Sure enough, Gordon was jumping up and down, waving his arms madly.
“There has been a terrible misunderstanding!” he cried. “Please, cease your attacks upon these defenseless creatures at once!”
Chapter 11
“Okay, you’re going to have to explain it to me one more time. Slowly. In small words, please.”
Celeste massaged her temples as Uncle Gordon launched into his explanation once more, only waving his arms aboutsomewhatthis time, the tips of his mustache drooping from all the excitement.
“The kraken was a willing prisoner, do you not see? It was suffering from an illness that no magic or science at the time was able to comprehend. It begged your ancestors to lock it up within the wards so that it would be put into a state of almost, shall we say,suspended animation, preventing it from succumbing to the illness while itsfriendhere searched for the answers.” His mustache quivered. “It is all quite romantic, really.”
“And how long was it searching for these answers, again?” Celeste asked.
Uncle Gordon waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, what’s a few centuries when you’re an ageless beast? In any case, it was long enough that the story got muddled up as it was passed down through the generations, and we ended up with this whole kerfuffle we see here before us.”
“I see,” murmured Celeste. She wasn’t entirely sure that shedidsee –seeingwould mean that she’d dumped her mate and spent twenty-two years locked in a lighthouse because of a romance story involving a dying kraken that had somehow got distorted via a centuries-long game of telephone.
“So that’s what the tremors were all about?” said Pierce, and while his tone was neutral, she could tell from his expression that his thoughts were running along similar lines to hers.
“Yes, yes,” exclaimed Gordon. “The other kraken came along to try and, shall we say, ‘bust out’ the original kraken, which woke that one up and encouraged it to also free itself, now that it knew it could be healed. The wards were never designed to withstand the force of two krakens, especially with one attacking from the outside.”
Celeste sighed. She supposed it was a happy ending – certainly, she was glad that she wasn’t kraken food right now! But dealing with the shock of knowing that all her time here hadn’t been to protect humanity from the kraken, but rather protecting the kraken from… well,itself, she supposed, was going to take some getting used to.
But it wasn’t all for nothing,she told herself.If what Uncle Gordon is saying is true, then wedidsave the kraken’s life. If it was dying and it needed our help, then that’s something, right?
Celeste had to admit that, as shocking as it was, she kind of preferred it that way – or she would, once she got used to it. She’d never really liked the idea of a creature hell-bent on destruction lingering forever in a cave beneath the sea. A benevolent kraken who’d needed their help and whose life she had been saving all this time was vastly preferable, all things considered. But she knew that there would be an adjustment period.
“And not only that,” Uncle Gordon continued on after a moment, “but something else I discovered as I was plumbing the depths of my library is that the kraken is… shall we say, the protector of Portsmith too. In times past, its presence ensured a better harvest of fish – or whatever people do with fish – and more clement weather in the winter months. It was something our ancestors wished to preserve, since they relied on their fishing and livestock to survive… though I suppose this is a less pressing issue in the current day and age, what with same-day delivery services and whatnot.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Celeste said slowly. “But still – that’s good, isn’t it? The winters here at least can bebrutal, so anything that makes them more manageable would be nice. And I didn’t realize the kraken helped the town so much. That’s worth something too, isn’t it? Though of course, it’s a living creature, and it deserved saving in its own right too.”
A plaintivekreeeeeekbroke into the conversation, and she looked up, startled. Two sets of sad kraken eyes stared back at her.
“Oh, of course,” she said. “I guess I should free you, huh?” She supposed she wasn’t the only one who’d had a less than stellar time. At least she hadn’t been stuck in one place for centuries!
But to be honest, she couldn’t betoodisappointed in her discovery of what her life’s mission hadreallybeen. Saving something’s life was better than imprisoning it – and that was what she and her ancestors had been doing all this time, even if they hadn’t known it.
Reaching into her mind, she pulled on the thread that held the net together, and watched as the whole thing fell away. Her mind felt immediately lighter, and she had to admit her heart did too, as the two krakens rolled and frolicked, tentacles intertwining, sending a series of small waves washing up around her knees.
“Okay, you two lovebirds,” Gordon said, gesturing grandly. “Be free! Go, with my blessing!”
The two krakens rolled about once more, then flipped over to face Celeste. Their eyes met hers, and she could have sworn that they were thanking her.
“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile and a wave.
With one last backward glance, the two krakens plunged down under the surface of the ocean with surprising grace… and then, they were gone.
“Do you think anyone in the town might have seen… well, the two giant water monsters that just rose out of the ocean without explanation?” Celeste murmured, as she stared out over the water, watching as the sea started to move back into its normal wave pattern, feeling the wind begin to touch her cheeks once more. Who could understand the ways of such magical and mysterious creatures?
“Hmm. Well, I suppose it’s possible,” Gordon mused, glancing back over his shoulder at the cliffs of Portsmith. “But I rather doubt it. As far as I could see as I sped through the town, most people were gathered in the main street, partaking of some kind of… grilling exercise. No one was anywhere near the cliffs. And since the kraken never rose to its full height, hopefully we were lucky enough that no one was wandering these cliffsides for the last few minutes.”
“Somehow, I think we’d know if anyone had been,” Pierce agreed, his tone a lot more civil than the last time he and Gordon had spoken to each other. “There’d be a crowd of screaming onlookers by now, surely?”
“You’re probably right,” Celeste agreed, nodding. “As far as I could see, just about everyone in town was gathered in the one place for the parade and the Christmas festival. I think we might just have gotten lucky.”
Sighing, she shook her head. Suddenly, she was very,verytired, and her wet clothes were not only sticking to her, they werefreezing.The combination of the cold water and the cutting wind off the ocean was doing absolutely nothing for her mood!
“I suppose all’s well that ends well, then,” she said, shivering. Oh great, and now her teeth were chattering as well! “But, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to find somewhere to get warm, and then spend tonight somewhere thatisn’tthis lighthouse.”
