The doctor lowers his brow. “They approached the town the following day, at dusk, steaming at a reckless rate. Far from leaving them alone, the monster attacked the moment the sun went down. With the last of his men stationed in the engine room – ordered to keep course for Eerie-on-Sea – Captain K went out onto the deck to face the malamander alone.”

“That’s bonkers!” I say.

“Indeed,” says the doc. “Very bonkers. But the captain was drunk with power. He had the magical egg, after all, and knew he would live for ever as long as he possessed it. He felt invincible. And according to legend, the malamander, though tough as steel, was not invincible. It had one weakness. It could be killed. At least, that’s what the stories said. Captain K thought that with the magic on his side he would find that weakness and finish the beast off for good.”

“Only that’s not what happened,” says Vi.

Dr Thalassi shakes his head. “Whether it was some treachery in the magic, or some miscalculation on the part of the captain, this was to be his last stand. As he faced up to the monster on the heaving deck, wreathed in the strange sea mist, clutching the egg like a weapon, the creature darted forward and delivered a bite. A good, hard bite, which injected stinging venom. The bite hurt, but the real terror wasn’t in the pain, it was in the cold numbness that froze the captain’s limbs. He lost the ability to move down one side of his body, and fell. In horror, Captain K could only watch as the malamander bent over him and, with a single snap of its jaws, tore his right hand – the hand that held the malamander egg – clean off and swallowed it whole.”

“So he lost it,” I say, after a pause to let the gory details sink in. “The egg. But doesn’t that mean the wish would become a curse?”

“I’m glad you were paying attention, Herbie,” says the doc with a nod. “The malamander, having devoured its magical egg once again, slipped into the sea with a final roar and was gone. The ship ran aground, of course, and the last of the crew abandoned the wreck. As for the captain, with the magic gone, all the wounds he had received during the battle returned. He was found on the deck by some brave souls from Eerie: a ruin of a man, ranting and raving and waving the stump where his hand used to be, vowing revenge against the malamander.

In the days that followed, he had something grafted onto his arm in place of the lost hand, something he could use as a weapon. And they say he spent the rest of his days hunting for the monster that had destroyed him.”

I look at Vi, and she looks at me.