Jane and I stare at each other without speaking for what seems like an eternity. Despite the warm comfort of the cave, I feel an icy shiver running down my back. I glance from the turquoise stitching of the spellbook to Jane and back again. "I wonder what else it has written in it."

“No!” I bark and snatch the book from her hands.

“Hey!” she exclaims. “Mary!”

My hands shake as I hold the book. It’s thick and heavy and feels strangely warm, almost like it is being heated from the inside. “Let’s put it away,” I say, trying my best to calm my voice. “We have other things we need to do. We can decide what to do with this later, if we do anything with it at all”. Jane’s eyes met skeptically, her eyes furrowed. She is unconvinced. She can see I am rattled.“Let’s eat and then we need to pack. We’re going to find Father’s friend William…he can help us”. Jane nods silently. Her movements are stiff and mechanical.

Wordlessly, we retrieve the skewered bits of rabbit from the fire. Jane looks down at the ground with her brow furrowed and her lips pressed tightly together. We pull pieces off the skewer to eat. It’s plain and gamey, but it’s warm and it isn’t bread. We both eat till we’re full before either of us speaks again. “I’m going back into the woods,” I say at last. I remember there being a couple of walnut trees nearby. "Father showed them to me when..." I trail off, my voice fading. Thinking about Father almost brings tears to my eyes.

Jane nods but doesn’t speak. “Gather up what we have here,” I continue. “get ready for a long trek. We’ll leave tomorrow and we’ll be going down into the valley.” Jane nods again. “Take all the things from home, plus the lantern and the spare oil. If we have time to go through the other boxes down in the cave.” Jane nods silently for a third time. “I’ll see what I can gather from the walnut trees…then I’ll be back to help.” Jane sits silently and doesn’t look at me. I wait as long as I have patience for her to speak, but she never does, so I stand, gather up Father’s rifle, the bullets, and powder and head for the woods.

I pass under the eves of the forest and into the twilight. The sense of comfort I found here is rapidly being replaced with unease. I felt so close to Father when we arrived here. Closer than I had felt since the Consumption confined him to his bed. So much was waiting for us here, too. Water, the Lantern, the oil, and who knows what else we haven’t found yet. So much was here for us it couldn’t have been an accident…and yet we found the hollow by chance. If we hadn’t stumbled into the hollow, I never would have found the trail to this place. It was an accident…but I still feel like Father meant for us to come here.

But there was also the apparent spell book, the one thing that seems deeply out of place. It’s not something Father would have had. It’s not something anyone in their right mind would have had. We consider ourselves civilized in Coventry. However civilized we may be, we are not above killing a witch. The Reverend would see to that. Even if most of Coventry will leave well enough alone, they will follow the Reverend Gideon. We’ve already seen that. He decided how we were to be split up without Father and nobody in the village was willing to stand up to him.

The book changes nothing; I tell myself. We couldn’t have gone back even before we found the book. Whatever reason Father had for keeping it in that cave, it doesn’t matter now. We’ll get rid of it, or just leave it behind when we head down into the valley. As long as Jane doesn’t, get attached to it.

I realize now how frustrated I have become with Jane. This entire ordeal has been more than she should have to handle. Still, she’s not exactly being helpful. Her silence and anger are just making this harder, and she seems to be set on refusing to follow common sense. Going down into that cave was foolish. She should have waited for me. We could have gone together so I can keep her safe. I shake my head to clear it. I don’t have time to think about Jane’s attitude right now. Once we are safely down in the valley with Father’s friend, then maybe I’ll talk to Jane about. I’ll apologize for pushing her so hard, even though it’s for her own good, I shouldn’t have to.

The walnut trees appear out of the forest as I walk. As I had suspected, there are no walnuts to be had this early in the year. There are, however, elderberry shrubs growing in the soft light filtering down through the leaves. Some of the berries are ripe, so I decide to pick those instead. Better than walnuts, and certainly better than nothing.

We have to leave. I keep thinking this the longer we stay here. No matter how much I feel like Father meant for us to come here, improbable as that seems, we need to leave. We’re too close to the village and no matter how much the people there fear the forest, they will come looking for us here, eventually. We have to make it to Father’s friend and hope that he will help. William, I remember now his name was, or rather is, William.

I finish plucking the Elderberries and place them into the pockets of my trousers. Father always let me wear trousers no matter how much it infuriated the Reverend. It’s a sign of just how much the others in the village respected Father that they never said a single thing about it, even though the Reverend explicitly disapproved.

Turning away from the berry bushes, I head back toward the cave. I debate staying tomorrow to rest before we depart for the valley, but quickly decide against it. The longer we stay here, the more likely we are to be discovered. I also feel that the longer we stay here sleeping in the dirt, the longer Jane will be angry with me. Perhaps that matters to me more than it should?

As I enter the clearing, I see smoke rising from the mouth of the cave and feel another twinge of anxiety. We should put the fire out and not restart it till after dark when it is less noticeable. When I look through the mouth of the cave, I see Jane is quickly packing the bags. She pauses when she sees me approaching and then vanishes back into the darkness of the cave. As I duck through the cave mouth, Jane emerges back up out of the shadows.

“No walnuts, but I found berries,” I say. Jane looks around sheepishly and scuffs her feet on the cave floor.

Without making eye contact, she says, "I have packed the bags and filled the water." I sniff the air. Something smells funny. The air is just a little sweet…but the sort of sweet that burns the nostrils.

“What’s that smell? Is something burning?” I ask. Jane keeps her head down and scuffs her feet again.

“I don’t know…I think some of the wood was maybe a little rotten or odd?” She won’t look at me, but her eyes flash briefly to the ground nearby. I look quickly, following her gaze, but there isn’t. Anything there but a small black patch of ash. Maybe it is from the fire? Or did Jane burn something for some reason? Not that it matters either way.

“Okay, Jane,” I say before moving on. “Here, let’s have the berries, then move everything back into the cave out of sight…no point making it easier for anyone to track us.” Jane nods in affirmation. “We’ll rest here tonight. We’ll leave tomorrow in the late morning. If I’m timing us right, we can pass the village in the dark. We’ll stick to the woods till we have to pass through the fields in the valley. Once we get there, we’ll find a safe place to wait out the daylight, then follow the road through the fields by night.” Jane nods again.

“And that will take us to Father’s friend?” She asks.

“Yes…I hope it’s a two-day trip, but if we need to make it three, we can. We just have to move quietly and carefully. His name is William. I remember now.” Jane nods. She looks like she understands, so I start grabbing whatever things we aren’t taking with us, the crates and such, and piling them out of sight behind a rock deeper in the cave.

“Why do we need to be so careful?” Jane’s voice is quiet behind me and makes me jump, almost hitting my head on the roof of the cave.

“What do you mean, Jane?” I ask…she must understand. She has to understand the danger we’re in. How could she not?

“Why does the Reverend want to hurt us now? If he wanted to hurt us, why didn’t he do it when Father was here? And if he wanted to take us from Father to raise us, why didn’t he do it earlier? Why now Mary?” She is looking me dead in the eyes now. Her arms are by her sides and she is standing with her legs spread apart. Is it just me or does her eyes flash with a pale light in the darkness?

“Because…” I’m suddenly having a very hard time explaining the situation we are in. “Because we’re different, Jane. Father taught me to be different and Mother taught you to be different…it would be fine if we were men, but we’re not.” I pause “and the Reverend wouldn’t touch us with Father around…I don’t know why, but he never did…I’m sorry.”

Jane’s eyes widen, and she steps back. “What?”

"I’m sorry,” I continue, “I’ll explain better later…when we’re safe…right now I’m just sorry I didn’t tell you earlier and I’m sorry this had to happen to you.”

Jane nods again, and her eyes drop just a hair. “It’s…it’s okay…I am glad you’re here Mary”.

I smile just a little. “I’m glad you’re here too, Jane.”

“I’ll help move the rest of this back” Jane gestures to the pile of supplies we’re leaving behind.

“Thanks Jane” She steps forward and hugs me and I hug her back…longer than I usually do.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5