Page 42 of An Invocation of Monsters

I slammed the album shut and put it on the coffee table, then stacked the weed box on top of it.

Fuck that album. I wasn’t going to let it ruin my happy discovery of monsters.

“Kiraxis?” I asked the air. There was no reply, which I expected. He was probably sleeping in the mysterious, blanket-rich nest he’d bragged about.

I had to get up or I was going to get lost in the storm of resentment that had risen up within me. Without allowing myself to think about it, I yanked on my boots and left, locking the door behind me.

A note had been taped to my door. I yanked it down and read it; Kase’s handwriting was messy chicken-scratch.

Society meeting tonight. I will come get you for it. Don’t try to find the way on your own.

-Kase

P.S. Seriously, do NOT. I’ll be here at 6.

That went a little ways towards easing my anger. At least Mary the Purist would finally want to talk as long as there was a full moon to allow it.

I wondered exactly what initiation into the Society would entail, but if Kase and Willow, both younger than me, had managed it, I would probably be able to manage to as well.

And I had gone through the door all the way already.

And the monsters kept seeking me out.

All in all, I’d say I was a prime candidate to be inducted into mysterious secret societies. I could put it on my secret society résumé: magnet for mysterious horny forest monsters.

I folded up Kase’s note and tucked it in my pocket, continuing on towards the back patio.

The lake was sloshing quietly against the dock, but I headed to the woods, following the path to the ruins.

There was no one else around; I wondered what the other Society members did while I was wandering around. They were probably prepping for the gathering.

When I got to the ruined village, I managed to pick out the place where the picture had been taken of the Vaughn girls—I thought I could safely assume Tessa V stood for Tessa Vaughn, and she did look like a smaller version of Marie—and Sophie Marsh.

I laid my hand on the wall where Sophie had sat, wondering who she was to me… and then felt silly.

But I couldn’t deny I felt a strange pull towards figuring out who she was, or why she was here.

We were both Marshes by blood. I didn’t think coincidence was much of an excuse in a place like this.

“Toth?” I wandered around the village, peering into ruins filled with deeper shadows, but there was no sign of the moth-like monster.

My pout was definitely becoming more pronounced. Where the hell was everyone?

I forced my forehead back to smoothness, refusing to be ruffled.

Just because he was a forest monster from another world didn’t mean he didn’t have important stuff going on. Maybe Mothmen had an annual pre-full moon gathering every Friday.

A fragment of my dream came back to me then… Toth’s anger, and the figure in white stalking the forest floor.

It was a dim, hazy fragment, but I wondered if he was staying away because of that. Maybe it hadn’t been a dream.

I searched for signs of fresh chalk circles as I made my way back to the Lodge, but there was nothing on the path.

I was now superimposing my dreams on reality. I needed to get a grip.

I stared out at the lake, listening to the silence, and finally made up my mind. I was being too passive, wandering out and calling out, waiting for them to come to me.

If I wanted to join the Wendigo Society and plumb their secrets, I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.

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