Page 99 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
“Do you have flappers?” I blurted, suddenly itching with curiosity. “Like in all the Loch Ness Monster paintings? Or are you more like a big sea serpent? Slithering around without legs?”
Alistair chuffed. “I have flappers.”
I dragged my toes along his side, reaching as far down as I dared.
“They’re beneath your fins—feet. They’re beneath your feet.”
I stopped paddling, letting myself sink down to my chin.
My toes still traced the rolling shape of Alistair’s shoulder.
“Would you like to see them?” Alistair asked.
“I wouldn’t be able to. If they’re that far down, I’d have to dive. And I amnotdiving that far. Nope. Even if I did, the water’s too…Eeeek!” I bit off, gasping, when Alistair abruptly plunged headfirst into the water.
His body slithered in animpossiblylong arch, following his head down, down,down…
It seemed never ending.
Forty American feet never looked so long.
His butt rose into the air as his front sank down. And he had atail,a thin, whippy tail that he flicked in a little wave before his bum finally disappeared beneath the surface.
And then I was alone, doggy paddling against the waves, surrounded by the dark, knobby expanse of the sea.
Little sparkles of fear singed my belly and stunned my muscles, locking them. Only for a heartbeat, but long enough to give the waves a chance to stuff me under the surface.
I kicked, thrusting my head as high as it would go above water.
Overhead, the stars twinkled through the curdling fog soup. Teasing me with how far away they were. Making me feel the insurmountable distance between me and them.
The surface seemed just as insurmountable when you were trapped beneath the sea, as I’d been the other night.
“Pippi.” Alistair threw me a solid rope of calm.
I clung to it.
“You’re safe,” he said.
And then?—
Asplooshto my right had me scrabbling, twining my head that way.
A long, curved flapper poked out of the water, wiggling at me.
“They’re not my most a-a-a-attractivepart,” Alistair said. “But since you want to see…”
A second flapper popped up beside the first.
And, with a heavysploosh,two stouter flappers emerged and began waggling to my left side.
And I almost laugh-cried in relief.
Because those flappers were caging me. Protecting me.
Alistair had gone under the water, but he hadn’t gone far, staying directly beneath me.
The first flapper twisted into a seductive wave. And now that I’d calmed, and didn’t have checkerspots bouncing over my eyes, I could get a proper look at those appendages.
