Monster Lake

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DEDICATION: This book is for Audrey Craker. Perhaps one day I'll write The Little Girl Who Was A Skeleton By Day. Oh, and don't forget what redundant means.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The author would like to thank Taylor Bartscht for much needed editorial consultation. Further, I must acknowledge the swamp behind my grandmother's house in Pound Ridge, New York, which was full of green muck...a far-reaching inspiration.

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Prologue

It’s nighttime…

The lake is still, like a black crystal mirror. Fireflies hover over the water, reflecting swarms of green-glowing dots. Bullfrogs and toads hop about at the water’s edge; salamanders climb sluggishly over rocks.

And the moon hangs low over the trees…

The night is teeming with sounds. Crickets and peepers pipe their throbbing chorus. Nightbirds caw, and big white-faced owls hoot from high in the trees. And if you listen carefully, you can even hear the distant titters of bats.

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