Page 136 of An Invocation of Monsters

I mourned the loss of many delicious dinners and desserts, and Juno and I had made the trip to Dunwich for groceries and to collect my car.

Juno had also built a strange stone idol in the Void, just past the door in the armoire.

She’d assured me that the ghosts of Deepwater would move on as long as it stood, and she was right; there were many more stars in the sky the night she brought the idol to life.

As for the bone arches, we chose to leave those standing for now. They marked the delineation of my territory; I would feel it in my soul when someone new crossed that boundary, and whether they meant good or ill for my land.

But one day I would replace those damn bones. I wanted no more reminders of the Wendigo Society.

Now, without pressing work, I entered the silent kitchen and popped some bread into the toaster and put on a kettle for tea.

My cousin and her mates were likely still sleeping; they’d taken some empty quarters on the second floor for their use, rooms that had apparently been untouched for years.

No one wanted to enter Kase and Willow’s rooms, and there was a sour tang in the air around Joseph and Mary’s rooms. I’d put off looking into those, but the time had come.

Juno would have to return to Duskwood Island soon.

As the guardian of her particular gates, she wouldn’t be able to leave for an extended period of time, and besides, her baby was due in a month. Juno was determined that she be born on the island she would one day inherit.

My toast popped up. I buttered it and slopped on some jam, put milk and sugar in my tea, and sat at the kitchen table to eat.

“Good morning.” Juno entered the kitchen, wearing a cuddly bathrobe and slippers. She poured herself a cup of tea and sat next to me.

“Morning. Want some toast?”

My cousin shook her head, and we had our breakfasts in companionable silence for a moment.

“I didn’t want to bring it up right away with everything going on,” Juno said suddenly, stirring her tea. “But you know I’ve been doing research. Elizabeth left quite a lot for me.”

I nodded, my mouth too full to respond.

Over the last week, I’d told Juno everything that had transpired during my time in Deepwater Lodge. Not a single detail had been left out.

We had both determined that my father had been the previous guardian of this area. She thought he believed he was doing me a favor; Voraal had submitted the idea that he had deliberately created me, intending to generate a long line of guardians.

He’d said that my father was likely very old, and tired of his stewardship over the land.

A daughter would guarantee a new guardian, and he would be able to move on.

I would forever wonder what my father’s name was, but there was one thing that, strangely enough, I didn’t doubt in the slightest: I’d felt love in that monster’s gaze, and I’d heard pride in his voice.

One day, Juno assured me, I would pass on the guardianship to my own child, and I would be free to wander the Void with my mates.

When that day came, perhaps I’d choose to seek out my father.

In addition to my father, we’d puzzled over the twisted chain of fate that had led Sophie here, and later my mother and myself.

I’d given Sophie’s planchette to Juno. My cousin had held it in reverent hands, amazed by the artifact of our shared history. I wanted her to take it for her Duskwood Island collection, but Juno had refused, citing that it had been here for this long, and it would probably be happier to remain.

We’d hung the planchette in a kitchen window overlooking the lake. But Juno had frowned at it for a while, particularly as I told her the history Mary had given me.

Now, stirring her tea, she had a strange expression on her face, a combination of nervousness and excitement.

“More of the genealogy project?” I asked, washing down my toast with a swig of tea. It wasn’t a Tater breakfast, but I supposed it’d do.

“Yes. I made a discovery a few months back, and something you told me—well, something Mary said—corroborated it. You see, we’re directly descended from Sophie through Felicity Marsh, our grandmother. There’s currently only two of us—well, soon to be three—of that line.”

I nodded, munching more toast.

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