Monster Belt - Chapter One The village of Hawksmoor overlooked a stretch of green water called The Mere. As a child, Jess Swift had been indoctrinated about the legendary creature that supposedly lurked in its hazy depths, but she didn't believe it existed. Now grown up, she still liked to sit on the hill and gaze down on the small lake as she had done as a teenager. Only now, she made sure she never looked past it, down the sloping fields to the hollow of ground with the large barn-like hotel at its centre.