Chapter 42 - Shadows of the Brannon Clan

Ella lay in her tiny bed, the sounds of the camp muffled by the tent's thin walls, the night quiet and the air heavy with the aroma of earth and wood. She listened to the distant crackle of a dying fire and the random murmur of voices, her breathing calm and her eyes locked on the ceiling above. She attempted to ignore the ideas racing through her head, but they were too strong to ignore, and as a result, she was unable to fall asleep. Ella sighed and pushed a hand under her pillow to get the leather-bound book she had stashed there. It was old, the cover worn from the many hands that had held it before her, the pages discolored with age. Before being taken to the camp, she had stolen the book from the library in a desperate attempt to find out more herself, making it one of the few items she had carried from the estate. A deep sleepiness crept over her as she flipped the pages, her eyes sweeping over the commonly used words. The words on the page became disorganized a jumble of