“Melissa!” I rushed into the water, feeling like my body was in slow motion. When I was up to my knees, I glanced over my shoulder to see Trish frozen in place. “Help me!” I cried. But she didn’t move.
I kept pushing through the water until I was almost up to my waist. Then I sucked in a breath and got ready to dive where I’d seen Nessie disappear.
But at that moment, I felt the lake start to churn around me, and the monster broke the surface of the water only a few feet away.
“Melissa!” I cried as I spotted her still curled up in the monster’s tail. She was coughing, which at least meant she was still alive.
“I’m fine!” she said, wiping green slime off her face. “I think he just got a little too excited.”
“Hugsies,” said Nessie.
“Ooh!” Melissa said. “You sure have a strong grip, don’t you, boy?”
“Let go of her!” Trish yelled behind me, finally finding her voice.
“It’s fine, guys,” said Melissa. “He’s not going to hurt me.” Then her eyes widened. “Oh. He’s…ouch.”
“What’s happening?” I said.
Melissa’s face paled. “He’s…squeezing…me…”
“Hugsies,” the monster said. He coiled around Melissa protectively and swam farther out in the lake, reminding me of a little kid who couldn’t wait to play with his shiny new toy.
“What are we going to do?” said Trish as she rushed into the water beside me. “He’s going to squeeze her to death!”
I stared as Nessie twirled in a circle in the middle of the lake, Melissa nestled in his tail. She was struggling to get out of his grip, but she wouldn’t be able to fight for long.
“Wait on the shore,” I told Trish. I had no choice but to swim after the monster and hope he didn’t start hugging me to death too.
I kicked off through the water, going as fast as I could. But as I got farther into the lake, I felt something nip at my legs. Once. Twice. Ten times.
“Ow!” I cried, slimy water pouring into my mouth. Obviously there were fish in the lake, and they were anything but friendly. When one chomped into my ankle, I knew I had to turn back to the shore. I wouldn’t do Melissa any good if I was chewed to pieces.
“What happened?” Trish cried as I stumbled out of the water, blood trickling down my leg.
“It’s no use,” I said, panting. “I can’t swim out there. We have to find another way.”
“But how?” said Trish, her voice shaking. “We don’t even know how to deal with the monster.”
My mind was spinning. “We have to think! How did Sir Knight do it?”
Trish pulled her book of fairy tales out of her bag again and started frantically leafing through it. “I don’t know,” she muttered to herself. “I just don’t know.”
I tried to imagine what Sir Knight must have done when he’d come to the lake. No doubt, he’d told Nessie just how brave he was. Then, after the monster had started turbo-hugging him, Sir Knight had probably waved his sword around without actually hitting anything except maybe himself.
“Clang!” I yelled. Nothing happened. “Ding!” The monster didn’t even flinch.
What else could Sir Knight have done? Then I realized…
“He sang!” I said.
“What?” said Trish.
“Sir Knight probably did it by accident. He started humming like he does when he’s trying to be heroic, and it had some kind of effect on the monster.”
Trish snapped her book shut in excitement. “You might be right. But what do we sing?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, limping back toward the edge of the lake. “Maybe any song is fine.” I cleared my throat, self-conscious about letting loose my horrible singing voice, but there was no time to be shy. I opened my mouth and started singing the first song that popped into my head.
Jenny is an adventurer
She couldn’t be any awesomer.
I couldn’t believe I was belting a song about how awesome I was. Talk about embarrassing.
The minute I started to sing, Nessie’s head snapped up, and he eyed me curiously.
“It’s working,” said Trish as the monster started drifting toward us, a dreamy look sweeping over his face. “Keep singing, Jenny. Louder!”
I had no choice but to keep broadcasting Melissa’s song in my off-key voice. For another moment, Nessie enjoyed the music. He was closer to the shore and his tail uncoiled a little. But when I hit a couple of wrong notes, he cringed and let out a howl.
“It’s not working,” I said. “My singing is just too terrible. Trish, maybe you should try?”
Trish nodded and started singing the same song. Her voice was a lot better than mine, but it was so breathy and quiet that it barely carried two feet. Nessie stopped swimming toward us and turned back to his prize.
“No!” cried Trish, clearly hysterical. “He’s going to eat her!”
Suddenly a sweet, haunting voice rang out on the lake: Melissa’s.
Instantly, Nessie’s face relaxed, and he even started to hum along—as much as a giant worm with tiny ears could hum, anyway. Compared to him, I’d sounded like a Broadway star.
The monster floated toward the edge of the lake, and I could hear him purring like a motorcycle. He lifted his tail and carefully deposited Melissa on the ground. Then he murmured happily to himself, a little smile on his green face, and drifted away on his back.
I caught Melissa as she stumbled out of the water. She looked pale and terrified, but her voice was as gorgeous as ever.
When Nessie had disappeared under the water, Melissa’s singing finally quieted. She gave us a little smile, took a step forward, and crumpled on the ground.