Page 22 of The Unknown

“If you’re so well respected, why haven’t you married?”

“Why haven’tyou?” Jonquil asked her.

“I was speaking to Daisy, if you don’t mind,” Katrina replied with a disdainful sniff.

The reason I haven’t yet married, despite having many suitors, is that Daddy never approved of any of them. When he passed, I hoped some of them would come calling once again, yet none of them did.

But I couldn’t tell any of this to Katrina, out of fear she would mock me. So instead, I used Jonquil as an example and replied, “None of your beeswax.”

That did the trick and silenced Katrina. We continued onward, entering the forest between two trees that bore identical markings on their trunks. They looked to me like six-petal flowers surrounded by a circle.

“I wonder what these are,” I said.

Jonquil went to the next tree over. “There’s another one here.”

“They’re everywhere,” Mrs. Minafer said, pointing out the same markings on all the trees at the edge of the woods. Taken together, they seemed to form a wall of symbols that surrounded the entire top of the island.

Seeing them filled me with a sense of dread that I couldn’t understand then and still don’t now. The sensation stayed with me as we entered the forest proper. Although the trees there were unmarked, they became thicker and darker. Above us, the leaves in their branches knitted together, blocking out the sun, making the woods look more like evening than mid-morning. The trees grew tightly together, with snakelike vines curling around their trunks. Long, spindly branches continually snagged my dress, making me feel like the trees themselves were alive and reaching out to grab me.

“Maybe we should turn back,” I said.

“You’re not afraid, are you?” Katrina said as she continued deeper into the thicket with Jonquil and Mrs. Minafer.

“No.”

In truth, Iwasafraid. More than any other part of New Avalon, this section of forest seemed particularly ominous. It felt like the kind of woods in which you could get lost and never, ever find your way out, even though it was impossible to get lost on an island this size. When we emerged into a clearing, I should have been relieved. Instead, the area only made me more frightened. There was something creepily strange about the place.

The clearing seemed to be a perfect circle in which nothing grew but a velvety carpet of crimson moss. Why, it looked like a pool of blood! The trees surrounding it stood rigid and tall, as if they feared to encroach upon the space. In the center of the circle was a large stone slab about three feet high. While it could have simply been a rock that had sat there for centuries, it looked to me like it had been placed there on purpose.

“What in the cat’s pajamas is that?” Jonquil said.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Do you think it’s a grave?”

Katrina stepped out of the woods and into the clearing, the only one of us brave enough to do so. “It’s not the same size as a tombstone.”

I had to grudgingly agree that she was right. It was too big to be a grave marker, and far too flat. More than anything, it resembled a large stone table.

“It’s a remnant from the past,” spoke a voice from somewhere in thewoods. Since the four of us had entered the forest alone, I at first thought it was my Gift sparking to life. But when I whirled around, startled, I saw it was only Mrs. Semple.

“Forgive my intrusion,” she told us. “When I saw you disappear into the woods, I was curious about where you were going and decided to follow. I hope you don’t mind.”

In truth, I did mind a little bit, for it confirmed that she was indeed watching. It worried me slightly. What if she was watching to make sure I fit in with the others? And if I didn’t, perhaps she’d send me away. Having no desire to leave New Avalon—and, honestly, no other place to go besides back to the boardinghouse—I decided that I would continue to be on my best behavior.

“We don’t mind one bit,” I said, just as Jonquil replied, “It’s your island.”

Mrs. Semple moved past us into the clearing, stopping by Katrina’s side. Since she showed no fear of the place, I decided to follow her lead and stepped into the crimson circle. The moss-covered ground beneath my feet was soft, like a thick carpet. At the stone slab, I placed the flat of my hand against its surface. The rock felt cold beneath my palm. Unnaturally so.

“Do you know what it is?” I asked Mrs. Semple.

“Not with any certainty, although I do have a general idea,” she said. “My father was not the first to settle on this island. There were people here long before it came into my family’s possession. A group of women.”

“Like those on Avalon?” I said.

Mrs. Semple smiled, pleased that I remembered the inspiration for the name she had given the island. But the smile quickly faded as she said, “Not quite. These women were rumored to have dabbled in dark forces.”

“Witches?” Jonquil said, still on the outskirts of the clearing.

Beside her, Mrs. Minafer shook her head. “This,” she intoned, “is an unholy space.”