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Because Bard wasn’t there to make sure I found out Dave was cheating on me.Bard kept watch over me while I was away at college. I never knew until recently.
Shit. I can’t believe this is my life.Something must’ve changed. Something happened to alter the future events of Monsterland. Bard never becomes part of my life. The mansion is never built. The Norfolk history was completely changed.
But they still came over the bridge at one point because I’m here.I was born. I ended up going to the same university as Dave.
I stand on the spot where my grandmother’s rose garden once stood. I need to find out what changed. It has to be something I did.
On the other hand, maybe Alwar succeeded. Maybe he held the wall and prevented an invasion.
“Lake! Your grandma’s on the phone.” Dave is standing at the back door, holding his cell. “She says it’s urgent.”
Grandma Rain? She’s alive? I cover my mouth, my lips quivering.
“Do you want to call her back?” he asks.
“No!” I come running and snatch the phone from his hand. “Grandma Rain?”
“Why haven’t you called me back? I’ve left three damned messages this morning, child.”
Tears pool in my eyes. I can’t believe I’m speaking to her. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Ass kisser. We just saw each other last Sunday.”
“Where are you?” Please be close. What I wouldn’t give to hug her one more time.
“Where the hell do you think? Didja hit your head this morning?”
“I-I—”
“Go by my apartment and check the coffee maker for me,” she demands. “I think I left it on.”
Her apartment? She doesn’t live on the estate?
“Gotta go. They’re boarding the cruise now. See you next week. Oh. And congratulations again on the baby. Even though Dave is a fucking waste of space, I’m happy for ya. Bye, sweetie.”
“Grandma, wait. Don’t hang up. Do you know if…is there a…windowhere on the property?”
“Window? What’s gotten into you? Of course your house has windows.”
“No. I mean the kind that’s really a doorway. With monsters on the other side.”
“Have you been reading those old stories again? I should’ve burned those journals, Lake. It’s like I’ve told you a thousand times, your great-great-grandma Snow was crazier than a squirrel in a nuthouse. I have to go. Don’t forget my coffee maker.”
Oh shit.So Monsterland still happens?
The call ends, and I go into the house. On the wall is a photo of Dave and me on our wedding day, surrounded by people I don’t recognize. “Dave, do you know where I keep my family’s old stuff—books and diaries or whatever?”
Dave appears with an apron on and a can of cream of mushroom soup in his hand. I see some things never change, including his bad pork chop recipe. “I think they’re in the guest closet. But babe, you shouldn’t be lifting anything heav—”
I fly past him and find the bedroom that looks unlived in. It has a bed with a few piles of folded laundry on top and a treadmill in the corner.
I open the large closet. Inside is a bunch of sporting equipment—baseball bat, tennis rackets, and even some scuba gear, including two wetsuits hanging from the rod.
Apparently, Dave and I are into sports. Disturbing. Not the sports. Just the part about him and me as a couple. The man is and always will be a serial cheater.
Bingo.I find a big cardboard box labeledLake’s stuffwedged between tax records and holiday decorations.
I slide it out and carry it to the bed. Inside are five leather-bound notebooks that look pretty freaking old. The edges are worn, and the paper is yellow.
