Day Twenty-Two, Second Moon, Hunting Year Five Hundred and Four
The meeting on the Common is tomorrow night. We've learned Aunt Martha died after several days of the sickness and now we need to bury her. I don't understand why we would all go there now, though. If a curse is passing to new people around the schoolyard, why would we all leave the protection of the wards on our houses now?
Mama made us tiny pouches of herbs to wear on leather cords around our necks to protect us while we travel. I wish the pouches' fabric was a little thicker because the pine needles inside made my skin all itchy. That's the least of my worries, though. I had to go like everyone else because no one knows that I've been having problems since I got stung by all those bees. Mama has been telling people that she needs me to help around the farm, and that's why I'm not going to school anymore. It's a logical excuse. I'm at an age where lots of older kids do this, so no one has thought to question her about it. It bothers me that I don't get to go to school though.
I don't miss fighting with Jacob Wilder or getting in trouble with Aunt Martha -- rest her soul -- but I liked picking out new books from the bookshelf and helping the younger students with their work. I don't like that people will think I gave up on school like everyone else my age. And I really don't like that all this is happening because I did something dumb and now my hands and feet don't work the way they used to. I'm afraid I'm going to be cursed forever.
YOU ARE READING
The Wood
FantasyLike every other girl in her village, Kyla has been taught to ward off curses with the right concoction of herbs, but when a new plague falls upon the village, the elders begin to hunt for the witch who caused it. Kyla becomes the next target after...
