RACHEL

Rachel surfaced with Lu. She had grown close to the little guy-no

longer so little-and visited him often, helping him seek out unusual

coral formations and check on the coral gardens around Shamouti.

Recently, Lu and his mother had been troubled, for one night Lu's

father had gone out, and had been captured by person or persons

unknown. Mrs Lugia had set out to rescue him, but halfway there his

mind had inexplicably closed to her, and she was unable to locate

him. He wasn't dead, she could tell that, she would have felt him die,

but she couldn't feel him anymore. Now they just had to wait, and

hoped he'd turn up, and that they could find out why his mind was

closed to her.

They had spent the entire morning tending the Shamouti coral

gardens, and Lu had left for lunch and a nap. Rachel debated whether

she should go down too and speak to Mrs Lugia, but Rachel realised

she was hungry, and decided she'd have to head home.

She couldn't even talk to Julie about it. She and Lawrence had gone

off ten days ago for a month-long journey to the Orré region. It was

safe now that Cipher had been driven out, and Julie and Lawrence

were hoping to explore the entire region without any nasty

interruptions.

Rachel had been too busy at Celadon University to have her wings

and tail removed. She was loath to have to spend two months

recovering from the surgery and then three months getting used to

walking normally again, so she had not had her tail and wings

removed, and in fact found swimming easier with them. Lazily, she

turned towards the land and effortlessly spread her wing-arms, using

them to stroke back towards Shamouti Island.

She heard the cry of a Lugia, and stopped, dropping to a vertical

position in the water and turning herself to face the direction of the

sound. It was too deep a call to be Lu's, although he was now ten

feet long from nose-tip to tail-tip, and had a fifteen-foot wingspan.

Gone were the days when Lawrence could lift him in his arms.

Perhaps it was Mrs Lugia. Perhaps she had news of her missing mate?

The sound had not come from under the sea or near the surface, but

from high in the sky. Rachel looked around, then saw a black spot

heading towards her, which began to resolve itself into a dark Lugia

silhouette. Rachel frowned. Lugia didn't usually look so dark, but

maybe he'd flown through some black smoke or something. Perhaps

Lu's father had managed to escape his captors and was returning.

She had been practising Lugia's cry for some time, and she raised her

head, giving quite a good approximation of a welcoming cry. The

black silhouette drew closer, and dipped lower, and then Rachel got a

good look at it, and gasped.

This could not be Lu's father! The colours were wrong, the soft edges

of the classic Lugia were replaced with sharp points and edges. The

mouth was open in what in a Lugia amounted to a snarl, the teeth

looked very large and white and sharp, but the worst thing was the

eyes, which glowed a demonic red. They were fixed on her, and as

the creature which superficially resembled the Guardian, but could

not be dropped down, Rachel threw herself forward and swam for the

island like she'd never swum before.

It was to no avail. She felt those wickedly-taloned feet grasp her back

and around the body, and screamed as the creature gave a Lugia-like

bellow of triumph. She felt herself lifted from the water, and beat at

the feet holding her, and screamed again and again. Effortlessly,

XD001 lifted into the sky, his burden hampering him not at all, and

flew rapidly back the way he had come.

When Lu, who had heard the scream and come to investigate,

reached the surface of the water, there was no sign of Rachel or her

abductor.