Her Soul for Revenge

Juniper Kynes recalls her grandfather’s advice to flee if she “heard [her] name called from the woods” (8), even if the voice seemed to come from a loved one. Though her father was skeptical, dismissing this as superstition, Juniper reflected on her grandfather’s advice throughout her childhood. Superstitions regarding the woods abound in her hometown of Abelaum, Washington.

When she’s 15, Juniper prepares to take LSD with her friend Victoria Hadleigh. The girls focus on their plan, ignoring Victoria’s twin brother, Jeremiah, as he scandalizes other students with a recounting of a local history. In the story, late-19th-century miners were trapped in the vast mines below Abelaum for weeks. Only three survived, staying alive for weeks by cannibalizing their deceased peers. Jeremiah credits their survival to “something very old and powerful” that lives in the mine (11). The twins disparage their half-sibling, Everly Hadleigh, whose birth was a result of their father’s extramarital affair. Juniper uneasily goes along with the twins’ mockery of Everly.

After school, Juniper and Victoria drive to an abandoned stretch of road near the forest, where they take the drugs. Victoria says that Juniper is “lucky” that her mother will be too intoxicated to notice her daughter’s absence.