Page 32 of An Invocation of Monsters

There was something odd in the tone of them. Like Joseph had been carrying on a one-sided conversation.

And, despite their age, these letters were in nearly flawless condition.

My mother had not pored over these letters. She had not folded and unfolded them, keeping his words of love nearby.

They had been read and locked in a box, never to be looked at again.

The fist that had been squeezing at my heart since I’d realized who they were from began to ease. At first, I’d had the terrible feeling that my mother had once been in love with Joseph herself.

But there was one last letter that had been stuck up against the interior of the lid. I peeled it away, looking at its clean, white surface, reading it over.

It contained the only response my mother had ever given him, the first letter she’d written to him. Her girlish scrawl filled the first half of the page.

Joseph, stop. Just stop.

This was never about you. I was never here for you.

I was here for the Door. I was here because we knew there was something bigger out there.

Now we’ve found it, and when I cross back over, I’m never coming back.

I’m sorry that things didn’t turn out the way you wanted. I’m sorry it won’t let you through.

But that isn’t my fault.

Mary still loves you. Go make her life happy, and LEAVE MINE ALONE.

And stop calling me Gigi. I hate it.

Gillian

It was difficult to read. Not because of the content, but because Joseph had replied to this last letter by scrawling directly on top of it with red ink, the invective screaming across my mother’s response: BITCH WHORE YOU STUPID FUCKING GASH

I stopped reading it when I caught the gist of his anger.

I would bet cold, hard cash that Joseph hadn’t known this little box of letters was in here, or he never would’ve handed it over. He’d written his final message with such rage that he’d torn through the paper in places.

From now on, I had to keep a close eye on Joseph, the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

But more than that, I had rock-solid confirmation of one important piece of information.

Those were my mother’s initials carved in the Void.

She had found and opened the Door.

10

Elle

I carefully sealed the box of letters again and was about to reach for the photo album when someone knocked on my door.

“Hey, it’s about time for dinner,” Kase called through. “Are you coming?”

I blinked, then glanced outside. It was already twilight. I hadn’t even felt time slipping away from me.

The last thing I wanted was to go eat with them, but my stomach rumbled with desperation. I hadn’t really had a proper meal in days.

Probably because those days had been fraught with monsters, other dimensions, and the mystery my mother had left for me to untangle.

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