Fiona had sighed, as if she’d known this moment was coming. “Our ancestors once lived in a small walled city on the mainland, cut off from the rest of the world. But one day a little girl from a nearby village was lured away from her home by our singing, and she was never seen again. The villagers attacked the city, trapping many of our people inside the walls and setting fire to everything within. But some escaped, and they fled up the mountain, desperate for shelter.

“When they came to Lake Luma, they say the island called to them. One of our people had snuck into a nearby town to get supplies, and she heard the locals talking about the Wandering Forest, how it was evil, devouring anyone who traveled to the island. Many had gone there to try to put an end to the Forest—or at least to drive it somewhere else, where it could no longer harm humans. But those people never returned. Our ancestors decided to risk the Forest.”

“How did we cross the lake?”

“It wasn’t poisonous back then,” Fiona had explained. “When all our ancestors made the voyage safely and the villagers could see that they were still alive on Endla, they decided to cross and burn everything down, including our people. They made an assault on the island a few weeks later. But before they could reach the far shore, their boats began to disintegrate. Dozens of outsiders drowned. They tried again, several weeks later, and the same thing happened. The lake had become poisonous, and it could never be crossed safely again.

“The Wandering Forest had found people who would protect it, and so it, in turn, protected us.”

Chapter Five

Days passed, and no one spoke of the drowning. It bothered Leelo that people could simply pretend a man hadn’t died, or worse, that he had never lived. She tried not to think about Pieter, but she worried for Isola. She hadn’t seen her friend since that morning, and she doubted she’d be coming to the spring festival tonight.

Fiona straightened the hem of Leelo’s new dress and looked up, her eyes wet with tears.

“What is it?” Leelo asked, staring down at her mother with concern.

“I was just thinking how beautiful you look.”

“And that made you cry?” Leelo teased.

Fiona smiled and rose to her feet, wobbling slightly. “I know you’re becoming a grown woman, but it’s hard to believe I was only a few years older than you are now when I gave birth to you.”