Chapter 15

Abigail

The next day, we entered Knocklean, and not 20 feet inside its borders the sky opened up, and we were caught in a downpour.

“Well, this country is quite pleasant,” Thomas joked an hour or so later as we made our way through the mud. “Perhaps I will holiday here one day.”

I rolled my eyes, and saw my sister do the same. She and Cat were holding hands, helping each other through the mud that already came halfway up our thighs.

The trees closed in around us ominously, as if they were trying to herd us in a certain direction. They hung overhead, their bare branches like boney fingers that offered no shelter from the cold, hard rain. There were things moving amongst the trees that I couldn’t properly see, and strange noises I couldn’t properly hear. The forest looked like it was drowning in sadness and illusion.

We tried to trudge through, but the path was difficult to navigate. By the time we stopped at midday, everyone was exhausted. We huddled beneath the trees, trying t