Chapter 3

The Fire Sand Beach was full of locals and tourists. Dog, cat, and rat humanoids crowded on the shore and in the water. The sun was beaming down on them and it was getting hot, making the people go into the water.

Under a blue cloth canopy, Angel watched with unease as she was unable to remove the images of Jean's body from her mind.

She knew that the mayor was wrong; the girl did not die from a boat's propeller. Angel was sure that someone stabbed the poor girl, perhaps when she was out in the water last night.

Minnie Lenzo played with Emmy in creating sand barriers while Nicholai had his toes touch the water.

Toad was on guard, looking out for his employer for any trouble.

Then, someone came up to the canopy, asking for Angel. The woman looked up and saw the mayor's aid, Mr. George McMillian.

"Mrs. Swagger, I just want to say that the mayor was right about the poor girl, Jean Coppin," he said, but Angel looked over his shoulder.

A young woman in the water cried out, causing Angel to jump up, but was relieved when a man hoisted the woman onto his shoulders.

Mr. McMillian did not stop talking, but Angel did not hear his words and her husband, Mok seemed to notice.

"Mr. McMillian," the retired rock star said to the mayor's aid, "I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to leave."

Mr. McMillian left and Mok went behind Angel's back and began to massage her shoulders.

"Don't pay any attention to him, all that matters is what you believe," he said to her and Angel nods. "And the mayor is wrong, too," Mok adds, "If there really is a serial killer and he keeps the beaches open, a lot of people are going to bang down his door one night."

Elsewhere, a young rat boy humanoid with an inflatable raft went on the water. "Rex, don't go too far!" his mother shouted after him.

Under the water, unbeknownst to everyone, someone was swimming under their feet, looking for prey. Rex had ventured out far from the shore and was out in the open. It was perfect for the unseen predator and he swam up to the rat boy.

In a flash, something pierced through Rex's raft and the rat boy fell off. The killer pulled on the boy's foot, but let it go for a moment.

"Help! Somebody!" Rex cried out and he was pulled under, again.

Angel spotted the rat boy and so did everyone else. The killer then plunged his knife into the boy's back, drawing blood and he stabbed the young rat humanoid, again and again. The water was now dyed with crimson red and people began to panic.

"Get everyone out!" Angel ordered, taking her daughter into her arms. Everyone was able to get out of the water, except for Rex.

The killer, seeing that his work was finished, pushed the boy's body to the surface and he swam away.

"Look!" someone shouted, pointing to something in the water. A few volunteers went in to retrieve whatever it was and pulled it to shore.

"Oh my God!" someone cried out when the young rat humanoid was brought to the shore, "This boy's dead!"

"Rex?!" a woman called out and she went into the circle. What happened next was indescribable to any mother. Rex's mother released an anguished scream when she saw her son's body.

"Don't look Emmy," Angel said to her daughter and looks out on the ocean. She knew that the whole community of Mystic Rock Harbor knew that there was a serial killer on the loose.