The Cryptid Catcher by Lija Fisher

Author:Lija Fisher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Thursday

XIII

The following morning Clivo shuddered awake to a gentle knocking on his door. He opened his eyes and for a moment had no idea where he was. He crawled out of bed and opened the door to find a smiling Mrs. McRory wearing a red dress even brighter than her hair.

“Oh, good! Y’er alive! I thought perhaps the cold Scottish weather had finished ya off.”

“No, Mrs. McRory, I guess I’m just not used to jet lag,” Clivo said with a yawn, shocked that it was already morning.

“Well, if you’d like I can bring in a tray of breakfast if ya need a few more minutes of shut-eye. Otherwise y’er welcome ta come down and meet the other guests. Just a nice couple from Amsterdam and a fellow monstah seeker like yourself from Luxembourg.”

Clivo stopped midstretch. Luxembourg? Hadn’t Douglas said something about there being a cryptid catcher from Luxembourg? It could just be a coincidence, or the guy could have followed him here.

“When did the guy from Luxembourg check in, Mrs. McRory?”

“Oh, last night, shortly after you. I told him there was an American monstah seeker here as well and he seemed very excited by that. I put him in the room right next to ya,” she said, pointing to the wall opposite Clivo’s bed.

Clivo swallowed. Douglas had said the catchers from Luxembourg were idiots, but that didn’t mean much coming from Douglas. Douglas thought everyone was an idiot. What Douglas hadn’t mentioned was if they were dangerous or not. They were going after something that promised immortality, after all. People would probably put up quite a fight for that. For the first time, Clivo wondered if his dad had taught him jujitsu so he could protect himself from dangerous cryptids, or from dangerous people.

Clivo considered making a run for it. There was probably a back door he could slip out of and … what? Run away? Give up on the hunt? He considered it, strongly. But running before he was even in official danger didn’t seem to be the bravest choice. Smartest, yes. Bravest, no. If the Luxembourger attacked him, however, then he could reconsider things. Douglas could hardly expect him to put his life at risk battling other catchers.

“I’ll come down for breakfast, Mrs. McRory. I’d love to meet the other guests.” If he wasn’t going to make a run for it, he at least wanted to see what the other catcher looked like, just in case the guy tried to follow him.

“I figgered ya was a nice laddie,” she said, standing on tiptoe to affectionately sweep the hair out of his eyes. “Now, put on some clean knickers and come on down, then. I’ve made some fresh blood puddin’ for yer fry-up.”

Clivo’s stomach growled, though from nerves or hunger he couldn’t quite tell.

* * *

Clivo walked hesitantly into the dining room, his eyes quickly scanning the other three guests. The couple from Amsterdam seemed eager to talk to anybody except each other, and the guy from Luxembourg looked like something out of an old spy movie.

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