A Dark and Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell

Author:Sarah Hollowell [Hollowell, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358424413
Google: 2cwPEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2021-09-13T23:00:00+00:00

14

‘You’re telling us everything,’ Brooke signs angrily. Elle stands next to her, arms crossed tightly, glaring at me. Her anger doesn’t seem to include much of the concern I see in Brooke.

Any other night, I would have argued. But tonight, in the aftermath of Elle’s test and what I tried to do to Claire, with the weight of what happened in the clearing fresh in my mind, with my sisters looking at me like that, I burst into tears.

I hate crying in front of people, even my siblings. At least we’re still on the other side of the wall, so no one can hear me. Brooke and Elle let me cry—they don’t try to interrupt, don’t try to comfort me. When I finally calm down enough to swipe at my eyes and nose, square my shoulders, and face them, they act as if nothing happened. They spare me the embarrassment of being seen, or the new wave of tears that would surely start if they asked how I am.

‘I don’t know where to start,’ I sign.

‘Why do you keep going back to the forest?’ Brooke asks.

How do I word this? ‘The forest is magic.’ Understatement. ‘And I think it can help me find Jane and Winnie.’ True, but . . .

Elle drags her hands down her face, then signs, ‘They’re dead. We have to accept it.’

I recoil as if slapped. ‘How can you say that?’

‘Where are they, then?’ Elle demands.

Brooke holds up her hands, interrupting. ‘That’s not what we’re here to talk about. Derry, the bigger issue is that you’ve been lying to us. You’ve been sneaking out, putting yourself in danger. I know you made the little twins cry the other night, and you’ve been putting us’—Brooke gestures to herself and Elle—‘through absolute hell trying to get you to just talk to us.’

I stomp my foot, like a child on the verge of a tantrum. ‘You don’t understand.’

‘What’s to understand?’ Elle asks. ‘You’re being shitty to everyone, and it’s all for a bunch of stupid trees!’

‘It’s not just trees!’ It’s magic. It’s power. It’s the being I created that’s walking in that forest right now, alive, because of me. ‘I’m looking for Jane and Winnie—’

‘Who are dead.’ She fingerspells dead, putting emphasis on each letter. ‘D-E-A-D. Maybe you should pay attention to the siblings you still have.’

‘Just because you don’t care enough to look for them—’

Elle gasps. “How dare you,” she hisses. “I’d be out there with you if there was a chance they were still alive.”

“You goddamn bi—”

Brooke inserts herself physically between us. She looks at us both reprovingly, like we’re children and she can’t believe our behavior. ‘Enough is enough. Elle—this isn’t how we’re going to solve anything. Derry—that forest . . . it’s like . . .’ One hand waves about as she searches for the words. ‘A virus. It’s infected you, and you aren’t acting like yourself.’

She spares us each one more glance. ‘If neither of you are going to take action to actually end this, then I will.

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