There’s a legend on Sawkill Rock about a monster that collects girls whispered around campfires. In a place where girls keep going missing, it holds a entranced weight to it. Switching narration between three girls caught in the island’s web, a story is woven about creatures who sneak into our world and long to be set free and the mission to stop them.
Fairly early on Zoey, one of the main characters, is implied to be ace when she mentions that she didn’t see the appeal of sex. She fairly often states feeling broken in her narration and appears to struggle with her romantic attraction to her ex with the feeling that her asexuality means she won’t be enough. In their back story, she breaks up with him about it.
In a heated argument with her friend, Zoey’s asexuality is thrown in her face in a cruel way. It’s at this moment that the word asexual is used as Zoey lets her friend know that it was a terrible thing to sat, something her friend recognizes the moment it comes put of her mouth. The story really shows the moment as awful and not something to easily be forgiven, and the character confronts that she did something wrong with other characters. Zoey never seems to find happiness in her asexuality or even comfort, but the possibility that she might is left open at the end when her ex has a frank conversation with her about their break up and Zoey’s feeling of inadequacy over her asexuality. It’s very much in tune with the whole tone of the book and how past actions can’t be easilypapered over and injuries easily healed.