A brief prologue before this chapter describes the appearance of a small creature. Though this creature was created by a boy and has a strong-willed girl for a friend, she does not know anything of her past or present other than she “is quite alive, and quite alone” (2).

Chapter 1 is told by an unnamed narrator who once loved a monster. They insist the when and where of their tale do not matter because there is still magic in the world, and the important thing to know is that “the earth is old and we are not” (3).

In Chapter 2, Willodeen introduces herself by explaining she’s always had a soft spot in her heart for creatures, particularly screechers—animals that smell terrible and have bad temperaments from constantly having arrows pointed at them. Willodeen has always felt like she’s different. She doesn’t know why she loves screechers and admits that “it’d take someone a whole lot smarter than me to tell you why we love what we love” (7).

Willodeen describes the first time she saw a screecher when she was six years old. She was out with her pa when they came across a mother screecher with five babies.