Page 41 of The Unknown

ThenE.

“‘With me,’” Julianne says, gasping.

We all look to Heather for confirmation. Her terse nod is all we need. Clarence is dead.

“And where are you?” she says, less defiant now. Curiosity has gotten the better of her.

The glass starts up again, gliding first to the letterH.

Then to theE.

When I realize where it’s heading next, the flutter in my ribs grows worse.

L

The flutter becomes a knock, rattling my entire body.

L

When the glass comes to a stop in the center of the table, Heather gasps. So does Julianne. Susie says, “Wait, did that spell out—”

I shush her, watching in amazed horror as the glass starts up again, pulling us with it as it spells out two more words.

SO IS

“So is who?” Susie says.

The glass—or whatever is controlling it, since I don’t think it’s us, not anymore—slides to three more letters, bouncing from one to the other in quick succession.

D

E

A

The glass then lurches all the way across the table to theN. As it moves, Julianne emits a strange, strangled squeak.

“Do you know someone named Dean?” Heather says.

Julianne nods. “My first husband.”

“Did he die?” Susie asks, sounding viscerally scared.

“Yes,” Julianne says, a catch in her throat. “Decades ago.”

By then, the glass is on the move again, sliding to the letter on my immediate right.

F

It continues to hopscotch across the table, to theR.

Then theA.

As the glass pauses right in front of her, Violet swallows hard and stares it down, as if daring it to continue. It does, sliding to theNand then theK.

“Does anyone know a Frank?” Heather says.

“I–I do.” It’s Violet, no longer staring. Her eyes are now clenched shut as a grimace stretches across her face. “That was my father’s name.”