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I start thumbing through the first one. The cursive is immaculate, and each line is evenly spaced as if my great-great-grandma Snow wanted to ensure these records were easily legible.
I carefully turn the brittle pages and quickly realize what this is. I am not the first person to try to fix things.
I cover my mouth. “She knew. She knew it’s just one world.”
I devour the pages as she talks about measures she’s taken to prevent Monsterland from invading: bringing them livestock and seeds to plant. Supplying books on fertilizers. Giving the War People weapons—muskets, swords, cannons.
I have to wonder where she got the money for all that. Maybe Alwar helped and gave her a diamond, too.
But everything I do merely recreates a similar version of the future where the monsters hunger for us. I have now concluded that this is our fate, punishment for our sins.
Fuck that. I’m not giving up so easily.
I grab the next journal and skim it. More lists and descriptions of monsters—what they eat, their sizes and appearances. Maybe she thought the information would help us prepare for the inevitable invasion.
But where is the fucking window?I scan through the next book, and a passage catches my attention.
“No. What the hell?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Hey, babe…Uh. Where you going with the scuba gear?” Dave watches me lugging the oxygen tank outside, a pair of fins dangling off my elbow.
“Swimming.”
“I didn’t know you signed us up for more lessons.”
“I didn’t.” I don’t even remember taking any lessons at all. I go outside and slide on my boots.
“Then where you going?”
“The river.” It’s a bit of a hike, but that’s the only reference I’ve found in the journals.
…the place where the river bends around a large boulder that sticks three feet from the water. At the base is a window. It is only partially visible in the summer when the water is low.
It’s winter now, which means the window is submerged since the river will be full. We get a lot of snowstorms and rain this time of year.
“Are you crazy, babe?” Dave runs and stops in front of me. “That water is freezing.”
No shit. “Thus the wetsuit I have on.” Too bad I have no clue how to use an oxygen tank, but how difficult can it be? Turn knob, breathe.
“Lake, I’m not going to let you risk our baby’s life with this insane stunt. What’s gotten into you?”
“Monsters.”
He gives me a perturbed look.
“Oh, and by the way, I know you fucked around behind my back the entire time in college. You’re probably fucking someone now, too, and if you’re not, you’re definitely thinking about it.” I open the tank and throw it on my back. I tap the mouthpiece to see if air is coming out. “And I want a divorce.”
I leave him standing there and beeline for the river. Tall trees, mostly bare now, bow over the edges like skeletons there to witness our doom.
I step into the shallow edge of the water and put on my fins. “Oh, Jesus!” The cold sends a sharp pain shooting up my legs. The rock mentioned in the journal is about thirty feet downstream. I’ll have to cut across the current to hit it and then hope I’m a good enough swimmer to dive before the current pushes me past the spot.
“Lake! Don’t you dare! That’s my baby too.”
Oh no. Dave is back. I pop in the mouthpiece, push myself into the current, and start swimming.
I hope the window is there, because if it’s not, I’m pretty sure I’ll freeze to death. This wetsuit isn’t cutting it.
