Really Weird Removals.com (18 page)

“Look!” she cries out all of a sudden, pointing somewhere in the distance.

There's a white horse, galloping fast towards us. The kelpie is back! Valentina holds on to me. I'm rooted to the spot. The horse comes straight at us – I know she'll take us under the black waters of the loch!

“Snow!” Mairi waves to galloping animal.

I peer, trying to see better. The kelpie – is it the kelpie? – has something on her forehead. It's a… Yes, it's a horn! Her mane is so silky, it seems to shimmer. 

“A unicorn!” smiles Valentina, and she relaxes. Just like the one on the coat of arms. Not a kelpie at all. Every vision, every myth seems to come true, here in Loch Glas.

“Would you like to ride him?” asks Mairi. “I'll take you.”

Valentina nods. She's speechless with happiness.

Sorley helps her up, and they're off, Valentina's blonde and Mairi's red hair blowing behind them.

“So, is Loch Glas like you remember, Alistair?” Lord McTire takes his arm.

“Even more amazing, to be honest.”

“You should see it at night. If you come out when it's dark…”

“Can we do that? Tonight?” asks Uncle Alistair.

“You and I, yes. But not Luca and Valentina. It's too dangerous. I'm sorry, son,” says Lord McTire, and pats my shoulder.

“It's fine by me! I don't want to be anywhere near those stones at night.”

“The kelpie wouldn't be the greatest danger, Luca, believe me.”

I feel a chill going down my spine.

Heading back to the house, Uncle Alistair and I walk a little behind the others.

“
What was Lord McTire talking about
?” I whisper, making sure that Uncle Alistair can read my lips.

“Oh, this and that. Creatures, things, you know. The cù sìth, for example,” says Uncle Alistair.

“Pardon?”

“The cù sìth hunts at night. It's a dog, white, with red eyes and ears.” 

“A dog doesn't sound very scary.”

“It is if it's as big as a horse. And then there's the baobhan sìth.”

“Another sìth? What is it?”

“You might call it a vampire.”

“A vam… oh. Right.” I swallow.

“Seriously, Luca, make sure that Valentina doesn't come out tonight,” he says, looking straight into my eyes.

“I will.” I swallow.

“Come on. I hope you'll see our pride and joy, unless she's being shy,” calls Lord McTire. After the kelpie, and the stories of big cats and vampires, I'm a bit nervous about what this “pride and joy” might be.

Valentina and Mairi rejoin us. My sister is smiling, her cheeks red with the wind, her eyes shining.

“It was fantastic!”

I don't have time to ask more, because Lord McTire is taking out another whistle from his sporran, differently shaped from the one he used to call the little dragons. He blows in it, over and over again.

I look at Uncle Alistair. He's standing watching the water, his arms folded, smiling a little. He doesn't seem tense, so maybe this particular creature is not dangerous. Hopefully.

Tiny ripples start to appear on the water. Then, without further warning, a huge black shape raises its head about a hundred yards from where we stand. It has a long neck and a body like a black mound. It looks just like Nessie. 

“Now, unlike our zeuglodon,
this
is a dinosaur,” says Uncle Alistair, clearly delighted.

My heart is pounding. A real living breathing dinosaur….

“Can we get closer?” asks Valentina. Her eyes are shining.

“Sorry, she won't come to the shore, she's very shy. And we can't let you go in a boat on Loch Glas, it's too dangerous. She might capsize us by accident. And there are other creatures in there.”

The dinosaur gazes about. She turns her head left, then right, slowly. It's like time has stopped. Like all centuries past have come together in one instant, here, now, on the shores of Loch Glas. Just for us.

Then she dives underwater, and disappears. Nobody speaks for a while, as the ripples break on the shore, one after the other.

That was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.

You know when people say “I saw my whole life flash in front of me”?

Well, it really works like that.

As I was flying above the woods in the arms of a vampire, I saw myself as a wee boy, I saw my parents, and my home, and my school, I saw the beaches and the sea of Eilean, and the landscape I know as well as the back of my hand, I saw them right there, in front of my eyes, one scene after the other.

And I thought, “So this is what dying is like…”

I’ll tell you how it happened.

At dinner we sit around a huge mahogany table in a room that’s as big as my house. On the table there’s a spread of lovely food. The McTires seem to like their meat: boar, pheasant, venison, and a few unidentified animals. I don’t ask. I wonder what you could hunt, in the woods surrounding Loch Glas…

“Lord McTire, I was wondering. With all these dangerous creatures around here, are you not scared? Do they not attack you?”

Sorley laughs. “I’d say they wouldn’t dare attack my father or me, or any of our family.”

I’m dying to ask why, but it seems rude, so I decide against it.

“Why?” asks Valentina.

“Because we’re more dangerous than them,” says Lord McTire. His eyes are very clear, almost white.

“Am I at liberty to tell them?” asks Alistair.

“Of course. Tell them on the way back,” answers Lord McTire with a smile. He has a toothy smile, I notice for the first time.

Valentina and I look at each other.

“Sorley, any chance that I could see the mermaids, before I go? And Finlay?”

“Of course. Tomorrow morning,” he replies, and bites a big chunk off his roasted boar leg.

Our bedroom is huge, with two four-poster beds and a stone fireplace.

“Goodnight, children.” Lady Margaret is tucking us in. She’s brought us some chocolate milk and biscuits. I’m surprised it’s not a steak, given the amount of meat 
they eat here.

“’Night, Margaret, and thank you.”

“Oh, and children, if you hear noises out of your window, don’t be alarmed, it happens all the time.”

We nod.

The second she closes the door, I jump into Valentina’s bed.

“What are you doing?”

“Valentina, whatever happens, don’t go out of this room tonight.”

“Why?”

“Uncle Alistair and Lord McTire are going to go out and look for… creatures. They said we can’t go with them.”

“Why?” she repeats. I can see she’s disappointed.

“Why? Er, remember the kelpie?”

“Yes, but we have our pouches.” She curls her hand around it.

“The pouches work against the kelpie, but Lord McTire said that there’s worse than that out there. Big cats. And vampires!”

“Seriously?”

I nod frantically.

“Well, then, I’m getting dressed!”

“Valentina, no! Uncle Alistair told me to make sure you stay in.” I’m praying she listens.

At that very moment, terrifying wild howling cuts through our talk.

A look between us, and then we both run to the window.

Uncle Alistair is outside, standing in a pool of 
moonshine. And beside him are two big dogs.

No,
not
dogs.

Two wolves.

The light of the moon is so strong, so white, that I can see the wolves’ eyes. They’re a bright clear piercing blue. Valentina and I look at each other again, and her face tells me what she’s planning to do.

“Don’t go.” I whisper. My heart is beating so fast it’s jumping out of my chest.

Valentina shakes her head. “We’ve got to. Uncle Alistair is in danger!”

And she bolts out of the room in her spotty pyjamas.

I have no choice but to follow, and we run out into the darkness. But the second we set foot on the grass, we both throw ourselves on the ground with our hands over our ears to shelter from an explosion of noise far worse even than the howling. A terrible sound, a sound so powerful that it hurts, has filled the air: three barks, each one louder than the one before, echo over the loch and the woods, and reverberate for a long, long time.

When the echo of the three great barks finally dies down, we get up and run towards Uncle Alistair and the wolves, with Valentina shouting, “Uncle Alistair!” at the top of her voice.

Uncle Alistair turns towards us, and so do the wolves. One is dark grey and enormous. The other 
one is smaller, leaner, with light grey fur.

They look at us for a few seconds with those crazy blue eyes… then they attack.

First, Valentina. She gets thrown on the ground with the light grey wolf’s paws on her chest. Then it’s my turn: the darker wolf pounces towards me and in an instant I’m on the ground too, waiting for the first bite…

The wolves’ low growl is in my ears, and I keep thinking of my parents, of how devastated they’ll be when they know we’re dead.

I brace myself, but the bite doesn’t come. The wolf’s paws are heavy on my chest though, and I can’t breathe. I feel like my ribcage is going to give way.

Soon I’ll suffocate. Either that, or the wolf will bite my head off… I open my eyes in a panic.

But the wolf doesn’t seem to be about to bite. It’s not even looking at me: it’s looking behind me. And growling. What’s behind me? I can’t turn to see, I’m stuck under the wolf’s weight.

Suddenly, both wolves pounce. I take a big breath and scramble to my feet; I know I should turn around and find out what’s there, but I can’t help looking to Valentina instead – and I see that Uncle Alistair has her in his arms! Thank goodness, she’s safe!

“Luca! Valentina! Run inside! Run, NOW!” he screams, pushing Valentina towards me.

I grab her hands, and we start towards the house. But between us and the door stand three growling beasts. The wolves, and what’s the third one? I can barely make out its shape in the darkness; what’s certain is that we can’t reach the house. We have no choice but to stop, and 
pray that the beasts will be too busy with each other to notice us. They’re staring at each other, growling low in the backs of their throats, baring teeth– is it another wolf, maybe? Suddenly, they’re rolling on the ground, all three of them, one on top of the other. I can make out light grey fur, dark grey and one pelt of pure spotless white.

Now I know what’s attacked us. It’s not another wolf. It’s the cù sìth.

The wolves are fighting it with all their might. I see a flash of red, and then suddenly the wolves take a step back – both of them at the same time. They stand in front of the cù sìth and growl, and look at it with eyes that command obedience, but they’re not attacking anymore.

The cù sìth is huge, perfectly white, with red ears and bright red eyes. Its tail is so long it looks like a snake, and is made of three braided strands. It bows its head reluctantly and kneels on the ground, as in defeat. There’s blood on one of its paws.

The cù sìth stays, immobile, for a few seconds and then, in perfect silence, with a single jump, it disappears into the woods.

Valentina and I are rooted to the spot, both panting in fear and awe, like we’ve been running miles.

Then something amazing happens.

One of the wolves, the darker one, turns its mighty head towards us solemnly, and speaks. A low growly voice, deeply frightening, and yet familiar… My heart stops. I know that voice.

“I told you to stay inside.”

“Lord McTire…” whispers Valentina. She’s shaking with fear and cold. 

“I’m sorry, Hamish, I never thought they would…” Uncle Alistair tries to defend us.

“We thought… we thought Uncle Alistair was in danger…” I manage to whisper. My throat is so dry, and my knees are giving way. Valentina and I hold onto each other for dear life. I struggle to formulate the thought: Lord McTire is a werewolf!

“Follow me. I’ll take you inside,” says the light grey wolf.

“And Sorley,” murmurs Valentina, her eyes wide and white in the moonlight.

“That’s right. It’s me. Come on, children.”

I can’t believe what must be true. That’s Sorley. And he’s a werewolf too. Sorley’s voice, Sorley’s eyes… a wolf’s body.

“Go with him. We’ll speak tomorrow,” says Alistair, with a face like thunder.

Sorley walks towards us on silent paws, and we can’t help taking a step back.

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. The cù sìth is gone, you’re safe. But we must get to the house now.”

Right then, something rips Valentina away from me, something strong, irresistible, like a whirlpool.

A face materialises beside me, floating in mid-air. It’s white – chalky white – with two black sockets instead of its eyes, and its mouth is open in a silent scream.

The creature has Valentina under one arm. She’s thrashing about, trying to get free, and she’s screaming, screaming.

“LET HER GO!” I try to grab her back, hanging onto her hand with all my might.

“It’s the baobhan sìth! LUCA, RUUUUUN!” shouts 
Uncle Alistair.

But how could I run? That thing has my sister!

And now it has me too. It slips its arm around my waist as I am trying to free Valentina, and it lifts us off the ground, one under each of its arms… Below, I see the wolves jumping, growling, circling angrily where we stood one minute ago, and Uncle Alistair, his hands in his hair, his face a mask of despair. All noises drift away as we fly into the night, up above the woods, into clouds of icy mists, towards certain death.