Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Shesheshen and Homily stake out a ditch near Underlook Forest, waiting for the monster to appear. Homily explains the Wulfyre family curse: After her mother killed a wyrm, its offspring cursed the family line, saying their power will wane and they will all die. The curse has already claimed Homily’s aunt and will soon come for the rest of them. She reveals that her mother is the Baroness Wulfyre, the local ruler.

Attempting to protect herself by controlling the narrative, Shesheshen has created a fake monster by tying deer horns to a sheep. When the disguised animal emerges from the woods, the ruse fails as the sheep ignores the rotted meat bait Homily has set out. Homily realizes this is not the wyrm she seeks and immediately despairs, fearing the wrath of her mother now that she has no monster to present as proof of her mission’s success.

Shesheshen returns to her lair to find Laurent waiting for her. He reveals that he knows Homily is a Wulfyre and claims he has deduced Shesheshen’s plan to get closer to the Baroness Wulfyre through her daughter. Startled by his insight, Shesheshen becomes further unsettled when Laurent proposes they spread word that her lair is abandoned to misdirect the Baroness’s hunters.

Shesheshen threatens him to ensure his compliance and silence, and Laurent reacts with disturbing pleasure rather than fear. She realizes he is not intimidated by her threats and finds his response unsettling; she then dismisses him and his workers from her employ.

Shesheshen collects the corpses of the three bandits she previously killed when they attacked her and Homily, and she brings them to her basement storeroom. She experiences a strange pain in her chest when she thinks of Homily, and she succumbs to a stress-fueled gorge on the corpses. She reconfigures her body during the feeding, absorbing organs to create an olfactory system that will help her better pass as human among Homily’s family.

To maintain her size after the internal reorganization, she excretes a large, gray lump of her own tissue. Just as she finishes this transformation, Homily calls for her from upstairs, so Shesheshen hastily dresses and conceals all evidence of her activities before greeting her companion.

Shesheshen and Homily travel to Underlook, where Shesheshen finds herself overwhelmed by the myriad odors her newly developed sense of smell detects. As they approach the town, Homily grows increasingly anxious and warns Shesheshen that her mother is a dangerous political figure who wields considerable power.

On their way, they are suddenly confronted by an aggressive young woman in golden armor, and Homily identifies her as her younger sister, Epigram Wulfyre. Epigram berates Homily for abandoning the family and physically grabs her by her scarf, demanding she come see their mother immediately. Overwhelmed by her sister’s aggression, Homily capitulates and agrees to the meeting.

The Baroness Wulfyre is residing in a heavily guarded section of the Red Dragon Inn. Shesheshen and Homily meet the Baroness as well as Homily’s youngest sister, Ode Wulfyre, who appears doll-like in contrast to her family’s intimidating presence. Rourke and Malik are also present. Shesheshen notices the Baroness wears a necklace on which two large steel fangs are suspended. The Baroness reveals they are trophies from a wyrm, which she claims to have killed herself.

Shesheshen recognizes the fangs as her mother’s prosthetic fangs and realizes the Baroness is her mother’s murderer. She is shaken by this revelation and is determined to avenge her mother’s death by killing the Baroness. Then, the Baroness informs Homily that her brother Catharsis is dead and proceeds to blame Homily for his death. Homily breaks down in front of the gathered family.

In the room that Shesheshen and Homily share at the inn, Shesheshen comforts Homily, who is sobbing. Shesheshen begins to understand that Homily’s kindness is a defense mechanism that she developed in response to her family’s cruelty. When Shesheshen suggests they flee together, Homily refuses, terrified that the family curse will follow them anywhere they go.

Their conversation ends abruptly when Epigram bursts into the room and forces Homily to leave with her. When Shesheshen is by herself, her emotional turmoil causes the pain in her chest to intensify. She collapses, clawing at her chest in agony, and she discovers that she is bleeding. This is a physical impossibility that shocks her, as her artificial body has never produced blood before.

Shesheshen probes into her body to investigate the bleeding. She discovers that her body has grown an organ that she assumes is a heart. (Later in the novel, she will realize that it is not a heart but a developing egg sac.) It has formed around the very suture thread that Homily used to stitch her first wound. Shesheshen attempts to remove this new organ, but the pain becomes excruciating.

She is interrupted by the arrival of Arnau Sernine, the Baroness’s attendant. He delivers an envelope of money, ordering Shesheshen to leave town by nightfall and revealing that this is the standard method the Baroness uses to dispatch all of Homily’s undesirable suitors. Enraged by this dismissal and the implication that Homily’s relationships are routinely manipulated, Shesheshen stuffs the bribe back into Arnau’s pocket and declares she will see him at supper, making her defiant intentions clear.

Shesheshen coerces Laurent into helping her infiltrate the Wulfyres’ private supper at the town hall. Hidden in the back rooms, she observes Homily arrive alone. Homily looks uncomfortable and is constantly adjusting a scarf that conceals a fresh, infected-looking wound on her neck. When Shesheshen reveals herself, she startles Homily, who did not expect to see her.

In a moment of rare vulnerability, Homily admits she feels lost and confused around her family since she is unable to navigate their dynamics safely. When Shesheshen asks if Homily wants her by her side for the confrontation ahead, Homily affirms that she does. They clasp hands in solidarity and decide to face Homily’s intimidating family together.

Shesheshen and Homily join the Wulfyres’ table, where Shesheshen publicly mentions to the Baroness that she returned the bribe to Arnau. As a test of her humanity, the Baroness serves them rosemary-infused wine—she is aware that the substance is known to be poisonous to monsters. Shesheshen cleverly feigns drinking by secretly diverting the liquid into a spare lung within her body.

The conversation turns to a new lead on the monster: There have been reports of a large blue bear in the woods, which Epigram says is considered to be the monster’s pet. The Baroness dismisses the bear as irrelevant, and she delivers a speech in which she vows to burn both the forest and the town if necessary to find and kill the wyrm. This extreme threat solidifies Shesheshen’s resolve to kill the Baroness before she can carry out such devastating destruction.

The next morning, the hunting party heads into the forest in a caravan of reinforced carriages designed for monster hunting. Homily stays behind in town, telling Shesheshen she has unfinished business with Epigram. During the journey, Shesheshen sneaks into a supply carriage and systematically sabotages weapons, traps, and poison containers that could be used against her.

After the party makes camp in the forest, she attempts to get close to the Baroness by offering assistance with various tasks; however, she is curtly dismissed each time. Frustrated but maintaining her disguise, Shesheshen retreats and suppresses her immediate desire for revenge. She recognizes that she must wait for a better opportunity to strike.

At the hunting camp, Shesheshen joins a group of mercenaries around their fire and strategically spreads disinformation, successfully undermining their faith in rosemary oil as a monster deterrent while also challenging Rourke’s authority. Her psychological warfare proves effective as doubt spreads through the ranks.

A wagon train arrives, led by Epigram, who dramatically unveils her prize: Blueberry, who is now captured, wounded, and secured in heavy chains. Epigram proudly announces that the terrified and injured bear will be used as live bait to lure out the wyrm. Shesheshen spots Homily dismounting from one of the carriages, looking visibly ill, before quickly disappearing into a tent without speaking to anyone.

Blueberry remains chained in a forest clearing while Ode torments the whimpering, wounded animal with a wooden sword. Guards watch the cruel spectacle without intervening. Shesheshen is unable to save Blueberry without revealing herself, so she seeks out Homily to gauge her potential as an ally.

She finds Homily in her tent. She is surrounded by bloody cloths and has deep bruises on her arm, which are all evidence of recent physical abuse. Homily also appears psychologically paralyzed—she repeatedly says she’ll help Shesheshen save the bear but remains unable to take any concrete action. Shesheshen realizes that Homily is too trapped by fear and conditioning to help her, so Shesheshen is now resolved to save Blueberry by herself.

That night, Shesheshen joins a patrol led by Rourke and Malik. She plans to kill them to create a diversion that will allow her to free Blueberry from captivity. She prepares to silently attack a mercenary named Gilles-René who is part of the patrol, but the group suddenly stumbles in the darkness. In the confusion, Shesheshen steps directly into a bear trap that is coated with rosemary oil; it shatters her leg and sends waves of poisonous agony through her system.

At that exact moment, a new, monstrous creature emerges from the dark woods: It is a being made of gray flesh with three deer skulls in place of a head and twisted branches for legs. It attacks the patrol with savage fury, killing a mercenary named Isabeau before the others can react. As chaos erupts around them, the surviving monster hunters believe that they have finally encountered the real monster they have been seeking all along.