Page 72 of Monster's Pet

“It all started last semester. I’m taking a prophecy class, and we’re studying ancient myths and prophecies, most of which were centuries old. For my independent study, I chose to compare and contrast world-ending prophecies, and how we’ve integrated that trope into genre fiction in today’s cultures.” Paige sniffled.

“That sounds fascinating!” I said encouragingly.

“It was.” She shot me a watery smile. “I dug deeper into the list of prophecies, and found some really fascinating ones,including one from two thousand years ago, the Gràineileachd.” She shuddered.

“What language is that?” I asked when she paused.

“It’s Gaelic. Means ‘abomination’. He was described quite vividly.” Paige wiped her eyes. “He’s this giant demon god, and according to the prophecy I found, he wakes every two thousand years when his chains loosen, ready to wreak havoc all over the world.” She took another deep breath. “I showed my professor what I’d found, and he laughed. Said it was a myth. But everything I had found showed that this giant had risen two thousand years ago. The magical community had managed to bind him deep within the Earth, but that it wouldn’t be sufficient, that his chains would need to be reinforced regularly.”

“I’ve never heard of this giant,” I said, a knot of anxiety filling my chest. “How can the chains be reinforced if nobody knows about him?”

“Exactly what I thought,” Paige said. “So I did more research. The last time he woke up, he was in South America. He rose from the Ultima Esperanza Fjord and ate everything in the area. That’s why there’s a desert there now.”

“Holy shit,” Hazel said, her eyes wide. “That’s in Chile.”

I remembered that her family had emigrated from Chile in the 600s. I wondered if this was related.

“The fjord is in Patagonia, but the Chilean side of it,” Paige explained. “The magical community tried to bind him using the ley lines, but he fought back. He snapped them, and that’s what plunged Europe into the Dark Ages. It took a long time for magic to come back.”

“How do you know this?” I asked.

“I’ll show you the book I found. It was in a French school.” Her smile turned lopsided. “I told you I dug deep.”

“But my family found ley lines in Canada when they left Chile, and when they got to Ireland, the ley lines were fine,” Hazel said, frowning.

“The Dark Ages had a low level of magic. You told me that your ancestors were okay with the amount of magic, not that the ley lines were fine,” I reminded her.

“Semantics,” Hazel said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“I don’t think it is,” I said slowly. “I think that the ley lines were majorly drained after dealing with the giant, but that there was a lot of ambient magic around, so your family was healthy.”

“I agree,” Paige said. “Anyway, after the attempt to bind him, he went off and wreaked havoc in the rest of the world. I traced the destruction, which finally stopped in Australia. I assume that was where the magical community caught him.”

“And killed him, right?” Hazel asked, hanging on Paige’s every word.

“Well…” Paige hesitated.

“You think he’s still alive,” I said. “Why did you think that?”

“You don’t describe someone as a god because you can kill them,” Paige said dryly. “But I wasn’t sure.”

“That’s why you went to Australia?” I asked. “To find out for sure?”

“Right.” Her tears started again, and she gripped the edge of the table so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “I followed the pull of the magic all the way to a cave system, called Lasseter, in Australia’s Northern Territory. I managed to find the magical entrance. It led to a tunnel that went down and down. I… I…”

“You found him,” I said softly.

“He was so big, Siobhan,” Paige whimpered. “You don’t understand. I came at him from his head… His hair was so long, it had grown down the passageway I was in. I thought it was a new type of spider web at first, but it wasn’t sticky or anything. And then I got to the top of the head. It was the height of theacademy at least, and he was lying down! If he woke up, he’d destroy Australia just by sitting up!”

“What did you do?” I asked through my hands pressed over my mouth.

“I had brought a caging spell with me, but I wasn’t sure it would be strong enough, so I used the diamond from my grandmother’s engagement ring as a focus.” Paige shivered. “It worked really well. There’s a nexus point nearby, at Ayers Rock, and I pulled on that. I filtered the ley lines through the diamond to boost their power and wove them into a cage around him.”

“And then what?” Hazel asked. “What did you do next?”

“Where’s the diamond now?” I squeaked.

“I left it there,” Paige said. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to take it, in case that broke the cage spell.” To Hazel, she said, “I came back here.”

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