What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra

Author:Katya de Becerra [Becerra, Katya de]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250170637
Publisher: Imprint
Published: 2018-09-18T07:00:00+00:00

24

THE UFO CRASH MOMENT

After Del disappears upstairs to work on her group project, I retrieve the raven amulet from my pocket and let it swing before my eyes in a hypnotic pendulum motion. Gabriel’s instructions are clear in my head, while the memory of Elspeth’s cold fingers gripping my face gives me shivers. And then, of course, there are the blood vials.

I stare at the amulet. What do I expect to happen? The surface of the necklace remains cold, inanimate.

And then there’s the big question: Should I do as I was advised and take the amulet into the woods?

Coming as a surprising revelation, I find that a growing part of me feeds on a meager hope that something extraordinary will happen when I give in to this mystery that is my mom and follow the instructions, achieving some kind of personal apotheosis in the process. But the rational part of me insists that it is highly unlikely that anything unusual will occur and in the end I’ll just look and feel stupid. Standing alone in the woods, clutching this New Agey piece of jewelry in my hand.

But so what? What have I got to lose? Besides, taking the amulet into the woods seems like a rational thing to do compared to the bloodletting Mom’s second clue demands. If anything, I should try with the amulet first, try and hear its message—or whatever—before I attempt anything else more drastic.

I shake my head as the realization hits: Somewhere along the way, I changed, recognizing that it’s time I deal with a possibility that maybe—just maybe—my mother was involved in something otherworldly. And so it’s my newly found openness that’s telling me it’s worth a try with the necklace. Worth a try with Mom’s legacy. Besides, do I even have the luxury of being a skeptic anymore? I doubt it; doubt that I can go on lying to myself that I knew my mother. Because I clearly didn’t. And now, knowing that my father’s borderline-obsessive protectiveness of me was just a cover-up for his enduring secret relationship with Promise and, I suspect, with the ghost of my mother, I decide that I can let my inner believer run wild. For what it’s worth, I’m going to take the raven necklace into the woods and beg it to reveal its secret, no matter how stupid I’ll look in the process.

Just as I make up my mind and head out the Manor’s door, the day succumbs to rain. And what a rain it is. The storm attacks the Manor from all angles with punishing force. Even driven by my suddenly acquired sense of purpose, I only manage a few steps before I change my mind. Lightning scars the dark skies as a boom of thunder rushes to catch up with its flash.

I’ll have to wait it out.

Spooked by the sudden weather change, Del joins me downstairs. With no Internet or television, our attention turns to the only book available: the weighty tome I’ve taken to thinking of as The Adventures of Eydís.

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