Crypt of the Moon Spider (Lunar Gothic Trilogy, #1)

by Nathan Ballingrud

But she was. She felt a curious sluggishness, a kind of separation, as though she’d become loosened from time and was jostling in its socket. She was afraid the wrong movement or word might disconnect her entirely, sending her reeling backward over the course of her own life. She did not want to live through it a second time, so she closed her eyes and thought hard about staying precisely where she was. Her husband joined his other hand with the first, engulfing her own. “Veronica, it’s true. There is nothing to fear here. It’s a new beginning.” She nodded, but kept her lips clamped together. What wanted to come out was nothing she wanted to say, and nothing he wanted to hear. She tried to believe him. This was 1923, after all, not the Dark Ages. She was not coming here to have an exorcism performed. She was coming here to be cured. It was expensive and he had spent a great deal of money to give her—to give them both—this chance. She was determined to be grateful.