For she had found my first journal, and when I changed the past, I had changed the journal as well. So now she remembered reading about how I had encountered the monster and what it looked like. Rather than running from me in fear, she railed against me, demanding to know what I had done with Alexi. It was only when she stopped to look into my eyes and hear me speak that she realized the horrible truth.

Somehow, through some miraculous love that I don’t deserve, she has come back to me frequently in the years since. I was more than content with the time she could give, and for a time I thought to live out this part of my life in peaceful solitude while comforted by the life you had so far away from all this death and sorrow.

But then I began to feel a troubled stirring in the depths of my bones. She is growing stronger again, somehow, in the depths of Incarnata. I don’t know if she is free yet, but if not, it won’t be long. And despite my best intentions and worst fears, I won’t be able to resist her call when it comes.

That is why I had Alena send you my journal. That is why I had her deliver my account of my introduction to Angelica and the Imago Hotel. I needed you to remember more, to understand more, so you will not refuse what I have to ask of you.

****

I swallowed, my tongue thick and numb in my mouth. I understood now, and I even believed, but I wasn’t sure what I was willing to accept. I was created as an offshoot of a Russian guy by the reality-warping future monster version of the same man? What the actual fuck?

Not knowing what to say, I just nodded.

The monster swallowed, its slick, bulging gorge rising and falling twice as it struggled to meet my gaze. Its next words were almost too quiet to hear.

“I need you to go with me to the Bowl. It is empty now, so there is no risk of going to the hotel or anywhere else. But it is the only place close by where I think this will work. Once we are inside, with my help, I need you to consume me. Literally eat my body from start to finish. It will not be as long or as daunting a task as you might think. I can ease the work of it greatly, at least until the last. But it is the only way I can fathom that might finally bring an end to me while also saving you and Alena.”

I shook my head. “What…how does any of this make sense? How is me eating you going to help anything? Why can’t I just stab or shoot you or something?”