Free The Cryptid Files by Jean Flitcroft

ceiling arched like a cathedral roof and she saw a number of openings in the walls. Were there caves up there? she wondered. Looking down now she found that she was sitting on a ledge about 2 feet above the water, which shone an extremely odd shade of green. She lay down on her stomach and dipped her hand in, it was cool but not cold and she made ripples with her fingers. She watched the movement of the water around her hands and was quite unprepared for the sudden desire to get into the water that overwhelmed her. As she took off her socks and shoes, she noticed that it was the walls rather than the water that were glowing green. Was it some kind of algae? She lay on her stomach, hanging out quite far over the edge and peered into the deep as if it had some intense connection with her. The glow from the walls beneath the water allowed her to see down quite deep. She couldn’t be certain, but it looked as if the caves continued beneath the water. She scraped a little of the green algae off the walls and then sat up to examine it. She had seen something like it in the Blue Planet series on deep-sea creatures. Bio-luminescence, that was it. She remembered being astonished by the tricks of evolution that help in survival. Wasn’t it the hatchet fish that lived in the ocean at 4,500 feet? Not only did it glow, but it could change its brightness to attract prey or to camouflage it. And didn’t some jellyfish have to eat plants or algae to keep their glow?
    Why don’t you try some?
    Vanessa looked up, startled, as the sound of a voice echoed through her head. She was sure it hadn’t been spoken out loud. It had felt more like a reverberation inside her skull. A prickling fear crept through her, tightening every muscle in her body. She listened for any sound at all and, hearing only silence, she forced herself to stand up and look around. Should she shout out and see if anyone answered? She opened her mouth wide, but no sound came out. Stunned, she tried again, but no attempt to clear her throat or cough would produce any sound at all.
    She stood very still for a while, holding her breath for long periods and then breathing as quietly as she could in between. Looking up above her, Vanessa scanned the walls for any shaft of light that might show a way out. But all the time, she kept being distracted in her thoughts by the water below, drawing her in. Trying hard to think about where she might be or how she got there, Vanessa felt her mind go blank. It was a pleasant sensation – calm and peaceful. True, she couldn’t remember where she was or what had happened just minutes before, but did it matter?
    Tired all of a sudden, she sat down and tried to reach the water with her toes. They dangled just out of reach of the surface. Time to dive in, she thought to herself. Time? What time was it? Glancing at her watch, she stopped in her tracks. What had happened to it? Why was the glass broken? It was difficult to see the hands, but it looked as though they had stopped at five o’clock. Morning or evening? A sudden image of herself in the rowing boat flashed through her mind, but before she could register it properly, it slipped away again. She felt frustrated more than afraid now, wondering when she would wake up from this weird and disjointed dream.
    Vanessa knew that time must be marching on as she sat and waited for something. For what, she didn’t know, just for something. But as there was no change in light and no second hand ticking on her watch, she had no sense of time passing. Eventually, she lay back down on the rock, and making a pillow with her fleece behind her head, she closed her eyes.

CHAPTER 18
    On 13 October 1971, Police Sergeant George Mackenzie and Inspector Henry Henderson were with a group who watched two humps moving in the loch at about 10 to 15 mph. They guessed that the creature was about 30 to 40 feet long. ‘It was obvious that the two objects were part of one large