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I was touched by the kind gesture. “Thank you. You know you don’t have to do that.”
“I wouldn’t do it unless I wanted to,” she insisted.
“We’ll reconvene in the kitchen in twenty minutes.”
“Good,” Nana Pratt said, “because we also need to discuss your budget.”
My stomach churned at the mention of my precarious financial situation. “Okay.”
“Problems don’t go away just because you ignore them, Lorelei,” the elderly ghost counseled me.
“I’m well aware of that, thank you.”
“Would you like ibuprofen when you come down?” Nana Pratt asked.
“Yes, please.”
Nana Pratt looked at Ray. “You’ll have to manage the bottle. I can’t undo the childproof caps.”
“Here,” Ray said. “I think I can handle the groceries. The bag looks light.”
I let him take the bag and dragged myself upstairs before Nana Pratt could tell me the pitiful amount circling the drain of my bank account. I needed twenty more minutes of blissful ignorance, thank you very much.
I let the water run until it was piping hot and stepped inside. I scrubbed my body, rinsed the wound, and washed my hair twice, all the while trying to identify the monster from the deep. As much knowledge as I’d garnered over the years, I couldn’t always name a species on sight. What bothered me more than my ignorance, however, was the knowledge that the spirits had been trapped in Bone Lake with their killer for gods knew how long. That was a special kind of torture I didn’t wish on anyone.
Ray was hovering outside the kitchen when I finally descended the stairs. With clean hair, warm, dry clothes, and a fresh bandage, I felt like a new person, ready to tackle the problem I’d uncovered.
“Was it a kelpie?” he blurted.
“Nope.” I blew straight past him, heading for the stovetop to put on the kettle.
“No need, Lorelei,” Nana Pratt said. “I’ve already prepared a cup of tea for you while you were in the shower. The pills are next to the cup.”
I spotted the steaming cup on the table. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“I enjoy putting my poltergeist skills to work,” the elderly ghost said.
“Same,” Ray chimed in. He drifted over to the computer. “Which is why I started searching for your monster as soon as you went upstairs.”
“It’s definitely not a kelpie,” I told him. “That I would recognize.”
I’d once had the displeasure of encountering a kelpie in a lake and managed to escape with a broken ankle and more bruises than I could count. Not the first time I’d been grateful for rapid healing abilities.
Ray tapped the keyboard. “I left a few tabs open, so I wouldn’t forget what I found.”
I sipped my tea and was delighted to taste the burst of turmeric and lemon. I wouldn’t have chosen an herbal tea, but Nana Pratt made the right call. It was exactly what I needed right now.
“How about a relative of Nessie?” Ray asked. “Did it have a long neck?”
I offered a small shake of my head. “The Loch Ness monster doesn’t have a cousin in Bone Lake. Anyway, this monster didn’t have one neck. It had three.”
“Hydra?” Nana Pratt queried.
Ray and I turned in unison to regard her.
“What?” she asked. “I’ve read the tales of Hercules. He defeats a hydra.”
“It wasn’t a hydra either. I think the heads were female and she was shaped like a serpentine dragon.” Similar to Bruce Huang, although he didn’t have multiple heads.
