She was about to slip on her shoes when something strange happened. Her pendant, the spiral around her neck, grew warm. Eilean stopped what she was doing, stood upright, and reached up for the necklace. It didn’t feel warm to the touch now. Thinking she was imagining things, she slipped her shoes onto her cold feet and grabbed her socks and Mamó’s sweets. Heading up the bank, trying to ignore the chafe of her shoes, Eilean felt her necklace grow warm again. She stopped in place. “That’s… weird,” she mumbled, reaching up to hold the wood once more. Eilean glanced around, trying to figure out if she was just feeling an out-of-place warm breeze. That was when she noticed it. The fog had spread. Before, it had been at a distance, only covering a few of the smaller islands on the farthest side of the loch. Now it had spread to the beach, dancing over the stones and heading up the pebbled bank toward her. Like it was trying to swallow her up. “What the—” Eilean started, until she was cut off by a cry. “Help!” Eilean, immediately alert, searched the beach for the voice. Nothing. “Help me! Help!” the small voice cried, followed by the sound of frantic splashing. Eilean squinted through the fog. In the distance, about two hundred yards from the shore, a pair of hands raised into the air, waving madly. The wet head of hair appeared above the water again. The hands belonged to a struggling child. “Shit!” Eilean cried, searching for someone nearby who could help. Where the hell had he even come from? “Help—” The voice cut off. Eilean whirled around, and for a horrifying second, she couldn’t see the kid anymore. They came splashing to the surface again, clearly panicked. She had no choice. Dumping her items and throwing off her shoes again, she charged forward. Ignoring the stinging of the stones against her feet, Eilean leaped into the water. Unlike before, she submerged herself fully in the loch. Her entire body screamed at the sharpness of the icy waters by sending a wrack of shivers up and down her skin. Christ. Balls. Fack! she thought as she swam through the bone-chilling cold of the loch. The kid’s screaming and splashing were getting closer, but so was the strength of the fog. She could barely see a foot in front of her. Eilean stopped swimming, unable to continue in fear that she could end up heading in the wrong direction. “Kid!” Eilean shuddered out through her chattering teeth. “Shout for me!” She bobbed in place, turning frantically in every direction. “Where are you?” Nothing. Oh, God, I can’t have been too late, Eilean thought. They were shouting for me up until I stopped. Then, she felt something touch her foot. Yelping in surprise, Eilean stared down at the water beneath her. She couldn’t see a thing, the water too dark to see through, but she knew something had touched her. Could the kid be underneath already? Eilean threw her chin over both shoulders, hoping for a sign that she was close. Nothing happened. No call for help, no ripple in the water. Nothing. “Crap,” she muttered as she looked down at her reflection in the water. “Crap.” Eilean took a deep breath, then dove. The waters of Loch Lomond had never been the clearest. While one could make out details that were in close proximity, without proper diving equipment, it didn’t make much difference. But this time, it was as if Eilean had plunged into a room where all the lights had gone out. It was a terrifying feeling. She kicked her legs and searched as low and wide around as she could manage. Eilean held an arm out in the hopes of feeling anything but eventually the need for air forced her to swim back up to the surface. Just as she took her first breath, readying to dive back down again, something grabbed her foot and held on for dear life. Eilean was so surprised she almost forgot to panic. She swallowed a great gulp of frigid water as the kid pulled her farther under. Kicking and thrashing, Eilean tried to remove their grip as best she could. She even tried to reach down and pry them off her leg. Nothing worked. Her last thought as the distant light above her faded into darkness cried out through the cold. I’m not ready to die.