Out of the Woods

Résumé

There’s a corpse in the mushroom patch.

Ruth isn’t bothered; she collects dead things in jars under her bed. Her best friend, Hermana, is very upset, but only because the mushroom patch the corpse is lying in happens to be theirs, and the woods in which it decided to die happen to be their woods. Growing up shunned by the proper folk who live down in the valley, the two odd young women take a hard view of anyone who invades their quiet, wild world.

Their hopes that the problem will take care of itself fade when the corpse doesn’t decay. Worse, when they try to bury it they find it’s too heavy to lift into the grave; far heavier than a human should be. And when they try to burn it, its skin won’t catch light. But soon the corpse’s invulnerability and strangely pointy ears are the least of their worries. A fungus has begun to stain the ground around it, killing weeds and mushrooms, then trees and animals. When it reaches the river, people start falling ill.

As their home sickens and rots around them, the girls search for a way to dispose of the cursed corpse. At the same time, Hermana searches for a way to confess her feelings to Ruth, before her best friend is stolen away from her by the handsome nobleman who lives nearby.