The End Of The Beginning

It was late June and the last day of school before summer break. Madeleine Shay was standing on the level stone roof of her apartment building, flecked with air conditioning units and satellite dishes, and watching a group of middle-school teenagers walk past the building, chattering about mundane things.

It seemed so ironic that things as normal as school and exams and summer break was still going on, what with Aosoth still at large. Her dad had needed to make up a couple of reasons for her absence from school for the past two weeks, lying to the school management that she was suffering from a severe case of myalgia. She'd shrieked with laughter after her dad had dropped the phone and he'd stood there with a resigned shrug, the light from the window illuminating his rectangular glasses. He was such a terrible liar.

Afterwards he'd sat her down and explained the reason for his hiding her from the Hunter world and keeping the truth about Aosoth from her.

"I never thought I’d see your