In our village, once the girls turn 16, they must begin fasting and take a secret formula to produce bloodstones.

My mother says this is the necessary path for a girl to become a rabbit-woman. It is also the most important thing in her life.

On the day my sister turns 16, a rabbit tail grows from her tailbone. She no longer has to work in the fields. She only needs to lie in her room each day and take the formula.

From that very night on, I see one man after another—sometimes several at once—enter her room. Before long, the sounds of heavy breathing begin to come from inside...

The noise continued through the night. My sister's screams of pain had turned into explicit panting by first light.

The louder she was, the more excited those men became. They let out beastly, feral growls.

When morning came, the men filed out of the bedroom and shoved a stack of bills into my mom's waiting palm, saying, "New ones do make good rides, after all." After that, they'd leave with satisfied looks on their faces.

My mom, Helen Greene, would see them off with knowing smiles, bowing like she was some lowly maid. "If you enjoyed it, come again."

After sending them off, she turned and fixed her gaze on me as I lit the fire under the stove for breakfast. She bit out in a hard tone, "Stop gawking, you brat, and take hot water up for your sister. It'll be your turn in two days, you whore!"

I carried a pot of hot water and last night's leftovers into Rebecca's room, only to be scolded by Mom again. "Damn brat! Rebecca isn't supposed to have anything but her tonic from now on. Don't you know that? Are you trying to ruin her?"

She gave me such a hard pinch that I broke out in a cold sweat from the pain. I took the leftovers away after that.

As I took a pot of hot water into Rebecca's room, I picked up a strange scent layered with pungent notes.

My sister, Rebecca Hayburn, lay on the bed, looking spent and broken. Bruises and wounds covered her fair skin, while the unblemished parts of her skin seemed to glow. Blood stained the sheets under her in a jarring mess.

She lay so still that I had no idea if she was alive. I called out to her softly, "Rebecca?"

Her lashes fluttered as she opened her eyes, but her gaze was hollow.

I set the pot of hot water on her bedside table, and only then did I get a good look at the bruised corner of her mouth. Her lips were red and swollen, and drool was trickling from the corner of her mouth too.

"Rebecca, are you alright?"

Rebecca's lips moved as tears rolled down her face like rivulets. She was about to say something when Mom barged into the room.

Rebecca recoiled as if in fear and shock, curling into a ball on the other side of the bed as she begged for mercy. "Mom, I don't want to grow bloodstones anymore. I'll work the fields and never slack off again. Please spare me, Mom! Please!"

Mom stepped forward and comforted her, saying softly, "Oh, sweetheart, I know you've had it rough. This isn't unusual for your first time. It'll get better, and so will you until you've produced a bloodstone. You are our family's hope."

Rebecca shook her head, sobbing. "I'm sorry, Mom! Don't make me do it again! Have Everly do it! She can take my place!"

Mom eyed me with an odd, cryptic smile. "It'll be her turn soon. I'm so proud of you both."

When Rebecca realized that I wouldn't be spared from her fate, her gaze turned unreadable. I couldn't tell if she was happy or sad.

Mom rose at the sound of a man knocking on the door. She was about to cross the room to open it when Rebecca tugged on her hand. "Mom, please, I can't do it anymore!"

But Mom responded with a slap across Rebecca's face. Then she gripped Rebecca's chin as she lectured her, "I raised you into adulthood, Rebecca. I fed you, clothed you, and gave you shelter. Don't be such an ingrate!"

Stunned by the slap, Rebecca sat up in bed and sobbed soundlessly.

Mom cut me a fierce look. "What, do you have a thing for live shows? Get out of here, you bitch!"

I quickly set the hot water down and bolted from the room.

On my way out, I bumped into the man at the door. He was skinny and tanned, with yellow teeth and a grimy appearance. He was known as the settlement's beggar and a deadbeat.

And yet, Mom smiled at him as if he were made of money anyway, and ushered him into Rebecca's bedroom.

It wasn't long before Rebecca's shrieks of agony and a man's rough panting came through the door.

"She'll settle down after today," Mom said plainly as she focused on the noise coming from the room.

Mom was right. Rebecca stopped crying and protesting after that day. The sound of her laughter even frequently trickled out of the room, as if she found immense joy in what she was doing.

The men who sought out Rebecca didn't stop coming, either. Every one of them entered the room full of expectations and left satisfied. They claimed Rebecca was the best rabbit-woman they'd ever slept with.

Every time I took water for Rebecca, my senses were assaulted by that strange, spicy scent with a pungent note in her bedroom.

I stared at her red, swollen lips and the bruises on her body—some from whips, others from cigarette burns. She even sported bite marks. And yet, she grinned and laughed as if nothing was wrong.

"Mom, I'm starving. Have a few more men sent in, will you?"

I hadn't the faintest idea what the secret tonic Mom had been feeding Rebecca was, but her curves had grown more voluptuous, and her skin had become smoother and more supple.

Rebecca couldn't go down to the fields, so it fell on me to take up all the farm work. Mom was particularly hard on me too. "Get to work, you damn brat! We're already short on manpower as it is. Keep slacking off like that, and we'll starve!"

"Mom, I'm tired. Can't I take a break?" The sun hung high overhead, scorching me alive as I worked the fields. One fainting spell followed another as I toiled, but Mom still whipped me.

"Stupid, lazy brat!" she spat. "You can lie in bed and enjoy life like your sister does after you become a rabbit-woman!"

Half a month later, Rebecca was expecting bloodstones.

Mom was beyond thrilled, but even more men filed into Rebecca's room than before.

"Well done, Rebecca!" Mom then turned to look at me, and her tone took on a rare, soft edge. "You're 16 now, Everly. Let me give you a coming-of-age present!"

Yes, it was, indeed, my 16th birthday today.

Mom grabbed a pouch of aromatic spices from the cupboard. "Men only like women who smell nice and sweet. Take this to your room and light it. Don't put it out even when you're eating or sleeping. Soon, you'll become a pretty rabbit-woman, just like Rebecca."

I returned to my room and closed the door. I held the pouch to my nose. Sure enough, it was the same scent I'd picked up in Rebecca's room.

However, I hesitated to follow Mom's instructions when I recalled Rebecca's torment the day she first became a rabbit-woman. Then, considering how Rebecca had spent her days in leisure after that, I lit the spices anyway and went to bed as usual.

Hunger woke me up.

It was strange; I ate the same amount of food as I used to every day, but I'd been growing hungrier recently. It was as if my body was in urgent need of nourishment.

Rebecca had intense hunger pangs too. Whenever she whined about it, Mom would send more men to her room. She seemed to be full every time the men left.

When I took water into Rebecca's room, I noticed her face glowing, and her tummy had grown bigger too.

"Everly, come look! This is the bloodstone I'm growing. It'll come out in another month. After Mom sells it for a good price, we'll be living the high life!"

I touched Rebecca's tummy and felt something move under the skin. I drew my hand back with a start.

"Rebecca, is being a rabbit-woman really that great?" I couldn't help but ask. "Mom gave me a pouch of spices yesterday and told me to let it burn as I slept."

Rebecca's expression shifted at this, then she broke into a wide grin. "Everly, those spices are the good stuff. You must do as Mom says, okay?"

I felt the hair on my arms rise at the sight of her odd, cryptic grin.

There were plenty of rabbit-women in our settlement, but not many of them could grow bloodstones. Word had it that most of the bloodstones were swallowed up by the rabbit-women themselves on the day they were delivered.

Nothing else could be done after that, except for the rabbit-women growing the bloodstones again, thus creating an unending cycle.

It wasn't until later on that the midwife in our settlement put her experience with these rabbit-women to good use.

She had a few men stationed around the rabbit-women while she was delivering bloodstones. Once the bloodstones were out, the men were tasked with sating the rabbit-woman's appetite immediately.

Sure enough, the cases of rabbit-women swallowing the bloodstones saw a huge decline.

I returned to my room. Recalling Rebecca's words, I snuffed out the spices burning on the table. For some reason, I thought being a rabbit-woman wasn't the great thing it was chalked up to be.

At that moment, Mom entered the room. She frowned when she saw that the spices had stopped burning. "Everly, why aren't the spices burning?"

I rubbed my stomach. "The smell of the spices makes me hungry, Mom. We don't have much food in the house, to begin with. I ought to eat less."

Mom's face softened as she said with a light chuckle, "Oh, is that all? Sweetheart, go ahead and burn the spices as much as you like. I'll give you an extra dinner roll every day."

She then brought firewood and set the spices on fire again. "You'll have to grow up so you can help put food on the table."

In the days that followed, Mom would come by my room to make sure the spices were burning. Although I was given an extra dinner roll each day, I was still inexplicably hungry.

As such, I'd sneak out of the house at night when the hunger woke me and head to mass grave on the hill behind our settlement where I could dig up potatoes to fill my stomach.

I was digging up potatoes as usual when a hand suddenly shoved through the dirt and grabbed my arm. I was scared out of my wits, thinking a corpse might have been reanimated.

But the hand grabbing me was warm and soft, nothing like a corpse's. The owner of the hand sat up in the dirt.

It was a middle-aged woman, her clothes ragged, and her countenance drawn and weary. However, a closer look at her features told me she'd been beautiful when she was young.

She held my gaze for a long moment before saying, "Get out of here. You don't belong here!"

I thought she meant I'd intruded upon her territory. I gave a hurried nod. "I'll get out of your hair right now!"

She called out after me, "Don't become a rabbit-woman! Get out of this hellhole! Don't trust anyone! Leave and never come back!"

I didn't know her, so I picked up my pace and ran.

First light had broken when I reached home.

I immediately started on breakfast, but when I crouched, I felt an intense itch coming from my backside. Specifically, my tailbone.

While eating, I instinctively scratched my backside.

Mom noticed my odd behavior and asked, "What's wrong?"

I told her the truth. "My backside's been itching like crazy these last couple of days. Am I sick, Mom?"

She looked elated at the news. "You silly goose! You're not sick, you're on your way to becoming a rabbit-woman!"

She handed me a set of clothes she'd prepared for this day and forbade me from wearing anything else. I was to lie in bed in those clothes and get some good sleep.

The clothes were practically semi-see-through and covered close to nothing, but I did as I was told anyway.

Mom then entered my room again and burned twice the usual amount of spices. As the fragrance wafted through the air and enveloped me, I dozed off into a deep slumber.

I was woken up by my hunger pangs near midnight. I was about to scavenge for food when I heard the bedroom door swing open.

I heard Mom's voice. "She's pent-up from the smell of the spices. The lot of you will have plenty of fun with her, I promise."

"You're quite the businesswoman. With Rebecca close to delivering bloodstones, you've decided to put your youngest daughter on the market to take her place!" one of the men praised.

"Quit yapping. We agreed that you'll be paying a lot more for this maiden ride. No takebacks!"

"Oh, relax. We know the rules!"

After that discussion, three men filed into my room and closed the door with a thud. They were panting in excitement, and much like wolves that had been starved for over a week, they eyed me like I was their next big meal.