Page 28 of An Invocation of Monsters

You will come back? He asked, sounding so sad.

I reached out and put a hand on his massive shoulder. “Of course I will. I want to see everything.”

His eyes, which had dimmed when I made my request, brightened. I will show you the door, but do not make me wait, Elle. I’ve waited for so long.

His sadness ate at me. How could I feel so bad for leaving, when I’d only just met him?

Thanks to my ability, I often wanted little to do with my fellow humans. I would’ve been happier being far, far away from most of them.

But it genuinely squeezed my heart in a painful contraction to imagine him alone in this place, waiting for someone, a companion to show all the wonders of the Void.

“I promise. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Drazan reached out and clasped me around the waist, pulling me into deeper waters. When my toes could no longer reach the pebbles underfoot, the Klee pulled me under.

My hair swirled upward, and his bioluminescent lights reflected the color. He kept pulling, letting me drift along after him, and then he pointed up.

I looked up, and saw a black splotch across the gleaming surface of the lake, like a stain on a mirror.

It was so dark it seemed like an oil spill, but Drazan’s voice filled my mind.

That is one of the doors. Now that the Void has tasted your soul, you will find it easier to cross back to me. Remember your promise, Elle.

I nodded, bubbles flying out of my mouth before I clamped my lips tightly shut. One of his tentacles glided across my face, and then the monster pushed me upwards.

Swim, he told me, and I kicked hard, angling for the black mirror.

I looked down just before my head pierced it, seeing the sadness on Drazan’s face and feeling it like a hard lump in my chest.

But I had to care for myself first. I couldn’t be his companion if I felt like I would fly to pieces at any moment, afraid for my own sanity.

I pushed through the blackness, and when my face breached the water into air, I took a deep gulp of pine-scented breeze.

I was back. I blinked water out of my eyes, finding the dock floating only feet away from me.

Strange how the air didn’t taste so fresh anymore, not after breathing the air of the Void. There was the faintest tinge of motor oil to it, a lingering residue I’d never noticed before.

I grabbed the edge of the dock, pulling myself up as I spit out water. “Kase? Willow?”

They were nowhere in sight. I scanned the lake, seeing nothing but waves.

It was still noon, the sun high overhead. Deepwater Lodge lay in front of me, no longer a ruin shining with foxfire.

I picked up the T-shirt that was exactly where I’d discarded it, pulling it over my head.

I was halfway up the stairs when the two I’d been looking for began to descend. Willow was licking an ice cream cone, and Kase was chugging a bottle of water. They both stopped dead in their tracks when I appeared.

I stared back, nonplussed. “Didn’t you look for me?”

What the fuck?

If I’d been in the Void for an hour, hadn’t they been worried when I vanished off the face of the planet? I’d thought they would’ve assumed I was drowning.

“What are you talking about?” Willow asked, licking melted vanilla ice cream off the back of her hand. “We waited for you. You were taking too long.”

Kase met my eyes for only a fraction of a second before they shifted away again.

“I… But…” I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.

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