Nevermore: A Novel of Love, Loss, & Edgar Allan Poe by David Niall Wilson

save Virginia."
    "You never told me your quest," he said.
    "I'm tracking a dream," she said.   "I had a vision – a woman trapped in this swamp, near the waterway.   Her spirit is bound in a tree, not like the spirits I usually free, but something more powerful – more lasting.   It's as if she's calling out to me."
    Edgar stood very still.
    "A woman," he said.   "Trapped.   I am beginning to feel as if we are not the gifted, or the cursed.   What we are is pieces in some grand game – a dark game, with no good endings.   This woman – do you know who trapped her – or why?"
    Lenore shook her head.   "I know that she has been there for a very long time.   I could almost draw what I saw from memory, but there are tiny details that are elusive.   I might capture them – or I might not.   One thing I have learned is that I never get a second chance.   Once I have drawn a thing, and then changed it, the link is broken.   I have the talent to recreate the art, but not the magic – if that's what it is."
    "So you are going to try and find the tree," he said.
    "I won't have to try very hard," she said.   "When I asked about it, I learned that there is a local legend.   In the swamp, there is a large lake – Lake Drummond.   On the shore of that lake, there is an old willow tree.   The willow tree is so much in the shape of a woman that there have been legends about it since before white men came to the Carolinas.   When I told them I'd like to draw her, I was given a map."
    "You need a guide," Edgar said.
    "I know.   I will find one.   I was hoping that Anita might know where the tree is located, or that she knows someone who will take me.   It's not the same kind of dangerous journey you are planning.   The tree, and the lake, are visited regularly by hunters and fishermen.   There are trails."
    "Bears can use trails," Edgar said. "It's only marginally safer."
    "Bears don't use bows and arrows," she said.   Then she smiled.
    "I'll make you a bargain.   You go on your search, and I will go on mine.   I suspect I will be finished first.   Whichever of us returns to this place before the other will wait.   Before you return to your wife, and your work, and before I move on to whatever comes next, we will share stories one last time.   And a drink."
    Edgar smiled.
    "I would like that very much.   You have a bargain, lady.   I will find you here among the lost souls, trapped women, and birds.   I find that my own state has improved, if only slightly.   Where I was once likely to travel in the presence of a murder of crows, I find I will only be burdened by an unkindness of ravens.   It gives me heart."
    Lenore rose then, and embraced him quickly, then, before it could turn to anything more, or the moment be broken irrevocably, Edgar stepped back and turned for the door.   As he walked out into the night, he did not look back.
    Moments later, glancing at the bartender to be certain he wasn't seen, Tom rushed out after him.   Lenore watched the empty doorway for a long time.   She was nearly certain, when the two were out of sight, that she heard the flutter of dark wings on the night wind.   She tried to smile, but it was cut short as a shiver suddenly transited her spine.

Chapter Seven
     
    T om caught up with Edgar before he reached the doors to his room.   Edgar heard the footsteps, and turned.
    "I'm gonna need some things from home," Tom said.   "If we're going into the swamp, we can't just walk in empty handed."
    "Will you be ready tomorrow?" Edgar asked.
    Tom nodded.   "Sure.   I just have to tell Mr. Barnes – the bartender.   I got a cousin Will who can come in and take my place for a couple days.   You got any older clothes?   A gun? A pack?   We may be in there overnight."
    "I'm afraid I only came prepared for a road trip," Edgar said.
    "You and my pa, you're about the same size," Tom said.   "If you was to send him some money…"
    Edgar chuckled.   "If you think your