The Room Behind the Study

The first evening and night after the tablet was discovered among the estate belongings

Celandine’s relatives leave her alone to manage the house, while a fresh pear appears as that night’s offering. She moves the tablet into a locked cabinet in her grandfather’s study using the brass key she had concealed, discovering that the cabinet contains an old recess shaped precisely for it. After dreaming of an unseen figure asking whether she plans to move in, she wakes to find the offering beside her bed and hears the cabinet unlocking downstairs.