“Skink, I—”
“Please,” he said.
The Monster
September 5, 2019
THE AIR SEEMS to crackle and hum, the last light of sunset through the windows an explosion of colors. We’re waiting until darkness.
Here, in the near dark, the girl and I wait, our hearts pounding, our claws and teeth ready.
She’s ready, this girl. Ready to go the rest of the way, to complete the transformation.
Death is always part of the rebirth.
Gran taught me that. It’s part of my origin story. My own DNA.
Death and sacrifice.
It makes me feel so alive, almost giddy, my heart racing beneath the scars on my chest as I take it all in: this spectacle of the dying light, the live-wire feel I get when I know what’s going to happen next.
The gods are whispering, saying: Soon, soon, soon.
The cycle will be complete.
* * *
“HE’S WAKING UP,” the girl says now.
And I feel it: the thrill of what will happen next.
She smiles down at him, strapped to the bed. “Hey, Dad.”
His eyelids flutter as he comes to and brings her into focus, his face a look of complete surprise. “Lauren? What the hell are you—”
But she’s not Lauren anymore.
She raises the blade.
And she is so beautiful: her eyes glittering, her teeth bared as she howls; her monster self fully realized.
The transformation is complete.
No going back now.
* * *
LATER, AFTER WE’VE cleaned up and are prepared to move on, I see Lizzy’s email and write a reply.
I know she might come after me again, try to pick up my trail.
It gives me a little thrill, to know this. We’ll play hide-and-seek, catch me if you can. We will be drawn together and pushed apart and drawn together again. It reminds me of the push and pull of magnets, of the North and South Pole. We are that strong, that powerful.
A monster and a hunter of monsters.
Once upon a time sisters, linked not by blood, but by something much deeper.
You’ve got a strong heart, Violet Hildreth, Gran used to say, and on this one point, she was absolutely right.
Acknowledgments
MANY THANKS, AS always, to the most amazing agent in the world, Dan Lazar. To Kate Dresser, who helped shape this story from its earliest stages—working with you was true magic. To Jackie Cantor, your keen insight never ceases to amaze me and this book is so much stronger because of you. To Jen Bergstrom, Jessica Roth, Bianca Salvant, Andrew Nguyen, and the whole team at Scout Books—you guys are the absolute best!
To Drea and Zella—thanks for talking me out of giving up when things got hard, and for watching a whole lot of classic monster movies with me! I love you both and couldn’t do this without you.
To everyone at the Trapp Family Lodge winter writing retreat, where this book really started to take shape—thanks for sharing beers with me, and listening to me read and talk about my vision for the story.
And last, to Mary Shelley, because as Vi says: She’s the one who started it all.