, Rogan. Whether you want me or not. After that little revelation, I think you’ll be calling me for every discovery credited to you from now on.”

“As long as the dough flows and you’re the fountain, we might be able to make a deal or two.”

“Get packed and get some sleep. We leave early,” she said as she pushed him gently aside to open the door. “And uh, rethink your position about the two of us being more than just business partners. You might even begin to like the idea.”

He let her leave, then sat on the bed. He glanced at the closet safe. There was just one more thing he had to do, but it had to be dark. There was another sample he needed and Marissa couldn’t know about it. By now, the others must certainly have found him missing from the cave and that he’d taken the second van. His parents had forever trapped themselves into a makeshift death, so he didn’t anticipate their interference. They couldn’t ever be seen again. But if Enora, Wayne and Keelin tried to stop him, it could ruin everything he planned. Luckily, the crowds of reporters haunting the hotel previously had probably kept any of his former cave group from trying to get to him.

Carefully placing his parents’ statistical findings in the closet safe with the sample vials, he glanced at the bedside clock, grabbed his jacket and made a quick check of the hall by carefully cracking open the door. So far, Marissa had kept her word. The reporters were out if sight if not gone completely. Just one long night to get through and he’d be gone from the loch for good. And he knew he’d never be able to see the others again. It wasn’t as if it mattered. They’d hate him for what he was about to do. But worse then their hate, he feared what the oldest creature of the loch had shown him. And he had to admit, though he was reluctant to do so, that the future could happen as he’d seen it. He had to stop any possibility of that outcome no matter the cost.

Chapter Ten

When Rogan finally returned to the room later that night, he was aware of the journalists still milling about the hotel lobby and some of the exterior hotel paths but had managed to avoid them. Evidently, Marissa’s story of being his newly hired assistant and exclusive reporter worked. But that wouldn’t keep such a bullheaded crowd away for long. It was just as well they were leaving in the morning.

After taking his clothing off, showering again and checking the contents of the safe were exactly as he placed them, Rogan got into bed, set the alarm and turned the bedside lamp off. But he lay there for quite some time before sleep finally overcame him. Even then his dreams were troubled. He was in the beginning of a nightmare where Enora lay on the small beach of the cave and she was unconscious. Several men he had never seen before lay on the ground nearby and the larger of them was definitely dead.

The dead stranger was a tall man, muscularly built with long blond hair. This stranger had what appeared to be a gaping hole in the middle of his chest. There were villagers standing near the cave bonfire talking to the local police. The only sense he could make of the nightmare and the conversations in it was that Enora and some friends of hers had tried to stop locals from entering the cave. Somehow, the residents of the area knew about the creatures living there and had found their way through the hidden crevices at the surface. One or more of these zealots, armed with hunting knives, had stabbed the men helping Enora. They explained to the police that one of their numbers had been suddenly rendered unconscious by something the tall blond man had done with his hands.

Rogan knew the dead giant-of-a-man on the cave floor could have only been one of the Fairies who had used the so-called glamour to stop the approach of the intruders. He sensed the blond man held some very important position in the dream and that his death was an immense loss. Why that made any difference to him, other than it being a tragedy anyone had died, he didn’t know. And as the nightmare continued, Rogan felt he might learn some answers to questions he should have asked Enora but, unfortunately, never had.

It was near a critical point in the horrible dream that something pulled him back to consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes and found someone was moving toward the bed. Before he could react, a very slender form planted herself firmly over his naked waist and he felt the edge of some very sharp object near the left side of his neck. Right over the carotid artery.

“Who the hell are you?”

“You should know me by now, Rogan. We’ve shared a bed before.”

Enora. He took a deep slow breath and waited for his eyesight to adjust to the darkness. “What the hell are you doing?”

“What I should have done before. Had I known what kind of person you were sooner and believed what your parents said, I’d have sunk you to the bottom of the loch.”

“Look, I know you’re pissed about my behavior this afternoon, but if you’ll give me a chance to explain…”

“Pissed? You have no idea how angry I am, Rogan MacClean.”

He could feel the tenseness in her body and knew he was a hair away from having that blade slice open his artery. “What possible reason could you have to sneak into my room and put a knife to my throat?”

“Like you don’t know?” she angrily replied. “Where are the charts that belong to your parents? You took them from the cave and I want them back.”

He tried to reason with her. “It’s pretty hard talking with that knife so close.”

She leaned forward and put her free hand on his bare chest. “It seems you’ve had no trouble at all talking to that reporter.”

“How do you know about her?” Rogan quietly asked.

“Wayne told me you got rid of her days ago, but I guess that was a lie,” she aggressively bit out. “When I got back to the hotel earlier today, journalists and news people were all over the place or I’d have been here sooner. As it was, I had to hide out for a while. Everything in the entire area is turned upside down. The people who live in Glen Dorth could barely go about their business with all the noisy, interfering press crews and their camera operators everywhere. Even the fishermen couldn’t get their boats out on the loch because the news teams were down on the piers filming, pestering them with questions about where you were and trying to hire small craft to get out on the water. All of them were looking for you, wondering where you were. And I was wondering the same thing myself.” She put the knife a little closer to his throat. “Since I’ve been staying at the hotel awhile, one of the desk clerks knows me filled me in a little gossip he heard. He said that your ‘personal assistant’ had called the constables and threatened to have some of the television people and journalists arrested if they didn’t back off you. It seems it was quite a relief to him and the other staff that the police were very stern about getting rid of some of the media. But when I asked who your personal assistant was and the clerk told me her name, I couldn’t wait to find my knife and cut your heart out.”

“If you’ll cool off and let me…”

“The clerk also told me everything would be back to normal by tomorrow afternoon because you’d be gone,” she interrupted. “He said your assistant asked to have a taxi in front of the lobby early in the morning and she made arrangements to have your luggage brought down on a back elevator to avoid being noticed.”

Rogan let out a slow breath and began to sit up.

Enora let him, but kept the knife right where it was.

He tried to reason with her again. “You won’t understand what I’m doing. And if I try to explain, you’ll want to stop me and you mustn’t, Enora. It’s imperative that I be on a plane back to San Diego tomorrow.”

She leaned closer to him and brought the knife forward so he could just see the gleam of cold steel.

Because of some ambient light coming from the window and a full moon outside, Rogan could see the blade was about eight inches long and had some kind of ornate handle on it. He didn’t believe she’d really kill him, but then she was very angry. Angrier than he’d ever seen a woman. Her silver-colored eyes seemed to glow without the assistance of any telltale light at all. “If you want to gut me, baby, you’d better go ahead. I’m not going to sit here and try to talk rationally to someone who’s threatening me.”

Enora considered his statement for a moment, but only moved the knife away a few inches. “You intend to betray us, don’t you?”

“No. And how did you get into my room?”

“You forgot. I have Wayne’s key and you never locked the door between the rooms. Now start telling the truth or I swear I’ll slit you open like an eel, Rogan.”

“I’ve told you the truth.”

“Then give me back your parents’ graphs. You stole them from the cave and have no right to them.”

“No.”

She moved the knife back to its original location. Only this time, she put the tip against his throat and nicked flesh. “I will kill you.”

“And let the hotel staff find my body in the morning? I don’t think you’re that stupid.”

“I’m worse than stupid. I’m a complete idiot for ever trusting you at all. I let myself get personally involved with you and sensed things that got me so confused I couldn’t see what you were up to until it was almost too late. I was a fool for ever thinking you cared about me, the creatures of the loch or anything I’ve told you.” She momentarily stopped when her anger and pain threatened to get the better of her. “Your mother said I was superimposing what I wanted to think and feel over what your real emotions were. And she was right. I didn’t take you for the bastard you really are. But that’s an error I’m about to correct. Now give me those graphs. I won’t ask again.”

“Listen to me, you little fireball. I don’t have time to explain in a way you’d understand. You’ve got to trust me, Enora. I won’t betray your Order. And I would never hurt you.”

“You’re so quick to lie. Even with a Celtic dagger at your throat.”

“Dammit, Enora! You’ve got to let me do this my way. I’ve got a general plan, but I’m sort of pulling the specifics out of a hat as I go. Marissa’s questions have already caused me to change options so I don’t know if this will work. But it’s the only thing left to do.”

“Revealing the creatures is what you think is right?” She pushed at his chest hard enough to knock him back on the pillows again. “I should cut your lying heart out now.”

“I have to do it this way,” he quietly tried to reason. “One day soon, you’ll understand.”

“I understand you and that reporter deserve each other. If I were going to let you live, that is. But I’m not. Even if I have to peel you open right on this bed and tear this room apart, I’ll find those graphs.”

“Then you’d better start. I put ’em in the safe and I’m not giving you the combination, you little winged cutthroat!”

She brought the blade back and prepared to slice it across his throat. But the tears gathering in her eyes kept her from seeing clearly. “How could I have ever let you touch me?” she vehemently asked.

Rogan could see she was physically shaking. His next words were softly spoken. “You can’t kill me, baby. I know that and so do you.”

She quickly moved off him and turned her back to the bed.

Rogan could see the knife gripped tightly in her left hand and knew she was struggling with his assumed betrayal and her part in it. But she didn’t understand and he couldn’t make her. The story he was going to release to the world had to be told. It was the best way to keep the loch and its secrets safe. When he stood and slowly approached, Rogan could see her slender shoulders shaking and knew she was silently crying. He put his arms around her, lowered his left cheek next to her right one and spoke quietly. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I won’t let you down, Enora. I might have been pissed today because secrets had been kept from me, but I have no intention of betraying anyone. I took the graphs and photos because I need them. I can only ask you to trust me. I knew if I tried to explain what I was doing, you and the others would try to stop me and you mustn’t. I’m asking you to believe in me. You have to.”

She dropped the knife. “I won’t believe in anything anyone from the outside world says again. I saw you being so gentle with the baby. You talked to her so sweetly and touched her as if you didn’t want to hurt her. Then you held me so… But it was all a lie. Your parents are right. You don’t care about anyone but yourself. Still, you’re right about one thing.”

Hurt by her words, he backed away. “What?”

“I can’t kill you. But if you take those graphs to the public and tell what you know, there are people who won’t be as cowardly as I. And you’ll wish I’d put that knife in you when they catch up to you, Rogan. No matter where you go, someone from the Order will find you. The Sorceress of the Ancients will see to it.”

“Is that how you win people to your cause? Join us or die?” he bitterly asked.

She slowly turned, picked up the knife and stuck it in the top of her leather boot.

Rogan wanted to hold her and touch her hair as she bent down. He tried not to look at how the tears on her face glittered in the dim light. When she stood to face him again, he desperately wanted to explain what was going to happen but there wasn’t time. If Enora wouldn’t stop him, he was sure that other combined group members from the cave would try. Worse, he now realized that this Sorceress person, who Enora apparently venerated, would send people to do what the beauty in his room couldn’t. It was imperative, therefore, that he not waste time and that he get out of Scotland before that could happen. There was nothing left to do but stand there and watch her hurting. He had to put his plan into action or the Nessie would die. The creatures had shown it all to him.

Enora swallowed back the tears and looked at him for the last time. “You won’t ever understand our world and how we live. You’re one of those people the Sorceress warns us about. And that fact makes it amazing that she would have allowed you to come among us. I can’t understand, with her insight, why she let your parents go through with this entire ruse. But it’s all done now. So…you do what you have to, Rogan. And I hope you never have a moment’s peace with your decision. Not for the rest of your life. However long that might be.” She sniffed back tears. “Like me, Wayne and Keelin are angry and hurt because you stole those graphs. Because of what you’re about to do, your own parents don’t even love you anymore. And after you reveal what’s in the loch, those who live and work within a thousand miles of this place will hate you forever.” She turned and silently walked through the door to the adjoining room.

A few moments later, Rogan heard Wayne’s door open and softly close. He sat back down on the bed and tried to pretend what she said hadn’t hurt. He was a grown man and wasn’t about to sit there in the dark…nude, alone and crying. But he did anyhow. He hadn’t assumed his parents would ever understand. They never had. While Keelin had always been kind to him, she had been quick to judge in accordance to her sister’s opinion. But Wayne should have surely known that he had a plan that would help. And how could Enora allow him to make love to her the way he had and still not believe that intimacy was sincere? He’d never touched another woman with the care and intensity that he’d touched and held her. He’d never felt so much peace as he had when she’d held him and they’d drifted off to sleep together. Even if he’d become angry because they all kept secrets from him, that was no reason to distrust him. He wouldn’t have hated them if they’d made a mistake. Or appeared to have made one. He hoped his response, if the situation were reversed, would have been to try to understand and to listen.

Suddenly, he stood up and felt a flood of anger come to his rescue. There was no point giving one more damn about people who didn’t care about or trust him. All they’d had to do was give him one small benefit of the doubt. To hell with them. He’d do what he had to and they could go their own way. But after what he was about to do, what would be left to him? What path would there be for him to take? Rogan strode into the bathroom and prepared to leave that hateful place forever. To save the baby Nessie, he had to reveal her existence. It was the only way.

* * * * *

Early the next morning, Rogan stood in the lobby waiting for the cab Marissa had ordered for them. It would take them to the nearest railway which would lead to the airport. Marissa stood beside him, but Rogan kept to himself.

“You’re awfully quiet for a man who’s about to reveal the world’s best-kept secret,” Marissa said as she sipped her coffee.

Just to make it appear congenial, he finally opened up. “Thinking things through, that’s all.”

Marissa slowly stirred in her creamer with a spoon. “You know, Dad won’t exactly be able to get the kind of funding you need in two days’ time, Rogan. That’s a hell of a lot of money.”

“I’m aware of that. So long as he gets me the equipment we agreed on as soon after the press conference as he can.”

“I was worried that someone else would get to the loch before us and steal our thunder. Especially since we can’t just get the Russian submersible on demand and will have to wait some weeks for it.”

Rogan slowly shook his head. “It won’t matter who beats us to the loch. They won’t find anything more than anyone else ever has. I’m the only one who knows where to look and I’ll remove that information from the graphs and charts. And I certainly won’t tell anybody where I saw it.”

She smiled broadly. “That’s what I like about you. You’re always thinking ahead.”

He sat next to her on one of the lobby sofas and pretended to have more of an interest in the local morning paper than he really did. “Yeah, I’m a regular Einstein.”

Marissa regarded him for a few moments before speaking again. “You know, you and that little assistant that your parents hired have a lot in common.”

He turned a page and continued to scan what was before him. “Oh and what’s that?”

“Seems she likes to throw media equipment as well. Wally and I tried to interview her in the parking lot yesterday and she grabbed his microphone and threw it so hard the damned thing broke. I had to promise to buy Wally a new one.”

Rogan tried not to smile. “Well, what can you expect? The locals aren’t exactly thrilled to have their scenery and businesses disrupted by all the chaos. I suppose I’m not on the top of their popularity list either since I’m the cause of it all.”

“We’ll be gone soon enough.”

He finally looked up at her. “Yes, but we’ll be back before they know it, won’t we? With a hell of a lot more reporters crawling all over the place.”

“That’s life. People around here had better get used to it.”

He nodded, put the paper down then sipped his own coffee.

“You know there’s still something that’s bothering me,” she mused.

He laughed. “When isn’t there, Marissa? Being suspicious is in your blood. It’s what makes you good at what you do.”

She ignored the compliment. “I was just wondering how close you were to your parents’ hired hand.”

He pretended a nonchalance he was far from feeling. “Are you asking if I slept with her? Really, Marissa, I’m beginning to think there’s a definite obsession you’re harboring over that woman.”

“Well, why would she be so angry as to tear up our equipment? My sources tell me she’s English, after all, not Scottish. It isn’t as if it’s her countryside we’re poking around.”

Rogan sat back and took another sip of his coffee before answering. “She is English, but she lives and works here. The presence of all the press people is disrupting her life as much as anyone else’s. And maybe she thinks all the bad publicity about my parents’ death, while she was their assistant, will keep her from getting work again. Who knows what her malfunction is. The fact that she worked for my parents in the first place should tell you something about her.”

Marissa nodded. “That’s true enough. No disrespect intended, but your folks were considered more than a bit odd amongst the scientific community. At least that’s how I understood it.”

Rogan felt an uncomfortable pain creep into the vicinity of his heart at having that old embarrassment brought up again. Only the real awkwardness wasn’t for their sake now. It was his. “Let’s let the dead sleep in peace, shall we?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“No harm done. It’s over. Everything they did or didn’t do died with them.”

“I-I’m sorry you never found them, Rogan. You must have been diving constantly from the little amount of time you spent at the hotel.”

“I was. But maybe they’re better left where they are. That was the world they loved.”

“Is there any reason why the trunk with the rebreather isn’t coming along? I didn’t see it with the things the porter picked up.”

“I’ve got it locked away for posterity,” he lied. “Besides, there’s no need for it now. I’ll come back with a brand new one and a submersible manned with the appropriate scientific team to watch me actually approach this thing underwater. That’ll be footage that no one on Earth will ever be able to top.”

Marissa sat forward. “My God, Rogan! That would be spectacular. And I’ll get this video first?”

“Trust me, Marissa, you’ll be the first one to watch me go down,” he cryptically replied.

“I can be on the research vessel? Is that what you’re saying?”

He let her interpret the meaning of his last statement as she would and simply nodded.

She put one hand on his. “We’re making history, Rogan. We can write our own destinies from here on. Isn’t it thrilling?”

He lifted his coffee cup in a mock salute. “Here’s to the future. And may we get everything we both deserve.” She clinked her cup to his. Rogan smiled as winningly as he could to take away the direct meaning those words should have implied.

* * * * *

Enora walked into the cave and saw the others sitting by the campfire. The baby stood nearby swinging her head in a slow, sad motion. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I think it’s Rogan,” Keelin answered. “Ever since he left, she’s been standing there doing that. It’s almost as if she misses him.”

Enora tried to ignore the sad, forlorn look on the animal’s face as she moved closer to the small group gathered there.

“What did the Sorceress say when you told her?” Pat asked.

Enora crossed her arms over her chest. “I was completely baffled by her response. She said that we weren’t to stop Rogan from leaving.” She heard Rogan’s father snort in shock and surprise.

“Nothing else? That’s all? She doesn’t even mind that she stole our work? I can well understand if she needed to do…if she needed to stop him,” Kyle quickly asserted as he walked toward Enora.

Enora looked at Pat MacClean and felt only shame emanating from him. He wasn’t concerned that the Sorceress of the Ancients might have just sent someone to kill his own son. He was only humiliated by his son’s behavior. And that fact made her feel suddenly ill. She wondered if they’d ever really loved Rogan as much as she sensed. Or was her entire empathic ability skewed because she’d fallen in love with the man so suddenly? Had she ever sensed they really loved him at all? “I-I think all we can do is wait,” she placated. “The Sorceress will handle this in her own way. That she doesn’t confide in us might be her way of keeping you all from knowing what she must do. And you have to understand that she’ll command whatever action it takes to keep the creatures safe.” Everyone nodded in agreement, though she felt an extreme sense of sadness and grief coming from Wayne. Enora watched Rogan’s former friend slowly turn away from the fire and walk to the water’s edge. And when Keelin followed and tried to console him, Enora realized her sister was feeling more than just a conciliatory response to Wayne. Keelin was falling for the older man the way she, herself, had fallen in love with Rogan. It had just taken longer. And Enora suddenly wished for her older sister’s patience.

Pat threw another log on the fire and stared into the blaze. “I wish we could have raised Rogan to care more. I wish I could have those years back again.”

For some reason, Enora couldn’t stand the fact that neither of his parents were more concerned for Rogan’s immediate safety. She quickly sat next to Patricia, the woman who professed to be his mother and should have loved him, and stared into her eyes. “Rogan could be killed. You understand that’s what I’m talking about, don’t you? The Sorceress of the Ancients could send anyone after him, he’d never know who it was or when they’d show up.”

Pat looked away from the fire and met Enora’s gaze. “Yes. I wish it could be otherwise. But ever since Rogan went his own way, we’ve been waiting for something to happen to him. He takes crazy chances, all for the sake of getting mentioned in a prestigious magazine or to get headlines in some newspaper. It was only a matter of time.”

“We’ve been ready for it,” Kyle confirmed.

Enora suddenly felt tired and even sicker. All on Rogan’s behalf. If something bad were about to happen to her, her own parents would be beside themselves with grief. But maybe that’s how far apart the son and the parents really were. Maybe that love they’d felt for him when he first arrived and saved the baby was a temporary thing. An emotion for the moment only. And his parents had long ago steeled themselves that Rogan would again put himself in a position for them to dislike or disrespect. It was sort of like watching someone turn a light switch on and off and Enora couldn’t understand it. When he was doing what they approved of, they cared for him. If not, he wasn’t really their son. But if there had been enough pain on all sides through the years, perhaps that was how these outsiders dealt with their feelings. Love one moment, disdain the next.

Maybe it would have been better for all of them if Rogan had permanently parted company with his parents long ago. And Enora wondered if the situation had been reversed, would Kyle and Pat have come to look for his body in the bottom of some deep, cold lake?

Enora got up and walked away. She needed to be alone and the best place for that was up on the hillside. She wanted to be out in the sun, then watch the stars come out. If no one else would ask whatever deity they believed in, she would at least ask the Goddess of all things, in her own way, to let Rogan have some peace. However the Sorceress chose to deal with him, no person deserved to die without someone asking for their heart to be in the right place when they left life behind.

* * * * *

As soon as their plane landed in San Diego, Rogan picked up his bags and waited for Marissa and Wally to approach. “I don’t want any contact with either of you until the press conference. Unless there’s an emergency of some kind, leave me to get the details taken care of.”

“I still don’t know what the hell is going on,” Wally complained. “Neither of you would say a damned thing on the plane, but I know something’s up.”

Marissa put a placating hand on Wally’s arm. “Just let Rogan do what he has to. You’ll know what’s going on in a few days. Now go get us a cab and let me have a few words in private with Rogan, okay?”

Wally shook his head in frustration and did as Marissa requested.

When Marissa was sure the cameraman was gone, she turned back to Rogan. “Okay, I know you said that for Wally’s benefit, but you surely don’t intend to keep me out of the loop.”

“There’s no loop, Marissa. I’ve got work to do and having a newspaper woman seen with me won’t help. I don’t want anyone getting word there’s going to be any announcement until the last minute. I’ll have to make a list of those scientists and field people I want at the conference so you can get them there with news of an amazing new discovery. I’ve only just got back from Loch Ness and don’t want anyone putting two and two together. Even if no one possibly believes in the existence of anything unusual in the loch, I don’t want to take any chances. This discovery is mine and I’ll make the announcement as I see fit.”

“Fine. But you’ll have to fax me or email everything as soon as possible. Dad will want to know exactly who’s going to be at the conference so we can get this to print by that evening’s late edition. And you’ll have to send an announcement copy…your speech, that is.”

“Just before I walk out and make it, you’ll get it. Not before.”

She rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. “You wouldn’t even trust me that much?”

“No. Not even that much,” he quickly replied, but smiled to take the sting out of the words.

Marissa looked over his unshaven face and long shining hair. “I can’t even take you to get something to eat tonight? Airplane food, even if first class, isn’t as good as a five-star meal downtown.”

“Sorry. The flight was long and I’ve got to get home and see to some personal details. Besides, I just told you…”

“I know, you don’t want to be seen with me,” she interrupted. “But for all anyone knows, you could be giving me information about Architeuthis.”

“And that’s another thing I’ve got to get done. There’s a lot of data I have to request from the research vessel because it’s still in New Zealand. I’ll have reports as high as my ass to fill out and that discovery will only set the stage for what we’re about to do.”

She looked him over. “You’re brilliant, you know. I only wish we could make a go of a more permanent personal relationship. That would be the total icing on the cake. And the invitation will always be open, darling. You know that.”

“I’m sorry, Marissa. After the next couple of days, I’m sure you’ll be far too busy to want that extra baggage on your hands.” He could see the confusion in her eyes, but that statement would become a readily apparent truth after he did what had to be done.

“All right, Rogan. But a girl can always hope.” She slowly turned and walked away.

The serious tone of her voice and the unconcealed yearning in her eyes led Rogan to believe she’d have never left him alone for the next few days if he hadn’t insisted. But he had his own problems to deal with. Even if he had cared for Marissa, now was not the time to start something he couldn’t finish. Further, the reporter wasn’t the person he wanted to be with. He couldn’t sleep with one woman and want another. He’d always be thinking of what it would have been like if things had been different. If he could have been an ordinary man and Enora could have been an ordinary woman. But nothing about either of them or their personal situations was or ever would be ordinary. He took his luggage out to the curb, hailed a taxi and prepared himself for the work ahead.

After reaching his apartment and taking care of details always associated with leaving for the length of time he’d been gone, Rogan took out the graphs, pictures and the vials of tissue he’d taken from the creatures and locked them away in his personal safe. He took a shower, flopped onto the bed and slept fitfully until the clock alarm went off at midnight. After dressing, he took the evidence that could put him in the ranks of immortal scientific achievers such as Einstein and drove to the lab where his equipment and private office was situated. And there, deep into the night, Rogan learned what he was certain no other human on the face of the planet had ever known. He looked back into the microscope again, confirming that what he was seeing was real. Once the pure facts sunk into his brain, he slowly got up from his stool and backed away from the counter where the equipment sat.

“My God!” he whispered. Then his knees gave way and he sank to the floor. He stayed in that position, shaking, for the next half hour.

Chapter Eleven

After he gathered enough of his wits together to move, Rogan used the cabinet and countertop behind him to pull himself into a standing position. He was so physically shaken by what was on the microscope slide that his mind went blank for some time thereafter. But now, he was beginning to get the full picture of this Order of which Enora and her sister were members. In spite of his emotional state, he was eventually able to sit back on his stool and stare at the graphs and other data his parents had collected. And he knew the decision he’d made was the right one. He began to think out loud, then stopped to search his brain. “This can’t be. Not unless…”

He plowed both hands through his hair, causing the band holding it at his nape to come loose. After scanning data about Loch Ness in his laptop computer, Rogan began to pull books off shelves along with research papers, studies and any published material he could readily get his hands on to confirm what his brain was already telling him. He was sitting amidst a huge pile of books and scientific journals when he glanced at the clock and saw it was nearly six in the morning. He scrambled to put everything back exactly as he’d found it, took the samples, his slides and anything that had come into contact with the creature’s tissue and put them into a cardboard box. This he took to the basement incinerator and burned the entire lot. He watched until nothing but ashes remained, then threw in more general office garbage and burned that on top of what he’d thrown in. This was to make sure the ashes were all mixed with one another and no expert could ever dig through the ash pile and reconstruct what he’d seen. Then he raced back to the lab before any of the staff could show up for work, wiped down all the counters and microscope with disinfectant.

By the time he was through, he was satisfied that every atom of what he’d been working on was destroyed. He took the second set of samples he’d taken from Loch Ness the night before he’d left and walked out of the lab with them and his parents’ graphs and photos. Those he could take care of with his computer at home. By the time two days passed and the public announcement was to be made to his peers and the press, he’d be more than ready. The data from his trip to New Zealand had already been sent to the research facility via email, with attachments to his colleagues who wanted that information. The trip to find the living giant squid no longer mattered. He didn’t hesitate to go ahead and give the researchers who needed all the details of that vital information. Right now, he had knowledge of something much bigger than Architeuthis, or any discovery he’d ever dreamed of if his theory was correct. But he desperately wanted this entire charade over. He wouldn’t sleep until it was. And he shut himself away from everyone and everything so he could think about what he now knew and dig into past journals and scientific databases to confirm his suspicions.

* * * * *

“Rogan, if you’re there, pick up.”

Vaguely, he recognized Marissa’s voice on his answering machine. He supposed he’d better answer since it was almost time to make his announcement public. He had to know the details concerning the press conference and he had to have information about the scientists’ names he’d faxed Marissa. They would have to be available to test the samples and look at his parents’ data. Only those statistics wouldn’t be attributed to his mother and father, but to him and his exploration of the loch. He’d even lied about secretly hiring equipment and a fishing boat to get facts. But the facts he’d give would be seriously altered. Even the global positioning information had all been removed.

“Rogan, this is Marissa. This is the sixth time I’ve called and if you don’t get back to me I can’t finalize…”

“It’s me,” he softly responded into the receiver. He could hear the woman on the other end of the phone audibly sigh in relief.

“Thank God! I was beginning to wonder what happened to you. So was everyone else. You haven’t been to the lab, accepted any phone calls from your friends as far as I can find out and I was about to have the police check on you.”

“I’m okay. What’s up?”

She snorted. “What’s up? You’re sitting on the find of the century. You vanish for two days without saying a word and you want to know what’s up?”

“Let’s not talk about it over the phone, Marissa.” He heard a moment of silence.

“You’re getting a little paranoid, aren’t you?”

“What do you want? I’m busy,” he insisted. And he got another pause at that proclamation.

“In case you’d forgotten, you have a little announcement to make. The press conference is scheduled for eight in the morning, day after tomorrow in the auditorium. It’s the main exhibit area at the research facility. Dad had everyone you’ve put on your list invited and they’ve all responded. They’ll all be there. And they know it isn’t about the squid because you evidently sent that information to them already. But I’m wondering why you did that.”

“Why I did what?”

“Why didn’t you announce both discoveries at once? It would have been doubly dramatic.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger as another of a series of recent headaches began to throb just behind his eyes. “What I’ll say has to have its own venue. I don’t want it diluted, in any way, with the information we gathered off the coast of New Zealand. It’s too important.”

“Well it’s certainly stirred up a hornet’s nest of interest. People have been calling me, asking me what I know.”

“You didn’t tell them anything, right?”

“I told you I wouldn’t, Rogan. I did exactly what you told me to. But I needed to talk to you about the money again. It’s still taking Dad time to get it together. Lenders want to know what they’re backing, after all.”

“Don’t worry about that right now. I’m sure everything will be settled after we let the world know what I’ve found.”

She laughed. “You’re right, of course. We’ll have to beat the investors off with a stick once they get wind of this. There’s no telling where it’ll all lead. You could name your price or have any position you wanted at the head of any university research team. You know that, don’t you? The world, as they say, will be your oyster.”

He took a deep breath and looked for the half-drunk bottle of whiskey he’d been swilling over the past days. “Yeah. I can only imagine the response.”

“But we have to settle how you’ll get the samples and your parents’…uh, I mean your sonar information to the panel you chose for evaluation. When you faxed their contact information, all of them agreed to do as you asked and send in their preliminary findings to you, exactly two hours before the announcement.”

“I’ve arranged to have data from the loch sent by special courier.”

“Is that safe?”

Rogan ran a hand over his face and felt two days’ worth of growth there. “It has to be signed for and the shipment inspected for tampering. I understand it’s the same courier service the local law enforcement uses for some of their evidence. They’re reliable enough.”

“Well…if you trust them, as closed-mouth as you’ve been, then I guess I don’t have a problem with that. Still, this is a bit creepy. You not answering your phone and hiding out, I mean. I’m a little worried about you.”

She wouldn’t have much longer to worry about the evidence he’d bring forward. That was what really concerned her and he knew it. “It’s a piece of cake from here on, Marissa. Don’t sweat it.”

“And you still think that other scientists getting to the loch before us won’t matter?”

“No. I’ve already told you, they won’t find anything. I’m certain of that.”

“Then I guess you’ve got it all covered.”

“Thanks for getting the media lined up. All the news channels will have their national corps there, right?”

“Down to public television and local access. It’s all arranged. Even some universities are sending their student crews to San Diego. By this time day after tomorrow, you’ll be going down in history, Rogan.”

“Of that, you can be quite certain,” he readily agreed.

“So, if you’re up for it, why not let me pick you up and we’ll have that dinner I promised? It isn’t as if anyone can jump the story now.”

“Better not, Marissa. Local citizens will recognize me from previous television stints. I’m somewhat of a celebrity around San Diego. If we’re seen, people will call the news stations, we’ll be hounded anywhere we go. Everybody and their dog will want to know what it is we’re about to announce. And I’m not up for a round of guess what with the local tabloid hounds.” A very long silence followed and Rogan wasn’t sure she hadn’t hung up.

“If that’s the way you want it, fine,” she tersely responded.

Some part of his conscience got the better of him. “Look, if you still want to, we’ll do the town after the announcement is made and the data is public. Okay?” He heard her laugh softly.

“Th-that would be wonderful, Rogan. Just like old times.”

“For now, let me give my speech a few practice runs and I’ll call you right before I leave my apartment day after tomorrow, all right?”

“Sure. I’ll wait to hear from you. Goodbye.”

“’Til then.” He put the receiver down, picked up the whiskey bottle again and looked around at all the packing crates and boxes in his apartment. He’d already scheduled a moving service to pick things up and haul them off early in the morning. All he needed was in his old Navy duffle bag and its contents. Everything else had addresses on it and he’d paid the movers well to see it all donated or delivered to an appropriate recipient. It was planned in such a way because he knew he’d have to leave fast, as soon as the press conference was over. He didn’t want to be in town after he related his news to the media and to have them crawling all over him afterwards. And the same courier service he used to send the tissue samples and graphic evidence to the test committee would be delivering his resignation letter to the Pacific Coastal Studies Foundation an hour after the conference was over. Knowing it had to be done, it still hurt like hell to write that resignation. He was one of the founders of the group that ran the facility and on the board of directors. But there was nothing left to do. Life as he knew it was over.

He looked at the old duffle bag, laughed and lifted the bottle in a toast to it. “Here’s to a lifetime of work. Everything worth a damn is stuffed inside you and it doesn’t amount to much anymore. At least it won’t in a couple of days.” He took a long drink, set the bottle down and finished destroying the hard drive on his computer so no one could ever access anything he’d done. Just to make sure, the computer would find its way to the incinerator, as would his original samples. All he had to do was drop it in the biohazard bag he took from the lab for that purpose. Then he’d place the bag in the incinerator and let the crew there do its job. No one would look inside the bag if they thought some chemical spill or some other toxic waste was being destroyed. And Rogan congratulated himself for his brilliance and ingenuity in having the little details so well planned. Even his utilities would be shut off the day he walked out the door and left his apartment key with the manager. Down to the last detail, he’d had it all planned out. Everything but what he was supposed to do with his life from here on. That was the one thing no mover, courier service or an incinerator could help him with. Though he would dearly love to burn the remnants of his career into obscurity, there would be no way to do it. So he drank a final toast and finished off the bottle. Then he let himself pass out on the sofa, drunkenly oblivious to the pain in his heart.

* * * * *

Rogan took one last look around. The place was completely empty except for the furnishings that came with the beachfront apartment. His old duffle bag lay in the corner with his laptop computer wrapped in a red biohazard bag. Satisfying himself that every remnant of his life was gone from that place, he picked up his gear and walked out. As he walked by the apartment manager’s door, he slid his key and a note underneath. He was sure she wouldn’t be home until later in the day, but it didn’t matter now if she was. She wouldn’t be able to connect his move with anything he was about to do.

He stopped by a corner payphone, called Marissa and said two words. “It’s time.” Then he hung up the phone and walked to the waiting cab. The old pickup truck he owned had been donated, like everything else in his life that was usable, to a local shelter. It was a classic he meant to restore, but Rogan didn’t want anything that could be used to identify himself. No license plates or vehicle description…nothing. And he was amazed at how easy it had all been. Wiping one’s entire life out was pitifully effortless. All it took was a willing mind and some ready cash to clear the debris away.

As he saw the institute come into view, he almost choked on emotion. It represented almost ten years of his life. Some of his awards and plaques were hanging on his office wall, but there was nothing there the staff wouldn’t be willing to get rid of themselves, once he’d done what he was about to do. He paid the cab driver, got out and walked down the back stairs to the incinerator. The cleaning staff there all knew him by name and smiled when he approached. He handed the bag containing his expensive computer to a technician there and watched as the man threw it in the incinerator. More than satisfied that it was destroyed, Rogan made his way back up the stairs, stowed his duffle bag behind the door to the front entrance and made his way to the auditorium. He could already hear someone testing the microphone and saw people milling about, setting up cameras.

“Rogan! I’m over here,” Marissa called out.

Seeing Marissa across the room, he made his way around rows of chairs and already had news people taking his picture when her cry alerted them to his presence.

She looked him over, shook her head and quietly. “You do clean up well, you know that? But why didn’t you wear a suit?”

He looked down at the clean jeans, white button-down shirt and polished Navy boots he wore. “I’m a scientist, not a cover model. This is what I always wear to these press conferences and nobody notices.”

She smiled and reached up to tuck a stray strand of his long hair behind one ear. “The least you could have done was to get your hair cut. And you’re still wearing those old boots from the service.”

He shrugged. “I like my hair long and there wasn’t any time to buy new shoes. Besides, nobody’s going to be looking at me for very long.”

She reached up to straighten his collar and noticed a cord around his neck. “What are you wearing?”

He stopped her when she would have pulled the leather cord tied to the green crystal shard from under his shirt. “It’s nothing. Just an old trinket I’ve started wearing for luck. I thought I’d like to have it on today.”

She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek, then pulled her own suit jacket down in place. “You won’t need luck with what we have. All you’ll have to do is smile that beautiful smile of yours and look like the world owes you something. Because after this, they sure as hell will. Aren’t you excited?”

He tried to look it. “Nervous, actually.”

“Well, a few nerves won’t do you any harm. No one will mind you being anxious after they hear your announcement. The whole room will be on fire.” She glanced at his pockets. “Where’s your speech?”

He tapped his head. “Right up here.”

They both turned as a lab secretary approached with a sealed envelope in her hand.

The woman smiled up at Rogan. “Excuse me, Doctor MacClean, this just came for you.”

“Thanks, Rhonda.” He looked down at the envelope addressed to him and saw the words Open As Soon As Possible scrawled under his typed name. The secretary walked away and he looked at Marissa.

“Is that your committee’s findings?” Marissa excitedly asked as she looked down at the envelope in his hands.

“We’ll know in a moment. Excuse me, will you?” He took a few steps away, broke the seal and quickly pulled out a note. It read, Doctor MacClean, we know this message will get to you in time to stop the press conference. Make excuses to those attending the meeting as you will and contact us at your earliest possible convenience. Your test results need to be discussed. Under no circumstances should you make the announcement you plan to make at this time. This board cannot confirm your finding with the data provided and will not be able to justify any public declaration substantiating your conclusion. Again, it is the combined decision of this board that you make no public statement. The note was signed by every member of the scientific team to whom he’d sent his information.

Marissa came forward. “Well, what did they say? Are they speechless?”

Rogan quickly folded the note, stuck it in his back pocket and broadly grinned. “Oh, you could say that.” Then he glanced at a clock on the wall and noted that the front doors to the auditorium had been opened. Crowds were moving into the auditorium and he recognized well-known journalists, scientific magazine editors and biologists among those rushing to get good seats. “You’d better take your place, Marissa.”

She put one hand to her chest. “God, this is exciting! Good luck, Rogan. Remember, I’ll be sitting front row center. Just like you promised. And Dad has the evening edition on hold until the announcement has been made and all the questions asked.”

He nodded. “Let’s do it.”

He watched Marissa walk away, took a deep breath and readied himself. It was at that moment he saw the entire board of directors walk in. All of their expressions seemed quite serious and they scanned the crowd as if they were looking for him. Rogan knew the independent test results had been sent to them just as he’d requested. But he glanced at the clock again and saw that the scientific committee’s findings had reached the board of directors at about the same time as the note had reached him. It was eight o’clock, the press was in place. As he’d hoped, it was too late for the board to stop him now, but they would defend themselves publicly before the results were released to the news people. And that’s exactly what he hoped for. It was the only way he had of keeping the creatures safe. Rogan quickly mounted the stage without waiting to be announced and stepped up to the podium. The people before him applauded wildly and he held up his hands to stop them. He could see the board members waving at him from the back of the room, attempting to stop him. But he pointedly ignored them and went ahead with his announcement anyway.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the scientific community, colleagues and guests, I’ve invited you here today to make public a discovery of such monumental importance that it dwarfs anything found in this or any millennium. To get right to the point…I’ve discovered the Loch Ness monster.” The crowd gasped and murmured, cameras flashed and Rogan knew he’d just spent his last few seconds on Earth as a scientist. From his position on the stage, he could see the head of the board of directors forcing his way through the crowd to find an audience microphone that had been set up for those asking questions. Rogan knew a fight would ensue in only a moment or so. Ignoring the note to call off the press conference would amount to a blatant affront to the institute and the head man would be forced to confront him in public. Especially when the scientific data couldn’t be produced to support his crazy claim.

Rogan held up his hands to get the crowd quiet again. “I have scientific analysis and tissue samples as well as observed the animal in its habitat. Furthermore, I can categorically state there hasn’t been anything like it previously documented on the face of the planet.” He glanced at Marissa and saw her wide-eyed expression. Rogan was sure she’d never understand his blurting this news out so summarily, but she was about to. The director of the board had just reached a microphone and angrily grabbed it so he could mitigate the damage. Rogan let him talk.

“Excuse me, Dr. MacClean, but you can’t make this announcement at this time,” the board member softly proclaimed.

“Could you please introduce yourself for the benefit of the press and others present?” Rogan requested. “I know who you are, but they don’t.”

“I’m Dr. Malcolm Haverty. Not only am I one of the leading scientists in the field of marine biology in the United States, but I’m the head of the board of directors at this institute. And Dr. MacClean has just made a statement that, unfortunately, this institute cannot condone or support.”

Rogan let the media respond with immediate questions to both himself and Dr. Haverty all at once. Again, he held up his hand when enough of what the other man said had sunk in. “I sent you all the information, sir. Is there a reason for your disrupting my public declaration of the facts?”

“You were sent a note, Dr. MacClean. The same note myself and everyone on the board of directors was sent. The independent team you set up to verify the data has come back with its results. Frankly, I would rather speak to you about this in private.” Haverty paused and stared at Rogan for a moment.

Rogan could tell the man was trying not to embarrass him publicly and was struggling with how to tactfully handle the situation. He immediately took the situation out of Haverty’s hands. “Just spit it out, sir. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

“Dr. MacClean, if you’ll only step off the stage for a moment…”

“I’m sorry, sir. But the discovery has been announced. If you’ll allow me, I’ll detail how I went about this search and explain the data I gathered. Since the institute had no part in this discovery, you won’t be able to tell the members of the press and the scientific community how it was made, when it was found or any other details. I’m the only person in a position to release that information.” That should clear the facility of any wrongdoing up front and make him look like what his father and mother always called him—a showboat.

“Very well, Dr. MacClean.” He paused. “The independent committee you gathered to test your tissue samples and look over your printed information has…well, to be blunt…it cannot come to the conclusion there’s anything living in that body of water as you assert.”

Again Rogan waited until the media commotion came to a less noisy level. “I sent you everything you needed. I saw the creature myself, sir. Are you calling me a liar?” A bit abrupt, but it would prompt Haverty to state it as a fact or something else less controversial.

“MacClean, I’ve known you for a number of years. I’ve never known you to bring in results that were anything less than flawless. But this has gone too far. Your samples, sir, are nothing.”

Rogan grabbed the sides of the podium. “My parents died in that loch. They were killed by the creature whose tissue samples I sent in. Is it your intent to subvert my discovery for your own, Dr. Haverty? Is that what this is all about?” Rogan saw the man look at him with a sad expression on his face.

Haverty shook his head in denial. “I’m saying that no such tissue samples exist, Rogan. You gave the team tissue samples belonging to Acipenser sturio.”

“For those of you unfamiliar with that scientific name, Dr. Haverty has just made a claim that I don’t know a Baltic sturgeon when I see one,” Rogan angrily replied.

Again, Haverty tried to give Rogan MacClean the benefit of the doubt. “Water with the samples indicated they were taken from the loch. We’ve verified that. But perhaps you were diving very deep and didn’t…”

“I know what I saw, Haverty. I suppose you can explain away the sonar and photographic evidence as well?”

“That evidence is inconclusive. The copies sent to the test team weren’t very clean.”

“They were exactly what you needed. Anyone could have looked at those photos and seen the irrefutable proof for themselves,” Rogan argued.

Haverty took off his glasses. “You’ve been under a great deal of stress, Dr. MacClean.” He looked around the audience to make eye contact with the crowd. “For those of you who may not know, Dr. MacClean’s parents came up missing, presumed drowned in Loch Ness. Now, this happened very recently. It would be perfectly understandable if a rare animal like a Baltic sturgeon were seen at depth and he confused it with something else. I think all of us could be sympathetic enough to keep open minds in a situation where his family was lost and…”

Rogan interrupted by slamming his fist down on the podium, causing the microphone to pick up the sound and echo it around the room. “If you’re insinuating that my faculties weren’t completely there, just come out and say it.”

There was a moment of complete silence. “I’m trying to explain the facts, Rogan. If you’d have let me speak to you alone and heeded the advice that was in the note you received, this wouldn’t have to be public. But the institute cannot and will not accept data collection under less than professional circumstances. Nor can we, in any way, make a claim that there’s anything living in a freshwater lake in Scotland that hasn’t already been identified. Most of the scientific community in this room knows there wouldn’t be enough fish in the loch to support that kind of life form and this has been argued before by those whose credentials were less than credible. In short, this entire subject would be better discussed outside the premises of any scientific facility and more in keeping with a science fiction convention. I’m sorry to have to do this, but you’ve given me no choice. Your findings are not only inconclusive, they’re absolute nonsense. Knowing you as long as I have, my only conclusion is that you’re severely…confused…and the deaths of your parents may have added to your imprudent decision to bring this unfortunate data to the public. I am sorry, but this meeting is closed. And I’ll have to have a word with you in private as soon as the building is cleared.”

Rogan gripped the sides of the podium and watched as Haverty stormed out of the room with the rest of the board following. Cameras flashed, reporters rushed the stage and media people bombarded him with questions. But it was done. He quickly left the stage and walked into a side hall where security guards were waiting. To keep the crowd away, they closed the doors behind him. He leaned against the wall, dragged his hands through his hair and tried not to visibly shake too much.

“Let me through please. I’m Dr. MacClean’s assistant and I have to speak to him.”

When Rogan heard Marissa’s voice, he nodded to the security guards to let her through the double doors and into the hall where he stood. Then the guards exited and stood outside the doors to prevent anyone from entering that part of the building. He could guess that some of the guards were outside trying to get the crowds to leave as soon as possible, at the request of the board of directors.

Marissa stood in front of him with her arms on her hips. “What the hell just happened?”

“I should think that’s perfectly obvious. That bastard doesn’t want to acknowledge my findings as real so he just discredited me in front of everyone.”

“Well…we’ll take the documentation you have somewhere else.”

Rogan looked away.

“You do have the originals and kept some of the tissue samples, didn’t you?”

He shot her what he hoped was a look of self-righteous indignation.

“Are you serious? You did hold some of the original tissue samples back and keep the original documentation, didn’t you?” she asked again.

“I didn’t think anything like this would happen, Marissa. I’ve never had my judgment questioned before.”

“Rogan, no idiot in his right mind gives away the only copies of his proof when claiming something like this. Are you insane?”

Rogan held up one hand. “Don’t you start. First that overbearing son-of-a-bitch out there, now you too? I’ve had about all I can take.”

The double doors to the hallway opened and Haverty was ushered in by one of the guards. When the guard left again to keep the pushing crowds from gaining access to their location, Haverty spoke. “Rogan, I’ll come by your apartment tonight and we’ll discuss what just happened. There’s too much commotion on the premises right now and I don’t want to risk an incident of any kind that will reflect even worse on this institution.”

“I helped found this institution,” he responded bitterly. “But you seem to have forgotten that little fact.”

Haverty took a deep breath. “Don’t push it. This is about the worst thing that’s ever happened to this organization and we’re going to have to do some damage control here.”

“I can help,” Marissa offered. “I’m a reporter for the San Diego Recorder. Rogan was supposed to have given me rights to the story, and my father, who owns that paper, is waiting for copy to go to press tonight. Since I’m in this just as deep, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll meet you both at Rogan’s place when we can get out of the building and not attract too much attention. People out there are swarming all over this, wanting to make a tabloid event out of this entire situation.”

“I know what I saw,” Rogan angrily asserted. “And no one is going to try to get me to say otherwise.”

Haverty held his hands out in a supplicating gesture. “Dammit, man! We’re not just trying to save this institute’s reputation, we’re trying to save yours as well.”

“You can keep your help and shove it,” Rogan rudely replied. “And don’t bother showing up at my apartment. I’ve moved out.”

“What are you talking about?” Marissa quickly asked.

“When your old man didn’t come through with the money right away, I contacted someone in New York. Someone there offered me my own facility, with my name on it and twice the equipment your father promised. I was flying out to meet him tonight and cutting ties here,” Rogan lied.

“Why you double-dealing, pompous bastard!” Marissa murmured in a low voice. “You were going to leave me, after everything I’ve done, and give the scientific results to someone else. That was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”

Rogan stared straight into her eyes and didn’t say a word.

Haverty took a long, slow breath before saying, “If all this was about money and a story, then the only thing I can say is…you won’t be needed at this facility any longer, Dr. MacClean. The board will demand your immediate resignation.”

Rogan took a swaggering attitude and amped it up. “You’ll have my resignation on your desk soon enough. You didn’t think I was going to stay here after being the only man to ever see Architeuthis alive, did you? I could write my own check.”

“Not after this, Rogan. Not when I know what this was really all about.” Haverty shook his head, opened his mouth to say something else, then shut it and left the way he’d come.

Marissa glared at the tall man in front of her. “And if you think Haverty will have a piece of you, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. When I go to print, it’ll be to deny I ever had any involvement in this. And my father will be so furious about all this crap that you’ll be lucky if you get a job cleaning fish tanks at a local pet store. Of all the idiotic, brainless…”

“I can get more samples. I can…”

“You can’t do a damned thing! Haverty is right. There’s been something wrong with you ever since I first saw you in Scotland. I think you really have gone over the edge. You’ve always had an ego the size of a whale. I think it led you to believe you could do or say anything you wanted and get away with it. Hell, you even had me believing you. But I don’t think you ever had any real proof at all.”

“You saw the photos with your own eyes.”

“I saw what you wanted me to see,” she furiously responded. “If you’d really had something, why in the world would these scientific people deny it? Why would they do that, Rogan, when they could have the world eating out of their palms with a discovery of that magnitude?” She paused and put one hand to her forehead. “I don’t know where you’re coming from. Maybe you feel guilty about your parents’ deaths and it’s causing you to be delusional, as Haverty implied. But I’m not going to be seen chasing after some fool who just blew his career on a myth. Even if you weren’t a backstabbing, thankless bastard and you are.”

“Marissa, listen to me. I’m not crazy.”

“I don’t care what you are. All I can think about is getting a story to print that sides with the institute. Something that will get Dad off my butt for this and keep the paper from looking like one of those rags people buy at the check-out stand for laughs.”

Rogan watched her walk away and knew the final nail was in his coffin. He also knew Marissa Talbert would never haunt him about a story again. He slowly turned away, walked to the end of the hall and stayed there until the building was empty. Then he headed back to where he’d stashed his old duffle bag, walked out the door and didn’t look back.

Chapter Twelve

Enora entered the cavernous library and saw the Sorceress standing at the far end of the room. “I came as soon as I could. The Fairy leader is taking my place at the loch.”

“I don’t think the creatures will mind your absence for a few days,” Shayla replied. “Sit down.”

Enora did as the older woman requested and waited for what she knew would be bad news. The Sorceress of the Ancients had sent someone after Rogan and that person must have caught up with him by now. She stared down at her clasped hands and hoped for two things. First, that his end had been quick and painless. And second, that Rogan hadn’t compromised the Order’s safety or that of the creatures in Loch Ness. Her own inability to kill him didn’t matter. If the Sorceress punished her for that, it was deserved. But she tried not to look up and let the woman know how her heart was breaking. It wasn’t as if she could help loving the man. It wasn’t within her Fairy powers to dictate matters of the heart.

Shayla eyed the Fairy girl critically. “Look at me, girl.”

Enora swallowed hard and slowly raised her head. “It’s done, isn’t it?” she whispered.

Shayla walked around her desk and put her fingers under Enora’s chin. “Why on Earth are you crying?”

“You’ve had him killed and you’re trying to tell me. That’s what you called me back to England to hear, isn’t it?”

Shayla sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Where in the world did you get an idea like that?”

Enora choked back the tears before speaking. “He betrayed us. I know what you do when that happens, Shayla. Just because I couldn’t take Rogan out doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t send someone to do the job right. I didn’t want to speak to you about it until it was all over. Now that it is, I…I can’t help how I feel.”

“So. You’re in love with the man. Is that it?”

Enora nodded.

Shayla tried to suppress a smile. “As it happens, I haven’t had him killed. Nor has anyone been sent to do so. Don’t you remember me telling you to let him go? That was after you revealed that you couldn’t kill him yourself and thank the Goddess you didn’t.”

Enora took a deep breath before saying, “I only thought you wanted to let him go so that his death might look like an accident, someplace in America and not so close to where his parents had just disappeared.“ She gazed at the older, silver-haired woman in confusion. “He took his parents’ information—the graphs and photos they had of the baby. He intended to take that evidence and make it public. If the baby is discovered, I’ll have to protect her and that will make people question who and what I am. That can only lead to the rest of the Order being endangered.”

“Aside from your beliefs about those events, Rogan has already taken his information to the press,” Shayla informed her, then walked back to the other side of her desk again.

“Oh no!” Enora muttered, briefly closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Before you judge, I want you to watch a videotape I had my staff record. You might just find it very informative. Indeed, that’s why I sent for you.” Shayla told her. She walked to where the remote lay, flicked the switch and sat by Enora as the television set came on and the tape began to run.

As Enora watched Rogan walk on the stage and the scenario play out, her emotions ran the gamut from enraged to confused and, finally, to heartsick. When the tape was over and the Sorceress turned the equipment off, Enora stood up and stared at a blank space on the wall. “Oh Goddess, what have I done?”

“What have you done, Enora? Did you say or do something to Rogan?”

She gulped back a huge lump in her throat. “I-I was actually going to kill him.” Enora put her hands to her face in shame. “I said some things that may have hurt Rogan beyond any physical pain I could have ever caused. I told him no one would ever care about him again. Not his family, Wayne or me.”

“He probably expected that,” Shayla reasoned. “After all, he did make it appear that he was going to do just what you believed.”

Enora stared at the Sorceress. “But you knew he wouldn’t. You knew or you’d have had him killed long before that press conference could take place.” She gazed, stupefied, at the tall, silver-haired regal woman before her, dressed to the nines in her most ostentatious Druid robes.

Shayla nodded, clasped her hands in front of her and walked behind her desk again. “I knew. My only real purpose in letting his parents come among us was to get Rogan with us as well. I could have let Kyle and Pat take their graphs, charts and everything else they had to anyone they pleased. I doubt, with their reputation, anyone would have believed those documents were real. And I could have had you destroy them. Or I could have done several other things to have stopped this entire charade before Rogan was called. But when the baby became ill and Rogan’s own family suggested he might be brought among us, I grabbed at that opportunity. It couldn’t have been better timed.”

“But you don’t believe in coincidences, do you, Shayla?”

“No. I think everything has a reason for happening as and when it does.”

Enora thought for a moment and put the heels of her hands to her forehead. “But I don’t understand. He could have just walked away. Why damage his career like this? It doesn’t make sense. He could have gone back to where he came from and simply kept his mouth shut.”

Shayla shook her head. “Not if what I hear about that reporter is true. Marissa Talbert is a very tenacious woman. Her background suggests she’d do whatever it takes to get a story. Some of her escapades even got her fired from her own father’s newspaper. And if Rogan didn’t want that kind of attention on him anymore, he certainly found a way to discredit himself.” She paused. “Actually, what he did was really quite brilliant. No self-respecting scientist with an ounce of credibility will come near the loch after having seen the kind of career damage Rogan sustained. I don’t think we’ll have to worry over monster hunters looking for the creatures for a very long time indeed. I highly suspect that was Rogan’s intention all along.”

Enora sighed and sat on the arm of a large sofa. “You’re absolutely right. He had it all planned. And he knew the rest of us would try to stop him if he even breathed a word about the creatures’ existence. This way, the world will think that legend is all they’ve ever believed. A load of tripe, nothing more.”

“And you had to know he would get samples, Enora. You did realize that, didn’t you?”

She slowly shook her head. “I-I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course, any self-respecting scientist would do exactly that when faced with such a staggeringly amazing animal. But what did he do with them?” She nodded toward the television. “It’s clear he substituted something for the real samples and altered his parents’ evidence somehow.”

Shayla sighed and considered the matter. “I think he probably tested the samples he took, but kept the results for his own edification. As to what he did with them afterward, I’ll need to know for sure.” She put one index finger to her chin as she considered the matter. “I strongly suspect he destroyed them.”

Enora put a hand to her chest and fingered the green crystal on its cord. “He’ll never want to talk to me again. Even if we can get him to come back and I don’t think that’s going to happen.” She got up and turned her back on the Sorceress. “I-I really humped this one, Shayla.”

“If you really care about him and he cares for you, there’s always a chance, dear. As for his parents…”

Enora faced the Sorceress again. “They’ll have to know. Wayne and Keelin too. They still think he’s tried to cash in on the creature’s existence.”

Shayla put her elbows on the desk and placed the tips of her fingers together. “I believe a trip to California is in order.”

Enora quickly approached. “Please let me go, Sorceress. I must have hurt him very badly by what I said. I have to explain and apologize.”

Shayla leaned back and assessed that option for a moment. “I think not. It’s time Rogan met me face-to-face. I have some questions to ask and I’ll warrant he’s very confused about those samples. The real ones, I mean. And as for you…I want you to stay at your parents’ cottage right here in the forest for now. I’ll order the Fairy leader to take over your duties for a few more days. The loch creatures will certainly understand when I explain. And I want Rogan’s parents to see what their son did. They’ve judged him poorly.”

Enora noted the harsh tone of the Sorceress’ voice when the last part of that statement was made. “I’ve sensed they really love him, Shayla. But there’s this coldness when Rogan is doing something they don’t agree with.”

“That’s exactly it, my girl. They love him with conditions. If he agrees, if he’s pliable or doing what they think is the right thing within the scope of their beliefs, he’s loved. Otherwise, he’s an encumbrance. I never met such liberal people whose minds were so very closed!”

Enora couldn’t help the sadness in her voice when she asked her next question. “Why can’t they just love him all the time? I’ve never seen parents act the way his do. And their entire relationship with one another confuses me. If I hadn’t let their opinions sway me, I’d have been able to sort out what he was really feeling. I’d have known Rogan wouldn’t betray any of us. But there I go, blaming them for what I did myself. I should have known, in my heart, that Rogan was telling the truth. But I let others do my thinking ― and my feeling—for me.”

“That’s something you’ll have to work out with him, Enora. I’m sure Wayne and Keelin will have their regrets. So will Rogan’s parents by the time they see what their son did. He’s lost everything to keep you, them and the creatures safe.”

“You think…you believe he did this for me too?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. Quit letting yourself be swayed by what others think or say and listen to your heart, just as you’ve said. Nothing else matters.”

Enora nodded. “Thank you, Shayla.” She turned to go, then looked back over her shoulder. “What if Rogan won’t come back with you?”

“After what he’s done, I have no doubts about trusting him. So I won’t force him to be somewhere he doesn’t want to be. If he comes back, it’ll be because something here means more to him than anything else.” She walked forward and put one hand on Enora’s cheek. “And I think something here means a great deal to him.”

Enora smiled, though it was through a haze of tears. If a woman really loved a man, she could never have thought he’d do what she’d accused him of. But she did love him and had done just that. How it must have hurt him. But even the empathic power to know that was lost to her where he was concerned. Her own feelings drowned everything when he was near. She slowly walked away and silently prayed that Rogan would come back. Even if he didn’t give a damn about her now, she still had to tell him how sorry she was.

* * * * *

Rogan sat on a bench and watched the sun set over the ocean. People walked by and tried not to look at him. As far as they were concerned, he was another of the street people or homeless that wondered freely around San Diego County. The warm climate attracted them. And he supposed he probably looked the part. Weeks of living from day to day, wherever he could find a place to sleep, had left him looking the part. He now had a thick growth of beard and his hair was quite long. His clothes had seen better times, but they were clean. There was nothing on or about him that would attract anyone’s attention and that’s the way he wanted it. But his life would have to go on sooner or later. Having read the newspapers right after the fiasco with the media, he believed he’d never get a job again in any bona fide scientific field. He could have gone to an attorney over some of the comments made about his questionable mental state, but doing that would undermine the very irrationality he wanted to have others to believe. And making trouble over the issue would also keep him in the media’s eye. That was something he’d given everything to get away from. He was pretty sure that since the “Wonder Man” of marine biology, as he’d been once dubbed, had been crucified in the papers, no one would seriously ever go near Loch Ness again unless they wanted to suffer the same fate. Not to monster hunt at any rate. So…mission accomplished. But where the hell does that leave me?

The wind blowing off the ocean had a chill to it, but he pulled the collar of his Navy pea coat up higher and shrugged it off. He had money for food and lodging if necessary. But having no employment made him consider every expense, no matter how small. He decided to sleep on the beach for the night. The cops wouldn’t care if he did and no one else would bother him. Just as he was about to get up and leave, he spotted a man and woman walking down the sidewalk toward him. They were holding hands, laughing and sharing what was obviously an intimate time together by the sea shore. The pretty woman put her arm around her guy’s waist, stood on tiptoe and kissed him unexpectedly. The man swept her up into his arms, swung her around as they both laughed, then he put her back down on the ground and didn’t care who watched him kiss her thoroughly.

Something deep in Rogan’s heart snapped and he thought he’d actually lose control. Tears came to his eyes and he looked down at the ground when the couple neared. The man suddenly stopped, held out a five-dollar bill near Rogan’s down-turned face.

“Hey man, it’s not much but get yourself some coffee or something to eat,” the benefactor said.

Rather than glance up and have the couple see the tears in his eyes, he quickly got up, ignored the monetary gesture and walked away. He swung his old duffle bag over his shoulder as he did so. It was hard to be the object of pity. Especially when most of it originated from within himself. He walked on until he was sure the couple couldn’t see him anymore, then sat down again. But if he thought his emotional outburst was over, he was dreaming.

By the shoreline, there were two young parents playing with a little boy of about six years of age. Rogan watched them for a few minutes then let the tears he’d held back fall. The scene with the little family reminded him of a time when he had a family too. But all that was gone. He’d never get it back and would never have the chance to have any family of his own. He was dead certain that if he couldn’t have Enora, there wasn’t anyone else he’d ever care for. But just like his own parents, she didn’t trust him and had hated what she thought he’d become. He tried to smile at the one thing that would make his parents happy. They were finally proven right about him. But sooner or later, they’d all figure out that no one was coming to exploit the creatures or find out about the Order. By then, he’d be long gone. Somewhere he couldn’t be found or hurt anymore by those he loved. And it dawned on him that all the accolades he’d ever received never amounted to anything because there was no one with whom to share them. No home, no parents, no best friend and no once-in-a-lifetime love. His chest tightened and he looked down at the ground. So what if people saw him cry. If he could get it out of his system, then maybe he could move on and find something to do with his life.

Down the sidewalk, an older woman watched. She stopped and waited until he gained some control over himself. It took some time, but she was finally able to approach. She sat on the far end of the bench and stared out at the sunset for a time.

Rogan kept his head bent toward the ground, let his long hair fall around his face and sat there. Empty and finally numb.

Shayla took a deep breath of ocean air and sighed. “The sunset on the ocean is so beautiful, isn’t it?” she nonchalantly remarked.

Hearing the older woman’s English accent reminded Rogan of things he wanted to forget. He lifted his duffle bag again and decided to move on. Maybe there was a bench somewhere that wouldn’t put him in front of a painful scene or a troublesome tourist.

“Don’t leave, Rogan. I’ve come a long way and gone to a great deal of trouble to find you.”

He slowly turned around and gazed at the woman who’d spoken. At the other end of the bench sat an exceedingly lovely woman of about sixty or so. Her silver hair was swept up on her head, she had silvery eyes that reminded him of Enora and wore a long skirt with a matching top. There were sandals on her feet and she could have been anyone’s favorite aunt, mother or wife. But Rogan knew she wasn’t any of those things. She had a majestic air about her that commanded respect and demanded attention. As she slowly stood, something in his brain grabbed onto the image of a graceful waterfall flowing gently into a small pond. She had a calming influence while emanating strength. All at the same time.

“Enora was right,” Rogan murmured, “she once told me you were a vision and you are.”

Shayla smiled, held out her hand and invited him to sit beside her, but closer. “That didn’t take long. But then I have a feeling you might be expecting me.”

He carelessly shrugged. “I was told you’d send someone to kill me.”

“And you think I’m here to do the deed myself?”

He exhaled slowly as he sat. “Right now, I don’t really care if you do.”

She looked him over. “You don’t mean that.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. But the Sorceress of the Order didn’t come all this way to talk about what you could have already done, I’m sure. You people haven’t been in existence all this time without learning a trick or two. Something tells me you could have made me magically vanish long before now. And I haven’t really been hiding either.”

“No. It did take a few days, but I knew you’d show up near the sea. And since this is the closest place to where you used to live, it seemed inevitable you’d like it here.”

He looked out at the ocean again and watched the waves crash down on the sand. “Well, you’re here. And while it’s an honor to meet you at last, I don’t know what I can do for you. Other than offer my life for having told about the beasts in the loch.”

Shayla smiled. “Your life is what I want. But not the way you think.”

He looked at her and was almost frozen by those mesmerizing eyes. “You want me to come back to the loch with you?”

“Exactly. But only if you’ll be happy there, Rogan. For the first time since I’ve been Sorceress, I’m going to let an outsider stay in the outside world once he’s known about us. I’ll do that for you because of what you gave up for us.”

“Why don’t you just give me a good reference and we’ll call it even?” he tried to joke, but couldn’t quite make himself smile.

She leaned toward him, put her hand on one of his forearms and gazed into his blue eyes. “I’ll give you secrets to explore you couldn’t have possibly imagined, Rogan MacClean. And one day, when the world walks into our sacred forest and wants to know who and what we are, you’ll be there waiting for them. You’ll be vindicated and everything you’ve given up will be regained tenfold. I’ll do this for you because you protected a great many of my people. Not just in the British Isles but elsewhere in the world. Even here in your own country. And never doubt this…I knew you’d never betray us. Especially not after having looked at the real tissue samples I’m sure you took.”

Rogan turned to face her, looked around to make sure no one was near and spoke quietly. “Don’t talk about that here. It’s not safe.”

She smiled. “No one can hear us, Rogan. But you’re right about that subject being extremely delicate. I’ve only just found out about it within the past two years myself. One of my physicians, a human Druid, took some blood samples to a laboratory in London. If your findings verify the covert work he did in his lab, then I think we need to have a long talk. No matter how secretive the issue.”

Rogan leaned toward her slightly and lowered his voice to an almost inaudible level. “The cell structure…” he began and paused when he couldn’t correctly articulate what he wanted to convey. The evidence he’d seen was that dumbfounding. Finally he found his voice again. “While the cell structure might have evolved the way it has right here, something tells me it didn’t. I can’t find anything that allows for what I saw under a microscope. And if I could have had a good biologist working with me to check for markers in a DNA sequence, we might have an answer. As it is, what I believe sounds even crazier than when I blew my career to hell in front of all those cameras.”

“You’re not crazy, Rogan.”

The seriousness with which she said it almost took the air right out of his lungs. “Your doctor came to the same conclusion I’m about to imply?”

She slowly nodded. “That was his finding. And I must say he was just as stupefied as you seem to be. You’d have one damned interesting conversation with him, I dare say.”

Rogan put one hand over hers. “If I could…just talk to him for a while. All I’d want to know is what samples he took.”

“That I can tell you. He took blood from those of the pure Fairy race, the Goblins, Gnomes, Pixies and more. Every single race was different from each other. And each race had a peculiar trait not found in humans.”

“Altered cellular structure,” Rogan finished for her.

“Yes. And although Druid blood like mine appears normal, we have powers over the elements. There’s still some connection with the Druid blood that we haven’t found with the others of the Order. There has to be. With everyone else in our community, it seems there are some components obviously missing from the cells. But those components differ depending upon the blood studied. They certainly aren’t like anything…shall we use the term…local.”

“My God! I knew it.” Rogan ran one hand through his hair.

The Sorceress noticed how his hand shook and she inwardly smiled at his sudden exuberance. Whatever heartache he’d been feeling was diminishing as new purpose and possibilities entered his life. Something the world, if it knew, would certainly fear. And that was what she had to protect against. “You realize the enormity of this news in relation to our safety, don’t you?”

Rogan took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and slowly nodded. “I can imagine a few people wanting to slam some body parts into a Petri dish if they could get their hands on them. Not everyone in this world has scruples. What you are might even be seen as a threat to national defense, depending upon who wants to claim the right to own you. And they will.”

“I see you’re a man of vision. Unfortunately, your vision leads to the same sad conclusion as mine and I can’t allow what will happen because of it. The people of the Order have a right to exist as free beings no matter what their origins. I won’t have us pulled apart by nations assertively vying for our allegiance. Or harboring mistrust because our loyalty won’t be given where some would have it. You understand?”

“All too clearly. That’s one of the reasons I had to do what I did. The creature is just one of you. But Enora and her race is another. Whatever she is doesn’t matter to me. No one needs to get their hands on her blood. The world isn’t ready for the obvious conclusions other scientists will come to. She’s not a lab rat and I won’t see her treated like one. Or have her powers tested for some cold-blooded reason. She can’t help what she is any more than the creatures in the loch can. When the time comes and the world finds out about you, it should be your choice how you reveal yourselves. And if you aren’t very, very careful, your existence could be cause for global conflict.”

Shayla sat back. “You do understand. Just as I believed you would, Dr. MacClean.”

He waved a hand in dismissal. “Just keep calling me Rogan. The title of doctor doesn’t seem to appeal to me lately. In fact, the subject we’re discussing belittles all titles, doesn’t it?”

“It’s humbling, yes. But all this needn’t be a mystery to you. If you’d like to come back with me and have that talk with our physician, I think I can get you some time in the basement of our castle in England. We have a laboratory there where you can study and compare notes with others who can help. Our lab isn’t fully equipped, so you might not find your answers right away. But what a challenge it would be. Think of it, Rogan.”

He was. And even if Enora never wanted to lay eyes on him again, he could protect her somehow. “I assume there are some rules I should know about?”

“There are. And we can discuss them on our way back to England. We’ll have first class all to ourselves and a very long time to talk.”

He let out a slow breath and shook his head. “You knew I’d come, didn’t you?”

“A chance like this would be too irresistible for someone with a mind like yours. But I think, as much as anything else, that you’re missing someone very badly and want an opportunity to explain.”

“Yeah, I do want that chance. And I want that little…I want Enora’s apology,” he assertively announced.

Shayla laughed. “You’ll get it. She’s got a great deal she wants to say to you. And what about your family and Wayne? Will you want to see them?”

Rogan considered it for a moment. “I’ve never have had much to say to my folks. I’m not sure that’s a bridge that can be mended. But I would like to talk with Wayne and Keelin too.”

She patted his knee in a motherly fashion. “You make those choices, my lad. Right now, we have a plane to catch and a great deal of ideas to exchange. You have a passport, handy?”

“In my duffle bag.”

“Good. Then we’ll have just enough time for a nice seafood dinner before we leave. Come, Rogan MacClean.” She stood up and looped her arm through his. “Welcome to the Order of the Ancients. You may refer to me as Shayla Gallagher or Sorceress…”

Rogan listened to her as they walked along the sidewalk. A new world opened for him and his heart raced at the thought of what he’d see and learn. Never in his entire life had he felt such exhilaration. And for the first time, he actually didn’t give a damn what anyone in the scientific community thought of him. They had no clue as to what really existed in the world. They were only scratching the surface. But he would be allowed to live among a race of beings so far advanced from ordinary man that there was no scale by which to compare them. And he swore to have one of them firmly situated in his life. Not as a scientific oddity but as a beautiful, intelligent woman with the heart and will to defend her people with the edge of a blade if necessary. With each step that brought him closer to Enora again, he felt his hurt soul heal a little more. And he vowed, no matter what it took, she’d be by his side forever.

* * * * *

Enora anxiously paced as she waited for the Sorceress to see her. Normally, she would have looked around the expansive oak shelves and perused the many books the huge castle library held, but today there was nothing in the room that held any interest. When she saw the double oak doors to the room open by themselves, she knew Shayla would enter momentarily.

“Ah, what brings you here, Enora?”

Enora put out her hands expressively. “Please, Shayla. It’s been a month. You wouldn’t give me permission to see Rogan after he arrived and now I hear he’s headed back to Loch Ness. Am I still supposed to stay here? Can’t I at least get a chance to talk to him?”

“Rogan’s been very busy acclimating himself to our customs and our people. And he’s been in the lab working hard with our physicians. Their tests and experiments are critical, Enora. He knows that or he would have sent for you before. It was his wish I honored in keeping you away.” Though she knew it had been a hard one for Rogan to make, he wanted to meet Enora again on his own terms and she’d promised he could.

Enora took a step backward and felt something in the vicinity of her heart begin to ache. “I-I thought you were the one keeping me from seeing him. That’s what I was told. That’s why I stayed away as long as I have.”

Shayla slowly shook her head. “Then you’ve been mistaken, my girl. Rogan has asked that you, Wayne and his family be kept away for the time being. His work is extremely sensitive.”

“It’s not his work. We hurt him badly,” she acknowledged.

“I believe he’ll explain when the time comes.” Shayla waved a hand in dismissal. “It’ll all work out, I’m sure. He’s a brilliant scientist, you know. Quite extraordinary. My people are giving me excellent reports on his work and his ability to meld into our culture.”

For Enora to hear it, that was all fine and good. But if she couldn’t get to see him again, Rogan would never hear her apology for the things she said the night before he left for the States. And if he couldn’t at least hear her out, he might one day choose another for his mate. And that was a situation she found intolerable. If he did that, she’d challenge that woman during Rogan’s handfasting, beat the other rival for his affections in a fair fight, and that woman would be forced to relinquish her claim to him. That was the way of the Order. But if Rogan had come to hate her for what she’d said, how could she challenge any other woman he’d want? That wouldn’t make him happy. Such a situation would never work. And it didn’t help that she’d heard rumors of him getting quite close to some of the Druid women who helped out in the infirmary laboratory. Her sense of jealousy rose upon learning he’d been the one asking her to stay away.

“Was there something else, Enora? I’m sorry, but I’m quite busy.”

“May I ask a question?”

“Of course. Ask whatever you’d like,” Shayla encouraged.

“I-I’ve heard Rogan is quite friendly with some of your personal staff. Wouldn’t it be better if he weren’t cloistered in the castle and allowed to walk into the forest where he might meet others?”

“Why, he has. I thought you knew that. He’s been going out quite late, after his lab work is done for the day, and learning how our guards are posted in the woods. And many of those he meets insist on showing off their powers. He’s quite taken with it all. The man is full of questions and nothing seems to faze him. He’s quite well liked and I even believe he’s been invited to several celebrations over the past weeks. A few small family gatherings and such.”

“How could all that happen and without my having heard?” she quickly asked and tried to keep the anger out of her voice.

“I’m sure people don’t report every little thing to you, my girl. The world does revolve on its own axis and that axis isn’t named Enora Brighton.”

That almost angered her into saying something to the Sorceress she’d regret. Here she was, openly and unabashedly pining after the man and he was probably having the time of his life. And all this news was piling on top of what she’d only learned a few days earlier. Her position as the only Keeper was no longer in effect.

“Was there anything else?” Shayla prompted yet again.

“I-I was waiting for a summons from you concerning my position. Everyone was sure you’d choose some auspicious occasion to announce it, but the entire Order seems to know already. They’re saying that Rogan is the Keeper of the Loch now. If that’s the case, then I probably won’t be needed in Scotland. I was wondering if… What I mean to ask is… Is it true? Is the responsibility my ancestors carried for centuries now severed? And if it’s so, then why wouldn’t you at least tell me now, Shayla?”

The Sorceress waved a hand in a careless gesture. “I wouldn’t worry so much over the gossip you hear. If your services were no longer needed by the creatures, they’d have asked for the crystal to be returned. And I would most certainly have backed up their decision that you would no longer be needed as a Keeper.” She walked to her desk and pretended to look over some documents and letters there. “While I’ve not been gifted with a crystal, I’m sure you realize that the creatures communicate with me when I’m present. Just as they always have with every Sorceress. And when I was at the loch a week ago, they made it quite clear that Rogan was the one chosen to be their main point of contact. You will, however, be needed to help him. As an aide or assistant, if you will. And when he wants you there, he’ll ask for your presence. At that time, you’ll need to go to him.”

She was less than pleased with the announcement. “Thank you, Sorceress. I’m happy at least that an outsider hasn’t completely taken away a position of honor my family has held for centuries.”

“Do I detect a note of jealousy in your voice?”

Enora took a deep breath. “Of course I’ll do whatever I can to keep the creatures of the loch safe. Just as always. It’s a little difficult to find out what my duties will be if Rogan won’t even talk to me and let me apologize for the way I behaved, or bother to tell me himself that he now holds a position of authority with the creatures. It was you who had to inform me of that fact and only then when I directly asked. It would have been better if I’d heard it from him. It isn’t jealousy, Sorceress. It’s just that I can’t work with someone if they won’t even speak to me.”

“That’s a point well taken though I’m sure he’s thought of the matter. I’ll mention it to Rogan when I see him tonight at dinner.”

“Thank you. I’d be quite obliged if you did. I’d like to know what my new duties will be, if or when he can work me into his terribly busy schedule.” Enora turned and walked out of the room murmuring what she hoped was a cordial enough exit remark. But she knew her anger was quite obvious in the sound of her own voice.

After Enora had gone, Shayla smiled to herself and murmured, “I’d dearly love to be in the same room when you two see each other again.”

As Enora stalked away from the renovated castle that served as the center of information for the Order and housed the Sorceress and her immediate staff, she knew the problem really had nothing to do with losing the primary position with the creatures of the loch. While it had come as an initial shock that the beings of the loch had chosen Rogan, her surprise came only because nothing like that had ever happened before. Rogan was not only a man who’d come to them from the outside world, but he wasn’t one of the Fairy blood or the Fin Folk who’d always kept the loch and its secrets safe. But she readily realized the creatures were free-willed and could do as they pleased. Even her parents and Keelin were in agreement over that. And her family was actually prone to look on the bright side. As they put it, she could now quit “meandering about the caves feeding the animals that awake from interminable hibernation and have a more normal life”.

The lack of familial duty was a bit disconcerting, but her mother and father had long wanted to see her and Keelin settled. Her constant hiding in a cave at the loch, with Keelin assisting her as necessary, had put both the sisters’ lives on hold. However, Keelin was finding a relationship with Wayne quite absorbing, her parents were pleased and delighted to consider welcoming him into their family. Wayne was a good man who worked very hard. He had a kind heart and was handsome as the day was long. Enora couldn’t have been happier with her sister’s choice just as her parents were. Everyone assumed she’d now have more time to find a good man and have the grandbabies her mother and father desperately wanted. Rather than be insulted or injured over the fact that the old family tradition wasn’t to be carried on as it always had been, her family was not only accepting of the loss of the Keeper position but were rapidly working their way into being relieved and jubilant by it. The only thing that really irked her was the complete dismissal Rogan gave her as both a brief former lover and someone with whom he was supposed to work. At least until such time as the creatures said otherwise. And his rejection hurt. But who could she blame but herself? She was the one who’d uttered those awful words about everyone hating him. Still, all she wanted was a chance to apologize. Now he’d be leaving for Loch Ness and she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do in either her position as former Keeper or as Rogan’s assistant. And Wayne and Keelin had also tried to see him to no avail. Shayla had made it plain that Pat and Kyle, also staying within the confines of the sacred forest now, were only allowed to ask after his welfare. It seemed none of them would get a chance to explain how sorry they were. But if Rogan had made the choice not to see anyone, then so be it. She’d abide by that decision. But she didn’t have to like it.

* * * * *

Rogan made his way through the hidden crevice and down into the cave. Rather than feel any trepidation at being back, he now saw the entire situation as the adventure of his life. A chance to explore possibilities that his scientific mind would have once rejected. And he wallowed happily in the chance to do so without the limits his colleagues would have put on his studying “crap” as they called it. He’d used that term and worse about such cryptozoologic studies. But that was before he knew the damned things were real.

The downward path finally led into the main cavern and he walked toward the warm fire and the muscular man with long blond hair seated near it. He held out his hand. “I was told you’d be here. I’m glad to meet you,” Rogan said as he heartily welcomed the man before him. But as the other man’s face was more fully illuminated by the firelight, he felt a cold chill come over him. Rogan knew his shock must have been evident in his features.

“Sure ’n’ I’m glad to be meeting you as well. I’m Lore.” The Fairy took Rogan’s outstretched hand in his grasp.

Rogan tried to smile when he heard the Irish accent. But he couldn’t shake the horror of the vision the creatures had once shown him. “The Sorceress said you’re the Fairy leader and one of her best men. I can’t thank you enough for watching over the creatures while I was getting used to living in the Order. I think I can take over now, bearing a little less ignorance about your world.”

“You’re welcome to take your place here,” Lore laughingly replied. “I’m a forest Fairy and we don’t take well to being underground too long.”

“I was also told you’re anxious to get back to England. But you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. I wouldn’t mind the company.”

“I’m thinking you’ll be having more company soon. Your assistant will be sent along shortly.”

Rogan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “It’ll be good to see her again.”

“Aye, Enora is a beautiful thing. Quite unusual as Fairies go, even for Fin Folk. All the Fairy races normally have some shade of green in our eyes. And our wings are usually the color of the forest or something near enough as to blend in. But she’s a throw-back. I’m told someone in her family was once a silver wing and they’re very rare.” He threw up one hand and laughed. “Like all the Irish, I’m blessed with the gift o’ gab. Before I talk your ears off, I’ll be taking my leave. It’s been fun watching the baby loch creature, but I’d really rather see the sky again,” Lore said as he nodded toward the roof of the cave.

“Take care,” Rogan warned and tried to make it sound like a congenial departing comment.

Lore gazed at him for a moment. “It won’t happen now. Thanks to you, I won’t meet the fate the elder creature showed you.”

Surprised, Rogan stood there and didn’t deny anything.

“I can see by the look on your face that you didn’t know I’d been told,” Lore began. “One vision of the creatures’ future depicted that I was to die. Right here in this cave, while trying to save the animals from being discovered.”

“How did you know about that?” Rogan quietly asked.

“The Sorceress. She told me what the creatures showed her. She also said that, thanks to you, that possibility no longer exists. For that, I owe you my life. I won’t forget it.”

Rogan shook his head and waved the man’s thanks off. “It was the right decision. While the elder creature’s forecast of the future was essentially correct, I twisted it. I just sort of bent the rules so that the events didn’t play out the same way. I did reveal them as they prophesized, but I tried to do it in such a way that no one would seriously listen.”

“However it was done, I don’t fancy a sucking chest wound delivered by a local fisherman with a gutting knife. I’d like to have my end go a bit better than that. And I won’t forget the chance to go on and do other things with my life. You’ve my thanks and my loyalty. Especially since you showed such protection over a group of people you had no reason to protect. It makes me believe there are a lot of good things in the outside world as well as the bad.”

Rogan held out his hand again. “To friendship then.”

“Aye. And prosper it will,” Lore replied. “I’ll never forget what you’ve done.” Then he returned the parting handshake, put his hand to his forehead in a kind of salute and walked away.

Rogan knew he’d made one friend for life. It had been a shock to meet him and find out the life he’d saved was none other than the Fairy leader’s. But stranger things had happened since coming among those of the Order. And he felt dead certain stranger events were to play out. He turned toward the water, pulled the crystal shard out from under his sweater and concentrated. Before long the water at the edge of the small beach churned and bubbled. He laughed out loud when the baby emerged. She was much bigger than the last time he’d seen her, but her antics were still quite juvenile. She squealed in excitement and lumbered quickly toward him. Then she shook water on him, put her big head over his shoulder and moaned plaintively. Rogan had a sense that she’d actually missed him. He put his hand on her neck, stroked it and tried to blink away the mist clouding his vision. “I’m sorry I left, little girl. I won’t ever do that again. I’m the Keeper now and I’m here to stay.” Just as he finished the assertion, the water roiled again but the four creatures emerging dwarfed the baby’s size by many times over. One of the new arrivals was the elder creature that had communicated with him before. The creatures’ antennae began to glow and he knew some new message was about to be imparted. He waited and accepted what he’d hear with an open mind and an open heart.

Chapter Thirteen

When the last of the creatures left him and the baby in the cave, Rogan took a deep breath and cleared his mind. The crystal around his neck dimmed then stopped glowing after a few moments. He turned to pat the baby’s head and saw a movement from farther back in the cave.

Enora slowly approached and tried to think of what she’d say. There had barely been time to pack and get to Scotland when she discovered Rogan had left a message for her to join him as soon as possible. As she walked toward him, she noted how much longer his hair was though the stubble that had always been on his chin before had been shaved away. He seemed taller than she remembered and even more muscular if that was possible.

“I’m glad you got here,” he quietly spoke and looked her over. “You look good.”

She nodded in acceptance of the small compliment. “So do you.”

“The Sorceress told me you’d been informed about the crystal I was given.”

Enora nodded. “She did. I suppose the loch creatures thought there needed to be two of us for some reason.”

When she stopped about ten feet away, he slowly closed the distance. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I had no idea it would.”

She lifted on shoulder in acceptance. “I know. Who’s their Keeper is their decision to make and I accept that. I’m supposed to be working with you and have no problem with that. But I think I should at least clear the air before we begin.”

“Go on,” he prompted and raised one brow to wait for whatever she’d say.

“I…I wanted to apologize, Rogan. I should have trusted you when you asked me to. I shouldn’t have pulled that knife on you and accused you of betraying us. It never occurred to me you could actually tell the world about the creatures and make it seem as if your discovery was a product of an unstable mind. The papers said horrible things about you. There were all kinds of rumors that you’d… Well, to be quite blunt…those interviewed by the press said you sounded as if you’d lost your reason. Of course, then you just disappeared and that added a great deal more fuel to the fire and encouraged a lot more talk. It took a lot of heart for you to give up so much and I’m sorry I didn’t trust you more.”

He noted the sincerity in her voice. She’d spoken softly but looked him straight in the eyes. “I’d have told you my plan, but I feared that you, Wayne and my parents—or even the Sorceress—would try to stop me. Because of what the creatures showed me, it was the only solution. I had to fulfill the prediction without destroying the creatures’ safety. Hopefully, no one will come snooping around the shores of the loch or set up any kind of sonar equipment without risking the professional disrespect of their peers.”

“The Sorceress told me about the prophecy, but you never told me they’d contacted you. There was never so much as a hint that they’d done any such thing.”

“Remember when I came up from the loch bleeding? That was the first time they tried. I wouldn’t allow myself to believe any such communication could take place. When I told you that I must have hit my head or something, that’s what I really wanted to believe. But I think… Well, it’s just a theory.” He waved off his next comments with one hand.

“No. Go on, please. Tell me.”

He paused for a moment. “I have a theory that your race may use some part of the brain that humans normally don’t. You’ve probably always had that ability to communicate with the creatures so you’ve never suffered any kind of ill effect from the contact. Isn’t that so?”

She nodded. “We’ve never been harmed at all by our relationship with them. At least not that I’ve ever heard of.”

He continued with his explanation. “When they first tried to telepathically signal me, I think something they did prodded a dormant part of my brain. That probably caused my blood pressure to increase. I needed more blood to supply that area with the necessary circulation to support it. And the temporary increase in pressure within my brain probably caused the excess bleeding. It happened again when I dove that second time and the oldest of the creatures gave me the crystal. It was at that time he showed me what would happen if the future weren’t altered.”

She automatically put out one hand and was going to touch his face, but quickly withdrew it. “You don’t bleed like that anymore?”

The concern in her voice pleased him. “No. I think everything is back to normal now that my brain has adapted. But it also means you’re probably using more brain power than regular humans to begin with, on a daily basis. Probably all of the people of the Order are. But again, that’s all just supposition. I think some of the doctors I spoke with at the castle might want to do some studies on the subject, but it would require equipment the Order’s infirmary doesn’t have.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled it. “I’m not exactly sure what you want from me. All the Keepers in the past have worked alone, accepting occasional help from others in the Order only when we need to take a break from living in the cave. This lifestyle is quite demanding. For me, it got worse when the baby lost her parents. We didn’t have any records of that happening before and I was taking things one day at a time.”

He moved a little closer. “You’re ready to go to work then?”

“Yes. But first…I hope you’ll accept my apology, Rogan. I swear I never meant to hurt you and I know I said some terrible things.”

“I was hurt. For a while. I never intended to come back.”

He was very close now and the expression in those blue eyes were captivating her. “If you hadn’t, we’d have missed you terribly.”

“We?”

“I would have missed you,” she corrected. “Terribly.”

“I missed you. Every day. Every minute. And I intended to give you hell when I got back here. I deliberately told the Sorceress to keep you all away so I could get my bearings. I had to see what this magical existence was all about and put it in perspective. And there were some aspects of living within the Order that I had to get used to so I could focus on us.”

“Us? As in you and me?” she quietly asked.

“Yeah. There were a lot of things I wanted to say to you. Like how I didn’t care about Marissa romantically and wasn’t running off with her for any other reason than to get away from the loch. She was even asking questions about you. I had to say and do a lot of things I didn’t like. Almost all of it was lies and, quite frankly, I was pretty damned surprised at how easily I could lie so well. But then I kept what was at stake in the back of my mind the entire time.”

“You altered every bit of the evidence you had, but only enough so that it wouldn’t be obvious you’d done it. It made you look…” She couldn’t repeat what some of the tabloids had printed.

“Confused, crazy, mentally unbalanced, unstable. You name it and it probably got printed. And at the time I did it, I was praying it would work and not backfire. The worse thing that could have happened was that somebody important might actually have believed me and checked out my story.”

She finally lifted her hand and touched his cheek. “I don’t know that I could have ever been so brave. I saw it all on television. Facing those people who once respected you and seeing them trash your reputation was terrible to watch. Especially when I knew why you were doing it. I can’t imagine how much harder it was for you to actually live through.” She caressed the warm skin of his face and drew her thumb over his full lips. “And I can’t tell you how ashamed I am of the way I acted. And your parents wept like children. Your mother said she’d never been so glad to be wrong about anything in her entire life. I think she and your father would do anything to talk to you, Rogan. Wayne too.”

He put his hand over hers where it rested on his cheek. “I asked the Sorceress to tell them they could come tomorrow. For tonight, I have to talk to you alone.” He looked around them. “Not here though. I think it would be better if we did this out in the sun.”

“All right. Wherever you’d like.” Enora replied, but had the strangest feeling she might not like what he was about to say.

Rogan took her hand and led her through the cavern path and up to the surface. It took some time to get there and he didn’t speak until they exited the hidden crevice. “There’s a little glen Shayla told me about. It should be just over the rise, on the other side of this hill.”

“I know the place. I go there often when I’m tired of being in the cave,” Enora confirmed.

Rogan kept her hand tightly within his as they walked. The glen was partly shaded by a few scrub oaks and surrounded on three sides by boulders about waist high. He sat on one of the flat stones and motioned for Enora to sit next to him.

“Why do I get the impression this isn’t something that’s going to be very pleasant?” she asked.

“Maybe from the way I’m behaving. It’s nothing bad. But the rest of the Order will be told about this sometime this week. Since you won’t be in the forest back in England to hear it, the Sorceress has asked me to tell you.”

She faced him and squared her shoulders. “This has something to do with all the research and studying you’ve been doing lately, hasn’t it?”

At first he was surprised by her astute assumption. But he had to remember he was dealing with a woman far superior, in many ways, to normal humans. He took both her hands in his and gazed into her sparkling silver eyes. “You know I don’t give a damn about you being a Fairy. You’ve apologized, I’ve accepted it. So now it’s my turn.” He softened his tone. “I’m sorry about the way I acted when I saw you and your sister with your wings. There’s no excuse for the way I acted. It’s just that it was easier to accept something I could explain with a scientific theory. Something that could be measured, weighed, calculated and classified. When I couldn’t do that, I got angry. You standing there with those beautiful wings of yours was the last thing I expected to see. It was even more incomprehensible than the discovery of the creatures in the loch because they, at least, could be explained. They had an evolution and belonged to some family that I could delineate if I kept studying them long enough. Or so I thought. But Wayne said something to me and I’ve had time to think it over.” He paused, lifted one hand and pushed her long hair off her shoulder. “He told me that science doesn’t exist to explain things away. It’s there to make us realize how little we know. And he was absolutely right. As of right now, I know less than I ever did.”

“I don’t understand.”

Rogan leaned forward and gently kissed her. “Before I say any more, tell me you forgive me for the way I acted when I saw you and Keelin. Let’s both forget about that and begin again. Can we?”

She threw her arms around his neck and held on. “I love you, Rogan. I think I started falling for you the moment I saw you.”

He pulled her head against his shoulder with one hand and wrapped his free arm around her entire body. “You don’t know how good it is to feel you close again. I don’t ever want to be that alone, baby. I swear it’s the worst thing I’ve ever been through. I’d give up my reputation and everything I’ve ever had a thousand times just to be with you. Nothing’s more important than having someone care for you.”

She ran her fingers through his hair, kissed his jaw then let him claim her mouth. His kiss was hot, deep and wild. Rogan acted like a man denied the only thing in life he needed to live. The kiss seemed to go on until she couldn’t recall where they were and didn’t care.

“You just have to know that I don’t give a damn what you are, Enora. Please believe that,” he murmured against her lips.

“I do, Rogan.”

He kissed her more slowly, then finally pulled her onto his lap and pressed her head against his shoulder. “You know the first time we made love, I knew I had to have you. Do you know why?”

Too full of emotion, she shook her head and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“It was the way you held me when we slept. I’ve never felt anything like that. I felt safe and strong all at once. Does that make sense?”

“It does,” she tearfully replied. “I should have believed my first instincts about you and never let anything else enter my mind. I’m so sorry, Rogan.”

“Don’t cry, baby. Please don’t. We’re where we need to be now. That’s all that matters.” He gently rocked her, kissed her forehead and pulled her closer. “I wanted to do this back in England. A thousand times I wanted to go find you, take a walk in those beautiful woods and hold you again. But there’s so much I have to tell you. I couldn’t say it there. I think here, at Loch Ness, is the best place. For us anyhow. I’m not sure how you’ll take it.”

She leaned back a little. “What’s wrong? Whatever it is, it can’t matter to us, can it?”

“No. It’ll never matter to us. Not to me.” He gently wiped a tear from her cheek. “But it has to be said.”

She sat up and looked into his eyes. Something told her he was afraid. Her empathic powers wouldn’t work on him anymore, so it was more instinct that led her to believe in that fear.

He took a deep breath, put his arms around her and began. “Before I found that sturgeon and put samples of it into the vials, I took samples of the baby’s dead parents. I never had any intention of letting anyone see them and didn’t. But I had to know, for myself, what I was dealing with. Can you understand that?”

She nodded.

“Honey, the creatures’ cells aren’t normal. In fact, I don’t think these animals could have evolved anywhere near here.”

“And something’s wrong with that? Obviously there is or we wouldn’t be sitting here talking when we could be doing something else,” she joked.

He smiled and kissed her softly again but continued with what he had to say. “There are certain things all mammalian cells would have in common. The creatures are mammals, but they don’t have cell structures like anything I’ve ever seen. The cell walls are different and there are disparities in the nucleolus and mitochondrion. To shorten this, there are structures that shouldn’t be there and I don’t know what the hell they are. The cell parts I recognize, or think I do, aren’t relative to anything I’ve ever heard of.”

“If they’re a new species, couldn’t that account for some differences?”

He slowly shook his head. “Enora, there are peculiarities particular to their tissue that don’t exist anywhere on Earth. Not that I know of.”

She thought for a moment. “If not on Earth then…”

He saw a shocked look come over her face.

“You’re not serious?” she slowly blurted.

“If you’d asked me that a few months back, when I first saw the samples under a microscope, I’d have never admitted any such thing to another living soul,” Rogan admitted, “but there’s a problem, or should I say a set of circumstances that have come up to corroborate that crazy notion.”

“What do you mean?”

He ran a hand across his face, trying to get the facts as coherent as he understood them. “Shayla told me how there have been men and women from the Order who have trained as doctors in the outside world. She explained they were Druids and that they could move about among outsiders freely. If they’re hurt and need medical attention, they just go to a hospital and get treatment like anyone else normally would. But the rest of you can’t.”

“I know. It’s like I told you when I broke my ribs. There’s something in my blood that…” She stopped speaking and stared at him as part of what he was saying hit home.

He saw a shocked expression on her face and quickly continued. “Now before you go there, baby, let me finish.” He held out his hand and took hers in a firm grasp. “The Orders’ doctors, while working in the outside world, studied samples of Goblin, Fairy, Elf and other blood. The tests they ran were done some time ago, but they kept the results to themselves at the Sorceress’ request. She wanted those studies corroborated and that was hard to do since you don’t have much equipment within the Order to begin with. Shayla also became fearful of what would happen if some of that blood being tested in facilities all over England might happen to fall into the wrong hands. You can believe that she was very, very careful about letting any tissue or fluid samples leave the forest after that. But then I came into the picture and happened to take tissue samples of the baby’s dead parents. After checking them in San Diego, I independently came to some of the same conclusions your Druid doctors did. It’s apparent that none of your ancestors within the Order evolved at the same time as other life on the planet. The DNA markers just aren’t there.”

She began to shake and felt Rogan’s hands move over her shoulders and back.

“Listen to me, Enora. None of the different races of the Order has blood like any other of the races. But you all have weird cellular structures that don’t jive. Including the creatures in Loch Ness. You’re all probably using parts of your brain the rest of us don’t. You have powers humans don’t and Shayla says your history records the beings of the Order being the first of all people in the British Isles. She tells me the history goes back centuries before humans were out of caves in Celtic Britain and that the Order had a highly advanced civilization even then. But up until now, the history she had access to didn’t reveal any of what we now know.”

“I-I’ve been taught all of that. We’ve been told our ancestors were writing, studying and building an advanced culture while the humans around us were killing with stone axes and groveling in the dirt.”

He gripped her hand more firmly. “The history you knew about the Order was never fully available. Even your previous Sorceresses never knew it all. And before your doctors and I even pieced this cellular business together, the Sorceress had ordered some intensive research done in translating some old scrolls. As I understand it, these ancient writings have been turning up in caves deep beneath the Order’s castle in England and elsewhere. These writings shouldn’t exist since communication of that type isn’t part of the history of the British Isles. Celtic history was passed down orally, there’ve never been ancient documents proving otherwise, until now. Shayla’s scrolls, found when she opened some old caves recently, are real enough. They haven’t been faked by anyone.”

“And this has to do with our blood and tissue samples in what respect?” she quietly asked, fearing what she would hear.

“I’m getting to that, honey.” He let out a long sigh and continued. “At first, it was just a matter of learning what the scrolls were so the Sorceress could have their contents entered into a computer database and compared. Luckily, there was a primer with the parchments and that eventually led to a fuller understanding of the writing that had been found in those caves. Still, even after the translations were coming along, Shayla didn’t have any idea what she had until those translated writings were added to our cellular research.” He stopped and glanced at the ground for a moment before continuing.

“Just let me have it, Rogan. I want to know it all,” she gamely announced.

He gazed into her eyes for a long moment before saying, “The initial scroll translations, coupled with the tissue research, has led Shayla to believe you were all put here by others. The reason hasn’t been discovered yet, but not all the scrolls have been translated.”

Enora tried to stay calm. “I-I remember when we first got the computers. Shayla said she wanted us to have the advantage of higher technology so we could survive better among outsiders. It made perfect sense that we quit living in the last century and move into the next. So she started putting everything into computer files.”

Rogan could see she was trying to grasp the significance of what he was saying while trying to maintain some composure. But she was shaking and he could only imagine what she was thinking. “Your own doctors, Shayla’s staff and I were finding bits and pieces of a puzzle no one knew existed, Enora. And all of us were coming to the same conclusion from different directions. But we know the puzzle is there and the pieces are starting to come together. Slowly but surely.”

She swallowed hard and thought for a moment. “I guess you think this might explain the creatures’ telepathic abilities, my powers and the powers of others in the Order?”

“It would go a long way toward an explanation, yes. To roll it all up into a neat little ball…no creature or being in the Order has any ancestry that’s from around here. The Orders’ ancient writings confirm it and so does the cellular research that’s been done so far. And when I say ‘around here’ I mean that quite literally.”

She stood up, turned away and felt her heart pounding. “What if…what if we were put here…and what if whoever did it comes back?”

“That’s what we’ve spent the last few weeks trying to figure out, Enora.” He ran his hands through his hair and tried to keep his voice calm. “The Sorceress has her people working night and day on those scrolls. She tells me she has the power to see into the future sometimes, but it doesn’t always work. She can’t see anything at all when she concentrates on this particular subject.”

Enora slowly turned to face him. “Is that supposed to mean there is no future for the Order?” she quietly asked.

He quickly stood and pulled her to him. “It means she can’t see anything and that’s all. I refuse to interpret it any other way.”

“But some of this doesn’t make sense. W-why are the Druids normal in every way except for their ability to command the elements? Why is their blood like humans’?”

“We don’t know, Enora. It’s possible there was some pairing between humans and members of the Order very long ago and no one knew. Druids might have taken on human characteristics, losing some of their original powers. Or it may be that the Druids’ ancestors were most like humans to begin with. Maybe that’s why there’s always been a Druid Sorceress leading your people. But I’m just taking a guess about all that. We don’t know anything else. Not about why you’re here, or who may have put your people where history has you originating.”

“And all this will just make us even more unexplainable to the outside world when they find out about us. Won’t it?” she quietly asked.

Rogan looked away from her. “Sooner or later, they will find you. I’m not sure what will happen when they do.”

She pushed her hair back with one hand. “This will probably make it harder for them to accept us. Most of us are stronger, heal faster and have a peculiar resistance to most human ailments. I can imagine what outsiders might do to find out how they could obtain that kind of immunity.”

She said it with such deadly calm that his immediate instinct was to stay close to her. “I told you before. None of this changes anything as far as I’m concerned. And no one will ever hurt you so long as I breathe.”

Enora walked into his embrace. “It scares me, Rogan.”

“I know, honey. It’s not something your people are going to like hearing. But the Sorceress doesn’t want it kept from them. She’ll tell the leaders first, then the rest.”

“Rogan?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“Will you make love to me? Just hold me and love me?”

He cupped her face between his palms and gazed deeply into her lovely eyes. “For the rest of time, if you want.”

Rogan quickly pulled his sweater off and tossed it on the ground beneath the shade of a tree. He firmly grasped Enora’s upper arms, pulled her to him and began to kiss her with all the pent-up passion he’d felt for weeks. “I’ll never leave you again. Get used to it,” he whispered against her throat. Then he helped her out of her own sweater and they embraced again. The two crystal shards they wore seemed warm against his skin as he held her. He gently turned her away, pulled her back against him then ran his hands down her shoulders and captured her breasts in his palms. Enora moaned, leaned farther back then urged his hands down to the waist of her jeans. Rogan unfastened them slowly and slid his hands down her abdomen and farther.

“Love me. Please, Rogan. I’ve missed you so much,” she murmured then pushed her jeans down and kicked off her tall leather boots as she did so.

Rogan unclothed himself in record speed and watched as she slowly turned toward him. She was only wearing a lacy pair of pastel green panties. She pulled the fastener from her hair and let it fall about her shoulders. But when he reached for her, she backed several steps away.

“Take me as I am, Rogan.”

He watched as she knelt on the ground and let her silver wings unfurl. It was the most exquisitely beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life. He held out both hands to help her up, then quickly scanned the horizon to make sure no one could see her. His protective instincts were already making him feel a very small bit of the anxiety others of the Order must have always experienced. No one must see Enora as she was. And he knew he’d actually take another person’s life to keep her safe. He took several quick steps closer to the tree, leading her farther into the shadows. And when he finally looked her over in the full light of day, he could find no words to express what he saw and how he felt. All he could do was put his hands on her shoulders and take in the lovely aura surrounding her. Her ears were pointed and just peeked from beneath all the layers of warm brown hair tumbling down her shoulders. And when his hands reached her waist and he circled them back to the base of her wings, Enora dropped her head back and moaned deeply. “Aha! There’s a place you like,” he uttered in a low voice. “Let’s see what else Fairies like.”

“Shall I tell you?” she breathlessly asked.

“No. I want to find out. That’s part of the fun.”

She stood absolutely still as his hands wandered over her. But she couldn’t help the small moans that came every time he found a place on her body that was more sensitive than the last.

Rogan moved very close to her, blew softly into her ear and took the point of it between his lips. He had to grasp her hips when she would have writhed in sheer joy at the sensation. “So that’s an even better place. I think I’ll keep going.”

“Not for much longer, please,” she begged.

Hearing her throaty plea, he ran the tips of his fingers against the expanse of her wings then up between them. Enora cried out so loud he had to cover his mouth with her own. And while he knew there was no one there to hear, it made him feel quite virile to have her shudder against him. He wasn’t sure whether what he’d done had actually brought on an orgasm, but if it had she was still ready for more. “Do you want me to stop?”

“N-no, Goddess no, don’t stop.”

He looped both his thumbs into the sides of the panties and slid them all the way to her ankles. His own erection grazed the inside of her thigh when he rose. And his palm slid slowly between them, feeling the moisture there. “I think you’re ready, don’t you?”

She gasped as he gently palmed her, but couldn’t speak.

“Put one leg around my waist,” he whispered. When she did so, Rogan placed his hands around her rib cage firmly and lifted her up. He let her settle back down against his body and take his erection fully. “Yeah, that’s what I call Fairy magic, baby.”

She laughed and moaned loudly at the same time. When Rogan gently lifted her then let her fall back, it was like he was impaling her with each stroking motion. The feeling inside coupled with the sensation of his nipples against hers caused her to feel the beginnings of a very hard orgasm. But he somehow kept it going longer and deeper by stopping and holding her for just a second, then letting her body take his erection deeper again. By the time he released and she felt him throbbing within her, Enora was shaking. She knew she’d never be able to stand unless he held her close.

After feeling the pure ecstasy of release, Rogan held her still for a moment or two longer. Then he lowered her to the ground again. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned against him. “I’ll get better at making love to a Fairy,” he promised.

She gazed up into his incredibly blue eyes. “If it gets much better, I won’t be able to survive it,” she joked.

He kissed her very hard and long, then wrapped one arm about her and led her to a soft patch of grass. “You lie here. I’ll go and get some gear from the van.” He placed another quick kiss on her forehead and left to pull his jeans on. He didn’t want to take the chance someone might see him stark naked while at the van. Even if that possibility was remote. He wasn’t thinking of himself, but that his actions might draw attention in some way to Enora’s presence.

Enora stretched out on the soft grass and let the warmth of the filtered shade cover her body. It had been so long since she’d walked in the sunlight with her wings out. In the wilds of Scotland was one of the few places left where she could do such a thing. Other such places existed deep within the sacred forest back home. But it hadn’t been since the last Celtic celebration that she’d been allowed that luxury. And more than anything, Fairies loved the fresh air, the sun and the moon.

When Rogan returned to her, it was half an hour later. He dropped the things he’d brought from the van, shed his jeans again and stared down at her. She was sleeping like an angel. Lying there with all that gorgeous soft hair scattered around and curled up on her side. Her sparkling wings shimmered as the light breeze blew over them. He dropped to his knees, looked up at the sky and softly prayed, “It’s been a long time since I asked for anything. But please keep her safe. Please.” The vision she made while sleeping there among the grass and flowers was almost more than he could bear. There had never been anything in his life that meant more. The setting of the sun in the afternoon finally brought him to his feet.

When Enora woke, she was lying on a soft pallet of blankets, one of which was tucked around her from the waist down. She sat up, stretched and fluttered her wings to get rid of the kinks. A soft rumbling laugh made her look to her left.

“Do all Fairies do that when the wake up? You look like a dragonfly when it’s just about to take off.”

She saw him throw some sticks onto a small campfire, pour something from a pot sitting nearby and into two mugs. When he approached, he was still nude, and handed one of the cups to her.

“I made us some hot tea.”

She shook her hair back over one shoulder and readily accepted the offering. “Thank you. It smells wonderful.”

Rogan lifted the blanket around her waist, scooted next to her then pulled the soft wool blanket back over them again. “This is a hell of a lot better than that dark, cold cave.”

She readily nodded, sipped her tea and snuggled next to him. “Can we do this often?”

He nodded. “As often as possible. So long as no one sees the smoke from our fire.”

When he stared at her without saying anything more, Enora pushed his long hair away from his face. “What’s wrong? Do I look that bad with my wings all crinkled from sleeping?”

“Bad? If you think you look bad, baby, you never knew the definition of that word.” He lowered his face to hers, nuzzled her nose against his then lightly kissed her. “Drink your tea before I’m all over you again. Then I’ll make us something to eat.”

She grinned. “You can think of eating right now?”

“If I don’t, I’ll pass out. For the first time in a long while, I feel like I’m starving. I could eat an ox.”

“Now that you mention it, so could I.”

“No sooner said than done. You finish your tea, I’ll put some food on the grill. Just eggs and some vegetables, but I can throw together a mean omelet.”

She smiled up at him when he walked away and quickly moved to where his body had warmed the blankets beneath them. Fairies didn’t need blankets and often slept right in the herbs, flowers or grasses back in England, but it felt soft and cozy. Besides, he wasn’t a Fairy. Still, he had the muscle and build of any warrior of her own race. And his energy while they made love was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Double orgasms weren’t something she’d ever felt, but he was certainly able to deliver. She thought on that wondrous feat as she watched him move about the firelight and finally bring a frying pan where she lay.

“Only one fork and knife. That’s all I could find. But I didn’t expect to have company for dinner.”

She opened her mouth and let him feed her a mouth full of scrambled egg and thought there had never been anything so wonderfully cooked.

“Good?”

She nodded, then sipped some more tea. There was something very sensual about him feeding her and sharing the meal. Whatever it was, she already needed him quite badly by the time he put the cups and the pan aside. When he turned to face her, Enora did what the women of her race had for thousands of years before. She pushed him backward and proceeded to kiss and caress every part of his body. Her wings fluttered against his body as a way of stimulating him. And it worked.

Rogan moaned and threw his hands up over his head. They lay behind and over him, against the soft blankets. “What the hell are you doing, eh? Is this the way you thank a guy for cooking for you? Because if it is, if I ever catch any other man feeding you, I’ll put his lights out.”

She placed her finger tips over his lips. “Don’t talk. Just feel.”

For the rest of the night, Rogan did whatever she asked. She would mount him with her silvery wings shimmering under the moonlight. Then she’d kneel and ask him to take her from behind. Whatever she wanted he gave and did it with his heart open. By the time the night deepened, he could only pray he’d satisfied her the way she had him. And as she slept next to him and her wings drifted out behind her, Rogan began to think about the future. He lifted one hand, put it carefully against her abdomen and knew she’d be just as enticing while carrying a baby. He had never thought of such a thing before. But the more the idea rolled around in his brain, the more he wanted it. He wanted lots of kids and to have them loved and happy. But the future was still there and he was afraid for those children his mind conjured. Three little girls like Enora and three strapping boys like himself. Rogan pulled her toward him, murmured how much he loved her and then simply lay in her arms. And his thoughts were all of her and what their life might be like together. But there was one thing, even while he lay there, that must be addressed. And that would happen as soon as the sun brought a new day. It wouldn’t be pleasant, but it had to be done. His and Enora’s future and that of their unborn children wouldn’t begin under a cloud of doubt and pain.

Chapter Fourteen

“I don’t want to get up either, baby. Believe me, I don’t. But I sent for Wayne, Keelin and my parents, remember? And I don’t think I’d want them watching us when we make love. But I promise I’ll make it up to you later. Okay?”

From her position straddling his waist, she leaned over and kissed him slowly. Then said, “All right. I guess that promise will have to do.”

He grinned, wagged his eyebrows and looked her over in what he hoped was a seriously engaging leer. “I think I really like it with you on top. Ya know?”

She playfully pushed his shoulders then maneuvered off him. “I think that you’d like it hanging upside down from a branch.”

“Now there’s a thought,” he said and pasted a mock-insightful look on his face.

Enora laughed heartily, stood and went in search of her clothing.

After dressing and putting out the small campfire, Rogan went to the van and hauled the rest of his supplies to the cave with Enora’s help. He looked up when conversation reached his ears. “I guess they’re here.”

Enora saw Rogan’s shoulders go back and his head go up. There was a look of complete determination on his face as he prepared to meet their guests. And she knew it had more to do with a coming confrontation with his parents. Even if she couldn’t have sensed his intention, she could interpret the way he carried himself and the tempered gleam in his eyes. He was a man ready to get a painful part of his life over with and set a standard from here on.

“Rogan, be kind. Your parents are hurting over what they’ve said about you. Remember, they are the only parents you’ll ever have,” Enora softly reminded. And she put on hand on his shoulder to try to calm him.

“I’ll try to hold my temper. But this has been a long time coming.”

Enora stood beside him and watched Keelin and Wayne approach first, if rather timidly.

“How’s it going, Rogan?” Wayne quietly asked and he paused for a moment to look at Rogan’s face. “You look different somehow. Kind of like somebody with an axe to grind. But I guess that’s to be expected.” He turned to take Keelin’s hand. “I can’t speak for anybody else. But I’m sorry as hell I didn’t trust you. I should’ve known you had something up your sleeve. I don’t know what to say. I’m really sorry,” he repeated.

Rogan took a deep breath and nodded. “Actually, I didn’t leave you much choice with your judgment. I did steal the graphs and run off like a damn criminal.”

“That’s no excuse for me thinking the things I believed about you. We’ve worked together for a lot of years. I know you as well as I know myself. But why didn’t you just tell me what you were up to?”

Rogan regarded his long-time friend for a moment. “You’d have tried to stop me and I couldn’t let you. It’s a long story, but there were lives at stake. I just cheated the course of events. The creatures gave me the option to do so and I took it. It was just the way it had to be.”

Wayne held out his hand. “Doesn’t matter why you did it. I regret that I ever doubted your judgment in the first place.”

Keelin spoke up. “And if you’ll let us stay to help you and Enora, we’ll both make it up to you.”

Rogan half-smiled. It wasn’t his intention to hurt the man who’d been his friend for so many years. He took Wayne’s hand in his. And as the big man came forward and wrapped him in a bear-like hug, Rogan ruffled his hair the way he always did when the two of them had just done something remarkable together.

“No hard feelings, Rogan?”

“No. No hard feelings, Wayne.” Then he addressed Keelin. “You’ve only ever shown me kindness. Since I intend to handfast with your sister, I guess that makes us family.”

Keelin smiled at him. “Yes, it does.” She walked forward to hug him as Wayne had, then turned to hug her little sister. “Wayne and I will be handfasted too. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were on the same night? Summer Solstice?”

Enora nodded and kissed her sister’s cheek, full of happiness for the both of them.

Rogan was aware that his parents lingered in the background, but waited until his complete attention could be given to them. His reunion with them wouldn’t go so smoothly. At least he didn’t think he could hope for so much when seeing the cool expressions they wore.

“There’s one more thing I’d better tell you before we end the apology,” Wayne advised. “You’re going to drill me a new one for this, but I threw the rebreather into the loch.”

Rogan tried not to smile. “Something told me you’d do that. It was a twenty-thousand-dollar piece of equipment, you know.”

Wayne shrugged. “It’s a piece of equipment you won’t get yourself killed with now. Besides,” he lifted the green crystal shard hanging around Rogan’s neck, “looks like you won’t need diving gear if the creatures can find you.”

“Well, I can’t fault that logic,” Rogan replied. “But one thing does bother me. How did you just disappear from the research facility? I mean, you couldn’t pretend you’d drowned like my parents or to have lost any of your marbles like me. What did you say to them about not going back?”

Wayne rubbed chin. “I sent a letter telling them I was finding employment elsewhere after the press got through chewing you up and spitting you out. But if anything comes up, the Sorceress said she’d handle it.”

Rogan nodded in approval. “Well, that’s that. I guess it’s you and me, Keelin and Enora. Somehow, we’ll make this work. The creatures don’t need to be catered to constantly. Through my contact, they’ve made that clear.”

“Hey, what the hell is that like, anyhow? I’ve been dying to ask you…” Wayne began, but Keelin put an arm on his shoulder to stop him.

“Let Rogan talk to his parents first,” Keelin suggested. “It might be a good idea if you and I took a short walk for now.”

“Yeah, uh sure,” Wayne meekly responded. “I-I’ll talk to you later, Rogan. And God knows I’m really sorry about everything. I mean it.”

“I know. It’s okay. As far as I’m concerned it’s over.” And Rogan meant it. He watched Keelin and Wayne walk to the edge of the beach and pet the dozing baby, then he took Enora’s hand in his and walked toward his parents. “Mom…Dad, I guess you heard I’m marrying Enora.”

Pat clasped her hands in front of her. “Rogan, I hope you can appreciate…that is, your father and I are really very sorry about all this. About the harsh words and arguments in the past. I’m not sure why it all began. But this is a chance to start fresh. For all of us. We couldn’t be happier that you’re marrying Enora. And both of us want to tell you how proud we are that you’ve done what you have. To watch you give up everything to save the members of the Order and protect the secrets of the loch was the most gratifying moment of our lives.”

Kyle added his sentiments. “I agree with your mother, son. We are proud of you.”

Something finally hurt deep enough that Rogan opened up. “What about the rest?”

“I-I don’t understand,” Pat responded quietly and looked to Kyle for help.

“I know,” Rogan continued, “and that’s what’s bothering me.” He stopped to compose himself, aware that his throat was very near tightening so much that he couldn’t speak. But Enora’s hand on his back helped him focus. “I don’t care whether you agree with what I do or not. I only ever wanted to hear three words from the both of you that weren’t dependent on if I did something you liked.” The last part came out more bitter than he would have liked, but years of pain couldn’t be held back so easily.

Enora watched as Pat’s eyes filled with tears and Rogan’s father put his arm around his wife to comfort her. Enora could only keep silent, hoping this impasse could be breached.

“You know exactly what started it all,” Rogan quietly reminded. “I’ve had a hell of a lot of time to think about it. And if you think real hard, you’ll remember.”

“Son, if this is about what happened while you were in the Navy…”

“No, Dad, it isn’t,” Rogan interrupted. “It’s about what happened when I was fifteen. That protest you planned near police headquarters in downtown San Diego, remember? You wanted to picket the police department for its arresting three of your fellow protesters.”

Kyle thought for a moment. “I remember that, but what has that got to do with us and our relationship now, son?”

“Let me tell you about it.”

Enora swallowed hard and stepped away from Rogan. As befuddled as her senses were where he was concerned, she couldn’t miss the low burning anger in Rogan’s voice.

“I came home from football practice one afternoon,” Rogan began, “and you and some of your cronies were sitting out in front of our old bus discussing your strategies for the protest. I didn’t want to hear it because it’s all I ever heard. I was sick to death of everybody and everything being wrong all the time. It seemed like nothing was ever right with you and your friends and your beliefs about ecology.” He stepped closer to them. “I could get over you ignoring every school function and getting yourselves arrested so that I had to stay with friends more often than not. But there was one thing I won’t ever forgive.”

“Son, just tell us what we did or said,” Kyle begged. “We’ll try to explain if we can.”

“You and your friends sat out there in front of the bus that evening talking about how it’d be real easy to toss a real scare into the police. Just to let them know you were serious.”

Enora watched Kyle’s face grow quite pale. Pat put her hands to her mouth and shook her head as if she wanted to deny what would be said next.

“I heard everything,” Rogan told them. “And I couldn’t get over the fact that my mother and father would plot throwing a pipe bomb into the middle of a bunch of cops.”

“Rogan, you have to understand, it was just something that came up in the conversation. We’d have never really done such a thing. Times were different then,” Pat defended.

“That’s not the way I heard it,” he adamantly argued. “The man suggesting that crap convinced me he’d go through with it. And you and Dad never said a word to shut him up or tell him you didn’t want to have anything to do with that kind of behavior.” Rogan walked even closer to them and spoke quite softly. “If you were wondering how the police knew you were coming, I went to the Northeast Subdivision and told a sergeant there everything. They believed me easily enough after looking up your arrest records and finding out who you’d been associated with. But I guess you didn’t know that one of those people, the same one who wanted to use violence, was wanted in Canada for killing a Mountie there. I picked him out of a photo book and the cops couldn’t wait to get their hands on him. They’d have arrested you and Dad for complicity in plotting a felony if not for me. I was the reason you didn’t get arrested for anything other than minor protesting charges that day. The police just waited for you to show up downtown, hauled off the man they really wanted and sent him back to Canada. I guess some judge felt sorry for me, because they let you go. That’s the only reason I can attribute to their not putting both your butts in lock-up that night.”

“That’s why social services kept coming around for days after that,” Kyle murmured. “We thought it was just that one of the neighbors complained about that old converted bus.”

Rogan stared at them for a moment. “You don’t get it, do you?”

Enora could feel his pain, anger and betrayal. Even through her own emotions of love and support. Her empathic powers were certain that he was in deep confusion and anger over what he was reliving. She stepped forward and took his hand in hers.

“That cop your friend killed had a family, Dad. A wife and three kids. He was shot down in the middle of the street at another protest up north. Something in me wants to believe you didn’t know that. But you let him into our home and let him stay there even after he wanted to kill somebody else. And that isn’t the way to help people or the environment. There has never been and never will be an excuse to hurt somebody because they don’t think like you.”

Pat broke into sobs. “W-we wouldn’t have let anyone get hurt, Rogan. I swear it.”

Kyle held her and began to sob as well.

“You’d both better do some hard listening because I won’t ever say this again. Maybe you’ve changed your ways over the past few years. Maybe you think differently about going that far to make a point, but your behavior at protests and different rallies the last few years doesn’t tell me so. You’ve got an arrest record as long as my arm and it doesn’t seem to bother you. You might have even been taken more seriously in your own work if it weren’t for your irrational behavior when it comes to your causes. But your beat-people-over-the-head-with-a-stick ways never helped anyone. It only turns people off and can cause dangerous situations. And that’s why I’ll only warn you once.” He turned away. “You’d have seen nothing wrong in it if the Sorceress sent people to kill me. You’d have said she was only doing so to protect the Order of the Ancients and its people from being discovered and having their powers abused. I know you all too well. And in that regard, you’d have been right for once. But there’s a big damned difference in defending yourself against a menace who’s been warned and going out to hurt some innocent person deliberately. And as the Keeper of the Loch, I won’t tolerate any interference that will lead to the discovery of the creatures or that threatens my wife or, if God grants it, my kids one day.”

“Rogan, please, try to understand. We didn’t know you heard all that when you came home that day. And I’m sorry we weren’t there for you more often,” Kyle said between sobs. “We thought we were doing what was right back then.”

“I suggest you don’t try anything like that while you’re living within the Order,” he calmly replied, “or Shayla Gallagher, as Sorceress of the Ancients, will make good on her promise to make you disappear. Only it’ll be for real. She’s got too much on her plate as it is to deal with malcontents and upstarts who can’t get along with others. Try any of your bullshit with her and you’ll find out. I won’t be able to come to your rescue this time.”

His words sounded incredibly unforgiving even to Enora’s ears, but Rogan wasn’t facing his parents and they couldn’t see the pain on his face or the sheen of tears in his eyes. And still, his parents hadn’t come out and said the three words he wanted to hear. Just three words. And something deep within her knew his parents might do something Rogan should fear. She’d already heard rumors of the elder MacCleans’ efforts to band some Fairies together and confront the Sorceress about some minor thing or another. Luckily, no one had taken much notice of the older human outsiders. It seemed to her now that they weren’t very happy people and never had been. Only in their search for what they believed was right had there been any connection with the couple as a family. And Rogan had suffered for it.

“I think it’s time you left,” Enora quietly advised them. “There might be a time in the future when you’re ready to say what Rogan wanted to hear, but you don’t seem to be at that point yet. And I can’t feel that I’d want such troubled people around my children. We’ve enough to teach them without them thinking every single human is their enemy. Something tells me you might just want to tell them that and a child doesn’t need to hear hate. That’s the reason the Order has been hiding all these years. Because of the hate from the past. And it’s time to stop it.” When her own voice began to tremble, Enora felt Rogan’s strong arms wrap around her. He gently propelled her away from his parents and toward Keelin and Wayne.

Rogan never turned around as his parents left, he just stood there holding Enora and stared at the cold water of Loch Ness. But everything there was blurred because of the tears in his eyes. He only took stock of himself and those around him when the baby came forward and her antennae began to glow. She gently snuffled against Rogan’s cheek. And in his mind he heard the words, “Love Keeper…I”. It was the very first words uttered by the infant telepathic creature, wanting very much to communicate with him at last. Rogan let his stoic control go, buried his face against her soft green neck and wept. Even the baby understood his pain and was willing to share it. He felt Enora’s hands as she stroked his back and heard Wayne’s and Keelin’s broken voices as they commiserated. But nothing in the world could make his folks love him if they really didn’t. Conditional love was an oxymoron. You cared or you didn’t. There was no family without it. So he would make one of what he had. Wayne, Keelin, Enora and himself would be family. And he believed Enora’s family might even love him more than his own. He finally pulled himself together, stepped back and looked at everyone.

“I’ve got you guys. That’s all I need.”

The baby put her forehead against his, nudged him gently and decided to bestow a big sloppy kiss against his neck by using her tongue.

Rogan could only stand there and let her drool on him. But he laughed softly and savored that moment. Any love you could find was wonderful and so much better than feeling empty. He finally knew he’d have more than he’d ever dreamed of. When the creatures last contacted him, they showed him a less formidable future than their previous prediction. There was no death or destruction in their vision. But a fantastic, warm prophecy. He saw himself and Enora walking through the hillsides of Loch Ness, hand in hand. Behind them were six children. Three beautiful girls with long flowing hair and three immense boys who were laughing and joking with each other. Even with the baby’s slobbering attention, Rogan turned to Enora and pulled her close.

“I love you. Never forget that.”

“I love you too. You’ll never doubt it, Rogan.”

He took her hand in his and turned toward the baby. She raised her melon-sized head, let out a juvenile whistle and stomped her feet.

“Guess she’s hungry,” Rogan surmised. “Do we get the cabbage?”

Wayne pretended to salute. “You’re in charge. Cabbage it is.”

“Keeper of the Loch,” Rogan quietly repeated. “Well, I don’t know much about the job. But I’ll be the best damned Keeper I can.”

Enora kissed him again. “You’re one damned good man already. So the choice the creatures made was wise.”

“No. The smartest thing I ever did was fall in love with you.” He put his arm around her waist and silently vowed she and their children would hear how much he loved them every day of their lives. Whatever happened in the world around them, they’d be safe and happy. So long as they were together.

* * * * *

Shayla rose from the chair behind her desk and faced the leaders of her people. The Goblins, Druids, Fairies, Pixies, Trolls, Elves and other factions all had representatives there. She augmented her voice, using her power over the wind blowing from an open castle window. She feared her news wouldn’t be accepted well.

“In the past, I’ve allowed those of you who appear as humans the right to travel about the countryside. This, of course, has been necessary for procuring supplies and to expand our business connections. I’ve allowed this mobility even though I knew those with unusual blood might fall victim to some accident or illness. Obviously, if you cannot refuse treatment because you’re unconscious, then hospitals and physicians are mandated to give it. It follows that your blood can be withdrawn and tested if you’re somehow incapacitated and cannot refuse such action. Thus far, no such incident has occurred, but armed with the knowledge I now have, I can no longer afford the luxury of taking chances.”

The leader of the Elves stepped forward. “Are you saying trips to the outside world will be limited, Shayla?”

She sighed heavily. There was no delicate way to articulate her edict. “For most of you these trips will cease altogether. Whatever your chores were in the outside world will now be assigned to those bearing Druid blood only.” When a low murmur began from the back of the room and worked its way forward, Shayla held up one hand to silence the voices. “It would be foolhardy to endanger your lives by needlessly sending you in harm’s way. When times were more difficult, the danger might have been justified. In other days, we needed all our men and women to be ready to go into the world in a moment’s notice and do as I commanded. Now, however, the Order is well on its way to becoming larger and more powerful than it’s ever been. Since there are more than enough Druids who can accomplish our business dealings in the outside world and since their blood appears as normal as any human’s, there is no point in making us vulnerable because of one mishap. One single accident is all it would take to expose an individual’s magical qualities and the Order’s welfare as a whole.”

“But why change things now, Sorceress? Those of us who aren’t Druid have known about the varying differences in our blood for years. What’s changed?” the leader of the Gnomes asked.

“The change,” she replied, “results from the fact that most of you who conduct our business only leave the confines of this forest for a week or so. In the future, a great deal more travel will be required to expand our business dealings. Our birth rate is rising. We’ll need more supplies and the secretive businesses we’ve set up must expand to other areas of the world. It’s difficult to sell our woolen goods, for example, when some who’ve previously done so can’t shape shift for more than a few days at best. I couldn’t send you to Japan to meet with a buyer if you’re unable to maintain your physical appearance. We’re dealing globally now, not locally.

“Lest some of you forget, we are now supporting several colonies in Scotland, Ireland and the United States, as well as our own grounds here in Britain. In short, it takes a great deal of money to keep everyone fed and clothed and maintain a semblance of normality to the outside world. To that end, we must seek our sustenance in distant markets. Those who travel may be gone for weeks or months on end, not hours or days. This will obviously expose our people to greater risks. We cannot blindly pretend that an accident will not befall those of us who are far from the Order’s protection. We must accept that it can and will happen, as it happens everyday to those living in the outside world.

“If such a catastrophe should take place involving one of you whose blood is different, your distance away from the Order may make it impossible to assist you. Quite bluntly, your blood being scrutinized under a microscope in Taiwan or Mexico City could eventually bring the world right down on top of us. You won’t simply be traveling to Salisbury and back. Or to the farmer’s market in Barnsdale. I may require my business envoys to go to Greece, then on to Quanzhou, China. I need people who, for all intents and purposes, are human to the outside world.”

Lore stepped in front of some of the others. “Does this have anything to do with heightened security around the world, Sorceress?”

She turned to the Fairy leader. “Yes, it certainly does. The most advanced equipment imaginable is now being used at airports and identification is being scrutinized as never before. One of you might very well be mistaken for a terrorist if your passport even remotely causes question. All this is bad enough without having to worry over your blood being spilled on some motorway or one of you needing an emergency appendectomy. You must understand. We’re fighting for our own security here. The world is in such a state that we might be viewed as hostile just because we hide.”

“Surely, those who haven’t as much experience traveling or conducting business might come under scrutiny ? If not by the authorities in airports, then by the outsiders in the business world itself. Some of us have been conducting our commerce with the same outsiders for years. It may seem suspicious if we change our contact personnel almost overnight. Is there no other way?” Lore asked and held out his hands in appeal.

Shayla thought for a moment. “Your wisdom is inescapable, Lore, and I concede this point.”

Lore watched as the Sorceress walked toward the French doors which led out of the castle and into the gardens beyond. He could almost feel the walls closing in around his world and his people.

Shayla turned and raised her hand. “Those of you who’ve been in the outside world on business shall immediately train a Druid to take your place. I’ll allow you to choose your substitute. You’ll have exactly six weeks to complete the job. This replacement must be someone whose absence from the Order won’t effect the day-to-day operations. And all the faction leaders must stay within the forests regardless of their race. I’ll need them close for the time being.”

Lore was stunned. “Why, Shayla? Yes, I realize that my blood is very different from humans’. But I can only speak for myself when I say that I haven’t and won’t get into any situations where I’ll be examined by some human physician. If this situation is that risky, I’m agreeable to having a Druid companion travel with me. But to have someone take my place in a business that I spent years building would be ludicrous. The people to whom I sell goods in the outside world will wonder why I’m not there any more. A stranger might not be accepted by the professional contacts I’ve built. That might even result in the loss of revenue. Even if I sent letters of introduction and announce my replacement properly, the outsiders I’ve dealt with for years might not do business with someone new.”

Shayla walked determinedly toward him, stopped and glared at him. “The command has been given. I have my reasons, Lore, and am not in the habit of justifying myself. You, of all my leaders, should know this.” She turned around, marched to her desk and stood behind it. “This matter has been decided. It will be done.”

Lore stood still while the others patiently filed out of the room. They might be willing to take this command without a better explanation, but he wasn’t. While he trusted his life to the Sorceress, what she was asking made no sense at all. They’d known about the blood anomalies for several years. Though recent discoveries about the cellular differences between those of the Order and the outside world were shocking, why risk their financial stability by changing their business habits now?

When she saw Lore still standing there, Shayla motioned to an attendant to close the library doors. After the doors were closed and they were alone, she approached him. “I know what you’re feeling, Lore. But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“My people have had the run of this property, the valleys beyond and some of the villages for years. They won’t take well to being hemmed in with these commands, Sorceress.”

“What are you saying?” she asked. “Are you their leader or not?”

Lore took a deep breath. When the Sorceress was in one of her surly moods, she could be immovable. Tactlessness would get him nowhere. “I’m only saying that Fairies can’t be closed in long. They don’t do well. Our freedom has been curtailed as it is. But not to even move about at night or leave the property on a small outing to an ancient stone circle will cut my people’s morale deeply. They know the risks of being caught and have been exceedingly careful not to give themselves away. I take no risks when I move around outsiders. My paperwork is double-checked and I leave no way for anyone to trace the museum weaponry I sell. And you know I’d throw myself into the deepest part of the ocean rather than let anyone get their hands on my blood.”

Shayla took a deep breath and motioned toward a nearby sofa. “Sit down.”

When Lore did as she asked the Sorceress took a seat next to him. “You’ve not only a Fairy’s love of freedom, but that Irish ancestry of yours makes you speak your mind at times. I can appreciate that, Lore. But my commands cannot be questioned in the presence of others.”

Lore bowed his head slightly. “It was ill done of me tonight, Shayla. But others would ask the same questions. I know the Craftsman, for example, will be selling our goods at a fair next month. I’m usually at such functions. The reproduction swords and knives I sell may be created by his hand, but the business end of marketing them is up to me. Neither he nor his people know the buyers the way I do, or how to move about the countryside getting the goods from one place to the other. Even the security people at the airports recognize me now and don’t question my presence when I fly from here to Ireland.”

“I know all that, my man. But you, of all my warriors, are needed close to me know. And I will not risk anything happening to you.”

Lore gazed into her mesmerizing eyes for a moment. “Are you saying the Druids might be expendable if something should happen? If they’re suspected by outsiders for any reason and keep their mouths shut, we can afford to lose them?”

Shayla took one of his hands in hers. “Bluntly spoken. But I’m afraid it’s true. They are, after all, only human with special powers. And all those Druids who go about our affairs from now on will be told exactly that. They will, indeed, be considered expendable. And I will have their word they’ll die before revealing us. I know they’ll give it even though it cuts me deep to ask it of them. But no matter how they’re tested, probed or x-rayed, they’ll still look like humans to any outsiders if they’re caught in some security violation with fake ID, or they’re injured lying on a hospital examining table. It’s an odious command I’ve given, to be sure. But it had to be done.” Her fingers clenched into fists just thinking about the order she’d issued.

“You’ve seen something, haven’t you? You’ve had a premonition?”

She thought how to word her answer before responding. “Let’s just say that terror in the world has put us with our backs to the wall. Even if we’re innocent of anything that might have caused the stepped-up security. But we must keep our businesses and all their surreptitious conveyances going. And we will need to expand those same businesses. That means traveling further and being gone for longer lengths of time, just as I’ve said. Can you understand why I wouldn’t want you to be absent for so long, knowing what you are and what might be discovered about you in light of the Keeper’s findings?”

“I know our own physicians have backed up his opinion regarding our origins. And I know you’ve had your staff working on translating those scrolls found beneath this castle. While I sense it all means something ominous, it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been going about my job for years with no one the wiser. To risk our income on something that might never happen, a car accident or some other mishap, doesn’t make sense to me. My origins and what my blood looks like won’t matter if I’m careful. I know how to get around in the world better than anyone I can train. I know my business and I know the humans I deal with. Putting someone in my place won’t work.”

“Not with the documents your Druid counterpart will receive. It will appear you’ve been promoted and someone else is doing the sales work now,” she told him. “If any outsiders have any questions regarding your absence, you might be required to take a telephone call on one of our untraceable lines from time to time. It’ll be the same with all the others. Those who sell wool, jewelry, artwork and anything else with whom we’ve set up camouflaged business roles will be given this same order, as I’ve told you. There’ll be no exceptions. Not even for our colony in the States.”

Finally tired of trying to persuade her, Lore stood up. “This won’t work,” he reasserted. “I haven’t toiled eight years of my life selling museum quality weaponry only to see some Druid screw up the entire operation for lack of proper business acuity. And I can’t teach him that in six weeks.”

The Sorceress rose and faced him. “Don’t make me give another command for which we’ll both be sorry. Go get some rest and try to put this in perspective. I want your replacement named and that person’s training to begin as soon as possible. Is that understood?”

He exhaled slowly, clenched his hands into fists and bowed. “By your command.”

“You may be excused.”

Lore turned and walked out of the room. He noted how the doors opened and closed without his having touched them. The Sorceress’ powers were great. Greater than any other Sorceress in the Order’s history. And he knew there was some omen she’s seen that had instigated this entire change of procedure. But as she said, she wasn’t in the habit of justifying herself to anyone. However she couched the command, the events of this night still left him feeling powerless. Never in his life had he been ordered to restrict his presence to the Order’s most sacred property. For a Fairy, it amounted to imprisoning him. As a leader, it amounted to a slap in the face, no matter how sweetly or urgently the command might have been uttered. And he knew the others of the Fairy races would see things very much the same way. What purpose could there be in aggravating them when they already felt the burden of the world closing in around them?

When he reached the edge of the sacred forest, Lore gazed out over the hills, valleys and forests that had once been home to all his kind. His wild Fairy’s blood urged him to be free while his obedience to the Sorceress warred with that urge. “I won’t be trapped because of my blood. My kind have been here thousands of years. The ignorance of mankind will not forge my prison walls,” he muttered to himself.

Lore knew he was one of Shayla’s most trusted warriors and leaders, but being treated like a criminal because of an anomaly in his blood angered him in a way he’d never experienced. He turned, stalked into the forest and made a vow to refuse, for the first time in his life, to do as the Sorceress of the Ancients commanded. And that might very well see him being punished for his obstinacy. But so be it. No one was going to fence him and his people in when simple diligence would keep them out of trouble as it always had. If it was an argument she was trying to avoid, the Sorceress had gone about it the wrong way.

As he stalked through the forest, however, another thought entered Lore’s mind. He had an insight concerning the situation which he hadn’t been evident before. It had to do with what the new Keeper of the Loch had seen in his empathic vision-state with the creatures of Loch Ness.

“I was supposed to have died…” The words stayed with him and flowed through his consciousness like a mantra. As his mind grasped what he believed to be the real reason for the Sorceress’ new edict, his fury over her command faded. He sat on the stump of an old oak tree and searched his memory and his heart.

There were times in the past when he’d come very close to being seriously injured or even killed. On the night of a horrifying fire in the artists’ loft, for example, he was supposed to have been working late in that very building with his friends. Shayla didn’t even know there was a late work session planned or that he’d been invited to join it. Because of what she’d seen in her scrying dish, she’d had the inclination to send him on an errand, to the other side of the forest. While he had gone to do her bidding, a leak in a fuel line caused an explosion. Nine people in the loft died. And while Shayla would have most certainly averted any tragedy for all those involved, her visions rarely showed her the absolute extent of what was to happen. She saw only bits and pieces of the future, not the whole thing. She acted on instinct.

Often, what she saw didn’t make sense until the actual, predicted event was in progress. On the night of that loft fire, she wouldn’t have known a building was going to burn and lives would be lost. The fates of those other Order members hadn’t been accessible to Shayla but a part of his future had. For some reason, she’d see him being hurt and fire was involved. But there was no one else in her vision and no other information had been forthcoming. And Lore believed that guilt over that incident ate at Shayla still. But the Sorceress had no control over what the Goddess allowed her to see or when. That wasn’t in Shayla Gallagher’s hands. Her duty as Sorceress, was to act on what she was allowed to view.

As he thought further, Lore vividly remembered a cave-in some years ago when a troop of Brownies had died. He was much younger then and was supposed to have been working in that cave on the day the roof collapsed. But the Sorceress sent him to guard a part of the forest miles away from the accident. Again, her visions had only told her about his impending doom of some kind and not the deaths of others. Shayla would have saved all those who had died that day if she’d known the extent of the disaster. But such was not shown to her. And that incident also weighed on her conscience, like many others. Lore sometimes felt it when she let her guard down and his Fairy senses caught her in an introspective mood.

There had been other close calls where he was concerned. He recalled a number of those situations and his current plight clarified exactly what the Sorceress was doing. Perhaps she was still trying to save the lives of others who had close, life-threatening encounters over the years. Still, he couldn’t recall anyone having escaped so many disasters in their lifetime as he. The more he thought of them, the more suspicious he became about the real reason for the Sorceress’ new plan of operation.

He stood up, turned around and walked back the way he’d come. Without announcement, he walked into the castle library again, where he knew the Sorceress would still be working. Lore simply barged in without asking her permission or waiting for so much as a by-your-leave.

Shayla turned when the doors to the library flew open. She saw Lore standing there, clasped her hands together and glared at him. “I thought our conversation was over,” she regally told him.

Without waiting for an invitation to do so, Lore walked forward, stood before the Sorceress and stared into her knowing eyes. He asked his question. “How many times?”

She cast her gaze just over his left shoulder and refused to acknowledge him.

Her averted stare told him everything. “I’ll rephrase my question, Shayla. How many times was I supposed to have died?”

She turned away, walked toward a set of French doors and opened them. Then she stepped out into the castle gardens.

Lore then knew the truth of everything. Her silence was the seal that had him following her out into the garden. Deep within its lush growth, she finally stopped walking but kept her back to him.

“I was wondering if you’d discover my ruse,” she softly admitted.

“It was very good. Quite crafty, in fact. You couldn’t just order me to stay within the confines of the sacred forest without my asking you some very pointed and painful questions, so you told all the leaders to stay put, thinking I wouldn’t catch on. But your logic, if you’ll pardon me for saying so, was slightly flawed.”

She softly snorted and raised one eyebrow. “I should have known I couldn’t fool you, my friend. Not after so many years together. Not after so many adventures and close calls.”

Lore watched as she finally turned around to face him. He watched her keep her body rigid and her countenance stoic. “You used the excuse that our blood was too radically different and that our being in the world where someone might get their hands on it was more of a danger than ever. But you were really trying to keep one person contained within the forest without anyone being the wiser. The others might believe what you said, Shayla. They might believe all the excuses you gave them about sending only Druids into the world from now on, but I don’t. It simply makes no sense that you’d undermine all our business dealings in the outside world over the fear that some of our strange blood might be spilt on a London street somewhere. And when I finally thought it all out, I understood your efforts were meant to protect one particular person without raising his suspicions. That person was me.”

“But your doubts weren’t quelled,” Shayla sadly commented. “Nothing I’ve done seems to be changing the inevitable, though Goddess knows I’ve tried so hard to do so. I’ve cheated the prophecy many times and knew I was doing so. But I can’t protect you any longer. I couldn’t help others, but I could somehow see your fate. It was always clear to me.”

Lore watched her slump, then sit down on a stone bench nearby. His worst fears were confirmed when Shayla’s stalwart control left and she gazed up at him with tears in her eyes.

He knelt before her. “Rescind your command, Sorceress. As I’m the one you were trying to protect, it does no good to endanger the rest of the Order with your newest proposal. Leave the business dealings as they are. They’ve worked quite well for years. I can’t and won’t be responsible for endangering our business dealings in the outside world. You know as well as I that outsiders will be suspicious of new people representing our interests. That kind of change won’t make sense to them.” He gently took her hands in his. “Now, I’ll ask again. How many times was I supposed to have died?”

She swallowed hard. “Too many.” She took a deep, shaky breath and continued. “Your destiny with the Keeper’s vision was the last fatal encounter from which I could protect you. Bringing Rogan MacClean here wasn’t just to save the creatures of the loch. The purpose for my allowing him into the Order was twofold.”

Lore solemnly nodded. “You predicted he would save me as well. There was supposed to be a fight at Loch Ness where I was attempting to save the creatures from discovery. I and others whose names you don’t even know were supposed to have died. Isn’t that what you told me?”

She simply nodded.

“But you can’t protect me anymore. I’ve outrun my fate for as long as I can. That’s what all this is about, isn’t it? You’re still trying to save my life.”

Again she quietly nodded her affirmation.

Lore gently put his arms around her. “You can protect me no longer, my wonderful friend…my wise and intuitive Sorceress. You’d turn our world inside out just to protect me and I can’t have that.”

Shayla drew upon her strength to try to keep the tears at bay, but there was no more strength in her where Lore’s future was concerned. “Your time won’t be put off, my lovely man. My brave, brave Fairy leader. I tried hard. Oh how I tried. But now that you’ve recognized your end, I can no longer pretend it isn’t coming. I have to let you go.”

When she silently but openly began to weep, Lore felt his heart crack. “I can’t and won’t deny this destiny. As you say, I’ll go into the world and meet my fortune, Sorceress. Whatever that may be.”

“I-I’ll rescind my order to the rest of the leaders. They may go about their business as usual.”

He softly kissed her cheek. “Thank you, my dear friend…my Sorceress and guardian. I ask a blessing for you, for all you’ve done and suffered on my behalf. But now I take my leave of you and the Order. If I’m to meet my end, I want to be in the old country, where I began. I’ll travel to Ireland once more.”

“I give you leave to follow that destiny, my faithful, ever beloved leader of the Fairies. So Mote It Be.”

Lore gently kissed her forehead, stood up and bowed deeply before his Sorceress. “I am, and shall ever be, your most adoring servant. You are, and shall ever be, my Sorceress.”

Shayla watched him silently walk away and disappear into the forest like a wraith. Into the world the Fairy leader would go. He would be alone among outsiders, without anyone knowing why he’d left. And with his end, the world of the Order would go on. But every creature within its ranks would suffer greatly for his loss. Part of all their hearts would die when he did and there was nothing on Earth she could do to stave off that finality.

She didn’t know how it would happen or when. No more visions had come to her on the matter. The death he was supposed to have encountered at Loch Ness was, as she’d told him, the last fatal event with which she could interfere. She could no longer avert any such tragedy. The blackness of her scrying dish told her so.

“No room in the world for Fairies. No room in the world for the rest of us,” she quietly wept. “And real magic will die forever when he leaves this plane of existence.” She looked into the night sky. “Goddess of all things, go with him. I, Sorceress of the Ancients, beg this one favor from you.”

* * * * *

Silently, Lore walked through the woods. His few belongings were gathered in a crane bag that now hung over his shoulder. There was no family or special lover he was leaving behind and a new successor would be chosen to take his place. The Sorceress would see to all that.

As he reached the edge of the sacred forest, he turned to look into its green depths once more. The perimeter guard wouldn’t stop him. By now, Shayla’s command to let him leave had reached their ears.

He turned away and faced the open fields adjacent to the forest. Lore looked up at the moon and sadly smiled. “One last journey. One last adventure. Let me do some small amount of good so that all creatures of the Order might benefit from the few days left of my life.”

He walked away, never looking back. Lore fortified his heart to receive whatever was to come.