PK Hrezo

The last place eighteen-year-old aspiring artist, Morgan Jaeger, wants to spend her summer after high school is in the boonies of the Transylvanian Highlands with her estranged father. She never expects to meet the handsome, free-spirited musician, Varujan, who shares her affinity for abstract art. The summer of dread becomes the summer of dreams when Varujan invites Morgan to a secret hideout of underground artists. But when the utopia turns into a thrill ride of terrors that pitch Morgan's life before her eyes she must keep her wits about her or else lose her most valuable asset forever.

A Wicked Thought

Dad and I spend the following day in the town of Marpod. While waiting for him to finish his bank dealings, I doodle on the back of a spare client receipt—it’s a black pen sketch of a kingly stag trampling over the ashes of dead hunters. Bits of flame surround them. It’s a little morbid, maybe, but whatever. The stag turned out beautifully. Majestic, even. Staring at it now, I see it represents everything I don’t know how to say. 


I’m also itching to return to my tablet and newest piece: Castle Rook. The idea came to me last night. I didn’t even have to think about it. The lines and spaces—all of it—just flowed. 


I turned the shape of a bird—a rook in flight—into a frame, and within the frame is an inverted castle. When the rook’s inverted, the castle is right side up. It’s meant to be right-side up, any which way you look at it, Escher-style. 


And best of all, I gave it the most eager parts of myself. 


Chapter 19