The Sterling Family crest.
It was scratched on the wall in several places, as well as on the underside of the bridge. One, two, three . . . I lost count of the number of stars, but it looked like my mom and I had given the lochness more coins and had paid its toll more times than anyone else. Maybe that was why it had helped me again tonight. My mom had always told me to pay the tolls so the monsters would leave me alone, but I’d never considered that there could be something more to it than that.
“There has to be thousands of dollars’ worth of coins here,” Deah whispered.
I thought about telling the others about all the stars on the bridge, but I didn’t know what to make of the symbols, or how I felt about them right now, so I decided to keep it to myself. Besides, what really mattered was that the monster had protected us from Blake and the Draconi guards, so I was going to consider all the coins money well spent.
“Come on,” I said. “I’m all out of quarters, so let’s get out of here before the lochness decides that it wants more tribute tonight.”
The others nodded, and Felix used the light from his phone to guide them out from under the bridge and toward the riverbank so they could climb back up to the street. But I lagged behind my friends, staring out over the river again. I didn’t see anything, so I turned to catch up with the others.
A long, black tentacle hovered in the air right in front of me.
I froze, not knowing what to do. I couldn’t get around the tentacle, and the others were too busy climbing the riverbank to realize what was happening. Besides, they couldn’t have saved me from the lochness anyway.
The tentacle slowly moved back and forth through the air, almost as if it were a person gesturing for me to come closer. I eased forward one step, then two, then three, until I was less than three feet away from the lochness.
The tentacle kept waving back and forth, creeping a little closer to me with every passing second. I stood absolutely still, not wanting to do anything to upset it. Finally, the tentacle reached out and touched my shoulder, almost as if it was giving me a pat and making sure that I was okay. Then it retreated and started waving back and forth in the air in front of me again, waiting for me to make the next move.
I hesitated, then stepped forward, reached out, and gingerly ran my fingers over the tentacle. It was cool and wet, but not unpleasantly so, and the lochness’s skin was much smoother than I’d expected, almost like damp velvet. My attention seemed to please the creature, and the tentacle leaned in to my touch, like a dog wanting me to keep on scratching its ear. So that’s what I did.
The river started rippling again, but the motion was calming rather than threatening, and I actually found myself enjoying the steady rush of water slapping against the shore— “Lila!” Devon called out. “Are you okay? I can’t see you under the bridge.”
At the sound of his voice, the tentacle waved at me a final time, then sank down below the surface of the river. I tiptoed over to the edge of the ledge and peered down. Two bright, sapphire-blue eyes stared up at me through the water. My gaze locked with the lochness’s and the creature’s emotions flooded my chest. Sly satisfaction at protecting me and my friends from Blake and the Draconis. Calm respect for the way I always paid its toll. And most of all, aching loneliness that was slowly being overcome by warm happiness and pride that it was finally communicating with me. Maybe monsters needed friends too, as crazy as that sounded.
“Lila?” Devon called again.
I blinked, breaking eye contact and shaking off the creature’s emotions. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I called out. “I’m coming up right now.”
I hesitated, then waved goodbye to the lochness before stepping out from under the bridge and hurrying after my friends.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I scrambled up the riverbank to where Devon, Felix, and Deah were waiting at the top.
“Now what?” Deah muttered, swinging her sword at the grass like she wanted to hack through every single blade of it.
“We have to get back to the mansion,” Devon said.
Felix pulled his phone away from his ear. “I’ve called the main line three times now, but no one’s answering. I also tried some of the guards, but no one’s picking up.” Concern filled his face. “Do you think the Draconis attacked the mansion too?”