Page 37 of Hiding Nessie
He glanced back up the hillside where a dark plume was visible above the trees. Cam’s nostrils flared. What did Lachlan mean, Bryce was gone?
He smelled smoke and wood ash on the wind. In the far distance his ears picked up the wail of approaching sirens.
Lachlan looked utterly wretched. ‘There’s nowhere else I can stay here tonight and… I don’t want to leave you here…’
Go.Cam pushed his snout into Lachlan’s stomach. Wished he could place a kiss there as well.
How did this transformation business work? He felt locked inside this body. Cam ached to be human just for a moment so he could speak. So he could tell Lachlan that he’d done the right thing, that he was grateful, that he loved him.
Lachlan smoothed both hands over Cam’s pointed head and dropped a kiss on his temple. ‘I’ll be back tomorrow. I swear it, Cam.’
Still, he didn’t leave. Eventually Meredith placed a comforting hand on Lachlan’s shoulder, and gently pulled him away. ‘You be safe, hon,’ she said to Cam. ‘I’ll look after this one.’
Thank you.The trill came out properly this time. He’d never been more grateful for Meredith. The most loyal family he’d ever had. He’d trust her with anything.
Cam watched them walk away. It occurred to him that Lachlan would be spending his first night in three hundred years away from the loch. He made another sound, involuntary this time, which was like a mournful whale song rippling through the air. Cam longed to share the moment with him. To hold Lachlan close for an entire night.
But he’d settle for being happy for him. Lachlan’s curse was finally broken. He was free.
Cam shuffled backwards, awkwardly manoeuvring his flippers until he could turn around. Loch Ness stretched out before him, silent and still under the ice. He drew in a huge lungful of air… and dived.
Chapter Nine
Lachlan didn’t get to see Cam properly the next day. His hill was swarming with people. Firefighters were still assessing the damage, making sure there was no risk of the blaze reigniting. Police had been called in to investigate. Gas leak or arson: those were the two prevailing theories. They quickly settled on the latter when it was determined that the fire had somehow started outside.
Lachlan claimed ignorance to the whole thing. Convincingly conveyed shock at the situation. Gave a statement claiming to have stayed with a friend in Glencoe overnight, and Meredith backed him up.
He couldn’t help throwing in the names of the hunters when asked if he’d seen any suspicious individuals. And Bryce. If he could set a manhunt on Bryce to at least make his life slightly difficult, that would be a small piece of revenge.
Despite this, Lachlan wanted everyone to go away. He tried to get down to the loch in the evening but found officers still picking over the banks. It sounded like they’d found evidence of the hunters’ camp and were using it as their best lead for the fire.
He waited out on the jetty and luckily spotted Cam just as his eyes bobbed above the surface. Lachlan shook his head frantically, crossing his arms in a ‘no go’ signal. Cam waited there for an excruciatingly long time, but eventually nodded that he’d got the message.
Lachlan watched him sink underwater and felt as though his entire future was sinking along with him.
It was the same the next day, with more of the same questions, and even more people. Some of The Lucky Teapot’s regulars had gotten wind of the news. They began to turn up at odd times, loitering just beyond the charred semicircle outside the front of the café.
Lachlan could tell they wanted to approach him, but he made a point of looking as busy as possible. He sent Meredith to answer their questions and shoo them away. Donald and Helen did an inexpert job of pretending to walk their terrier around the bottom of the hill for the next hour and a half.
Lachlan spent his time picking through the wreckage. He found Cam’s bike leaning against one wall, thankfully untouched save for a layer of ash, and spent the whole morning cleaning it.
Inside, he’d been instructed not to go onto the upper floor, but that the ground floor was safe to enter. The fire itself hadn’t destroyed terribly much: it had caught on the drapes and crept up the beams into the floorboards above, but most of the furniture was technically intact. The real problem was smoke damage. Everything was covered in a layer of black soot, and the bitter smell pervaded every surface. He was told it was a different story upstairs, which had been gutted by the climbing flames.
It wasn’t until the third morning, when Meredith dropped him off just on the cusp of dawn, that Lachlan finally found a quiet moment to speak to Cam again. The snow had begun to melt over the last couple of days, and the trees dripped chilly droplets down Lachlan’s neck as he followed the path to the jetty. The early sun’s rays were just peeking streaks of pink and pale orange over the distant hills, leaving Loch Ness in a basin of cool blue shadow.
He wasn’t sure if Cam would be awake under the surface. He hoped he was, and that he’d notice Lachlan’s presence at the pier. But at the same time, the thought of Cam spending all his time staring forlornly up at the world above made his heart ache. He remembered too keenly what that felt like. How lonely those first days… weeks… gosh,yearshad been.
Lachlan sat cross-legged on the end of the pier, shrinking into his wool-lined duffel coat. It was one of Cam’s—as were the rest of the clothes he was wearing, from Glencoe. He found it comforting to be surrounded by Cam’s smell: the clean kind of sweat that came from walking long distances accompanied by a faint tinge of motor oil, and a deeply woody, outdoorsy scent that was telling of just how little time he spent at home.
Lachlan was nibbling on a granola bar, not really tasting it, when he saw Cam’s dark eyes resting quietly above the surface just a few metres away. Lachlan dropped the food and beckoned him forward. It was safe, finally. He hadn’t seen or heard a single soul in the area, and he was desperate to speak to Cam again.
Cam swam over to him eagerly. In the faint light it was easier to make out the greenish-blue hue of his hide as he cut through the slushy top layer of water. The Scorch mark was still present even in this form, painting the right side of his pointed face in dark shadow.
Lachlan greeted him with a full body hug, curling his chest over the top of Cam’s head and locking both arms under his neck.
He’d always loved this kind of touch from Cam. In Nessie form, Lachlan’s head had always been the most sensitive part of his body, able to detect slight changes in the currents underwater, their temperature and flow, which also meant he could perceive the heat and pressure of Cam’s touch more keenly there. It seemed to be the same for Cam, as he leaned hard into the embrace. His hot breaths hit Lachlan’s stomach, penetrating the thick coat.
‘I’m so sorry for all of this,’ Lachlan said, smoothing his hands along Cam’s neck. ‘It’s all my fault. All of it.’
