An old haunt in a once-derelict Brooklyn neighborhood harbors terrifying secrets in a wickedly chilling short story by Ivy Pochoda, the award-winning author of Ecstasy.

Erin tends bar at the last dive left in gentrified Red Hook, Brooklyn, where old-timers spin tales of the bar’s legacy and the waterfront’s crime-ridden past. Her boss, Jimmy, a real estate magnate responsible for much of the neighborhood’s shiny transformation, also has a story to share. Back when he was a struggling beat cop, two neglected boys introduced him to an ancient creature that made Jimmy’s dreams come true. Nightmares too. Erin doesn’t believe a word. The bar is her life. But this bar at the end of the world is also home to a deadly stowaway. And it’s looking for a new host.

Ivy Pochoda is the author of the novels Ecstasy, Wonder Valley, Visitation Street, These Women, and Sing Her Down, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She also won the 2018 Strand Critics Award and has been a finalist for the Edgar Award and the ITW Thriller Award, among other prizes.