Page 73 of The Unknown

I didn’t share her enthusiasm. Having a séance was the last thing I wanted to do, for several reasons. First, if we did hear from Katrina, it meant that she truly was dead. A horrible prospect. So horrible that, seated at the table across from Mrs. Semple, I wondered if it was better not to know.

Even worse was the thought that Azra might once again contact us. I didn’t for a second think they were done with us yet. Not after my nightmarethat might not have been a nightmare at all. Holding a séance seemed to me an unnecessary tempting of fate.

Jonquil and Mrs. Minafer, seated on either side of me, felt the same way. “This is a bad idea,” Mrs. Minafer said, noticeably fretting.

“I don’t like it one bit,” Jonquil concurred.

Yet all of us placed our fingers on the glass and waited. Under Mrs. Semple’s watchful eye, we didn’t feel like we had a choice.

“Is there anyone present who’d like to speak to us?” she said.

The gloom hovering above the table seemed to come alive with electricity. It was a light buzzing that I felt first in my bones, then in my head, making me slightly dizzy. I barely noticed when, beneath my fingers, the glass began to move, inching its way to theYEStile.

“Good evening, friend,” Mrs. Semple said. “Please identify yourself.”

“Katrina, is that you?” I said, changing my mind about not wanting to know her fate. I suddenly, desperately did.

The glass lurched to the other side of the table, stopping at the tile markedNO. At first, I felt only relief. No, it didn’t necessarily mean Katrina was still alive, but it certainly wasn’t the confirmation of her death I had been dreading. But my relief soon faded to fear when the glass began to move among the letters, spelling out two words.

HELLO DAISY

I let out a gasp of shock, because I knew who we had contacted—and who has been writing in my diary.

Azra.

Being forced to communicate with them again made me even more dizzy. My vision blurred, the letters on the table moving in and out of focus. It felt like I was about to faint, which I think I did. I’m not certain because it seemed to take place in a blink. My eyes snapped open, and I saw the others looking at me with curiosity.

“What happened?” I asked.

“You were asleep,” Jonquil said.

“It was a trance,” Mrs. Semple clarified. “You fell into it almost immediately.”

While that alone was enough to leave me unsettled, it got worse when I said, “How long did it last?”

“Thirteen minutes,” Mrs. Semple replied.

Fear coursed through me then. Thirteen whole minutes had passed, and I remembered none of it!

“Was there any word from Katrina?”

“No,” Mrs. Semple said. “We only communicated with Azra.”

Next to her, Mrs. Minafer flinched at the name. I could scarcely blame her, even though Azra hadn’t greeted her by name. Only me. At least that I knew of.

“What did they say?” I asked, fearful of the answer.

Mrs. Semple hesitated, looking not at me but at the letters arranged around the table. “That you will be seeing them again soon.”

“And that when you do,” Jonquil added ominously, “another one of us will be gone.”

Eighteen

I am walking to Susie’s cottage.

Even though I know how stupid that is.

How, if this were a slasher movie, I would be eviscerated for my actions, as the crickets and their earsplittingPsycho-string chirps can attest.