Page 23 of Whispers of the Elderoak

He was right. She was having them almost every night, but she didn’t admit it to him. “I’m fine. They come and go.”

What she didn’t say was she was exhausted, barely sleeping these days. Ever since moving to the farm, these recurring dreams appeared and had been getting more frequent, as if she was getting closer to something she couldn’t yet see.

She trusted Henry, and though she wasn’t ready to talk about the dreams, she decided to reveal a little to him about what she found.

She tilted her head to look at him. “Remember when you said there were rumors about witches and stuff here?”

“Yes.”

“I found something,” she said.

He sat halfway up, looking down at her. “Really? What?”

Though she had brushed off most of the whole ‘love’ part of the fortune, the old woman had said she could trust him. She knew it was silly, but it brought her comfort for some reason.

Rising out of the bed, she threw on her robe and opened the top drawer of her dresser. Digging under her clothing, she retrieved the book and handed it to him, sitting back down on the bed. “This.”

He carefully regarded the tome. “Wow. Is this real?”

“I think so. Okay, so… please don’t think I’m crazy.” She took a deep breath. “But when I touched it for the first time, it made me sick.”

He looked at her, incredulous. “Really? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.” She laughed quietly. “Eleanor joked that my house was haunted.”

“Eleanor saw it too?”

She nodded. “We found it together. I promise I’m not crazy…”

He placed his hand on her face. “I don’t think you’re crazy. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

“Of course I believe you. Can I look inside?” he asked as he removed his hand and looked back down at the book in his lap.

“Sure.”

Henry opened the book, treating it with reverence as if he was afraid it would break.

“It’s in a different language,” Ava said.

“I can see that. How strange,” he said as he stopped on the page with archways and symbols. “What are these?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know… but they look like portals or something?”

“They do. But portals aren’t real.” He laughed, but there was a brief flash in his eyes. A subtle expression that almost lookedlike he was deep in thought. Maybe he didn’t believe her; he was just humoring her to be kind.

“I never said they were,” she teased. “That’s just what it looks like.”

“Have you found anything else?”

She pulled her robe tighter. “No. But?—”

He met her eyes and took her hand. “But what?”

“I think there’s something in the forest.”

Henry scrunched his brow. “Like what?”

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