‘Those three blue ones over there,’ Feri said, ‘those are fairly strong and fire-resistant. They’re good for manual labor. Factories often buy them. When they’re no longer of use, their flesh tastes good too. One of them was given my essence. Mine turn out blue every year, Dad keeps track. The red ones bring luck; if you keep one at your house it protects you from misfortune. A lot of banks use them, did you know that? And the black one . . . the black one is the most valuable. There is no limit to what it can do.’

‘What do you mean?’ Emese asked.

Feri lit a cigarette he had stolen from his sister; he smoked with trembling hands.

‘Literally anything. You name it, it does it. It’s dangerous too. Too smart. They go on the truck at dawn, we’re taking them to the market. You leave in the afternoon, right?’

Emese nodded. Feri smiled sadly.

‘Maybe next year then,’ said Feri, and walked away.

Emese put her hand into the pocket of her coat to feel the handle of the knife. She had learned her lesson; she would always keep it with her from then on. She scanned the creatures and tried to discover herself in one of them, as if looking for a stranger in the mirror who was at the same time also herself.

One of them was her; it might be a red one, but she hoped it wasn’t, she didn’t want her new life to be centered on luck. She hoped it was the black one.

Yes, the black maybe.

Because the black is dangerous, and there’s no limit to what it can do.

About the Author

About the Author

Attila Veres (b. 1985) is a Hungarian writer of horror and weird fiction. His first novel Odakint sötétebb [Darker Outside] (2017) was a surprise success in his native country and was followed by the story collection Éjféli iskolák [Midnight Schools] (2018). His fiction appears regularly in Black Aether, a magazine dedicated to Hungarian cosmic horror, as well as in literary maga­zines. As a screenwriter he has written several short and feature-length films all over Europe, and he won the Best Tele­vision Screenplay award at the 2020 Hungarian Film Awards for the TV feature Lives Recurring. He is originally from Nyíregyháza but currently lives in Budapest. His story ‘The Time Remaining’ was chosen to represent Hungary in The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, and The Black Maybe is his full-length English debut.