Chapter 2

Rebecca couldn't go down to the fields, so it fell on me to take up all the farm work. Mom was particularly hard on me too. "Get to work, you damn brat! We're already short on manpower as it is. Keep slacking off like that, and we'll starve!"

"Mom, I'm tired. Can't I take a break?" The sun hung high overhead, scorching me alive as I worked the fields. One fainting spell followed another as I toiled, but Mom still whipped me.

"Stupid, lazy brat!" she spat. "You can lie in bed and enjoy life like your sister does after you become a rabbit-woman!"

Half a month later, Rebecca was expecting bloodstones.

Mom was beyond thrilled, but even more men filed into Rebecca's room than before.

"Well done, Rebecca!" Mom then turned to look at me, and her tone took on a rare, soft edge. "You're 16 now, Everly. Let me give you a coming-of-age present!"

Yes, it was, indeed, my 16th birthday today.

Mom grabbed a pouch of aromatic spices from the cupboard. "Men only like women who smell nice and sweet. Take this to your room and light it. Don't put it out even when you're eating or sleeping. Soon, you'll become a pretty rabbit-woman, just like Rebecca."

I returned to my room and closed the door. I held the pouch to my nose. Sure enough, it was the same scent I'd picked up in Rebecca's room.

However, I hesitated to follow Mom's instructions when I recalled Rebecca's torment the day she first became a rabbit-woman. Then, considering how Rebecca had spent her days in leisure after that, I lit the spices anyway and went to bed as usual.

Hunger woke me up.

It was strange; I ate the same amount of food as I used to every day, but I'd been growing hungrier recently. It was as if my body was in urgent need of nourishment.

Rebecca had intense hunger pangs too. Whenever she whined about it, Mom would send more men to her room. She seemed to be full every time the men left.

When I took water into Rebecca's room, I noticed her face glowing, and her tummy had grown bigger too.

"Everly, come look! This is the bloodstone I'm growing. It'll come out in another month. After Mom sells it for a good price, we'll be living the high life!"

I touched Rebecca's tummy and felt something move under the skin. I drew my hand back with a start.

"Rebecca, is being a rabbit-woman really that great?" I couldn't help but ask. "Mom gave me a pouch of spices yesterday and told me to let it burn as I slept."

Rebecca's expression shifted at this, then she broke into a wide grin. "Everly, those spices are the good stuff. You must do as Mom says, okay?"

I felt the hair on my arms rise at the sight of her odd, cryptic grin.

There were plenty of rabbit-women in our settlement, but not many of them could grow bloodstones. Word had it that most of the bloodstones were swallowed up by the rabbit-women themselves on the day they were delivered.

Nothing else could be done after that, except for the rabbit-women growing the bloodstones again, thus creating an unending cycle.

It wasn't until later on that the midwife in our settlement put her experience with these rabbit-women to good use.

She had a few men stationed around the rabbit-women while she was delivering bloodstones. Once the bloodstones were out, the men were tasked with sating the rabbit-woman's appetite immediately.

Sure enough, the cases of rabbit-women swallowing the bloodstones saw a huge decline.

I returned to my room. Recalling Rebecca's words, I snuffed out the spices burning on the table. For some reason, I thought being a rabbit-woman wasn't the great thing it was chalked up to be.

At that moment, Mom entered the room. She frowned when she saw that the spices had stopped burning. "Everly, why aren't the spices burning?"

I rubbed my stomach. "The smell of the spices makes me hungry, Mom. We don't have much food in the house, to begin with. I ought to eat less."

Mom's face softened as she said with a light chuckle, "Oh, is that all? Sweetheart, go ahead and burn the spices as much as you like. I'll give you an extra dinner roll every day."

She then brought firewood and set the spices on fire again. "You'll have to grow up so you can help put food on the table."

In the days that followed, Mom would come by my room to make sure the spices were burning. Although I was given an extra dinner roll each day, I was still inexplicably hungry.

As such, I'd sneak out of the house at night when the hunger woke me and head to mass grave on the hill behind our settlement where I could dig up potatoes to fill my stomach.

I was digging up potatoes as usual when a hand suddenly shoved through the dirt and grabbed my arm. I was scared out of my wits, thinking a corpse might have been reanimated.

But the hand grabbing me was warm and soft, nothing like a corpse's. The owner of the hand sat up in the dirt.

It was a middle-aged woman, her clothes ragged, and her countenance drawn and weary. However, a closer look at her features told me she'd been beautiful when she was young.

She held my gaze for a long moment before saying, "Get out of here. You don't belong here!"

I thought she meant I'd intruded upon her territory. I gave a hurried nod. "I'll get out of your hair right now!"

She called out after me, "Don't become a rabbit-woman! Get out of this hellhole! Don't trust anyone! Leave and never come back!"

I didn't know her, so I picked up my pace and ran.

First light had broken when I reached home.

I immediately started on breakfast, but when I crouched, I felt an intense itch coming from my backside. Specifically, my tailbone.

While eating, I instinctively scratched my backside.

Mom noticed my odd behavior and asked, "What's wrong?"

I told her the truth. "My backside's been itching like crazy these last couple of days. Am I sick, Mom?"

She looked elated at the news. "You silly goose! You're not sick, you're on your way to becoming a rabbit-woman!"

She handed me a set of clothes she'd prepared for this day and forbade me from wearing anything else. I was to lie in bed in those clothes and get some good sleep.

The clothes were practically semi-see-through and covered close to nothing, but I did as I was told anyway.

Mom then entered my room again and burned twice the usual amount of spices. As the fragrance wafted through the air and enveloped me, I dozed off into a deep slumber.

I was woken up by my hunger pangs near midnight. I was about to scavenge for food when I heard the bedroom door swing open.

I heard Mom's voice. "She's pent-up from the smell of the spices. The lot of you will have plenty of fun with her, I promise."

"You're quite the businesswoman. With Rebecca close to delivering bloodstones, you've decided to put your youngest daughter on the market to take her place!" one of the men praised.

"Quit yapping. We agreed that you'll be paying a lot more for this maiden ride. No takebacks!"

"Oh, relax. We know the rules!"

After that discussion, three men filed into my room and closed the door with a thud. They were panting in excitement, and much like wolves that had been starved for over a week, they eyed me like I was their next big meal.