Darkmouth. Shane Hegarty

fighting suit creaking in the car seat.

      “It’s not all bad news,” he started.

      “How is this not bad?” interrupted Finn, dismay in his voice. “My Completion Ceremony is only a year away, Dad.”

      “When did you turn twelve?”

      “Two weeks ago.”

      “So, the ceremony is eleven and a half months away to be accurate, but plenty of time still.”

      “What about this morning – did you not see?” said Finn, shaking his head in disbelief.

      “Finn, our family has defended Darkmouth for forty-two generations.”

      “Well, I haven’t.”

      “But you will,” said his dad. “You’re going to be generation number forty-three.”

      “I won’t be ready.”

      “Darkmouth is going to be your responsibility.”

      “It can’t be,” protested Finn.

      “It has to be.”

      His father let a hush settle in the vehicle before continuing.

      “Anyway, the Council of Twelve has been in touch,” he said. “They have good news.”

      “Does it have to do with me?” asked Finn.

      “No. Well, yes. Kind of.” His father paused. “The Twelve have offered me a place on the Council. Forty-two generations, Finn, and not one of our family has ever been invited to become one of the leaders of the world’s Legend Hunters. Sure, most of the world’s Legend Hunters are sitting at home getting fat right now, but still, it’s a huge thing for us, a big honour, and—”

      “Hold on,” said Finn. “You’ll be on the Council of Twelve?”

      “Yes, isn’t that excellent?”

      “Aren’t they based in—?”

      “Liechtenstein. Small place with big mountains.”

      “So, you’ll be out of Darkmouth?” asked Finn.

      “Yes,” said his dad. “Sometimes.”

      “And me?”

      “No.”

      “Oh great,” said Finn, feeling a great weight settling on his shoulders. “You’ll be gone and the protection of Darkmouth will be up to—”

      “You. Exactly. Won’t that be cool?”

      Finn stared at him as his brain tried to process that notion.

      “It doesn’t change anything, Finn,” said his father. “Not much anyway. You’re about to become the first true Legend Hunter to graduate in years. Darkmouth was always going to become your responsibility at some stage after that. And I won’t be going straight away. The Twelve say there’ll be a process, some checks.”

      “What kind of checks?”

      His dad shrugged. “I don’t know. Background stuff, subject to confirmation of rule 31, clause 14 of the whatever. You know, paperwork. The Twelve love their paperwork. Anyway, it’s happening.” He cleared his throat. “Just as soon as you become Complete.”

      “And what if I’m not ready?”

      With a squeak of his fighting suit on the car seat’s leather, his dad turned to look at him directly. “Finn, every Legend Hunter in this family had their Completion on their thirteenth birthday. Every single one, as far back as records go. They could have waited until they were fifteen or seventeen or even nineteen, like weaker families, but they didn’t. So, our family – past, present and future – needs you to be ready. I need you to be ready. This town needs you to be ready. You will be ready.”

      Finn pushed open the car door and stepped out. “I feel so much better. Thanks, Dad.”

      As he swung the door shut, Finn saw his reflection in the window. His hair was damp, his skin flushed. He opened his mouth to protest again about having to go to school, but his father cut him off. “We’ll talk about it later.”

      Finn stood at the kerb with his bag slung over his shoulder, listening to the low growl of the car as it drove away. The drizzle tickled his forehead.

      In his pocket, he felt the buzz of his phone. There was a message from his mother.

      DEEP BREATHS. LOVE YOU.

      He took a deep breath, then another, steeling himself for the next challenge.

      School.

      

      Finn was late. And he was sure that everyone knew why.

      As he trudged up the corridor, Finn sensed a rising giddiness from each class he passed, lessons stopping so teachers and pupils could watch him.

      “Was that a big fella this morning?” a voice called down the corridor after him.

      “Any chance you got rid of them all this time, Finn?” asked another.

      He ignored it all until he reached his own classroom, his arrival greeted with a frisson of excitement. He mumbled an apology to Mrs McDaid for being late and headed for the last available seat. Unfortunately, it was between Conn and Manus Savage, identical twin brothers except for one chewed-up ear on Conn, which he had always claimed was the result of a fight with a Dobermann. He also claimed that the dog had lost.

      Finn wriggled into the seat between them, the metal legs screeching across the floor.

      The twins looked a little confused for a moment as they grew aware of the ripe stench of sweat.

      “Hey, monster boy,” whispered Conn out of the side of his mouth, “you forgot to change your nappy this morning.”

      “Miss?” Manus asked the teacher. “Can we open a window?”

      “Better make it two,” suggested his brother.

      Finn wouldn’t ordinarily have been too bothered by them. He knew his place. As a Legend Hunter in training, he couldn’t really have friends. He practised with his dad. He studied. He ate. He slept. He didn’t have birthday parties or sleepovers. He didn’t have other kids just calling in. He didn’t get a chance to answer their awkward questions about, say, that three-headed dog his dad had just brought home. He was never able to say, in a casual, it’s-no-big-deal manner, “Oh, just ignore the Cerberus; its bark is worse than its bite.” Darkmouth’s parents were understandably not too keen to let their precious children run around a house like Finn’s.

      His family had been in town for forty-two generations, but Finn would always be an outsider. There would always be whispers swirling around him. Questions with a hint of resentment. Rumours. Why Darkmouth was the only Blighted Village left in which Legends still attacked. Why more wasn’t being done to stop them.

      He tuned out of it as much as he could, but it was hard to do that when it was coming at him in stereo.

      “What did you do to scare the monster away this morning?” muttered Conn. “Breathe on him?”

      “If you just waved your socks at them, maybe you’d finally get rid of them all,” added Manus.

      Finn began to feel irritated. It was one thing being different because of what he was – that was part of his life, something he’d learned to live with. It was another to be picked on after trying to protect these people from being mauled by a mythical creature.

      But he didn’t say anything. The Savage twins were more intimidating than some Legends. He did,