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And I firmly believed if civilization was about to end, I was eating cake while it happened.
We devoured the cake while watching Akoni fail miserably at party games and Auryn apparently was in yet another conversation involving medicine, because he had his doctor face on, and the sunlight washotand it was all very nice. Except it was about to not be nice at all.
I noticed the older kids had clumped around the oldest kid, who was holding her phone.
Becka perked up immediately. When kids go quiet, bad things are afoot.
Akoni peered over the oldest’s shoulder.
His expression went to ice.
I’d never seen horror like that on a dragon’s face. Much lesshisface.
“Oh shit,” I whispered. “Auryn!”
Was that panic in my voice? That was panic. I tossed my plate down on the table just as Auryn dropped everything to rush over. But before he could even ask what was wrong, Dad put his phone to his ear and his face became a mask ofYes, sir. On it, Mr President.
“What do you think it is, Uncle Akoni?” one kid asked my consort. “You ever see anything like that in the ocean?”
Akoni looked utterly lost for a second, then he recovered. “I’ve seen allsortsof things in the ocean.”
“But you ever see asea monster?”
Akoni gave him a grin. “How do you knowI’mnot a sea monster?”
The kids jostled him like a herd of puppies making noises aboutyou’re not a sea monster!The three oldest kids still huddled around their phones looking dead serious.
Dad headed into the house.
“Something’s happening,” I told Auryn. “Keon’s been on a call with Hekon.”
Auryn took my arm, and we headed after Dad, with Akoni leaving the kids to follow.
“What was the video?” I asked Akoni.
Akoni gave me a haunted look. “They’re social media videos from a fishing trawler off the English coast. It’s coming in to port now. The videos have been up for two hours.”
“And?” I asked.
“Hashtag?Nessie.”
“Like theLoch Ness MonsterNessie?”
“Helena, it looks like they haveMaren.”
Nineteen
Maren?
Dad was just ahead of us, speaking in his Very Serious Shit Is Happening voice. He headed for the family room, where Keon was already having an aggressive conversation in Lemurian, presumably with Hekon.
Dad flicked on the television. And everyone at the party, having realized Shit Was Going Down, crowded into the living room as Dad flipped through the channels, but he didn’t have to flip far, because every other channel was showing it.
On the television, an unseen news anchor was talking, standing on a crowded dock crammed with other news teams somewhere in the UK. A fishing vessel was slowly moving into port. On its deck, mingled with nets and crates, was a lumpy object.
Next to the live feed videos from social media, where the deck hands saidwe’re posting it so that the government can’t make it disappear, ’cause this shit is realand such while showing up-close shots of distinctive lavender scales that fit tightly together. The montage of messy videos filmed on the sea-faring ship revealed…
Maren.
