Page 123 of An Inheritance of Monsters

I opened my eyes to hazy pink sunlight, filtering downwards from the kitchen.

But Zirin backed away into the darkness of the cellar, avoiding a single beam of that light touching his skin.

I must return to the Void. The sun is…He looked ruefully up the stairs.Hostile.

“I know, I’m sorry. I would stay longer but I should find out if everyone else is okay.” I stepped over bits of shattered brick to return to the shadows, reaching up to rest my hands on his shoulders. “If Jack was taken, everyone else could be in danger, too.”

The Dagonites cannot cross, he said decisively.He made his way through on his own. But don’t fear, Juno; I feel the comet’s pull. It will all be over soon.

There was something less than comforting about his words, something he wasn’t telling me.

But I rose up on my tiptoes to kiss him anyway, putting all of my feelings into it. “I’ll see you when the sun goes down,” I told him, and the clinging sensation of his touch pulled away.

The water rippled on the floor, the bioluminescence dying immediately where the sun touched it, but I knew Zirin had opened a door and returned to the Void.

I climbed the steps out of the cellar, brick dust clinging to me, and found the kitchen empty. Sunlight streamed in, the storms finally cleared… but as I peered out the window, the burning crimson ball in the sky seemed to be larger than ever.

A shiver ran through me as I looked up at the remains of the Elder God. Soon the earth and the Void would wrench at each other, the monsters rising to storm the gates between our worlds and…

Destroy Earth, and all of humanity, as we knew it.

And all I had to do was enact a ritual I knew exactly nothing about.

What if bonding to my monsters wasn’t enough?

I would be responsible for chaos and madness rising to swallow the world, all because I couldn’t put the pieces together in time…

But I squared my shoulders, walking away from the window. I had done everything I could. I’d dug further into Duskwood Manor than I’d ever expected to.

I had discovered the Void. I had found my monsters.

Somehow, I would make sure the ritual worked. The world would be saved, the comet would continue on its cold, lonely journey through space…

And I would find a way to keep my monsters, too. Mrs. Marsh wasn’t getting me off this island without a fight.

I shed red dust all the way up the stairs as I headed for my room, determined to wash it off and find both Sierra and Carson.

Porter’s voice echoed through my head.And then there were three.

At least Crispy had survived without ever coming across a Dagonite. When I met the Lady of Dark Waters, I’d be sure to thank her personally.

I pushed open my door and almost stepped on the envelope that had been slid beneath my door.

My fingers left smudges of brick dust all over it, painting the cream paper with brown and red streaks. I shoved the door closed with my hip, ripping it open and extracting a letter written in the same hand that had sent the initial invitation to Duskwood Island.

With the arrival of the Fuseli Comet tomorrow night…

It was an invitation to the formal dinner we’d all expected and packed for.

Of course, none of us had known from our initial invitations to the island that the dinner was in celebration of a rare, little-known comet, nor that so few of us would be left to see it.

I thought of Crispy packing his bags three months ago and shoving a badly-tailored, bright orange suit into one of the back pockets. Thank god he was spared; thank god no one would ever have to witness him wearing that monstrosity.

I had packed a black dress for myself. I laid the invitation aside and stepped into the bathroom, not wanting to touch it until I’d washed off the dust clinging to me.

Tomorrow night, for better or worse, the comet would arrive.

And the ritual would be completed—sealing my fate forever.

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