Ewan stood in the woods between some storage sheds, his car back along the road. He’d turned up at Heather’s house in time to see her getting strongarmed into a Range Rover by a guy in a suit. He followed. He saw the guy rush into the campervan and drag Ava out. And he saw that thing come out and disarm him then knock him out without hardly trying.
The creature was still standing in the middle of the clearing, using three tentacles as legs, two more waving in front of it as it looked at the kid, Lennox. Heather staggered out of the van and went to the other two, her eyes on the octopus thing. It was tall, its head extended more than when it was on the beach. He’d presumed it was dead, but here it was saving Ava and assaulting a wanker.
He stepped out of the woods. ‘Hey.’
Ava jumped then relaxed when she saw it was him. She looked at the guy on the ground. He seemed like he was sleeping. Lennox didn’t turn round, just stared at the octopus, which was waving at him. Heather saw Ewan and smiled. The look on her face made his heart warm.
‘What are you doing here?’ she said.
He held out his arms to take in the whole scene. ‘Following the story.’
He reached the guy on the ground, knelt down and checked for a pulse. It was faint but regular.
‘I saw him take you from your house so I followed to make sure you were OK.’
Heather looked behind her at the kid and the octopus. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Want to tell me what’s going on?’
‘I wish I knew.’ She nodded at the guy on the ground, drool dribbling from his mouth. ‘Is he dead?’
‘No.’ He nodded beyond Heather. ‘Whatever it did to him, he’s still alive.’
‘You saw that.’
‘Yeah.’ He stepped closer to her. A bruise was appearing under her left eye. A thin crust of blood at her left nostril. ‘Are you OK?’
She touched her eye. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Was that him?’
She nodded.
Ewan glanced at the body. ‘In normal circumstances I would say call the police.’
Heather touched her nose and shook her head. ‘These are not normal circumstances.’
‘No.’
He walked towards the creature. Lennox and Ava were together five yards away. Lennox had his hand out, eyes closed.
‘What is it?’ Ewan said.
The thing was shimmering, patterns irradiating its surface. Blue and green and shades between, flashes of orange and yellow like lightning along its tentacles, its head changing colour all the time like the northern lights. And its head was changing shape, from a long oblong to a fatter sphere, then narrowing at the bottom and enlarged on top. There were crenellations above its eyes, ridges shifting across and back again.
‘Sandy,’ Heather said.
Ewan frowned. ‘Sandy?’
Heather shrugged. ‘Lennox named them. Because they were sandy on the beach.’
‘They? Like a non-binary thing?’
Heather looked at Lennox. ‘No, like a plural thing.’
‘How does he know?’
‘They talk to him.’
Ewan laughed and Lennox’s eyes snapped open. The colour drained from Sandy’s body and their limbs went pale, then they slumped to the ground, kicking up dust. Lennox looked drunk and swayed. Ava put out an arm to steady him.
Sandy looked like they had on the beach, and Ewan wondered if they were exhausted from stunning the guy.
‘What do … they want?’ he said eventually.
Lennox looked at Ewan and took a moment to recognise him. ‘They want to be … reconnected.’
‘What?’
Lennox ran a hand through his hair, then down his face. ‘It’s impossible to explain. It’s feelings and images, mostly. They want to be reconnected … to themselves.’
‘What does that mean?’
Lennox shook his head. ‘I don’t know. But I need to help.’
The sun was higher now, the golf course would be busy soon. The guy on the ground hadn’t moved, dust covering the side of his suit.
‘What about him?’ Ewan said.
Ava pressed her lips together. ‘What about him?’
‘You can’t just leave him there.’
Ava looked at the others. ‘We’re already wanted by the police for what happened on the beach. We can’t go back now.’
Ewan turned to Heather. ‘What do you think?’
Heather stared at him and he thought about the stones in her pockets that night on the beach.
‘I’m with them,’ she said eventually.
‘Hey.’ The shout came from the trees.
Ewan saw a guy in a groundskeeper’s polo shirt, canvas trousers and work boots. He was young and solid. ‘You can’t be here.’
Lennox moved to hide Sandy, Ava and Heather stepped back.
The guy spotted Ava’s husband on the ground. ‘What the fuck?’ He turned to them. ‘What’s going on here?’
He ran to the body and pulled out his phone.
‘We have to go,’ Lennox said. He turned and grabbed Sandy’s head, heaved it and staggered towards the van, the tentacles trailing in the dust.
Ava walked backward towards the van, keeping an eye on the groundskeeper, covering Lennox.
The groundskeeper stood and shouted over to them. ‘Why haven’t you called an ambulance?’
Ewan felt Heather tug his sleeve.
‘Come on,’ she said.
He tried to clear his head. He’d spent his life following shitty stories, pretending he wanted the truth, but really he mostly just exploited people’s misfortune. He didn’t want to do that anymore. The story here was in the campervan, but he had a better idea.
‘I’ll stay,’ he said, and Heather’s face fell. ‘I’ll deal with this. Give you the chance to get away.’
Heather frowned. ‘Come with us, we could use your help.’
‘I’m more help here. I’ll stall the cops, mislead them.’
He dug in his pocket and pulled out an old business card. ‘Call me here. Let it ring twice then hang up and I’ll call back.’
The groundskeeper was talking to the ambulance service, then requested police.
Ewan turned to Heather, saw a look of something in her eyes.
‘Go,’ he said.