The Monster of Elendhaven

by Jennifer Giesbrecht

Is this it? Johann wondered. The longer fall I was looking for? To know that I was summoned up from the dark ether to do a monster’s deeds for Hallandrette’s truest son? And when our work is done, I will carry him to the bottom of the sea, where we both belong. Deep beneath the silt our bones will turn to salt.

Who would ever have thought that a thing, once named and held in open palm, would want to curl up and stay there forever?

“If … a rejected gift comes back to you … when you most need it, wouldn’t it be blasphemous … to refuse it again?”