Let the Right One In

by John Ajvide Lindqvist

It was dark. No one around. Eli looked up into the top of the tree, along five six meters of smooth tree trunk. Kicked off shoes. Materialized new hands, new feet. It hardly hurt at all anymore, just felt like a tingling, an electric current through fingers and toes as they thinned out, took on a new shape. The bones crackled in Eli’s hands as they stretched out, shot out through the melting skin of the fingertips and made long, curved claws. Same thing with the toes. Eli jumped a couple of meters up onto the trunk of the tree, dug in claws, and climbed up to a thick branch that hung out over the path. Curling clawed feet around the branch, Eli sat without moving. A shooting sensation ran through each tooth as Eli thought them sharp. The enamel bulged out, was sharpened by an invisible file, became sharp. Eli carefully bit down on the lower lip, a crescent-shaped row of needles that almost punctured the skin. Now only the wait.