Was she mocking me now? She knew I had no money or status to recommend me, and I certainly wasn’t a beauty in any sense of the word. Not fat or thin, or tall or short. Plain brown hair and plain blue eyes. Simply average in all respects and altogether bland. I snorted. “I don’t need a suitor. I intend to make my own way, thank you.”
“I see. Then you must have a destination in mind.”
If finding a decent inn in the village constituted a destination, then yes, I had one. But I wasn’t about to share that plan with her.
Instead, I watched the sky continue to darken as we neared the grove. The treetops and dense fog seemed to be swallowing what was left of the pale sunlight. I pulled my coat more tightly around myself and tried to fend off the chill as mist clung to my cheeks and dampened the hem of my skirt as it swished through the tall grasses. If I wasn’t mistaken, rain would be upon us soon.
I hurried closer to the trees for protection. They were sturdy old oaks already thick with springtime leaves. I spied one just inside the thicket. A taller, wider, and lusher specimen that would surely keep us dry. But as I turned to tell Mrs. Crossey, something rustled beneath the underbrush of dead leaves and fallen twigs.
A squirrel? A mouse?
The hidden creature crept closer. I kicked the leaves in front of me to shoo it away. Then I saw it wasn’t an animal at all. It was a tree root thicker than my arm snaking toward me. It stopped not more than a foot from my boots and shot up to entwine itself around my right wrist. Once, twice, three times around.
I tugged and pulled, but nothing helped.
“Stop!” I cried, but to no avail.
A black, burning fear speared through me. My chest heaved, and I gulped the cold wet air as I fought to free myself.
Still that serpent root held tight. Then a murky crimson mist rose from it and separated into tendrils that encircled my limb.
Heart racing, I yanked harder again and again.
The root’s grip only tightened, and when the misty shadows closed around me, they merged into inky, solid darkness.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard someone scream.
Or was it me? I didn’t know anymore. I didn’t know anything.
Then, in an instant, my panic dissolved. Fear, pain, panic. Everything I saw, everything I felt, it all slipped into crimson light before vanishing altogether.
CHAPTER FIVE
Someone slapped my cheek.
I wanted to complain, but I couldn’t move.
Another slap. Harder this time.
My eyelids fluttered. My lips twitched.
Where was I?
“Jane! Wake up!”
I recognized Mrs. Crossey’s voice, but she was so far away. And frightened.
“Wake up, girl. Don’t slip away.”
I opened my eyes. Gray forms emerged from the blackness, only shadows then dim, hazy colors.
“There you are. Oh, thank goodness.”
The woman wrapped her fleshy arms around my shoulders and rocked me. I sank into the cushion of her lap.
“What happened?” My words stuck like dry biscuit crumbs to my tongue.
“Don’t worry about that now. You’re here. You’re well.”
I let her words soak in. I was here. I was well.
But where had I been? What had happened?
The questions melted against her soft ministrations.
I closed my eyes.
“No, no, no. Don’t drift off. Tell me what happened.”
I shook my head, or tried to. Images seeped back. “The tree.” My stomach clenched at the memory. “It grabbed me.” Even as I said the words, I didn’t believe them. It wasn’t possible.
“What did you see?” she insisted. “Do you remember?”
“A root. Wrapping…”
Other memories returned. Streaks of red light tangled around my arm. And eyes. Fiery red eyes with thin, black pupils. Unnatural. Terrifying. I remembered falling, plunging into nothing, an endless descent.
I cringed. I didn’t want to remember. I wanted the emptiness again. The nothing.
“What is it?” Mrs. Crossey shook me gently.
“I’m tired.”
She shook me again until I opened my eyes. “We can’t stay here. It isn’t safe.”
Where could I go? I couldn’t move.
But Mrs. Crossey was already yanking me to my feet.
Something glinted in her hand. Her magazine? No. It flashed gold with a glimmer of violet light before she shoved it and the cord on which it was attached back beneath her collar.
“What was that?” I stared at her. An icy prickle skittered up my spine.
“Nothing.” She brushed the dirt off her backside then brushed at my skirt, too. “Let’s get you back inside, shall we?”
A new fear washed over me. “Where’s my bag?”
“It’s here. Right here.”
And so it was. Behind me, where I must have dropped it.
But how could she act so calm? A tree root had attacked me. Attacked me. Wasn’t that cause for some alarm? Or had I imagined it? “Did you see it?” I asked.
“See what, dear?”
“The tree. The root.”
I bent to grab my bag and nearly lost my balance.
Mrs. Crossey threaded her arm around my waist. “There, there now.”
When I was steady again, I shimmied out of her grasp. She had only touched my coat, but I had to be careful.
“Sorry,” she said, pulling her arm back. Then she bent and picked up my bag with her other hand. “Let’s get you back to the castle now, shall we? Away from this…”
Her voice trailed off, and I followed her gaze to the massive tree. Was it a shadow, or was its bark actually black?
Maybe it was the fog or my raw nerves, but the ridges along its contours seemed to slip and slither, like pythons gliding over its surface. I closed my eyes but they were there again, those red, grimacing eyes and crimson tendrils like talons gripping my arm. My hands shot to my face. “I don’t want to go back.” I stumbled back and nearly fell.
She caught me at the elbow. “I’m afraid that would be a mistake.”
Her tone sent icicles through my veins.
I stared at her. Directly into her eyes. “Why?”
She didn’t
