Sea Monsters and Other Delicacies (2 page)

ULF CLIMBED DOWN THE LONG METAL LADDER
,
following Dr. Fielding to the bottom of an underground room deep beneath the dock. One wall of the room was made entirely of glass. This was the viewing window for observing sea beasts. It looked out underwater into the examination bay. Through it, Ulf could see the sea monster.

“It's gigantic,” he said.

“It's a Redback, one of the rarest sea monsters on the planet,” Dr. Fielding told him. “An adult female, about one-hundred-and-fifty years old.”

The sea monster resembled a huge armored
octopus, covered in a hard spiky shell of red coral and barnacles. It had a craggy-looking face with bulging green eyes, and eight massive tentacles, each as thick and as long as a tree trunk.

“What happened to it?” Ulf asked.

“Captain Crab found it floating in the Farraway Reserve. It's not normal for a sea monster to come to the surface. They're bottom dwellers.”

The sea monster appeared to be struggling to swim. Three of its tentacles were hanging limply while the other five were reaching for the sides of the examination bay, trying to grip the walls. Its massive body was rolling and turning. A tentacle whipped out and crashed against the viewing window. Ulf could see oily black suckers pulsating on the glass.

“What's wrong with it?” he asked.

“I'm not sure exactly,” Dr. Fielding replied.

She was walking up and down the viewing gallery studying the sea monster's movements.

“Look here,” she said, reaching with a cane across the window, pointing in turn to each of the sea monster's tentacles. “Its left distal tentacles appear to be paralyzed, and its ventral and medial tentacles are displaying involuntary spasms.”

Suddenly, the sea monster's shell began trembling. It let out a loud rumbling bellow that shook the window of the viewing gallery.

Ulf stepped back from the glass.

“It's in pain,” Dr. Fielding said.

“Can you heal it?” Ulf asked.

“We'll need to do an X-ray to find out exactly what's wrong,” Dr. Fielding explained. She stepped to the control desk at the side of the viewing gallery. “Look away, Ulf,” she said.

Ulf turned his head as Dr. Fielding flicked three switches. From the corner of his eye Ulf saw a bright flash of light as the viewing window switched to X-ray mode. When he looked back, instead of seeing the sea monster's coral-covered shell, he could see right inside it. The window was displaying a black-and-white X-ray image.

Inside the sea monster, Ulf saw what looked like a huge cave.

“Sea monsters have the largest stomach of all carnivorous beasts,” Dr. Fielding said.

Ulf stared in horror. Inside the beast's stomach he could see the bodies of half-eaten sharks.

“It feeds off sharks,” Dr. Fielding explained. “It injects them with venom that freezes their blood—a state known as ice sleep. The frozen sharks are unable to move, and it swallows them whole.”

On the X-ray, Ulf could see rows of gnashing teeth lining the walls of the sea monster's stomach. The sharks were being slowly devoured.

“Its digestive system appears to be normal,” Dr. Fielding said. She looked up, studying the sea monster's internal organs, checking for signs of injury. She pointed her cane to a large flickering
lump. “This is its heart,” she said. “It has six blood chambers.”

The heart was pumping frantically. “It's in shock, Ulf.”

Dr. Fielding pointed to either side of the sea monster's body where dark narrow slits were trembling. “Its gills are hyperventilating.”

Dr. Fielding stood back, looking up and down the X-ray. She frowned.

“What's the matter?” Ulf asked her.

“Up here,” she said, pointing her cane up the window to a jagged line a couple of feet above the sea monster's eyes. “Its shell is fractured.”

Dr. Fielding traced her cane around a large white organ behind the fracture. It was the size of a barrel. “That's its brain, Ulf,” she said.

Ulf looked.

“The dark shadow in its center is blood.”

Dr. Fielding paced up and down at the base of the viewing window. “Its brain is bleeding. This is
serious, Ulf. A brain injury is life-threatening. The poor beast.”

“Can you fix it?” Ulf asked.

“I'm afraid that operating on a Redback is too dangerous, Ulf.”

Dr. Fielding printed out a copy of the X-ray image, then flicked a switch and the viewing window returned to normal mode.

“What do you mean?” Ulf asked.

“Watch this,” she said, reaching up and tapping the window with her cane.

Ulf saw the sea monster tilt slightly in the water. It was looking directly at them. Two rocky slabs of shell were moving apart as its mouth opened. It was the biggest mouth Ulf had ever seen.

“It's preparing to feed,” Dr. Fielding said. She kept tapping her cane against the glass.

Ulf saw a snakelike limb emerging from a hole between the sea monster's eyes. It was sliding through the coral.

“That's the Redback's stinger,” Dr. Fielding told him. “That's what it uses to inject its prey with venom.”

She tapped the glass faster and the snakelike limb extended from the sea monster, reaching toward the window. “Its stinger can sense vibrations in the water. It strikes for the heart of any creature that goes near it.”

The stinger slid toward the glass where she was tapping her cane. She was tapping the rhythm of a heartbeat. The tip of the stinger was bright blue. It opened, exposing two sharp fangs. A tongue flicked out.

“It'll try to strike,” Dr. Fielding said.

Ulf watched as the stinger struck the glass with a thump. It rebounded off the window. The stinger's fangs couldn't penetrate. It struck again.

Dr. Fielding stopped tapping.

“If any other beast had a brain injury, even another sea monster, I'd operate immediately,” she
said. “But not a Redback. We can't go near it, Ulf. We'd be killed.”

With the tapping stopped, the stinger coiled back into the hole between the sea monster's eyes.

“But there must be something you can do,” Ulf said. “Orson could help. He can handle any beast.”

“Not a Redback, Ulf.”

Ulf put his hairy hands against the window, watching the injured beast. The sea monster's huge mouth slammed shut.

“Can't you tranquilize it?” he asked.

“A tranquilizer dart wouldn't get through a Redback's shell,” Dr. Fielding said.

“But what will happen if you don't operate?”

“It's dying, Ulf,” she told him.

Dr. Fielding placed her hand on Ulf's shoulder. “I'm sorry,” she said. “We can't save every beast.”

Ulf could see the sea monster's eyes blazing. He was sure it was watching him.

ULF FOLLOWED DR. FIELDING BACK UP THE LADDER
,
out of the viewing gallery and onto the dock.

Dr. Fielding held the X-ray printout up to the light, studying it carefully.

Ulf stood at the edge of the examination bay. He could see Captain Crab's boat moored alongside the RSPCB submersible and speedboat. The Captain was pulling his net back on board. His old face looked sunburned and weathered from years at sea. He was wearing a thick woollen sweater and had a shiny metal hook for a hand.

The Captain looked up, picking a barnacle from his bushy white beard. He saw Ulf watching him. “What's up? You never seen a hook before?” he asked. The Captain bundled his net onto the back of his boat then climbed down to the dock. He walked over and stood beside Ulf, holding his hook out. “Sharks,” the Captain said. “Bit it clean off.”

He polished his hook on his sweater, then turned to Dr. Fielding. She was still studying the X-ray. “So, is it going to be okay?” he asked her.

“It's suffered a brain injury,” Dr. Fielding explained.

“As soon as I saw it I knew something was up,” the Captain told her.

Ulf glanced down into the examination bay. Waves were splashing against the concrete wall as the sea monster writhed below in the water.

“I'm afraid we can't operate on it, Captain,” Dr. Fielding said. “It's too dangerous.”

“Too dangerous?” Captain Crab asked. “Things
certainly have changed around here since old Farraway's day.”

“Professor Farraway?” Ulf asked. “Did you know the Professor?”

“Everyone knew old Farraway. He was amazing,” Captain Crab said. “He used to swim with those monsters. You'd never hear him say ‘too dangerous.'”

Professor Farraway had been the world's first cryptozoologist, an expert on endangered beasts. Many years ago he'd lived at Farraway Hall and had founded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Beasts. When he died, he gave the Society everything he owned.

“I'm sorry, Captain, but times have changed,” Dr. Fielding said. “It's not safe to get in the water with a Redback.”

Captain Crab frowned. “If you say so, Dr. Fielding, but it seems awful sad to me.”

Ulf watched as the Captain took a tin canteen from his back pocket. He pulled a cork from its top with his teeth, then took a long swig.

Dr. Fielding looked down into the examination bay where the sea monster was struggling. “Do you know what might have injured it, Captain?” she asked.

“I just found it floating on the surface. It must have been hit by a boat.”

“Sea monsters don't come to the surface, Captain,” Ulf told him.

“Then perhaps it was an anchor,” Captain Crab said. He wiped his lips and put his canteen back into his pocket. “Well, I'll leave the investigations to you, Dr. Fielding. I'd best be on my way.”

Captain Crab held his hook out for Dr. Fielding to shake.

“Thank you for all that you've done,” Dr. Fielding said, grasping the shiny metal.

“Fair thee well, Dr. Fielding,” Captain Crab told her. As he walked back to his boat, Ulf followed.

“Did you really know Professor Farraway?” Ulf asked.

“When you're as old as me, you've known just about everyone. One of a kind, he was.”

The Captain climbed aboard.

“Would you see the Captain out, please, Orson?” Dr. Fielding called along the dock.

At the far end of the dock the giant was throwing fish from a bucket, feeding the megamauls, beasts that looked like hairy dolphins with long tusks. Orson gave a thumbs-up, then strode toward the sea gates.

Captain Crab leaned down to Ulf. “It's a bit rotten, don't you think, letting the poor thing die?” As he spoke, his eyebrows moved up and down. They were white and bushy like his beard. “Still, I suppose it's not for me to interfere.”

“Come on, Ulf,” Dr. Fielding called, heading to the Jeep. “Orson will look after things here.”

Ulf ran after her. “There must be something we can do,” he said. “We can't let the sea monster die.”

“I don't want it to die, Ulf,” Dr. Fielding told him. “But it's too dangerous to go near.”

She got into the Jeep and started the engine.

“But there must be a way. The Captain said Professor Farraway used to swim with them.”

“Please, Ulf. I'm not the Professor. Things are different now.”

She pulled away. Ulf watched as she drove off along the shore of the seawater lagoon, heading around Sunset Mountain to the beast park.

ULF RODE HIS ATV BACK INTO THE YARD AND
stopped outside Farraway Hall. Beside him, Dr. Fielding was stepping out of her Jeep.

He switched off his engine and jumped off. “You can't let it die,” he said.

“Listen, Ulf. I promise I'll do anything I can.”

Dr. Fielding walked to the side door of the house, then turned back. “Can you give the demondog its medicine, please? I'll be in my office if you need me.” She closed the door, leaving Ulf in the yard.

Tiana the fairy came flying from the flower garden. “What's up, Ulf?” she asked.

“A sea monster's come in,” he told her. “It's been injured. Its brain is bleeding.”

Tiana gave a shiver, and sparkles fell from her wings.

“Dr. Fielding says she can't help it. It's too dangerous to get close.”

“BLUURGH!”

Ulf felt something wet land on his head. He looked up. On the rooftop, Druce the gargoyle was leaning out, dribbling.

“Druce, that's revolting,” Tiana called.

Ulf wiped the spit from his hair and watched as the gargoyle picked his nose with his yellow tongue, then climbed head first down the drainpipe.

Druce leaned down to Ulf, screwing up his ugly face. “Hurted monster,” he gurgled. “Hurted its head.”

The gargoyle dropped onto a window ledge, wrapping his head in his arms. Then he peeped out, grinning. “Maaaarackai hurted beasts.”

Ulf watched as Druce rocked back and forth on his heels, nibbling his little finger.

“Nasty Marackai,” the gargoyle gurgled.

“It wasn't Marackai who hurt the sea monster, Druce,” Tiana said.

“Marackai's gone, Druce,” Ulf told him.

Druce looked down at Ulf, scrunching his nose and narrowing his eyes. “He comes in the night with his gun and his knife. Run away Fur Face, run for your life!”

Ulf looked at Tiana. “He
is
gone, isn't he?”

“Of course he is. Druce is just trying to scare us.”

Marackai was Professor Farraway's son. Years ago he'd lived with his father at Farraway Hall. He hated beasts. He was vicious and cruel to them so, as a punishment, Professor Farraway left nothing to Marackai in his will. When the Professor died, Marackai was sent away from Farraway Hall, but he'd sworn he'd be back.

“I bited him!” Druce said.

The gargoyle pushed his finger into his mouth then pulled it out with a popping sound.

He leaped from the window ledge flapping his stubby wings, and scurried up the drainpipe singing. “He won't get me! He won't get me! I bited his finger and he won't get me!”

“Why don't gargoyles ever say anything nice?” Tiana said.

Ulf headed to the feed store. “Come on, Tiana,” he called. “Come and give me a hand.”

Inside the feed store Ulf opened a large fridge and took out a bucket of blood.

Tiana flew in after him. “Ugh, what's that for?” she asked.

“It's for the demondog,” Ulf told her. “It needs its medicine.”

He looked up to a high shelf. Between a pot of Serpent Scourer and a box of Phoenix Firelighters, he saw a packet labeled Hound Wormer. “Tiana, could you pass me that packet, please?” he asked.

Tiana flew up to the shelf. With both hands she pushed the packet. It fell and Ulf caught it. He tore it open, tipping green powder into the bucket of blood. He stirred it with a stick, then carried the bucket to the big beast barn, a large wooden building at the corner of the yard.

Ulf peered through a small crack in the barn door. Inside, in the shadows, he could see the demondog snarling. It was a ferocious black dog with three heads. A week ago it had been brought in sick, suffering from a case of the worms. When the demondog smelled the blood, it began barking at the door, its three mouths slobbering.

Ulf poured the blood into a plastic funnel on the side of the barn. It glugged down a length of hose and sloshed inside into a metal trough.

The demondog began drinking, its three tongues lapping at the blood. Ulf watched through the crack in the door. He could see the fire returning
to the demondog's eyes. It seemed to be getting much better.

“It'll be out of here soon,” he said. “Dr. Fielding says it can be released when it's better.”

Tiana wrinkled her nose. “I don't know how it can drink that stuff.”

Ulf rinsed the bucket under the yard tap. As he swirled the red water, he looked up and saw Dr. Fielding through the office window. He could see her sitting at her desk with a stack of books. She was looking through them, making notes.

“Books,” he said.

“Excuse me?” Tiana asked.

“Of course! Why didn't I think of it earlier? Professor Farraway's book!”

Ulf raced around the corner of the barn, along the side of the paddock.

“Where are you going?” Tiana called.

Ulf was running to his den. He pulled open the
door and scrambled to the back corner, scraping the straw with his hands and feet.

Tiana flew in through the bars on the window as Ulf prized a loose brick from the bottom of the wall. Behind it, in his secret hiding place, was a dusty black notebook.

He took it out and read:

 

THE BOOK OF BEASTS

by Professor J. E. Farraway

 

The Book of Beasts
was Professor Farraway's notebook from his expeditions around the world, observing beasts in the wild. It contained secrets about beasts of every kind, from trolls to griffins, from fairies to dragons.

“Professor Farraway swam with sea monsters, Tiana,” Ulf said. “He wasn't scared to go near them.”

Ulf turned through the pages, past jottings and
doodles, diagrams and photographs. He flicked past a drawing of a unicorn's heart and a note on grooming gorgons.

“There must be something in here,” he said, scanning the pages for an entry on sea monsters. He flicked past tips on growing flesh-eating plants, a drawing of a cyclops's eye and instructions on how to de-flea a biganasty. There was a remedy for demon fever, notes on the hatching temperature of phoenix ash and a step-by-step guide to unblocking the blowhole of a sandwhale.

He kept on turning the pages.

“Here!” he said. “‘The Redback Sea Monster.'”

It was the very last entry in the book.

At the bottom of the page was a diagram of a ball with handles on either side and a bottle connected to its base. It was labeled
VENOM EXTRACTOR
.

“Look at this,” Ulf said.

Tiana hovered over the page.

“This is how the Professor did it, Tiana,” Ulf said. “He knew a way to extract the sea monster's venom.”

Ulf closed the notebook. “Come on! We have to tell Dr. Fielding.”