Eliza and Her Monsters

Eliza works on the next set of pages. She notices that rainmaker has posted a new installment of his Monstrous Sea fanfiction, but, as with most fanfiction, she doesn’t plan to read it. She does, however, reread Wallace’s chapter—twice—before checking her messages from Emmy and Max. They are eager to hear more about Wallace, but Eliza doesn’t tell them everything, wanting to keep Wallace’s transcription to herself for now.

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.