Barclay didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t have a lot of expertise with parents. In his mind, his parents had been loving and warm and perfect. But that was because all he truly had were hazy memories blended together with his own wishful thinking. Real people, even grown-ups, even parents, were more complicated than that. And sometimes they disappointed you.

After the pair finished cleaning up the mess they’d made, they returned half of Viola’s books to the shelves and walked back to the library’s checkout desk at the entrance. They found the others waiting there, gathered amid a small crowd. In the center stood Tadg, a medal dangling around his neck and Toadles perched on his shoulder. Several Lore Keepers vigorously shook his hand.

“Just like his father!” one chirped.

“It’s been a while since we recorded a new Sea Beast!” said another.

“You must write to us often about any developments or Lore,” urged the last.

Barclay couldn’t tell if the flush on Tadg’s cheeks was from his own annoyance or Toadles’s poison. Or maybe, possibly, a little bit of pride.

In typical Spring fashion, it rained that night. But after his conversations with Viola, Shazi, and Hasu, Barclay needed to sort out his thoughts now more than ever. Because no matter how much he might feel otherwise, everyone got nervous. Everyone made mistakes. Everyone faced their own challenges.

So maybe he really could conquer his.

After changing into his thickest sweater, Barclay and Root ran across the hills of Munsey, where the wind blew at its fiercest. His hair quickly got tangled. His clothes, mud splattered. But it was only in the wildest moments that his mind felt calm.

Then Root skidded to a stop. His ears perked up on alert, and Barclay whipped around to see what he was looking at. A dark smudge of a figure loomed in the distance. It stood on two legs, but that was the only humanlike thing about it. It must’ve been twelve feet tall, and two sharp tusks jutted from its head like crooked spears. It stood still as stone—which was good, because Barclay did not want it to notice them.

Then Barclay blinked, and the Beast was gone.

“Do you think we could both be seeing things?” Barclay asked Root.

Root still stared at where the Beast had been, then sniffed the air suspiciously. No, that monster had definitely been real.

Lore Keepers from all across the world traveled to the Sea, so even if the Beast didn’t look like it was from here, there was probably a good reason for it.

But the mysterious dread in Barclay’s chest warned that the reason wasn’t good at all.

TWELVE