I started researching the second I got Wi-Fi at the hotel, and T.J. wasn't that far behind me on it. Shadow creature. Part centaur? Evil. Speaking gibberish.
"It wasn't gibberish." T.J. corrected me.
"Then what was it?"
"Celtic."
"Who the hell speaks Celtic?"
"Not Google." He answered. "The closest it will do is Irish."
"Do you even know what the thing said?"
"No."
"Then how do you know it was Celtic?"
"Because I know what that was." He answered.
"You wanna tell me?"
"It's a Nuckelavee." He said. "A Scottish monster that is apparently the most malevolent demonic entities in and around the Scottish islands. The nuckelavee's breath was thought to wilt crops, make livestock sick, and is considered to be responsible for epidemics and drought."
"Great." I muttered. "There's the crop failures, the sick cows, and the spontaneous drought near the ocean. Anything on there as to why water hurts it, or how in the hell to get rid of the thing?"
"The only entity able to control it is the Mither o' the Sea," he read. "An ancient spirit in Orcadian mythology who apparently keeps the nuckelavee confined during the summer. And as for the water, the nuckelavee is unable to wade through fresh flowing water, therefore to escape the thing you have to cross a stream to be safe."
"And for us Americans, what exactly is a 'Mither o' the Sea?'"
"You think I know?"
"You're British."
"We're in Scotland."
"Eh. Close enough." I muttered.
"A Mither o' the Sea is actually big in Scottish folklore." He said, apparently deciding to ignore my comments. "She is a mythical being of Orcadian folklore that lives in the sea during summer, when she confines the demonic nuckelavee with her in the ocean. Each spring she battles with her arch-enemy, Teran," I offered him a second confused look. "Think of it like the Scottish Devil. He's another spirit in Orcadian and Scottish legends that's capable of causing severe winter storms, all to gain control of the seas and the weather."
"So we're dealing with the Scottish version of Ragnarok?" I asked. T.J. continued to ignore my quips.
"Eventually," he read. "Sea Mither overcomes Teran and sends him to the depths of the ocean, but the effort of keeping him confined there along with her other benevolent labours during the summer exhaust her, until in the autumn Teran takes advantage of her weakness to wrest control from her once again."
"And what about winter?" I asked. "Do you think a nuckelavee could escape her briny depths during freezing weather?"
"It's possible, I guess." He said. "Although I'm not certain."
"Well, we'll have to roll with the possible, then." I said. "Because one is on the loose and really, really needs to be thrown back in the ocean." I thought for a minute. "Where in the hell is this Sea Warden supposed to live, either, beside the ocean?"
"I've got…" He thought for a minute. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." He turned from his computer to look at me. "Maybe you can attempt some sort of homing spell? You said you used one for Lucifer, correct?"
"Yeah, except with that I had a piece of his essence." I said. "These demonic centaurs aren't a thing in America, they're only Scottish. I've got no experience with even the foggiest idea of how in the hell to treat this."
"You had a piece of essence, right? Something that made you able to get a definitive lock on where he was?"
"Yeah."
T.J. turned to look at Karma, who had been quietly licking her paw for a few minutes. "Any chance you can get something off of Karma?"
"It would be contaminated with her own essence." I answered. "It would be better to go back and acquire a purified sample." The second those words left my mouth, I could see T.J. forming an idea. "You were the one screaming all sorts of terror and fear after we closed the damn thing back in the Base."
"That was fear." He said. "Now that I know, and now that we know water will hinder it, I think we've got a shot at getting close enough to acquire a sample."
"So what do you want to do?"
"We should call Ketch and tell him what we know." He decided. "He may be able to acquire us a water tankard or a fire truck or something with mass amounts of fresh water."
"The thing can't cross water." I added. "What if we can trap it in…" I threw my hands up. "A circle of water?" I could even hear how bad that sounded.
T.J. couldn't, though. "Can you do that?" He asked. "Trap it, entirely encase it in water?"
"I could try." I said. "But I don't know for certain."
"Try." He encouraged. "Trap me in freshwater."
"Trap you?" I asked. He nodded. "Really?"
"What part of that sentence was particularly confusing?"
"The entirety of it." I answered. "You didn't want to be a test dummy."
"Well, now I'll agree to it."
"Let me rephrase," I offered. "I don't want you to be a test dummy."
"Why?" He asked. "You almost threatened me with the option on the way here." When I didn't answer, he shook his head. "You have told me almost everything, proven yourself to be of a determined nature, however in the face of a real possibility of using your power to save this town and do our duty," he threw his hands in the air for a moment before they slammed back down at his sides. "Didn't you take down the Devil with it? Didn't you help fight God's sister? Didn't you do amazing things?" I didn't answer. "Why back down now?"
"Because it was water instead of fire." I finally said quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I still barely know you, I'm desperate to reach out for some sort of companionship in a new country, and it was water instead of fire." I stated. "Happy?"
He thought for a while on that. "You're not certain if you can control it properly." He said. "That's why you didn't want to risk picking the locks, and why besides written spells and putting me on a wall you have barely used any sort of magic whatsoever."
"It's been going haywire since I was back in contact with Castiel and Sam and Dean." I said. "Little things, but I couldn't control it. I couldn't stop the disguise from failing me on two separate occasions, I couldn't even tell it had happened. There were other little things, but…" I shrugged. "I don't know. I really don't. And I'm afraid that my lack of knowing and certainty will eventually kill someone."
"You're scared." He finally said.
"I'm cautious." I argued. "And not willing to risk anyone's life but my own."
"Well," he thought for a moment. "What did you do the first time to learn and get your power under control?" I thought for a while on that before answering.
"I pinned a demon to the ceiling." I said, slightly sheepish. "And lit a set of curtains on fire. Not in that order, though."
"Besides that." He said. "I know there was something else."
"Like what?"
"You said that your abilities started having problems after you were put back in contact with Castiel, Sam, and Dean, correct?" He asked. I nodded. "And you were still hiding from them?" Another nod. "And that made you feel alright?"
"Of course not." I said. "I felt awful every minute of it, and just got worse as time went."
"So your emotions tended to be negative instead of being positive?"
"I guess."
"Did you think that maybe your emotions might be tied in to it?" He asked. Once he said that, I remembered lighting the curtains on fire.
"You're not letting go." Crowley had stated. "You're not burying it. You prosper better when you embrace your past, and allow it to be a part of you instead of fighting it."
"A good witch can both use their emotions and set them aside."
"Think of something that made you feel warm, comforted, and let it go in to the fire to light the wick."
Maybe it was time to stop putting them aside, and start allowing them to be a part of me again.
I thought about Mrs. Tran, and the last time I'd seen her. How she didn't deserve what had happened to her. I was scared and nervous when I'd thrown out the water, absolutely terrified and using magic as an instinctual response. "Get me a candle." I requested. "Before we call Ketch with this, I want to make sure it will work."
They had one for us in the lobby. I lit it with ease, and began to think on how I would do it. I kept it lit, and moved it to the middle of the room. "Fire needs air to survive." I stated, working it out as I spoke. "And if I'm going to test it with you for a bigger ball, I'm going to need to make sure you can still breath. So, if they candle stays lit," I focused my attention back to the floating object in question. "Then I've left enough space in it so that the water wouldn't put it out, and also enough air to keep the flame going. Water is one-third oxygen, after all."
I kept my focus on Mrs. Tran in my mind, and how proud she always was of me for how I would incorporate magic and science with my Chemistry homework. She never once told me what I was doing was wrong. She always believed in me.
I held out a hand, and water flowed softly from it, wrapping around to create a ball about a foot wide all around.
"So far, so good." T.J. muttered. "Keep it up. I've got an idea."
"What is it?"
"Make it bigger." He said. "Big enough for me to stick my hand in and pull it out."
"Why?"
"Why not?" He challenged. "You said you could do anything, right? Take a moment to believe in yourself." He dared.
I nodded, widening my fingers as I moved my hand to the side a small amount. The ball widened to about five feet in diameter, slowly yet surely. I opened a two-foot hole, definitely big enough for his hand, but kept the rest of the water sphere intact. He reached in, and pulled out a still lit candle.
"I knew you could do it." He stated, smiling triumphantly at the candle, then me. I closed my fist, and the water evaporated. "We should call Ketch."
The phone rang, and we both already knew who it was. T.J. picked it up, putting the candle back on the table. "Hullo?" He asked. "Yes, a nuckelavee, we came to the same conclusion." A pause. "Actually, sir, we have an idea as to this, if you don't mind my interfering." He put the phone on speaker, and we could hear Ketch's order to go ahead. "The creature can't pass through freshwater, and can only be controlled by the Sea Mither." He said. "We intend on capturing it with Kylie's powers, a ball of water completely surrounding it."
"And as for returning it to the Sea Mither?"
"It had a chain." I said. "Iron. If we can get a sample from that, as well as one from the nuckelavee itself, I think I can get a lock on where it was."
"And how do you propose getting to those when it is such a volatile creature?"
"I'll open a hole in the water." I said. "Just small enough for someone to reach in and get samples."
"And how do you plan on casting two spells at once?" Ketch continued. "I doubt we can acquire a second witch on such short notice to accompany us in this endeavor."
"Bring a fire truck." I said. "Or a shit ton of water or something. If we can put a small river around a bit of land, we can keep it in check while I cast a second spell and, afterwards, possibly a third to return it."
"And how do we know that this Sea Mither will be able to keep it in check if it escaped the first time?" T.J. and I glanced over at each other uncertainly.
"We don't." T.J. admitted.
"Then I propose an alternative." He said. "Capture the beast, certainly, but let's study it. A nuckelavee on land is extremely rare, which was why it took so long to identify it. If we can find another way to capture it, return it with better bindings, and even possibly kill it, I believe that that would be another viable option."
I glanced over at T.J. again. It was better than our plan. Try to return it to the Sea Mither? Hope it doesn't get back out? Ketch had a good, solid idea.
"Alright." I agreed. "Sounds good."
"Excellent. We will meet you at the hotel at 7am, sharp." He instructed.
"I would still like to track down where it originated from, sir." I stated, using my most respectful voice. "In case another one escapes."
"The lore doesn't speak about multiple nuckelavee existing."
"It doesn't say there's only one either." I pointed out. Ketch thought for a moment.
"Smart reasoning. Text me the exact ingredients you'll need, and we'll bring them with us."
The line went dead. I pulled out my phone shortly afterwards, and sent Ketch a short list of what I would need.
"You know," T.J. started to point out. "They'll need a way to contain it permanently, without your constant supervision."
"Yep." I agreed, smiling just a little bit. T.J. handed me the hotel notepad and a pen. I got to writing, working out different containment field possibilities. All of them would need bits of the creature to test, but…
I felt better. I felt more like myself.
I finally felt like I had control again.
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Hey, WriKai here! I did my best with the mythology and lore, but I'm not Scottish, so if there are any corrections you would recommend for accuracy feel free to shoot me a message with the info and some links to better sources as well! Hope you all are enjoying it so far!
