Carefully, I retracted my arms from the aluminum sleeves and ran my hands along the inside of my suit. Just below my right quadriceps I felt water trickling in… originating from the razor-sharp tip of a dense, daggerlike tooth! Another fang had punctured one of the joint capsules above my shoulder, this one drawing blood, and two more had pierced my left leg and were pressing against my flesh.

Looking back over my shoulder, I could see the roof of the creature's mouth. A single row of curved, barbed teeth ran down the center of the throat, attached to the eel's mandibular bone. These were Nature's "hooks," preventing the eel's prey from escaping.

A shiver ran down my spine as I checked my depth gauge—812 feet. Since the Loch's depth near Aldourie Castle was only 725 feet, we had to be moving through the crevice. Before I could deal with this unfathomable predicament, another smacked me square in the face.

When the monster had bitten me, I had instantly blacked out, due to the sudden change in pressure when the creature's teeth pierced my suit. The Guivre's teeth were now sealing the holes. If and when it opened its mouth, its fangs would retract, and the sudden increase in pressure would crush me faster than I could drown!

My body went rigid. I began hyperventilating.

Stay calm, Zachary, you're not dead yet! Breathe.

Opening my eyes, I looked out the helmet's clear bubble, realizing my lights were no longer working. Feeling inside the left glove, I verified that the master toggle switch had been turned off, probably a reflex action just before I had passed out.

I contemplated switching them on, but feared startling the monster. I couldn't do that, not this deep.

Looking below my chin, I focused on my instruments.

The heading was zero-six-zero. We were moving east by northeast… only now our depth was rising.

725 feet… 680 feet… 630—

Where were we? In Loch Ness, or the underwater passage, heading for the North Sea?

I had to know.

Reaching my right hand back into its sleeve, I felt for the pincers, still gripping the handheld light. Holding my breath, I gently squeezed the device like the trigger of a gun, activating the smaller beacon.

"Oh God …"

The hair on the back of my neck tingled, my mind drowning in new waves of panic.

My beam was illuminating the inside of the monster's mouth—a hideous orifice filled with rows of barbed, stiletto-sharp teeth. The upper and lower fangs were easily eight inches, the smaller incisors flatter and as broad as my hand.

That I had survived this monster's initial attack seemed beyond any miracle. The question now—where was it taking me?

Turning my forearm slightly, I adjusted the light's beam so it shone out the side of the creature's open mouth.

The circle of light pierced the blackness, revealing steep rock walls.