NEST OF TONGUES is a lyrical, slow burn, YA paranormal/horror that inverts the monster-hunter trope to explore questions of sibling relationship, identity, otherness, familial duty, and the dangers of losing/missing cultural and communal knowledge.

Siblings Caleb and Lily Abadiano are manananggal, mythical creatures of the Philippines living in secret in San Jose, getting by as seemingly mediocre teens who hunt only at night and just enough to survive, so as not to attract suspicion. But their safety is threatened when a bayani (monster hunter) is rumored to be in the area, and one of their kind turns up dead. And when Caleb is suddenly marked as the bayani’s next prey, the siblings must decide if they’ll stay to fight or be driven from the only home they’ve ever known.

Told using dual POV narration and featuring anonymous interludes, Randy likens NEST OF TONGUES to other paranormal/fantasy YA like I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, and She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran.