Character Relationship Highlight

During the course of her magical training with Fantur Nen, Babe Bump finds herself undergoing a kundalini-style initiation whenever she says–or even thinks–the words “secret salamander,” which is an obscure reference in the mysterious Book of Moons possessed by Oyster Olson.

Vesta is a shapeshifting, rampaging “cousin” of the Mo’o deities of Hawai’i. She happens to have a “kink” for human architecture and happily has her way with military quonset huts and buildings of all kinds, including one of the cottages in Hermitville. Even more terrifying, her unfertilized eggs can serve as portals to other dimensions and that’s not so great when the egg nests are located in Hawai’i Island’s lava zones 1 and 2.

Smaller and fierce.
Larger and terrifying.

Spoiler alert: eventually Babe becomes Vesta’s channel and devotee, but it takes awhile to build trust, you know?

She doesn’t want the people, she wants the huts!
Babe and Nen meet Vista.

Images created by A.R. Marsh using HeroForge and Ideogram.ai.