Loch

Cavenger’s first, completely absurd, impulse was to berate Emilio, to scold and blame him for not following orders precisely. The harpoon team pushed by him, heading for the railing. The rest of the crew ran for the stern. In these last, futile seconds, Cavenger had no one left to order, no one to command. He was standing alone when the Rogue’s head snapped toward him. The mouth opened and the huge vise of teeth slowly closed on Cavenger’s head. In a paroxysm of death, the creature jerked back his neck, lifting Cavenger into the burning sun of a tremendous explosion.

Sarah screamed and threw up her hands to cover her face as a second, greater blast swallowed The Revelation in an immense ball of fire. As the storm of smoke and flames rose up into the sky, Loch went to Sarah and put his arm around her.

“I’m sorry,” Loch said gently. “I’m very sorry.”

The fireball turned into streaks of black and raining embers as the remnants of the hull began to slide beneath the surface of the lake. When Sarah lowered her hands from her eyes, her entire body shuddered and she burst into tears. “He was my father … my father,” she cried. “I know he didn’t always do the right thing-he needed so much to prove to everyone he was right. …”

“I guess being right isn’t enough,” Loch said, looking up to the desolate ridge. “I don’t think it was enough for any of us.”

Zaidee rushed to Sarah, flung her arms around her, and began to cry too.

CLICK CLICK …

They heard the sounds, and saw Wee Beastie’s head peer over the stern at them. He looked at them for only a moment, then swam slowly down to the herd.

Lake Alban was silent. A few of the crew from The Revelation had survived the great, ripping blast and had managed to swim to the PT. The crews of the fleet stood quietly on their decks, all guns pointed toward the skiff with the beasts beneath it.

Loch was the first to hear the sounds from below. “They’re making their music,” he said.

“Why?” Sarah asked.

The water around the skiff began to stir, then churn. It moved in increasingly greater swirls and turmoil until the heads and bodies of the beasts began to rise all about them. The beasts surfaced in a great circle, their heads and necks lifting high above the boat.

Loch, Sarah, and Zaidee stood together, looking up at the leviathans. The sound they made now was like that of a thousand cellos, a series of low, haunting notes that slid upward into an increasingly profound and complicated harmony. The music of the plesiosaurs was penetrating, vibrating the air in a way that could be felt on the skin and in the heart. Their singing transcended words and even thoughts, as Loch felt a warmth start in his brain, then move down his spine and flood his entire body. He knew from the look in Zaidee’s and Sarah’s eyes that they were feeling it, too.

To a man, the men with guns lowered their weapons as the sounds swept over them.

Loch didn’t know how he knew, but suddenly he was certain his father was on the ridge. He looked to the cement control bunker. Zaidee’s eyes followed his. They saw Dr. Sam looking down at them.

“Will Dad open the grid?” Zaidee asked.

“Yes,” Loch said.

Dr. Sam waved to them. He knew what had to be done, and he unlocked the door of the bunker. Inside, he punched the code into the controls. In seconds the hydraulics of the grid came alive. Still singing, the beasts slowly sank beneath the surface of the lake as the grid parted its massive gates. There was a tremendous surge of water as the river was restored to its full depth, and the beasts slowly swam into the rush of water flowing toward Lake Champlain-toward their home.

CLICK CLICK.

Only Wee Beastie surfaced. He remained off the stern of the skiff, his eyes glowing at them.

“He wants to stay with us,” Zaidee cried out.

“I think he does,” Loch said, “but he knows he can’t.”

Wee Beastie lifted his snout and shook it at them. Zaidee rushed forward to pet him. She looked closely into the creature’s eyes and knew her brother was right.

“Good-bye, Wee Beastie,” Zaidee cried out. “Good-bye!”

The light in Wee Beastie’s eyes slowly faded. He shook his snout again, turned, and dug his fins hard and deep toward the open grid to follow the song of the plesiosaurs.

Dr. Sam waved to his kids from the knoll.

“We’re a family again, aren’t we?” Zaidee asked Loch as she waved back.

“You bet we are,” Loch said, holding Sarah close to him. A wide grin broke out across his face as he lifted his hand into the air. “We’re a family.”