Ogopogo
By: Leah Powell (2010)
The water of Lake Okanagan was far too calm. A grey, rain filled sky hung above them, not raining yet but ready to, with huge full clouds and heavy, misty air. The sky was slashed here and there with purple, occasionally reflecting onto the dark water. Ashley Thorn looked over the edge of the boat into it, and couldn't see any farther beyond her reflection, looking bored and uncomfortable. She was also pretty sure this lifejacket made her look fat.
They had been called out to British Columbia to handle reports of an attacking lake monster. Supposedly, a giant serpent had been lunging out of the lake grabbing cars passing over the bridge, and pulling them down. This was what the victim who had been pulled out of the lake had said, but of course when it ended up on the news it had been reported that the driver was drunk and simply drove off the bridge. It didn't feel like a professional snub, Ashley and her Guardian were pretty used to handling situations like this.
Of course everyone in Okanagan valley already knew about the snake in the lake. He'd been there longer than any human, and he was just as, if not more famous now than he ever was. The legends had been there forever, but now there was pictures of it (or what they assumed it looked like) on t-shirts and coffee mugs. And every year a new group of people came up to try and find it, sometimes just to gawk at the river and act like every other cottage-country tourist, and sometimes they brought fancy equipment and boats and tried to look very serious indeed.
Ashley Thorn and her Guardian were a little bit of both. They certainly didn't look like any of the others the people in Kelowna had ever seen. They didn't bring any fancy equipment, they didn't have a boat, they rented one, and really... they were just a couple of kids. Not nice kids either, a couple of weirdoes, to be exact. But the questions they asked about what had happened on the bridge were very serious indeed. They jotted down the answers at the boat rental place and the fish and tackle store, and they even went to the hospital to question the victim. Randy Horton - that was the victim, who was losing more of his friends trust every time he opened his mouth these days, insisted that they did. He didn't know how they were allowed in to see him, but he assured everybody they were very polite.
So they had taken a cheap but sturdy little motor boat and driven out into the lake. A small crowd from the fish and tackle shop watched them. Apparently the girl - that was Ashley - had gotten her boating license online. She appeared to be afraid of the motor and couldn’t remember which buttons did what. The small crowd looked worriedly at each other and wished them good luck catching the great snake.
And so the sun came out a little bit as Ashley Thorn and her Guardian reached a good spot in the lake, far from shore but still within sight of the bridge, and killed the motor. They dropped anchor and tried to figure out the next part of their plan.
****
Ashley dipped her finger into the lake, feeling how cold it was and watching the ripples it created. She pushed herself back up into the boat and looked to her Guardian.
"Why do I have to wear a lifejacket but you don't?"
He was sitting on the other end of the boat, closer to the motor, reading a map. He put the map down on the floor of the boat and looked at her like the answer was obvious, which it was.
"Because I am immortal, and you are not. And you don't know how to swim." He appeared to be about 19 years old, but it changed depending on how you looked at him. He was very tall and thin, and even now the little boat seemed too small for him, he was all legs and arms, trying to figure out which way to hold the map. His skin was white like paper, and so was his hair, which was perpetually messy. The only bit of colour on him at all was his eyes, which were bright blue, and so big and vivid they were a bit of shock to anyone first meeting him. But this was not his strangest feature, not by far. No, his strangest feature stuck out even worse, on top of his head, just beyond his hair line, was a single black horn. His name was Daimon, and he was a demon. Yes, a demon as in Hell and Satan and fire. But he was also a Guardian, as in protection and safety and well, kindness.
He was Ashley Thorn's Guardian Demon, and he was also her best friend. Ashley didn't believe she was particularly remarkable, and sitting next to Daimon who could blame her? She was sixteen, and in many ways the total opposite of him. She was short and a little podgy, which was why she was constantly fretting about the lifejacket. She had long blonde hair, and where Daimon insisted on contrasting his white skin with black clothing, she wore pure colour. Blue jeans, a green hoodie, brown boots, and now a garish orange lifejacket. The only thing they had in common was that they both had blue eyes, except Ashley's were a dark, midnight blue.
Together, they solved the world’s problems. Or at least they tried to. Or at least they hoped they would. One day. Right now, they were stuck trying to help the world out with its purely Supernatural problems, and it was almost always the small, boring, menial ones that the world's Actual Guardians didn't trouble themselves with. You see, demons, being evil and having the tendency to not obey the rules, were the only ones who had the ability to help with many of the problems that plagued the Supernatural and the Natural world. Rules and regulations designed to keep order held the True Protectors back. Problem was, demons, being evil, rarely wanted to help anyone. It wasn't really their job.
Quite the opposite in fact.
And that's why the Guardian Demons existed. Yes, Daimon wasn't the only demon who happened to be utterly insane. Right now, no one was helping the people of Lake Okanagan because no one actually believed that the Ogopogo - the great snake in the lake - existed at all, and even if it did it wouldn’t be suddenly hostile for no reason.
"Right. Now, there's been some suspicious activity in this part of the lake." Daimon lowered to the bottom of the boat and spread out the map. On it, he had drawn a wave like pattern in what Ashley presumed was the area in question - she had trouble reading maps. She could however, clearly see the markings of the bridge next to it.
"That's right next to the bridge." She said. "What kind of suspicious activity?"
"Annoyed nature spirits mostly. But!" Daimon raised a finger for emphasis. "Nature spirits don't get riled up for no reason!"
Ashley frowned. She didn't want to rain on his parade but the truth was that when nature spirits got riled up, it could have been because someone had dropped some litter or said something rude near a tree. They were a sensitive bunch, and there were quite a lot of them in Canada. But, it was the only lead they had, and it was better than just hanging by the bridge and waiting for something to happen.
"All right, so that should be over... this way." Daimon moved down to her end of the boat and pointed off the bow toward a small indentation in the land beside the bridge. There was a small lining of trees on either side, one of them pointing out at the opening like a little peninsula. "Let's see what’s there." He said, meaning he wanted Ashley to man the motor again.
She groaned a bit and started it up. She hated how loud and smelly and annoying it was, but she was the only one who had managed to pass the online test and get a boating license. She manoeuvred them over in a sort of zig zag fashion, still a little rusty with the steering, but managed to get them past the little peninsula. She was surprised at how big it actually was up close, and how tall the trees were. There didn't look like any decent place to dock, it was all sloping hillside apparently untouched by humans.
Daimon sat at the bow and looked out, stretching his neck up and peering at the shore, like a dangerous hood ornament. "What's that over there?" He shouted over the engine, pointing to a particular hill. Ashley had thought it was just a bunch of wood, maybe a beaver dam or something, but on closer inspection it looked more like a boat... a broken, crashed boat with wood paneling. A boat that had once been very fancy, but was abandoned... and newly abandoned as well. The wood still had a bit of shine to it, and the top of it was dirty and broken in many places but not deteriorated. They got closer and she downed the motor.
"It's a yacht. That's an expensive boat, who would just abandon it here?"
"Someone who wanted to get rid of it." Daimon looked at her and smiled. "Someone with something to hide. Let's drop anchor and take a look."
Ashley nodded and pulled the anchor out, trying to lift it. Daimon smiled at her and took the chain. He lifted it easily and dropped it over the side, watching it sploosh and fall down out of sight into the still black waters.
The chain pulled taught and yanked harshly on the boat, causing the two of them to momentarily lose their footing. Daimon grabbed onto Ashley's shoulder to keep her from falling. A few surly bubbles plopped up around the chain. They looked curiously at each other, then over the side. Another set of bubbles came up, then another, until an eruption surrounded the anchor chain, growing larger and forming a pool that threatened to swallow the boat. The boat began to rock violently back and forth. As it dipped suddenly forward, Daimon reached his arms out to keep Ashley from tipping over the side, and as it pulled back in the opposite direction, he scrambled to grab her again and keep her from going over the other side. He finally pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her as the boat began to vibrate and rise from the water.
They were tossed into the air, the little boat lost behind them, and it was impossible to keep a hold of each other. They careened head first for the yacht, and Daimon stretched out his arms to catch his Guarded - but something caught him, pain crushing into his ankle as he was suddenly pulled back.
Ashley landed hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her. She landed on the bow of the yacht, just missing the jagged broken wood paneling. She slid along the surface and turned over, trying to get her footing again. Water sprayed into the air and their little boat crashed into the yacht, pushed by the wake. Ashley held on as the yacht rocked and water splashed over her, and she pushed herself up to try and see what had caused the massive wave, and the shadow slowly towering over her...
A massive serpent the size of a building towered over her, Daimon hanging by the foot from its jaws. It had sharp ridges on its back, and its body had no scales - it was hard, like it was carved out of wood. It was mostly greyish brown, but it was marked all over in bright, primary colours, long swirls and shapes like tattoos. It had no fins, and its head was rectangular like a helmet, with two swirled ram-like horns. It didn’t look anything like the little statue in Kelowna... it looked a lot scarier. And Ogopogo was its name.
"Daimon!" Ashley cried out as her Guardian struggled to right himself.
"Don't worry about me!" He called back. "Just get to safe-" He was cut off as the monster tossed him suddenly into the air, flinging him like a toy. As he fell back down the creature snapped its jaws and caught him, and he disappeared behind the many teeth.
"No!" Ashley screamed, getting to her feet and grabbing a chunk of broken wood. She threw it and it bounced helplessly off the snake's hard skin. It at least managed to catch its attention, as Ogopogo turned its ugly head towards her, regarding her. She threw another chunk, this time hitting it on the nose. "Gimme back my Guardian!"
The beast began to advance and Ashley felt her courage leave her, she dove back behind the boat, onto the rocks it had crashed into. But Ogopogo had barely gotten near her when something exploded inside its mouth. It shocked the creature into opening its jaws a little bit, and smoke and a wave of blue fire erupted from between them. It roared in pain and began to shake its head, tossing Daimon out.
He was scratched up and covered in seaweed and monster spit, but very much alive. As it spit him out he grabbed onto its top lip and used the momentum of its shaking head to spin himself around, grabbing its nose and landing on top of it. Ogopogo roared and thrashed, and Daimon held on, digging his claws into its stone snout.
Ashley dared to peek up from behind the boat, relieved to see Daimon okay, but knowing he was still in danger. Of course, she was in just as much danger really, but when there are two people involved the other person tends to forget that. Ashley especially, had the tendency to forget this. "Hold on!" She called to him. "I'll help you!"
She looked desperately around her, but saw only wood and rocks. She climbed back onto the boat, looking hurriedly around, glancing back up to make sure Daimon was still holding on. Now he was trying to scratch at the monsters nose, but it didn’t seem to be working, its skull was too hard. Sparks flew up whenever he hit it, and it was flailing too much. Ashley returned her attention to the boat, sitting on top of the highest cabin now.
She pushed herself to the side and hung her head upside down, looking inside the main cabin, where the drivers seat was. It was trashed and empty inside, the once nice and fancy interior now dirty and ripped and stained, possibly from the crash and probably from partying. There were beer bottles and cans all over the ground, and random fishing equipment tossed everywhere, like someone had kicked a giant tackle box over. Ashley spied something big and metal and heavy-looking under the captain’s seat. She looked quickly back over her shoulder at the continuing fight and decided she had no time to waste. She turned herself right and swung inside through the broken window, feet first, not paying attention to the broken glass surrounding her.
Glass and little fishing hooks crunched under her boots as she landed, diving for the heavy metal thing. She pushed the broken captain’s chair aside and... She had no idea what it was. But it was big. And metal. And heavy-looking. And it had something very sharp at the end of it. And it looked a heck of a lot like a gun, a gun that fired that big sharp thing at the end of it. Ashley grabbed it, heaving it with both hands and climbed out the opposite window, pushing the gun first and then herself out onto the rocks. She heaved the gun onto the top of the boat and followed it.
Ogopogo was now tossing its head back and forth in the opposite direction, and Daimon was struggling to hold on. He dug his claws and boots in but every time it threw its head forward he moved a little, closer and closer to careening off its snout and right into its mouth again. On the boat, Ashley did her best to figure out the gun and aim it.
Ogopogo tossed its head violently forward, and Daimon completely lost it. He flew forward off its nose, headfirst through the air; he brought his arms together and concentrated on giving it one more final blast before he lost the battle completely.
Ashley just barely finished aiming it when she must have hit it too hard, and it went off in her hands. The spear blasted out of its tip and Ashley flew backwards, right off the boat, a rope trailing behind the spear as it flew.
Daimon pushed his arms out and a blast of blue fire followed them, hitting Ogopogo straight in the face. The monster recoiled to that first, then was hit hard by the spear in its neck. The monster had just enough time to roar in anger before the tip of the harpoon exploded, and that was the last it took. Ogopogo roared and went down, hitting the water with a tidal splash.
Daimon had fallen into the water just before it with a much less noticeable or important splash, and swam to get out of the way, allowing himself to be carried on the wake of the giant impact.
The gun was pulled harshly from Ashley's hands as she hit the rocks butt-first, groaning as pain seared up her spine. She fell onto her back and allowed the pain to peter out as cold water sprinkled over her.
The waves carried Daimon to shore, and he tripped a bit trying to get his land-legs back. He scrambled up the side of the rocky hill, climbing to the top and crawling to his Guarded. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Ashley groaned out, eyes squeezed shut. She opened them tentatively and looked up at him. "Are you?"
"Fine. Just another day in the life." He smiled. He held out his hand. Ashley took it and he helped her sit up, and they both slid forward to the top of the yacht to look out at the downed sea monster.
"Is it dead?" Ashley asked.
"No, just injured. Ogopogo is an old monster, that wound will be patched up in a few days. What was that thing you hit it with?" He looked at the discarded gun.
"A harpoon gun. They use it for whaling, not for catching sturgeon. Not something you usually find in a lake like this."
"Hmm." Daimon picked up the empty gun. "I'm sure authorities would love to see this, and find out who owns this fancy boat."
"Yacht."
"It's a fancy boat." Daimon rolled his eyes. "Isn't Ogopogo protected under the Fisheries Act?"
Ashley nodded. "Yes he is."
Daimon smiled and looked out onto the lake. "Then our work here is done." The sun was setting and the clouds were finally beginning to depart, painting the sky bright red and fiery orange, streaking crimson and lilac on the lake. The water was still not rough, but no longer still, small waves breaking the surface against the rocks and sand around them. And it was finally clear, and they could see schools of fish already surrounding the monster and kissing at it, trying to wake it up.
Ashley rested her head on her Guardian Demon's shoulder and breathed in the warm lake air, and asked; "How are we going to get back?"
END
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