An Inheritance of Monsters, page 15
I wasn’t going to tell her that maybe, just maybe, that was the idea for me.
I scurried back to my room, clutching the diary to my chest, and locked my door behind me.
Rask’s purr immediately filled the air. “There you are, my mate.”
A sigh of relief escaped me and I collapsed on my bed. “Come up, Rask. I have something.”
I cracked open the diary, opening to a nearly illegible first page. The neat copperplate script had been written in dark ink, but it was so old and faded it was like trying to read the ghost of a book.
My monstrous Mlul’dra climbed from the darkness beneath the bed, curling around me and squeezing his eyes shut against the light from my lamp.
I settled back against his warm bulk and flipped through the pages, confused about Rosalie’s insistence, until I found the first instance of legible writing.
* * *
…will be my birthday soon, and I shall come into my Inheritance. I cannot wait! Ivy has already received hers and my envy is too much to bear…
* * *
I frowned, and Rask peered down at the diary. “Ah. I misplaced it.”
“You left this in Rosalie’s room?”
“I did not mean to.”
I suppressed a laugh, mostly because my side was still aching a little. Of course a packrat monster from under the bed would manage to misplace a diary in the room of the local researcher.
I flipped through more pages, squinting at the ink and making out next to nothing, until the ink darkened once more here and there, the sentences fragmented.
* * *
My Shezhad is everything I dreamed and more. I love him… all my heart.
* * *
My own heart was speeding up as I read, thumping frantically in my throat.
This was my second piece of actual, tangible proof that the Void-marked women had met their own monsters.
* * *
Others would call them monstrous, but I call them beautiful. And Ivy has agreed to inherit the manor and its doorways, therefore I have freedom…
I wish to leave. I do not want to remain in this world, not without them.
* * *
I was nearly sick with anticipation as I found the slightly-fresher ink at the end. Most of the diary was lost to age, but what remained explained Rosalie’s vehemence at getting the hell out of here.
* * *
This is my last day on this earth. After this, I shall live forever among the stars with the monsters of the Void.
Ivy will tell them I am dead. I will roam with my Shezhad, Khozra, and Arvoss. I am theirs now, and they are mine.
The Void calls now. Let these words serve as a reminder to those who come after me: the Void will find you, too.
You will find happiness, and come find me in the Beyond once you have served your time as the…
* * *
Her writing faded once more, and I swore until I got to the end.
* * *
Goodbye… for now.
* * *
I closed the diary with a shaky exhale, and then practically tore the cover open again. There, on the first page I missed, was the bookplate.
The same script I’d just read was engraved there in denser ink, cutting into the paper. I ran my fingertips over the name Ruby Marsh.
She had vanished… into the Void, not thin air.
Rumors, supposition, and lies. Ruby had never died, merely found her own monsters.
I had to keep this diary as proof, and to piece together the rest of the puzzle.
But as I lifted my pillow for my normal hiding spot, I ran my hand beneath it where my Black Book normally was.
No sharp corners met my fingers.
I practically ripped the pillow away as Rask shifted behind me. “What is it, my Juno?”
He helped me shift the bedding and tear back blankets.
My fists clenched, gut roiling as I realized what had happened. I’d been in the Void for hours—my bedroom empty and the door unlocked.
“Someone stole my Black Book.”
Chapter 20
Juno
Fury reared its ugly head as I shoved my hand in the crack between the bed and the wall.
Nothing.
Claws wrapped around me, and Rask picked me up and put me on the floor by the bathroom door.
“Stand back, little one,” he grumbled.
He crouched down, all four arms stretching around the bed, and he picked the entire thing up like it weighed nothing.
The door to the Void was closed; there was nothing but a stretch of empty floor, no notebook in sight.
Rask let out a grunt, and carefully lowered the bed. It creaked wildly as it settled.
“Maybe I misplaced it.” I got down on my hands and knees, searching under the dresser and nightstand, tearing drawers open, but I found nothing.
With an angry sigh, I finally flopped back on the bed, massaging my temples with trembling fingers. “Someone definitely stole it.”
Rask climbed up on the mattress, and the bed squealed in protest again. He curled around me, purring deeply in his chest, and I couldn’t help but relax against him as it rumbled through me.
One enormous hand stroked me from shoulder to hip as I cuddled up next to him, his body heat soaking through my back.
“We will find the thief, my Juno.” Claws flexed lightly over my thigh. “I will eat them for you.”
My eyes popped open. “Rask, you can’t eat humans.”
“Why not? My mouth is large enough and my fangs are sharp.”
I snorted despite myself. “Because it’s bad.”
But even the silly banter with Rask wasn’t enough to tamp down the furious flood driving through me.
How dare someone steal my things? And of everything they could’ve taken, they’d chosen one of the few objects that was actually meaningful to me.
Bastards.
“You are not relaxing, mate.”
I sighed, wriggling closer as he continued petting me. “I’m furious, it’s impossible to relax right now.”
Rask’s hand paused on my hip, warm and rough, then he moved fast enough to nearly send me tumbling off the bed.
Three hands caught me, and he carried me to the bathroom, grunting as he strained to squeeze through the tiny door. He deposited me on the sink counter and turned to the tub, dropping the plug in and twisting the hot water knob.
“Humans like baths. You will sit in this until you are happy again.”
I smiled up at him as he plodded to me, his six eyes casting a dirty look at the low ceiling.
Claws snipped easily through the remains of the shirt and leggings Voraal had damaged. There was no saving these clothes now.
“Thank you,” I said, slipping off the counter and stroking his arm as I passed.
Rask crouched over the head of the bath when I stepped in, looming over me. The hot water soaked into me when I stretched out, tilting my head back to look up at my monster.
“I don’t deserve all of you,” I whispered. How could they be so perfect, and attracted to such an imperfect human?
“Of course you do. We are exactly what you deserve.” Rask carefully smoothed my hair, his purr a non-stop rumble that drowned out the wind outside.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of his fingertips carefully touching me, and the water sloshed in the bath, even though I hadn’t moved.
I didn’t sink through, but felt Zirin’s tentacles wrap around my legs as he pulled himself up through the door.
What bothers you, lovely one?
When I opened my eyes, he was fully with me, the door to the Void closed. I ran a hand over the tentacle searching my waist, suckers popping here and there on my damp skin.
Rask informed him of my stolen notebook, and Zirin nodded in understanding.
We will help you, of course. He leaned forward, poised over me, reaching out to touch my cheek…
I had never kissed him, not the way I had with Rask or Voraal.
As he drew closer, I tilted my head, eyes closing as I rose from the water…
Zirin drew back, his tentacles tightening around me, eyes flashing.
“What’s wrong?” I was frozen, my heart hammering.
All I had wanted to do was kiss him… it wasn’t like he hadn’t done other things to me, but he gazed at me from across the bath, his eyes unreadable.
His webbed fingers rose, touching the tentacles where his mouth should be.
My mouth is… not like yours. He turned his face aside, every ring on his body glimmering an anxious orange.
Oh.
I hadn’t considered that maybe he would feel that he was too different for me.
“Hey. It’s okay.” I reached out and took his head, lacing our fingers together.
I do not wish for you to be disgusted by me.
“I would never be disgusted by you,” I said, offended that he’d believe such a thing, but his head was still turned aside.
I squeezed his hand. “We don’t have to kiss yet. I just want you to know that there is no part of you I find unappealing.”
Some of the orange faded from his rings, replaced with a calmer blue and dots of pink.
“She likes my fangs,” Rask said proudly. “She will like your face noodles.”
Zirin gave him a filthy look. They are tentacles.
“I like your face tentacles a lot, Zirin,” I said, shooting Rask a look over my shoulder. “So when you’re ready to kiss… I’ll be waiting.”
The tentacled monster pulled me against him, swirling me through the bath to hold me with my back to his chest.
Thank you, little one. His mental voice was a mix of regret and relief. I would like to, very much… but…
“You don’t have to justify yourself to me.” I leaned back against him, propping my feet on the edges of the tub, and Rask eyed them.
I almost moaned aloud when he carefully pinched one between the pads of his thumb and forefinger, gently massaging them.
“Is this relaxing for you?” he asked, ears swiveling backwards.
“I am feeling very, very relaxed right now.”
With Rask massaging my feet, and Zirin’s rubbery tentacles stroking my back, rubbing all the tension out of me, I could fall asleep right here in the bath.
His suckers were like little cups, popping as they moved along the sides of my spine with a rhythm that had my eyelids feeling heavy.
As much as I wanted my monsters to usually be inside me, it was pleasant to just lay here with them, enjoying their company.
The anger of discovering my Black Book had been stolen was lowering to a simmer, my blood no longer boiling.
“Do you have any bedtime stories?” I asked, not opening my eyes. Whatever Zirin was doing with his tentacles, he could make a killing as a masseuse.
“I will tell you a story, my Juno.” Rask’s deep voice filled the room, echoing off the walls. “Of a time long, long before, when the Mlul’dra were the subjugators of worlds, the ravagers of planets, the annihilators of—”
Annihilation usually isn’t a good topic for bedtime stories, Zirin said dryly.
Rask’s eyes narrowed. “All Mlul’dra children are raised on these stories. Then they grow to be strong conquerors.”
The only thing you’re conquering is the dust under Juno’s bed.
I had to bite my lip to hold in my laughter.
Rask growled at him, but resumed his tale. “We were the annihilators of the stars, moving through the Void as a powerful horde.”
Eyes heavy, I listened to his story of the Mlul’dra horde, the massive beasts they raised as their mounts, the way the Elder Mlul’dra were the most feared warriors in the universe.
They had met the V’uthli at the very edges of space and time, and together they had vanquished planets…
It was only when Zirin shifted and the now-cool water splashed on my throat that my eyelids fluttered open.
Go to sleep, Juno, he whispered, tentacles caressing my neck as the weightlessness of the Void door opened beneath us.
“Good night,” I mumbled.
Claws delicately plucked me from the water before I could fall through, and I sighed, burying myself against Rask’s warm chest.
He carried me to the bed, his purr lulling me back to sleep as he built a nest around us.
Chapter 21
Juno
I woke to an empty bed, still warm and curled in the nest Rask had made for me. The first rays of early morning light had driven him back to the shadows under the bed.
No matter how well he and Zirin had distracted me, I hadn’t forgotten that there was a thief among us. The first thing I did upon rising was hide Ruby’s diary beneath the dresser, pushed all the way back against the wall.
I showered and dressed with grim determination, then carefully chose one of my favorite hairclips to leave under the edge of the bed. The enamel sky blue butterflies on it glinted as I pushed it beneath the bedskirt with a blown kiss.
I thought I felt a purr rumble through the floors before I left my rooms.
When I got to the kitchen, Rosalie was already there, wearing a giant raincoat, her bags piled around her feet.
“It was nice meeting you all,” she was saying with a forced smile, but when I walked in, the smile dropped.
I met Mrs. Marsh’s eyes across the room. She’d just hung up the phone… and she looked vaguely amused about the whole thing.
“They will be at the dock in half an hour,” she told Rosalie. “You’ll need to be there early—bad weather is coming in again.”
“That’s fine!” Rosalie’s reply was a bit too bright, and she seemed to be intentionally avoiding my gaze. “I’ll get going right now. Good luck, everyone.”
She hauled her backpack on, shaking off Mrs. Marsh’s offer to help her, and vanished towards the front doors.
Eloise sat at the table, legs crossed, sipping a cup of tea. “She just wasn’t cut out for this sort of thing.”
“And then there were… six,” Porter Hudson added.
Oh, boy. I resisted the urge to sneer at them, but mostly because I’d realized one thing when Rosalie left.
She and I had not been friends. We were barely acquaintances.
But now, every single person in this kitchen was a prime suspect for whoever had stolen my notebook.
I’d admitted it to myself, and Rask, last night when he bundled me up.
I feared what they would find in the back pages far more than I feared someone stealing my script and notes.
What if I was not the only one who had seen doorways—and someone now had an idea of the monsters on the other side?
What if they went hunting for them?
I had faith that my monsters could defend themselves against humans, but the last thing I wanted while I was in the Void with them was an intrusion of my human enemies. The weird fish-people from last night were bad enough.
I glanced at Carson, who looked vaguely surprised that Rosalie had taken off in such a hurry. He would be very interested in my script notes for Spirit Squad, given our history.
Jack Steele—leaning against the counter and smirking about it all—was also suspect. If he thought he could climb his way into Carson’s good graces by stealing from their nemesis, I had no doubt he’d do it.
Porter Hudson… well, the script wouldn’t matter to him.
But my drawings of an alien world sure would. He’d blast me as a psycho all over his YouVid channel, and even worse, let the secret of the monsters out into the world.
As for Eloise, I could not think of a motive for her to steal from me.
Unless she was planning to extort me for money, the way she’d done to all her victims.
But then Sierra walked into the kitchen, still yawning, and saw everyone gathered. “What’s happening?”
As Carson filled her in, I focused on my crewmate.
Despite our differences, I hadn’t considered if she would take my notebook.
She had, after all, been angling for my job as host for a while. What better way than to be seen with the Black Book, which had basically become the logo for Spirit Squad?
Accusations welled up behind my lips, but I kept them shut. I was enemies with most of these people.
Flinging out accusations would only end up with them ganging up on me.
It was a test of willpower to keep my mouth closed as they filtered out following Rosalie’s exit.
I rubbed my temples, squeezing my eyes shut, and knew Mrs. Marsh had approached me just from the smell of her expensive perfume wafting towards me.
“Have a cup of tea, love,” she said, herding me to the kitchen table.
I almost took Eloise’s empty chair, then moved over one out of sheer pettiness. Mrs. Marsh put a steaming cup in front of me and took her seat.
“You look like you had a late night.” Her smile was kind, and in my mind’s eye I saw that picture in her hallway, with her glittering dress and rolled stockings.
And her smeared face.
I wanted so badly to ask about the monsters… and if she had ever seen them… but the words wouldn’t come.
After a lifetime of distrust and hiding, it was hard to come right out and say things that had gotten you shunned before.
“You could say that.” She’d given me black rose tea, and I stirred in a lump of sugar. “The longer I’m here, the more there is to see.”
She nodded, gazing out the window pensively, then brightened up. “Oh! Then I have just the thing for you.”
I raised an eyebrow over my tea cup.
“You haven’t been to the lighthouse yet,” she confided, leaning over to me.
Lighthouse?
I had seen no such thing on the island, not even during my lone exploration. “What lighthouse?”
Mrs. Marsh leaned back in her, a satisfied look on her face. “It’s one of our little secrets—the lighthouse has been decommissioned for use, but it still stands on the northernmost point of the island. You can see for miles, and we’ll just say there may be a good bit of history about it, as well.”
