The Forest of Sleepers (Nowhere Book 2)

t w e n t y - n i n e : b u r n

She sat at the foot of the bed, noting with relief the returning color to Evelyn's cheeks. The night she'd returned from the hospital, she was as gaunt as a ghoul. Now, she was looking more human.

"Is everything alright?" she asked. "You know, besides nothing?"

Wyatt gave her a rueful smile and reached over to grab the robe draped over the dresser beside the bed. "Everything's as well as it can be."

Though Birdie tried to avert her eyes as he pulled on the robe, she caught sight of the twisted scar that marred the front of his right shoulder.

Wyatt caught her stare and lifted his eyebrows. "Nowhere battle scars."

"I think you mean Gwydyr battle scars," Birdie said. Then added quietly, "I have them too."

Wyatt paused as he tied the straps together and looked up at her. "You do?"

Birdie looked down at her hands. She hadn't told anyone about the scars she'd received from Gwydyr. But somehow this moment felt different. Like she and Wyatt existed outside of time. So she pulled her shirt collar back to expose her shoulder.

Wyatt gaped at the lightning-bolt streaks that zigzagged across her pale skin.

He swore under his breath. "Is that from awakening the forest?"

Birdie nodded. "It goes all the way down my back. I tried to remedy it so there wouldn't be too much scarring, but now it looks like some spiffy road map. Does it make me look tough?"

"Makes you look brave."

They settled into a long silence, both looking on at Evelyn's sleeping form distractedly.

"Bernadette," Wyatt said. There was something heavy in his voice that made Birdie glance at him. She could tell there was a secret hidden in his tone as if he'd felt the otherworldliness of this moment as well.

"I...I found something." He pulled something small from his pocket and held it out to Birdie.

Birdie blinked and took the wooden shard. "A match?"

"I found it in Mother's hair that night."

Birdie squinted, then understanding dawned on her. She held the match away from her as if it were still on fire.

"You can't mean..."

"I don't know what I mean," Wyatt said. "But the fire wasn't electrical--I checked. All I know is that there was a fire, and there was a match."

Birdie shook her head. "She wouldn't have done it. She had no reason to."

Wyatt spread his hands apart. "I don't know. But that's the other thing...when I found her, she was in Hal's bedroom."

Birdie squinted at him, trying to make sense of it all. She said what he'd undoubtedly asked himself a hundred times. "Why would she be in his room?"

A voice answered, "Because of the drawings."

Birdie and Wyatt snapped their gazes to Evelyn, who was watching them with strangely sharp blue eyes. The bleariness from past days was gone and in its place, a keen awareness on the old woman's face.

Wyatt was the first to speak. "The drawings?"

"I knew it the moment I saw it..." Evelyn's chin quivered. Then, quietly, in an accent neither Birdie nor Wyatt had heard before, she murmured, "Gwydyr."

The name sounded ancient on her tongue as she said it.

Birdie was so still, the sleeve of her dress was the only thing that moved as her pulse beat against her wrist.