The Boggart and the Monster by Susan Cooper Page B

and cast off for a little bit,”
Harold said.
    Chuck breathed heavily, and murmured into the little microphone attached to his headset. Then he played with his dials, and after a while the three little screens faded to a lighter green and occasional pictures began to appear on them, dark and distinct: a mooring line, the side of a jetty, an anchor, moving upward.
    â€œThey’re out in the loch,”
Chuck said. He glowered at Harold; his expression said,
You’re wasting valuable scientific time showing off to strangers
. He added,
“Jenny’s turning north.”
    Then he looked more closely at his dials, and from the dials to the screens and back, and his face changed. He began to blink very fast, and he said huskily,
“There’s something moving out there, underwater. Something very big.”
    *  *  *
    N ESSIE SHOT THROUGH the darkness, flippers and tail churning, thrusting him upward; all the mud and slime fell away from him as he rushed through the water. He was calling all the while to the Boggart as he came, and above him the Boggart hovered invisible over the loch, hearing, ecstatic, waiting for him to arrive.
    â€œ
Nessie! Is it really you?
”
    â€œ
I’m coming, cuz! Wait for me! I’m on my way!
”
    Impatiently the Boggart waited, wondering what was taking so long; boggart-travel, for a creature of no substance or tangible form, was a matter of seconds when you put your mind to it. Well, Nessie had always been a slowpoke. Looking down, he saw below him one of the long, sturdy research boats of the Kalling-Pindle Project putting out into the loch, with Jenny at the helm. Then beyond it, to his horror, he saw fast approaching him the telltale ripple of a speeding underwater form — a very large form. Nessie was still in the shape of the Monster.
    The Boggart was appalled.
    â€œ
Nessie! What’s the matter with you? Drop your shape! You’re a boggart, man!
”
    Nessie slowed down, feeling a slow shame.
“
I cannae do it! I’ve forgotten how!
”
    â€œ
You can’t forget how!
”
the Boggart howled.
“
Go to invisible! Or something smaller!
”
    Nessie’s massive form continued to rush toward him through the water, driven by the broad powerful flippers, driven by longing. He was visible on the surface now, leaving a magnificent wake, the sinuous curve of his great back gleaming above the foaming surface. From the research boat below him the Boggart heard a muffled shriek. He bellowed frantically at Nessie again.
    â€œ
Change your shape!
”
    â€œ
I cannae do it! Help me!
”
    The Boggart groaned, and tried to remember things he had learned so many centuries ago that they were part of the unthinking shape of his mind. In the Old Speech without words he shouted ancient instructions to Nessie: how to find the shapes that can take all shape away, how to use the imagination that can change all images, how to disappear.
    Nessie heard and desperately tried to obey, flailing closer all the time to the Boggart and to the boat. But he was still his massive self, solid and vast and amazing, and visible.
    â€œ
I cannae do it! I cannae!
”
    *  *  *
    I N THE TRAILER they stared at the screens, as Chuckhunched over his control panel and played with the dials like a pianist caressing his piano keys. Emily could hear Jessup breathing fast at her side, and she felt Tommy tense just behind her. She thrust her hands convulsively into her pockets, and her fingers met the little fossil shell she had left there on a calmer day. It seemed to push itself into her palm, as if with a force of its own. Harold leaned forward, oblivious to everything but the screens.
    And gradually in each of the three green squares they saw an image appear and grow, an image familiar and unmistakable even though none of them had ever seen it live before. There coming toward them was the Loch Ness Monster, long neck extended, legs back,