Page 129 of An Invocation of Monsters

And I wasn’t sorry that my father had offered the sacrificial contract to me.

I would always choose the safety and lives of my monsters and all who lived here.

Mary would have taken the power in both hands and run with it. She was cruel and twisted to the core; I was still shocked by some of the things she had told me.

I would write them all down. No one would ever read it, but I would make sure the Wendigo Society’s crimes were not forgotten.

Perhaps one day my own future daughter would need to know what had happened.

“I’d like to see Drazan,” I said hoarsely, and Kiraxis picked me up. The monsters moved silently through the woods, leaving the circle behind.

I wanted to walk, but the Mlul’dra refused to put me down. I wondered what my monsters had thought as I came this close to getting my throat cut, and then decided not to argue with him over it.

When we reached the lake’s edge, Drazan was already there. I held out my arms to him, hugging him tightly.

They were all still alive. They were mine.

That was all that mattered.

“I love you all,” I said. “With body, life, and soul. I will never, ever leave you.”

They surrounded me, murmuring their love, touching me with gentle strokes. I thought about everything I’d given up to come here: a gray, empty house, the fear of my secret, fear of myself.

And through it all, I’d found a family, love, acceptance of myself, and a calling.

That was all I’d ever desired.

When Toth’s claws tightened on my shoulder, I looked up, alarm spilling me through me. Had Mary somehow survived?

But it wasn’t her.

Several massive shapes moved in the darkness, coming from the edge of the woods. The shapes of monsters.

There was the Mlul’dra I had seen earlier, speaking to my mate—Rask, with his swirling silvery stripes. A Klee much like Drazan, walking on two legs, his face tentacled beneath gleaming aqua-blue eyes.

A V’uthli, but this one was much smaller than my father. He was much taller than a normal man, his lower body a swirling tornado of smoke, but he seemed less… wild. Almost civilized-looking and austere.

And riding on Rask’s back, her sky-blue-and-peach hair pinned into her usual messy bun with a pen stuck through it, was my cousin Juno, smiling tentatively at me.

I stared at her in shock, taking in her monsters. Her stomach was so round it looked like she was smuggling a watermelon under her shirt.

Round with a monster’s baby.

So many things clicked into place for me in that second.

She slid down from Rask’s back and held out her arms. Her monsters were protectively arrayed around her as I took one step closer, then another.

I fell into her arms, hugging her as tightly as I could with that watermelon between us. We sank to the ground, Juno stroking my hair and back, cuddling me close.

“I know it’s hard, but it’ll all be okay. I promise, Elle, it’ll all be fine. You made it. It’s over now.”

I just laughed through my tears.

I had all of my family around me now.

It was going to be a whole hell of a lot better than okay.

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