After giving the men enough time to get their boat off and out of sight, I went back down to my own sad cargo. I practically crawled down the trail, hiding and looking behind myself for fear the monster was still on the island and would surprise me. But no one accosted me. I was alone.

I rowed back to the mainland in the dark, grateful that the fates had at last shown respect for Justine by calming the wind and giving me glassy waters. At the nearest visible town, I pushed us onshore. The spire of a church called to me. It was the work of a miserable hour carrying Justine’s body there, and then another few hours digging a grave with a stolen shovel. But the ground was soft and wet with recent rain.

I could not dig in the middle of the graveyard, but I did on the nearest border, beneath weeping boughs of a tree. Graveyards had never held any horror for me—though now I knew death was not as permanent a state as I had thought—and I relished the peaceful work of honoring my best friend’s earthly remains.

I held her body, placing a last kiss on her forehead. That was the one kindness amidst all this horror: I was able to say a proper goodbye to my truest, dearest Justine. Then I lowered her into her grave and let the earth claim her.

It was far less than she deserved but the most I could offer her. I gathered a bunch of thistles that were her favorite color and left them on the freshly turned dirt.

Morning dawned as bright and clear and terrible as glacial ice, and with it, my path:

The monster had promised its revenge on Victor’s wedding night. That meant I would know an exact time and place where I could expect it to show itself. And then I could end its sorry, hateful existence once and for all.

I would be ready.

Chapter Twenty: Flesh of Flesh, Bone of My Bone