Alvar shifted uncomfortably on the stiff-backed chair. It had been a long time since she had actually sat on a chair, and it was far from comfortable for her.

“My father,” Daylan said, smiling as he reflected on the man who had raised him. “Was far from what one would call the usual sort, even for one of us. He was a strong believer, even before the change, that our family was destined for great things.”

Daylan laughed as he chased his father through Elswyth Woods.

“Catch me if you can, my boy!”

“I’m gonna get you, papa!”

Faegan Joy was an older man, being forty years old when Daylan was born. But even at fifty years of age, his level of fitness could challenge the younger men in their prime.

“One day, I promise you Daylan, everyone in Elswyth will know our family.”

“But why, papa?”

“Because we are protectors, Daylan. We’re the guardians against the things that go bump in the night.”

“Monsters don’t exist, papa.”

“Ah, but they do, my boy. They just don’t look like they do in the fairy tales. It’s not beasts with teeth that nash and claws that slash that we hunt, although we can also go after them as well.”

“Then what do monsters look like?”

“They look like people, Daylan. They look like you and me.”

“How do you know if they’re monsters?”

“The way they act behind closed doors, when they think no one is watching.”

“It’s because of him that I raised you all to see past what the people of Elswyth wanted you to see.” Daylan said. “Because Elswyth has always had its own monsters, hidden in the shadows of man.”

Alvar smiled. She knew she liked the Joy family for a reason.