Eliza and Her Monsters

As Eliza prepares to enter homeroom the next morning, she experiences a wave of doubt, largely centered on the assumption that Wallace will now regret having asked someone as insignificant as Eliza to read his pages. She has drawn an image from the comic on one page but left no other comments. Her fears are unfounded, as Wallace appreciates her drawing and thanks her for noticing a worldbuilding detail that even his beta readers wouldn’t have caught.

At lunch, Wallace gives her his second chapter. He asks if she ever goes on the MS fanfiction forums, and she gives him her “MirkerLurker” username. He, however, reveals himself to be rainmaker. The rainmaker, as in, the writer of the most popular MS fanfiction—and the user who flirted with her, when she was online as LadyConstellation, the week before.

Wallace invites her to a low-key party at a bookstore with his friends, who will all be dressing up as Monstrous Sea characters. Eliza replies that she will consider it—she’s never seen MS cosplay in person—but the idea of going to a party for the first time in years makes her nervous.  

Later, Wallace sends Eliza a private message as rainmaker. On his public MS profile, he mentions meeting a pretty girl at school who also happens to be an MS fan.

Eliza is shocked and happy that Wallace thinks she’s pretty. She never worries about her looks, though she knows she isn’t ugly. Eliza considers herself more of a “free-floating consciousness,” with some artistic abilities. She weighs how much to tell Emmy and Max in their next chat; she decides not to tell them that Wallace is rainmaker.

The next day, Wallace and Eliza act like nothing happened. They pass notes and eat lunch together as usual. That afternoon, Wallace messages her about the Halloween party. He offers to drive and says all his friends are nice and huge MS fans. Eliza is surprised by how much he wants her to go and finally decides to channel her bold protagonist, Amity, and say yes, even though it means that LadyConstellation will not be able to do her usual Dog Days live chat.

Eliza dresses as Kite Waters, wearing a costume that a fan had sent to her. Wallace picks her up, but he stays in the car. She’s not ready for him to meet her family yet, especially since her parents are making a big deal out of Eliza meeting people in “real” life, and her brothers are yelling about her “BOYFRIEND.”

She is surprised at the sound of Wallace’s voice when she gets into his car; it’s the first time she’s heard him speak. As they drive to the bookstore, he tells her that he moved from Illinois when his parents got new jobs. He hasn’t found it so bad. Eliza can’t imagine why anyone would move to Westcliff, and she complains about the local newspaper’s periodic fixation on the tragedies at Wellhouse Turn—she wishes they would just leave the whole subject alone. When they reach that dangerous stretch of road a few minutes later, Wallace drives slowly and with an “unblinking rigidity” that Eliza finds striking.

The Halloween party is at a used bookstore that Eliza has never been to before. They make their entrance as Dallas and Kite, navigating around a large group of Harry Potter fans to the group of MS cosplayers. It’s Eliza’s first time seeing people dressed up as her characters. Wallace introduces Eliza to Cole, Megan, Leece, and Chandra via a group text. Cole and Megan are at the bookstore with them, while Leece and Chandra join via video. Wallace tells Eliza that they’re the “Angels” on the forums, named after the Angels from Monstrous Sea who keep the world in balance; Eliza recognizes them by their usernames. Eliza listens to them talk passionately about her creation and Wallace’s fanfiction. She has a moment of panic when Cole enters them in a costume contest, so she doesn’t hear right away when Megan asks her how long she’s been a fan of Monstrous Sea.

Eliza mostly listens as the conversation flows around her. She learns about the Angels’ real-world identities and how they got into Monstrous Sea. She knows she should be able to relax around them—these are the last people who would make fun of her—but part of her wishes she were at home in the Dog Days chat. When it’s time for the costume contest, Eliza refuses to get up since she hates attention. Cole is annoyed, but Wallace defends her choice not to participate. They boo when one of the Harry Potter cosplayers takes first prize. As the party breaks up, Eliza hears Cole say something to Wallace about Westcliff being better than his last school, even though everything there has died down. Eliza wonders what this means.

After the party, she and Wallace get sushi. They talk about their shared disinterest in school; they both already know the careers they want and are working toward them. She wants to be an artist, and he wants to pursue creative writing. They really “get” each other.

With Wallace as her new friend, fall passes quickly. Eliza feels unusually excited to attend school because now she can see Wallace every day. She works hard on the comic and eagerly reads each new chapter in his Monstrous Sea transcription. She asks him one day if he ever thinks about writing his own stories, and Wallace says that he finds it easier to work with other people’s characters and ideas; his own writing never seems “good enough.” He asks her if she ever draws anything besides MS fan art, and she replies that it’s all she’s really into. He asks to see her drawings again, so she shows him some concept art that he scrutinizes closely. He says that they are almost as good as LadyConstellation’s; she should consider posting them to the forums. She declines. She isn’t worried that people won’t like them, but she is paranoid that someone will be able to connect MirkerLurker to LadyConstellation. Moreover, she is a perfectionist and doesn’t generally share work in progress. Nevertheless, she agrees to let Wallace show a couple drawings to the other Angels. 

Their conversation turns to family, but Wallace gets quiet when the subject of his parents comes up. He’ll only say that they’re “gone” and that his family consists of his stepmother and stepfather, a stepsister, and a half-sister. Eliza feels ashamed that she complains about her family all the time, but she doesn’t press him for more information. Later that night, rainmaker and MirkerLurker discuss their favorite MS characters in a private message. Wallace/rainmaker identifies with Dallas’s persistence and humor, while Eliza/MirkerLurker admires Izzy’s ability to act in spite of his constant fears.

At Thanksgiving, the Mirks double down on family togetherness—much to Eliza’s chagrin. At least this year they won’t be going to Aunt Carol’s house, where Eliza would have to endure boring conversations with members of her extended family who have no idea about her creative accomplishments. As her family tries to get her involved in holiday activities, Eliza trades messages with Emmy and Max, barely hiding her phone under the table. She notices that something is bothering Max, but without seeing him, she can’t figure out what it is. Wallace sends her text messages that make her laugh out loud, but she gets annoyed when her parents ask what’s so funny. At dinner, the conversation turns to Eliza’s relationship with Wallace. Eliza is mortified when her mother suggests, in front of her father and brothers, that it’s time to see the gynecologist, as it’s the first time she’s been close with a boy.

After storming away from the table, Eliza channels her anger into drawing. Wallace sends her more pie-related messages and photos, and she wonders if his family asked him if he had a girlfriend and whether he wants that girlfriend to be her. In a chat with Emmy and Max, Eliza jokes grimly about her mother’s suggestion about the doctor. Max mentions that people on the Dog Days forums worried when LadyConstellation didn’t show up for the Halloween episode, and Eliza admits that she was the party with Wallace. Her friends tell her that she should definitely date him, and Max advises her to be direct.