"I'll say, "cause ye're no' goin', an' that's final!"

I turned to True. "Start the boat."

"Don't ye dare."

True looked at us, then ducked inside the wheelhouse. "Damn ye, Zack—"

"Brandy, I love you, and I want to be with you forever, which is exactly why I have to do this. That night terror I had this morning, I've been having them almost every night since the Sargasso thing, and they're getting worse. I know it sounds crazy, but going down into the Loch and freeing this creature is the only way to end the nightmares."

"It'll end yer nightmares… an' yer life. Dinnae do this, Zack. Please dinnae put us both through this pain."

The twin engines growled to life.

"I love you, Brandy. Forgive me." In one motion I picked her up over my shoulder—

"Let me go!"

—and tossed her over the starboard rail.

I released the stern line, yelling, "True, get us out of here!"

Brandy surfaced, gasping from the cold water. "Bastard!"

The boat lurched forward, its tea-colored wake washing over Brandy's head.

The Diary of Sir Adam Wallace

Translated by Logan W. Wallace

Entry: 8 November 1330

Ten days. Ten long days have passed since I wis carried, half-deid, back tae Inverness. I am far frae whole, yet I am alive, spared by God, cursed by fate… my mind still lost in the bowels o' Hell. But finish this entry I must, if only for those that must one day carry on my anointed task.

When last I wrote, Sir Keef had announced his work on the iron framework an' pulley system had been completed. Sure enough, the slides that wid support the massive gate were mounted in place along the tunnel's narrowest point, along with two single pulleys and ropes.

Noo "twis time tae set the iron gate intae position within the frame.

Like the gate o' a drawbridge, oor iron barrier wis designed tae slide up an' doon within its housin', lowered an' raised by the two ropes looped on pulleys. The task afore us required we raise the gate above the mooth o' the river by its ropes, so it could be fed, bottom end first, intae its slide, then lowered within its frame.

Bein' the maist nimble, Sir Keef an' his brother, Alex mounted the frame so as tae thread the gate's heavy ropes through their pulleys first. Three o' oor rank then joined Sir Keef along the opposite bank wi' his rope, while MacDonald, mysel', an' Sir Alex worked the rope on the near shore.

Gruntin' an' groanin', the seven o' us managed tae raise an' swing the gate ower the surface o' that dark roarin' river. As it neared the arched ceilin', the two brothers reached oot an' guided it intae position within its heavy frame.