Diary Entry June 15, 1926—11 p.m.
These may be the last words I’ll ever write.
There’s a small chance that I’ll make it until morning, when Mr. Ruggle is due to arrive. Assuming Mrs. Semple was telling the truth. I’m now at a point where I can’t believe a single thing she’s ever said. Which means this might be my final entry.
A horrifying thought.
Almost as terrible as what I just experienced during the séance. Mrs. Semple insisted we do it. She all but forced me to. I was marched into the parlor like a prisoner heading to the gallows. My fear was the same, for it felt like I was walking into certain doom.
There was nothing outright ominous about the parlor when we sat down at the table.
It was arranged exactly like our previous séances.
This time, though, in addition to my palpable fear, I sensed something else.
A presence rustling in the shadows, hidden yet keenly felt.
I wasn’t sure, but I feared it was the Darkness, already there without being summoned.
I turned out to be right, for when Mrs. Semple asked if there was something present, the Darkness emerged from the shadows behind her. And to my horror, it again looked exactly like Daddy!
He stood there, staring at me, and I was so afraid.
I’d always thought that, if I were to see Mommy or Daddy again, I would be overjoyed.
Yet there I was, looking directly at Daddy, and the only emotion I felt was pure terror.
Because he simply stared, not smiling, his eyes as dark and mean as they got when he’d been drinking, which was often after Mommy passed on.
Adding to my fear was the knowledge that this wasn’t Daddy at all. It was the Darkness acting like a mirror, reflecting the worst parts of Daddy.
“Why are you doing this?” I shouted. “Why is he here?”
“Who do you see, my child?” Mrs. Semple said.
“Daddy! He’s right behind you!”
“I’m unable to see what you clearly can. Why do you think that is?”
Mrs. Semple smiled then, and I realized it was right for me not to trust her. Because she knew. She knew exactly what was going to happen during the séance. In fact, she knew all along everything that had been taking place on New Avalon.
“You,” I cried. “You’re the Darkness! You’re Azra!”
“No, my child,” she said. “But we are acquainted.”
“You’ve been working together all this time,” I said, the realization prompting a horrified gasp.
Mrs. Semple nodded slowly. “Yes, my dear.”
“Are you a witch?” I asked, because in my mind, she had to be. Only witches consorted with something as evil as the Darkness.
“Some would say that I am,” Mrs. Semple replied. “In truth, I’m simply a woman with wisdom, just like those who inhabited the Avalon of myth.”
Behind her, Daddy stepped farther from the shadows, which trailed after him like a cape. I felt more shadows on all sides of me, being spun like cobwebs in the corners. I knew I should run, but both fear and curiosity kept me pinned to my chair. I had so many questions that needed to be answered.
“Is that why you brought me here?”
“Yes, my dear,” Mrs. Semple said. “You’re here because you need to be exposed to the light that Azra brings.”
The shadows all around me were getting larger, filling up more and more of the room. Meanwhile, Daddy kept drawing closer. His features shifted. Like he was made of smoke. His eyes and nose and beard swirling and fading.
“Is that what happened to the others?” I said. “To Katrina and Jonquil and Mrs. Minafer?”
Sadness overwhelmed me when Mrs. Semple shook her head. “No, child. They are no more.”
“Why me, then?” I said, weeping. “Why have I been chosen to see this?”
“Because you’re not like them. You’re too powerful.”
Behind Mrs. Semple, Daddy’s features had mostly faded from the Darkness.
Only his eyes remained, mean and staring.
Then, with a blink, they were gone. But something else began to take shape in the shifting Darkness as, all around me, the shadows grew and grew, spreading up the walls and over the floor and ceiling.
“What’s happening?” I asked Mrs. Semple. “Please make it stop!”
“There is no stopping it now, my child.”
I knew what she intended to happen. The Darkness was to consume me.
In fact, it almost already had. It now loomed over the table like a storm cloud, all but eclipsing Mrs. Semple.
Something continued to take shape inside it, shifting and contorting until a face took shape.
A visage so terrifying that I screamed when I saw it.
“No!” I cried. “Please go away!”
By then, the shadows were everywhere, spiraling up the leg of my chair and crawling across the table. Seconds away from being devoured by them, I took to heart what Mrs. Semple had said earlier. I was powerful. Too powerful. And I refused to let her or the Darkness get me.
I stood and kicked the shadow-covered chair away from me. Now on my feet and using all my strength, I overturned the table. Then, as the shadows hissed and the Darkness lunged for me, I fled.
Without looking behind me, I ran up the stairs to fetch this diary before bolting out of the house and into the storm. Pushing through the stinging rain, I ran here, to my cottage, where I’ve barricaded myself inside. I pray that will be enough to keep me safe until Mr. Ruggle comes.
Oh, but the Darkness has followed me! I hear it outside now.
Creeping onto the porch—
Now at the door—
Scratching—
A terrible sound! Like fingernails digging into wood. I want to cover my ears and face the door and scream for the Darkness to go away! I doubt it will leave, no matter what I say. It is here to consume me.
Yet I must do something. If I don’t, I’ll go mad—
“Go away!” I just yelled. “Leave me be!”
And I think it worked.
Right now, I hear nothing but the storm battering the cottage so hard I fear it’ll collapse at any moment, leaving me exposed to the evil that possibly still lurks outside. Just because I can’t see or hear the Darkness doesn’t mean it’s not—
Wait—
I hear it again.
No longer scratching on the door but tapping on the glass. An even worse sound.
Tap, tap, tap.
It won’t stop, even though I’m screaming as I write this, begging the Darkness to leave. No matter how loud I cry, I can still hear it.
Tap, tap, tap.
Tap, tap, tap.
So far, I’ve kept myself from turning to the window. I’m too scared to look. Too afraid to see the horrifying face in the Darkness waiting for me on the other side of the glass.
But I must see.
I need to understand why the Darkness has taken that form.
Okay, I’m going to look—
Right now—