Page 17 of An Inheritance of Monsters

Another massive vibration shook the bed. A purr of… what? Happiness?

I had the distinct impression that the owner of the claws was pleased by my offering.

I waited, almost nauseated with anticipation, eyes glued to the gap and fingers digging into the side of the mattress so hard it hurt.

Several minutes later, I was rewarded.

The claws reappeared, creeping out from the gap… and they pushed something out from under the bed, in plain view.

I waited until they jerked away before reaching down to pick up the new gift, bringing the light to it.

It was a dried flower, a spray of heather from the hills on Duskwood Island.

“That’s very lovely,” I said, my voice coming out in a hoarse squeak. “I love the rocks.”

Silence.

Then the purr came, a small earthquake that didn’t freak me out quite so much anymore. After all, if the tentacled monster had been gentle, and this one was trading gifts… perhaps he would be curious, too.

Then the claws reappeared, pushing something larger.

I reached for it and found a sock.

A holey, dusty sock that looked like it had been sitting in a corner for a hundred years.

“This is an excellent sock,” I declared, laying it by the rocks piled next to me. “I’ve never seen another one like it.”

A deep, gravelly voice, in a tone no human could possibly make, emanated from the gap. “She liked the sock.”

The entire bed vibrated with delight as the monster spoke to himself.

I cleared my throat, peering over the side. No claws present or accounted for. “Would you… like to come up?”

He didn’t respond. Maybe he was as weirded out by me as I was by finding a house full of monsters.

“Just to say hello?” I shined the light, but no claws appeared. And yet the presence hadn’t left, so he was still here.

Oh. If he was a monster, then…

“I’ll turn the light off for you.”

Even though I was convinced this monster was not going to eat me either, it still took every drop of willpower to turn off my sense of self-preservation along with the phone. And lay it screen-down, well out of reach.

“Lights are off.” I scooted to the middle of the bed, careful not to drop my presents on the floor. “If you want to come out, I’ll be waiting right here.”

I drew up my knees and wrapped my arms around them. There was the faintest hint of moonlight coming in from the windows, but it still took my eyes several minutes to adjust to the dark.

By the time the white rectangle burned into my retinas had disappeared, I realized the shadows had actually deepened.

The bed creaked, moving slightly as darkness spilled from beneath it. I squeezed myself tighter, watching as the giver of rocks and socks climbed out.

At first my mind couldn’t make sense of it. How could something so fuckingbigcome out from under my bed without knocking the whole thing over?

You went through the bath into an alternate reality, Juno, is thisreallythat weird?

No, I guessed it wasn’t. Clearly this house’s denizens weren’t subject to the laws of physics in our world.

The monster was ten feet tall, an enormous, bulky mass in the middle of my bedroom. The fur on his arms began at the crown of his skull, trailing over his back and shoulders, but much of the rest of him was thick, almost leathery skin.

---