A/N: I've been to the lake where this chapter takes place. It's beautiful. We went kayaking in it and you can see the Arenal volcano from the water.


Myka and Pete sat at breakfast the next morning, eating their food in what was mostly a companionable silence. Leena shuffled about the kitchen, moving about pans and plates, and soon Claudia bounded in to join them.

"Myka!" Claudia enthused. She came up to stand beside where she was sitting. "Stand up!"

"Why?" Myka asked, but nevertheless complied with her request, standing slowly.

"Because," Claudia drew her into a tight hug, "I'm glad you're not dead, duh. You went to your room too early last night, I hadn't even come back from the warehouse yet."

"Sorry, I was tired," Myka explained, being released from Claudia's clutches.

"Well, dude, next time you have a close call, at least wait until I see you!" Claudia finally stepped around the table and took a seat in front of her plate and began to dig in.

"So, peeps, what has Scrooge got us doing today? Inventory? Something more fun?"

"No, actually," Artie said as he walked into the room. "We got a lucky break. We might have found Maurice."

"Already?" Pete asked. Myka just sat there, her heart sinking in her chest as she realized that this wasn't nearly over yet.

"Yes. There have been some strange sightings in Costa Rica of a 'lake monster,'" Artie explained. "Looks like you guys are going to have to head down there."

"Wait," Pete said, "I thought this artifact turned you into the Loch Ness monster. That's why we were in Scotland. Why is it in Costa Rica?"

"I said that it made you a lake monster such as the Loch Ness monster. Not necessarily the Loch Ness monster. It seems that a lot of these appearances around the world are caused by the same artifact, not several different creatures. It was a coincidence that the last happened to be in Scotland."

"Got it. So, when do we leave?" Pete sighed.


"Thank you for your help," Myka was telling the local police. "We've heard that there are some strange things going on around here. Could you tell us about that?"

The Costa Rican looked out over the lake. "A few of the tourists reported seeing some large animal in the lake. It scared them."

"Couldn't it just be some kind of… big river otter or something?" Pete asked.

"No," the man said. "This creature was very large. And Lake Arenal is manmade; there are no such creatures in the lake. If we don't find out what this is, we're going to have trouble. Tourists won't feel safe in the water anymore."

"Thank you for your help, we're just going to take a look around," Myka told him, and the man wandered over to talk with some other people visiting the lake.

"So, what's the plan?" Pete asked. "Just hang around until he shows up again?"

"I guess that's the only thing we can do. We should get the cameras in case we see him, but I don't think that will happen until nighttime."

"Cameras? Becoming a tourist, are we?" Pete teased.

"No, Artie's cameras. Do you actually listen to anything Artie tells us? If we get a shot with the cameras it will turn the creature back into Maurice so we can grab the artifact."

"Oh. Right. I actually do remember that, I just didn't put it together. Oooooooh," Pete realized. "No wonder no one can ever get a picture of the creature as proof. You only hear stories. It's because it can't let itself be photographed."

"Right," Myka rolled her eyes, not believing this was just now becoming clear to him. "Come on, let's start the trek back up the hill to get the cameras."

That was the one horrible thing about Costa Rica. As beautiful as it was, it was full of hills and mountains that made driving almost impossible unless you knew the area. They'd even had to stop once as Pete had gotten carsick from the hills.

"How are we going to get rid of the cop?" Pete whispered, struggling to keep up with Myka's brisk pace.

"I guess we'll just have to convince him to help us. It's not like we can drive through all of the hills. We need him. Plus he knows this area and the people."

"I guess," Pete agreed. "I'd really like for us to not be driving around this place in the dark. We'd go careening off the side of a cliff. So we need him to drive. Plus, maybe he can get a boat and take us out on the water tonight."

"Maybe. I doubt Maurice has control of himself right now. Remember, Artie said something about mentally becoming the creature as well, so it's not like we're trying to find someone who doesn't want to be found."

"Right, we're just trying to find a big lake critter that could eat us… but don't worry, it's just a big dumb giant. That makes me feel better."

Myka rolled her eyes, and walked faster, laughing a bit to herself as she heard Pete behind her: "Hey, wait up!"