The Forest of Sleepers (Nowhere Book 2)

t h i r t y - t w o : g h o s t

"Wait, school's the other way," Ophelia said from the passenger's seat of the Ford.

"We're not going to school," Birdie replied grimly. "We're following Marigold into Gwydyr."

"What?" Ophelia cried. "What makes you think she's there?"

"I just know."

Marigold hadn't been there for the family meeting that morning. The one where Wyatt told them he wasn't going to awaken the sleepers, which meant that he was going to die.

Birdie would refuse to let that happen and she'd said as much from her blanket hovel on the sofa.

Even now, her hands felt clammy with anxiety. His death had only been foretold, hadn't it? Because unless Gwydyr was going to crawl after Wyatt itself, Wyatt remained a healthy, active teenager with no reason to die.

Birdie would make Gwydyr see that he didn't deserve it. She'd do something--anything--to save him.

But for now, they had Marigold to worry about.

"Does she know something we don't?" Ophelia asked.

"Who knows? But I do know that I don't trust what that forest is doing to her."

Ophelia pulled on her lip, casting a furtive glance out the window. The day seemed too bright, suddenly, too friendly. "She has been different lately."

Birdie had to jerk the stick into gear multiple times to get it in the right place. "I hate driving," she muttered.

"What about Wyatt?" Ophelia asked. "Where's he?"

Birdie sighed heavily. "I don't know. He left after breakfast."

"You don't think he'd do something stupid, do you?"

"Probably," Birdie replied. "But hopefully not at the same time Marigold does."

Birdie twisted a strand of hair around her finger with one hand while driving with the other.

"You know," Ophelia said, "it's funny how the two most self-proclaimed logical ones are always the two that get into trouble."

Despite herself, Birdie laughed. "And it's up to the dreamers to rescue them."

"How ironic indeed."

They pulled into the empty gravel lot beside the farmhouse and Ophelia paused for a moment to look at it.

She hadn't seen it since the fire.

Wyatt and a few men from town had been working on it, so a new wooden structure was erected where Evelyn's bedroom had been. But around Hal's old window, black soot lashed out in violent strokes. Some of the siding had been burned to ash, leaving strange gaping holes where the walls had once been.

Ophelia shivered, remembering that night.

Then she saw a figure appear and disappear near the greenhouse. Ophelia froze, every muscle in her body tensing. Maybe Birdie hadn't--

"Did you see that?" Birdie asked, already stepping towards it.

"Wait," Ophelia squeaked.

Birdie turned towards her expectantly, raising her eyebrows.

"Um." Ophelia desperately tried to think of any lie she could tell to cover up her secret boyfriend. But as she looked at Birdie and weighed the cost of another lie between them, she settled on the truth.