The Cryptid Files Read Online Free Page B

steep drive that was lined by trees. Vanessa could see the stone cottage at the end. It was implausibly beautiful, the most beautiful house she had ever seen. She knew exactly how Hansel and Gretel had felt stumbling upon the gingerbread house. Three small windows nestled in the roof looking over the loch. A climber with white flowers bushed over the door arch and there was even a small white cat waiting by the front door. Vanessa looked down the slope of the garden to the water’s edge where a wooden bench perched on the edge of the loch. She was entranced.
    â€˜Catch, Vanessa,’ Ronan shouted playfully as he turfed her bag out of the boot onto the driveway. The cat didn’t move as they approached the door and merely stared back at them with the occasional flick of her ear. They rang the bell and waited. It opened slowly to reveal a small woman with grey hair and twinkling eyes. It was too much. Vanessa felt as if she had been unwittingly trapped in a fairy tale.
    â€˜Welcome, welcome, come in, come in. You must be starving after that long journey. I’ve scones and tea made.’
    Her soft Scottish accent and kind words drew them in and they all but fell through the door in a heap.

CHAPTER 8
    Loch Ness researcher, Adrian Shine, has said, ‘If monsters exist, then science, a mainstay of our conventional wisdom, has ignored the most exciting wildlife mystery in the British Isles. If there are none, then over a thousand people including doctors, clergymen, MPs, civil dignitaries, not to mention a saint, may have lied; unthinkable. Alternatively, they were sincerely and unshakably mistaken; even more worrying!’
    The hall was narrow and they all stood in a clump in the middle of it, not sure how to proceed.
    â€˜Oh, in to the left, children. I’ve set a fire for you.’
    It wasn’t a cold afternoon, but the flames flickering in the grate were a welcome sight. The room smelled of something familiar and when Vanessa looked around, the room she saw pots brimming with lavender. She didn’t remember ever having seen lavender plants indoors, but she did remember the fragrance well because her mother used to spray it on her pillow when she couldn’t sleep. She used to think that it was like a magic potion because it worked on her so quickly.
    Vanessa left her bag against the wall and sat down in one of the armchairs in front of the fire, curling her long legs under her like a cat. She liked it here already.
    â€˜Cream and jam for everybody?’
    â€˜I’ll help you,’ Vanessa offered spontaneously, standing up again from her chair.
    Her father smiled at her, pleased to see that she was making an effort.
    â€˜Well, that would be kind, thank you, dear.’
    The tea ceremony took about fifteen minutes and while the boys ate heartily and chatted on, Vanessa found herself getting sleepier. Perhaps it was the effect of the lavender. She opened her eyes with an effort, to find the elderly woman gazing directly at her.
    â€˜Come on, Vanessa. I’ll show you your room and maybe you could have a short rest before supper.’
    Vanessa’s legs felt like lead as she mounted the stairs. Her room was one of the rooms to the front with the window looking over the loch.
    â€˜It’s gorgeous, thank you. And it looks out over the water.’
    â€˜Maybe you’d like to go out on the loch tomorrow morning?’ The old lady gazed out of the window. ‘It’s always most beautiful first thing,’ she added. Before Vanessa could answer, she continued on, ‘We’ll ask Lee when she comes back. She’s out on the loch at the moment. She always takes the boat out for an hour or two when she arrives home, especially if she’s been away for a while.’

CHAPTER 9
    23 April 1960 was a day that changed Tim Dinsdale’s life. He filmed an object in Loch Ness moving at about 10 mph with his cine camera. An aeronautical engineer, Tim gave up his job