Page 39 of Monster Queen Rising

I am at the wall. The mark on my sternum is warm.

Thaw looks at me.

"Tank's yours. Second story, west face, into the intake."

I've had it since she said it.

"Yes."

Something goes tight in my chest that isn't the shift. The other thing.

Thaw puts his hands flat on either side of the page.

"We start today."

I don't stay.

The plan is for the men in the building. The tank is for the man on the roof.

I'm outside.

Mid-morning sun. Empty yard. I sit on the porch step and breathe.

The screen door opens.

Madison. She doesn't come down at first. Hand on the railing, long sweater stretched over the stomach, barefoot. Then she comes down, slow — the pregnancy's changed how she does stairs — and sits, six feet off.

She looks at the trees.

"Are you going to come back?"

I look at her. Dark eyes. Not crying. Asking.

I nod.

"Good."

Quiet. Long.

"Fen."

"Yes."

"I don't want you around her. I'm afraid because you're not in control of it yet."

I look down. She doesn't soften it. I know she's right.

After a while she puts a hand on the railing and gets herself up.

I sit on the step into the afternoon. Crull comes out near dusk, hands me a cup.

I'm ready.

Chapter fourteen

Jen

It is twenty minutes before sunrise and the building is already burning.