“No, that’s good.” Julie smiles at her again. It’s a nice smile, genuine and warm. Not like Audrey’s weird strained smile. Audrey. She didn’t say anything about monsters either. “If it can talk to you, that means I can talk to it. Should have it cleared out within the next few minutes.”
“It won’t hurt you, will it?”
Julie looks up at her. “We’ve got an arrangement.”
Claire doesn’t know what that means: Julie has an arrangement? Or the town does? Is that why no one’s ever said a word about the monsters to Claire before? But Julie doesn’t explain, only opens the door. Heat rushes in. Through the window, Claire sees the monster stick its head up.
“Hey there,” Julie calls out, swooping down to pick up the cage. She ambles outside and pulls the back door shut, but Claire can still hear her, her voice muffled and fuzzy. “You know you’re not supposed…” And then Julie moves too far away from the house, and her words become too indistinct.
Claire leans up against the window, her chest tight. Julie drops the cage in the grass. Stands with her hands on her hips. The monster lifts its head a little higher and bares its teeth. Claire tenses, certain the monster’s going to attack—but no, it’s only speaking.
Julie gestures at the cage. The monster stares at her. She crosses her arms over her chest, hitches her shoulders. Points at the cage again. The monster doesn’t move. She throws her hands up. Her voice raises, loud enough that certain tones seep through the window, but not so loud that Claire can make out what she’s saying. Claire realizes that she’s no longer frightened, exactly. She watches the window like she’s watching TV, with a morbid, confused fascination. Julie’s trying to negotiate with a monster, with some—animal. Claire doesn’t think there’s any way this can work, and yet it’s clear that Julie has done this before.
Julie crouches down in the grass. The monster perks up its head and tilts it at her. Julie slaps one hand down on the top of the cage. Points off into the distance. Shrugs.
And then, to Claire’s amazement, the monster trundles into the cage.
Julie closes the latch without any rush. She picks the cage up with one hand and sets it down on the patio. The monster’s curled up inside like a cat, head resting on its claw, staring forlornly off into the distance.
The door opens and Claire jumps away from the window.
“Christ, it’s hot out there.” Julie wipes her forehead. “Not much better in here, though. No offense.”
“My grandma doesn’t have air-conditioning.”
“Aw, suck.” Julie points her thumb toward outside. “Anyway, I got it. I’ll haul it off to the power plant. I’m not sure why it was down here. They aren’t supposed to come into town. Part of the deal, you know?” She shrugs.
Claire stares at her. She understands each individual word, but all strung together like that they become gibberish. Power plant? Deal?
Julie’s staring at her and frowning. Heat rushes into Claire’s cheeks. She looks down at her hands. Her heart’s beating a little too fast, even though she’s not scared anymore.
“You didn’t know, did you?” Julie says.
“What?” Claire looks up at her.
“About the monsters? You said you’re just here for the summer?” Julie shakes her head. “This stupid town. They expect everyone to just know when they pass the city limits.” She rolls her eyes.
Claire stares at her. “No,” she finally says. “No one ever told me anything. I mean, I’d been coming here for Christmas, and my mom grew up here—”
“Oh, well, it would’ve had to be Mrs. Sudek who tells you.” Julie shifts her weight from foot to foot, looking antsy and uncomfortable. “The farther you go from town, the more you forget.”
“Forget?” Claire stares at her.
“The monsters, yeah. I don’t know how it works. Just that people who leave, when they come back—we have to remind them. And no one does because everyone in this town’s an asshole.” She sighs. “Basically, we’ve got these monsters that live out in an old power plant on the edge of town. They’ve been here since forever, pretty much. Way back in the day they made a deal with the townspeople to stay on their own spot of land.”
“But—” Claire shakes her head, trying to piece everything together. “So they’re endemic? Just in Indianola?”
“Dunno,” Julie says. “Probably not, since they aren’t anywhere else around here.”
“So where did they come from? They had to come from somewhere!”
“Yeah, no one really knows. They’ve just sort of—always been here. That’s what my dad told me. Anyway. They aren’t supposed to come into town, but sometimes one of ’em disobeys. I’m authorized to round ’em up and take ’em back to the power plant.”
“Power plant,” Claire says slowly. “So…but…maybe that’s where they came from?”
“Nah, they moved there in the thirties, I’m pretty sure.” Julie shrugs. “No big deal. Makes it easy to stay away from them, you know?”
The world’s been invaded by dream logic. Monsters living at a power plant, people losing their memories. Were there monsters back in Houston, and Claire can’t remember them, now that she’s come here? She feels dizzy and sick. She wants to talk to Josh. He’d tell her the truth. He’d tell her if monsters were real or not.
“They shouldn’t bother you again.” Julie smiles. “And if they do, all you’ve got to do is give me a call.”
Claire nods. She thinks she might throw up. The world’s been uprooted. The rules are broken. She understands nothing.
CHAPTER
Three
JULIE
The girl living at Mrs. Sudek’s place is pretty cute. Innocent-looking. Sweet. Like she spends all her time studying and worrying that she’s not going to make straight A’s on her report card. Julie wonders if she’ll see her around again. Probably. It’s a small town.
“I could pay one of you to hang out in her yard,” she says to the monster. “Then I’ll definitely get to see her again. What do you say to that?”
The monster’s still curled up in its cage, which she strapped into the front seat. She’s supposed to stash them in the back of the van, but sometimes she lets them ride shotgun. This one’s not particularly chatty.
“Girl,” it says, in that low hissing voice they all have.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m a girl, she’s a girl.” Julie pulls up to the blinking red stoplight at the edge of town. “Figures I’d have to take shit about it from y’all too.” She guns the van forward, out toward the highway that leads back into civilization. Only one direction out of town, unless you have a boat.
“Girl,” the monster says.
“Christ, learn a new word.” The van’s the only car out on the road. People don’t drive this stretch of Highway 316 that often, since it takes you past the power plant where the monsters have made their home. Instead everybody takes Comal Road around the bayou, even though it adds about thirty minutes to the trip. “Is this some new trick?” she asks, glancing over at the monster’s cage. “Learning one word so that you qualify for sentience and I have to waste time hauling you back to the power plant?”