Ceto the Sea Serpent
Everybody is posting Irish today. I will break the tradition and post Scottish instead.
In my series about a teen witch (the first book "Bad Spelling" to be released July 2011 from MuseItUp Publishing) who can't spell worth a damn, our erstwhile heroine gets a little help from an unusual source. Did you ever wonder why there are so few sightings of the Loch Ness monster? Well, Nessie vacations on Ultima Thule, which may be the remnants of Atlantis.
She's not fond of the name Nessie or Loch Ness Monster and prefers to go by Ceto. From http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Ceto :
In Midnight Oil (Book 2 of the Witches of Galdorheim) Ceto and Nessie become one. She's not a bad, um, person, but much misunderstood. She finds my heroine, Kat, adrift in the northern seas sitting on a block of ice. Oh, yeah, the block contains the body of her father. Ceto finds this all fascinating and helps my heroine dock the ice block at Ultima Thule and find a messenger to send for help from the Witches' Island of Galdorheim in the Barents Sea.
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006UTL54A
Print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1481226851
Excerpt
Everybody is posting Irish today. I will break the tradition and post Scottish instead.
In my series about a teen witch (the first book "Bad Spelling" to be released July 2011 from MuseItUp Publishing) who can't spell worth a damn, our erstwhile heroine gets a little help from an unusual source. Did you ever wonder why there are so few sightings of the Loch Ness monster? Well, Nessie vacations on Ultima Thule, which may be the remnants of Atlantis.
She's not fond of the name Nessie or Loch Ness Monster and prefers to go by Ceto. From http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Ceto :
In Greek mythology, Ceto or Keto (Greek: English translation: "sea monster") was a hideous aquatic monster, a daughter of Gaia and Pontus. The asteroid (65489) Ceto was named after her, and its satellite (65489) Ceto I Phorcys after her husband. She was the personification of the dangers of the sea, unknown terrors and bizarre creatures. Eventually, the word "ceto" became simple shorthand for any sea monster. The term cetacean represents a case in point. Her husband was Phorcys and they had many children, collectively known as the Phorcydes or Phorcydides. In Greek art, Ceto was drawn as a serpentine fish. Ceto also gave name to the constellation Cetus.My Mess
In Midnight Oil (Book 2 of the Witches of Galdorheim) Ceto and Nessie become one. She's not a bad, um, person, but much misunderstood. She finds my heroine, Kat, adrift in the northern seas sitting on a block of ice. Oh, yeah, the block contains the body of her father. Ceto finds this all fascinating and helps my heroine dock the ice block at Ultima Thule and find a messenger to send for help from the Witches' Island of Galdorheim in the Barents Sea.
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006UTL54A
Print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1481226851
Excerpt
Kat edged herself up on her knees,
keeping a tight hold on the ropes. She scanned the water closely, and
to her right, she saw a dark shape under the water. A whale, perhaps.
Maybe her calls finally got results.
The shape turned and came back toward
the ice block. It stayed several feet below, so Kat could only make
out a dark shadow as it glided beneath her. The ice block lifted and
dropped again. She looked to her left to see a long neck stretched
out, followed by a bulky, black body. A short tail emerged from under
the block and slapped down on the water. It sprayed Kat’s face with
icy droplets but didn’t drench her.
The dark shape rose slowly upward.
First, a small head appeared, and Kat thought it might be a seal, and
then the long neck emerged. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes
followed the head upward until she had her neck bent back as far as
she could. The creature regarded her with huge, dark eyes, seeming
too big for the little nob of a head. Its skin was dark gray, almost
black. Kat noticed how smooth it appeared. She wanted to reach out to
touch it. She thought better of that notion when the creature’s
mouth opened and revealed rows of sharp teeth.
A voice spoke inside her mind. “Who
are you, little girl?”
“Little girl? Why, I’m almost…”
Then, thinking it’d be rude to argue with her only potential
rescuer, she finished, “I mean, I’m a witch, from an island…”
Kat looked around and waved her hand, “somewhere out there.”
“You wear
the skin of a seal, and you can speak to creatures of the sea. Are
you, perhaps, a selkie in human form?”
“Selkie? No,
I’m just a witch from Galdorheim.”
“Hmm. How
came you to be on that block of ice?”
“I’ve answered your questions,”
Kat said, peeved at being grilled by a sea monster. “Now you answer
one for me. What are you? And where did you come from?”
“That’s
two questions.”
“Well, you asked two, so answer up!”
Kat sensed she need not be afraid. The sea monster, as she now
thought it to be, did not send any warning signals. It was simply
curious.
“I am me.”
Kat frowned.
While harmless, the creature seemed to have an evasive streak. Why
did it show itself to her if it didn’t want to talk?
As if it heard
Kat’s thoughts, the creature said, “Very
well. The world has called me many names. Sometimes Nessie from where
I once lived.”
“You’re the
Loch Ness monster? I thought that was
just a legend.” Kat stared in wide-eyed wonder at the mythical
creature who might, if she could work it out, be her rescuer.
“No legend,
but I left the loch years ago. Too many curious people.”
“That is so
cool!” Kat wondered if the serpent was one of a kind. The monstrous
beast bent its tiny head down to Kat’s level.
“Cool? Why,
yes, this sea is very cool.”
“I mean neat,
keen, wonderful!”
“Ah,
wonderful I am. I might say awful, too.”
“You don’t
seem awful. Why would you say that?”
“Full of
awe, I am.”
“Oh, you mean awesome, not awful.”
A deep, resonant chuckle rattled around
in Kat’s head. “Why are you clear out here? Wherever here is.”
“This is the
ocean of Atlantis.”
“The Atlantic!
My great-uncle Freddy! I floated all the
way from the Barents Sea.”
“You might
call this part the Arctic Ocean. How did you get here?”
“A storm. The
wind and rain came up suddenly. I fell
off the boat with my father.”
“Did he
drown?”
“Oh, no. He’s
right here.” Kat pointed down. Nessie bent even lower and looked
down into the ice.
“My
condolences. Yet it is strange he would freeze in the summer seas.”
“No.
He froze years ago. We, my grandfather and brother and me, were
taking his body back to Siberia for burial.”
“You are far
off course.”
“I guess I am.
Look, can you help me out? I need to get to land so I can contact my
mother.”
The beast turned
its head to look across the sea. “The
nearest land is that way.”
Kat strained her
eyes but couldn’t see anything on the horizon.
“Which way is
that way?”
The beast turned
back to her. “West, to an island
where I make my home these days.”
“Does it have a
telephone?” Kat asked. The rumbling chuckle wafted through her
brain.
“I do not
know what that is, but if you mean a way to communicate, I believe
there is.”
“Any land will
do for now. By the way, do I call you Nessie?”
“I am Ceto
of Thule.”
“I’m Katrina
of Galdorheim.”
“Nice to
meet you, Katrina.”
The beast ducked
below, and Kat saw the shadowy form circle the ice raft, then she
felt a jerk. Ceto had taken hold of the trailing ropes, and Kat and
her frozen father moved across the water.
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http://losingcinderella.blogspot.com/