Page 55 of The Last Kelpie

The word hung between us, heavy, though I wasn't sure why. I studied his face, noticing the way his eyes reflected the laptop's glow, the set of his mouth, and the tension in his jaw. He looked as if he wanted to say more. As if he were holding something back.

“Áedán—”

He kissed me before I could finish. Though it felt tender, there was something more beneath that. When he pulled back, he smiled. “Finish your research. I'll make us something to eat.”

“I promise I'll be done soon.”

“Sure.” He stood, trailing his fingers across my shoulders as he moved toward the kitchen.

I watched him open the cooler Mateo had sent with us, smiling as his gaze strayed to the one he'd purchased, then forced myself back to the laptop. The sound of him moving around the kitchen faded as I focused.

Twenty minutes later, I was certain I had the date right. The new myth had settled into human belief around 1983. But I found something else as well, something that made my heart race.

“Áedán, come look at this.” I sat back and gaped at the screen.

He appeared beside me, a tea towel in hand. “What is it?”

I pointed. “This book was published in 1985 in Edinburgh. Children's folklore collection.” I hit brought up another website. “This one was published in 1992, London. Different author, different publisher.” Another tab. “2015, Dublin. Another author.” I kept scrolling. “2011, Glasgow. 1986, Inverness. 2007, Aberdeen.”

“I don't understand.”

“Look at this, Áedán.” I highlighted it on the screen. “'Truth yields to the tale most often told.'”

Áedán leaned closer, reading. He went still as I switched to another book and showed him the sentence again. Then another, and another.

“It's in all of them.” I turned to look at him. “Word for word. It's the same sentence we found in Velas's journal. In books published in or after 1983, written by different authors, and published in different cities.”

“Are there more?”

I opened another document. “Different writing styles. Different contexts. Different publishers. But this one sentence is identical in every book. I can't find it in any book published before 1983, which is the same date when the twisted versions of your story settled into one unified version.”

“The truth yields to the tale most often told,” he whispered. “Whoever is doing this, they're taunting us.”

“Or warning us.” I frowned at the screen. “Whatever their motivation, they're telling us exactly what they're doing.” Then a shiver ran down my spine. “When did your clan first start to fade?”

“I remember the exact date of the first fading.” Áedán's face twitched. “It was February sixth, 2001.”

“Nearly twenty years after the story of kelpies being monsters took root,” I whispered. “That's how long it took for the truth to yield to lies.”

Áedán pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. “I thought humans just stopped caring. I thought the stories changed because people forgot and went with the more exciting tale. I thought they didn't need water guardians anymore. I assumed we became irrelevant.”

“Áedán—”

“But someone did this deliberately.” He looked at me, and there was fear in his eyes. Real fear. “Someone wanted us to be monsters. They wanted people to believe we were evil. Why would they want that?”

I could only shake my head.

“Being forgotten is one thing.” Áedán shifted his stare to the fire. “That's natural. That's just time passing. But this is an attack. This is someone rewriting what we were. Taking away our truth and replacing it with lies.”

“We'll figure out who's doing this. We'll stop them.”

“Will we?” He stood abruptly and went to the window. “How do you fight someone who controls the stories? How do you prove the truth when everyone believes the lie?”

I closed the laptop, stood, and went to him. “We start by telling the truth. Remember what I told you. This is only the first step. We suspected someone was orchestrating this. Now, we know it for certain. We have a consistent lie that I can counter. I will make a report proving the changes.”

“How will a report help?”

“Because it will get people's attention. How often do you see a report on a myth? It will serve as a foundation of truth that people can refer to when we start spreading the real tale.”