Nessa is clearly not a morning person. She had spent nearly an hour yawning like an insomniac.

After twisting her hair in two, small pigtails, Nessa smoothed her white knitted sweater and denim skirt. Long black tights warmed her bare legs, whereas her black combat boots kept her feet from freezing.

One time, Nessa snuck a quick peek at a nearby glass door and groans at what she sees.

Her acne is out of control; her eyelids were ready to collapse, but thanks to Brooke's homemade remedies, the bruises on Nessa's face has been eradicated.

She never had a friend who is passionate and selfless like Brooke. So, since her birthday is approaching, Nessa had decided to buy Brooke a present.

Maybe buy her a box of colorful nail polish.

She knew a store that sells a single box for twelve silver guineas; but fortunately, Nessa doesn't have enough money to buy nail polish.

"Fuck." Nessa thought, punching the security code number Brooke had given her and Caleb before breakfast.

Maybe when all of this is over, she could ask Johnny for some coins. Her older brother is a pain, but at least he saves his money.

Listening to Nessa's thoughts, Caleb casts her a humorous look.

"Do you really want to ask your brother for a loan?" he snickered. "Didn't he tell you not to go through his wallet?"

She throws him a bitter scowl. "Didn't I tell you not to read my mind?"

"I want to, but your thoughts are very loud," said Caleb.

As soon as they hear a soft beep, Nessa pulled the silver door handle towards her chest.

Burning alcohol and dust burn inside their nostrils. Dark gray walls reminded Nessa of Apollo's empty room.

No posters, books, or clothes; just colorless walls violating her personal space. Old equipment and science experiments all spread across untouched tables.

But unlike most science labs, Caleb and Nessa both noticed black filing cabinets stored with secrets.

Not to mention there is a mini-fridge sitting in the corner of the room.

Curious, Caleb head over to the small fridge, whereas Nessa searched through the files.

Clumsy fingers tread along soft brown folders; several were about sea mythology while others recorded the scientists' findings.

But what stood out from the files is a blue folder tucked at the end of the cabinet.

Inquisitive, Nessa picks up the blue folder, sits on the floor, opens it, and scanned her eyes along the shocking words.

Based on the author's writing, Nessa guessed that the person is terrible at grammar, punctuation, and apparently capitalizing letters.

"Jesus." Nessa thinks to herself. "It's like I am reading my own book report."

Regardless, she can easily interpret what the author is saying. Some of the doctors at this facility have not renewed their medical licenses.

Many died of natural causes and other illnesses while a few are currently working at the clinic.

Nessa ran her fingers down at the unfinished list of names: Dr. Hansen, Dr. Imenez, Dr. Ian, Dr. Jefferies, and Dr. Willow.

"Holy shit." Nessa breathed. Dr. Willow didn't renew her medical license?

What's even more surprising is that the author mentioned the number of deaths Jason had covered up.

"Hey, Nessa," Caleb whispered. "You have to come and see this."

Taking the blue file with her, Nessa scurries over to her friend, who shows her the wooden crates of animal and monster blood stored in the mini-fridge.

"Holy shit," Nessa said again.

"I know." Caleb agreed, looking up from the fridge.

"This is the place where Jason and his cronies stash the blood samples. What are you holding in your hand?"

He points his finger at the unmarked file in Nessa's arms.

"Does it have something to do with the case?" he asked.

"Yeah," Nessa told Caleb before she showed him the unnamed file.

He scanned through the notes, stories, and the names of doctors, nurses, soldiers, and security guards on Jason's payroll.

Speaking of money, Jason hasn't been paying the mortgage or the government a dime since he became a doctor.

"So if Jason's broke," Caleb began. "How the hell did he have enough money to afford this building?"

Nessa flips another page to discover a couple of old newspaper articles talking about an attraction occurring in the Lovecraft Museum.

The pages were drenched in a sickly yellow; inked word captured the joy and wonder during the event.

But was jarring about this story is that these people came from all around the world to see a sea dragon's egg imprisoned in a glass display case.

It was 1977 when my husband and I had decided to spend our honeymoon browsing through the grand hallways of the Lovecraft Museum.

The walls were doused in pasty blue; glorious sea monsters shifted their weight inside their glass cages, but what stood out from the rest of the exhibition is an enormous egg standing in an empty section of the museum.

Now, the egg looked as though it has been submerged in blue fabric softener. Pencil thin cracks sprint across the sand-like shells, revealing blue skin and bright hazel eyes.

Like the other sea beasts, the anxious infant rests uncomfortably while blissful tourists snap several photos of the creature.

Now, whenever I go to sleep, I can still hear the small varmint wailing for his mother.

His eyes full of tears as the infant searched tirelessly for his long lost relative. But all the creature could see is piercing flashes of light, tapping fingers, and disfigured faces.

Setting down the blue file, Caleb wiped his tears while Nessa clenched her fists.

Her eyes opened wide to see a photo of Jason Young receiving a twenty-five million dollar check from the board of directors.

"So, this is where he gets the money?" Nessa scoffed. "Selling monsters' babies?"

Caleb angrily shuts the file and shoves it inside his backpack.

Jason is a lot of things: an eccentric, a bright entrepreneur, and a stalker. But somehow, he doesn't strike Johnny as a psychopath.

He wants to make the world a better place by curing the ill and rescue his community. But the lengths Jason would go to is almost terrifying.

Dragging the wooden crates out of the mini-fridge, Nessa and Caleb both snatches rigid crates of blood, carried them to the back door, and tossed the vials onto the drenched pavement.

Cold fingers grip the coarse wood. Nessa topples boxes with her agile feet, arousing putrid odors of metal and salt.

Horrid smells burn their eyes and noses. 

Briny fluids rushed down their revolted faces, compelling Caleb and Nessa to stop.

"Ugh, it stinks," Caleb grunts.

Nessa nods silently, observing the blood and glass shards scattering across the dark gray pavement.

After shoving the last crate on the floor, Caleb Nessa coughed until they finally return to the facility. 

Caleb brushed the wood shavings on his black Public Enemy #1 hoodie, denim jeans, and deep brown Timberland Boots.

"Hell yeah," he grinned. "The sea dragon's blood is now gone-zo."

Nessa did a relieved sigh. "Which leaves no miracle cure for the town."

The kids watched attentively as the heavy rain washes the blood and glass shards away.

"Hey!" an alarmed voice boomed. "What the hell are you kids doing?"

Caleb and Nessa both swerve their heads around to see a security guard pointing a loaded weapon at them.

"Whoa, easy man!" Caleb cried, raising his hands. "We haven't done anything wrong!"

The security guard inspects shattered pieces of glass and wood on the ragged floor then scoffed in disbelief.

"Did you two destroy these vials?" he growls.

A distraught Nessa shakes her head in denial.

"Nope." she lied quickly. "It was like that when we got here."

"I seriously doubt that. Those vials cost one million dollars. Now, if you two are smart—"

He was interrupted by a leather bullwhip wrapping his gun and pulling it out of his beefy hand.

Startled, the security guard turns around to find Brooke standing near the doorway, clutching her whip in one hand and his firearm in another.

"Why, you little bitch." he growled.

The security guard was about to attack her when a katana punctures through the guard's cold heart.

As blood begins to stain his gray uniform, the security guard jerks his head to see Johnny's cold eyes staring into his.

Finally, without blinking, Johnny yanks his sword away and kicks the dying man into the pile of trash.

Walking over a streak of blood, Johnny glares at his little sister and friend.

"Where the hell were you two?" he growls.

"Didn't you guys hear the alarms?"

Nessa crossed her arms. "The fuck are you talking about? We were getting rid of the sea dragon blood!"

Shooting Johnny a bitter look, Brooke tells Nessa and Caleb about the memory card they discovered.

"Oh, really?" asked Caleb, lowering his arms.

"Do you know what's in the card?"

"No, but we need to leave. Apparently, Martin and Apollo took off, but they released all the monsters and sliced Dr. Willow's arm."

Nessa winced at the strong details. "Oh, God."

"Now, you have me convinced," Caleb said, squeezing his eyes tight. "Where are we going?"

"First, we'll head over to the library." Johnny began. "And then, we'll—"

"Wait, where's Mom and Dad?" Nessa asked.

She fixates her eyes around the room and looks at Johnny, who slides his sword into his sheath.

Ever since Johnny argued with his parents, he didn't want to think or talk about them.

A huge part of him wanted to apologize to his mother and father, but the other begged Johnny to take everyone he loves and get them out of this cursed place.

"Come on." he urged. "We need to go, right now."

Nessa stubbornly stamps her foot. "Where the hell is Mom and Dad?"

"I don't know."

"We need to find them!"

Johnny furrowed his eyebrows. "They can take care of themselves."

"Are you kidding?" Nessa punched him hard in the shoulder. "Look, I get they are never around, but they're still our parents!"

Yanking the gun from Brooke's hands, Nessa stormed out of the lab, prompting Johnny and the others to follow her.

*   *    *   *
The alarms were still ringing in their ears.

But this time, the kids notice scientists and doctors were busy trashing evidence against Jason.

Papers held onto desperate hands. Some of the security guards hassled the others to burn the files while Jason's highly-trained soldiers were nowhere to be found.

"What the hell?" Caleb mutters.

"It seems like Jason hired them to destroy everything," Brooke observed.

Caleb grinned, then whispers, "Lucky for me and Nessa, we stole a file testifying their crimes."

Brooke and Johnny fought the urge to smile.

"What about the memory card?" Johnny asks. "Do you still have it, Brooke?"

Brooke's triumphant smile vanished. "I gave it to my mom."

"What?" Johnny frowned. "Why?" 

"Because my parents deserve to know the truth," she says. "Including yours."

Johnny bows his head in shame. He feels vile for treating his family like gum on the bottom of his shoes.

He was about to agree with Nessa's plan when he witnessed police officers barging inside the facility.

One waved the warrant in the air, while the others prowled the secret building, searching for clues that link Jason and his colleagues to numerous crimes dating back to 1987.

Some were arrested for illegal supernatural experiments, while others were charged for owning an outdated medical license.

Wielding polished guns and golden police badges, several police officers scoped around multiple corridors for more evidence when they discover foreign sea creatures in massive tanks.

The sea beasts were protected by the thick glass; but even so, a few officers had to force themselves to examine the bruises, scars, and emaciated bones sticking out of the sea monsters' flesh.

"Oh my God." Officer Wesley thought.

The police officer staggers upon an inanimate siren, who drift in the water tank like a lifeless puppet.

Never did they imagine these fantastical sea abnormalities would be tormented in places like this.

"Why are these creatures, not properly fed?" a cop asked Dr. Willow as she settled herself in the back of the ambulance taken care of by medical experts.

"They are." she insisted. "I fed them last week."

"Last week?" a female police officer repeats.

"Yes."

"What about yesterday? Or the day before that?"

Dr. Willow looked up from her baby blue blanket and saw her former allies—Triton, Victor, Esme, Adelaide, and Thomas staring at her.

After Johnny and Brooke head off to find their friends, the adults forced a weak Dr. Willow to insert the memory card into the high-tech computer and gasped at what they saw. 

In the card were incriminating videos of sea monsters and Apollo being drugged, tortured, and forced to perform difficult tasks.

Along with the blue file Nessa and Caleb had stolen, the evidence strong enough to arrest Jason and his allies.

But for some reason, the mystery as to who created the file and memory card is unknown.

Many argued that Martin was the one who betrayed his own company while others agreed that it was his son Harper.

Once again, the police attempt to reopen the missing boy's case but found no new leads.

They also couldn't find the sea monsters who massacred Triton's colleagues. So, the former gym teacher had decided to stay in Lovecraft Creek to help the officers however they can.

As for the children and grownups, they decided to celebrate their success by making hot chocolate in the beach house.

Brooke and her parents open hot chocolate packets whereas Caleb listened to the news.

He watches authorities come in and out of  Jason's now-closed science lab, dragging his accomplices into empty police cars.

Damn, Caleb thought. For once in his life, he is glad to see the cops arresting the bad guys.

He imagined Jason and his comrades getting thrown behind bars, assaulted with threats and miserable life sentences.

Meanwhile, Johnny decides to end his feud with his parents and begin to bond over their exciting tales and grunge music.

Nessa introduced their parents to Pearl Jam and Bad Brains whereas Victor presents his kids three brand-new cassette tapes.

"Whoa." Johnny breathed, taking the cassette tape from Victor's hands. "You listen to Screaming Trees? They're my favorite band."

Victor chortled, "Well, yeah. Your taste in music helped me get through the day."

He looks at his beaming daughter who vowed to listen to Silverchair and Mudhoney when she has time.

"Alright love, but don't hog all the tapes." Victor sighed.

His wife Esme opened the microwave, took out two coffee mugs, and hands one to a bashful Johnny.

"Thanks, Mom," he said. "I guess I should apologize for what I had said to you guys, huh?"

Victor and Esme both shook their heads.

"You deserve to be angry at us, Johnny," said Victor. "Being a parent is no walk in the park for us."

"We want to be there for you and Nessa, but at the same time we were scared."

Johnny's eyes widen. "Scared of what?"

Esme approaches her frightened son and places her hand on his left cheek.

"We're scared that you two won't need us anymore," she confessed. "That you and Nessa can handle anything in your way."

Victor drains his coffee. The bitter taste burnt his tongue but it was better than getting frostbite.

Setting his coffee mug on the countertop, Victor wanted to tell something to Johnny when a CNN News broadcast cuts off his train of thought.

A young African-American man with a shaved head told the news of a fifty-eight-year-old Martin Grant and fifteen-year-old Apollo arrested for a crime that shocked the audience.

"At 12:30 p.m., police officers arrest Martin Grant and a boy named Apollo for going to an airport without passports characterizing their species."

"Martin Grant, a former employee of Jason Young, attempts to assault the officer for humiliating Apollo only to be put down by a storm of billy clubs."

"Fortunately, Martin Grant has survived the beatings. Regardless, Apollo is going to be charged as an adult for second-degree murder and carrying no permit.  .   ."

Heavy drizzle drowned the children's ears as porcelain white drops transformed the wet sand into banks of endless snow.

The cold wind cries; the seagulls escaped their frozen landscape for a warmer future.

Abandoned by the shore were the remains of the Kraken. Small crabs and insects made their home in the carcass' rotting skin until a cold wave captured the monster by its powerful touch. 

Once again, the cold wind shrieked; but no one—not even the children—heeds its calls for a savior.

And so, as the dead Kraken floats along the frozen waves, the only thing the lethal breeze can do is watch the corpse drown in the watery abyss.