g on carcasses of fallen oaks, their sap weeping amber tears. Clara pushed through snarled bracken to a lightning-split

ervain to sever, blood to bind, a storm's fury to unmake."

er. His watch ticked lou

Clara

he ground heaved. Roots lashed upward, pinning Elias's legs as shadows congeal

like drawn bows, branches slashing Elias's

that reeked of baptismal fonts and burnt flesh. Eleanor's form wavered, but her laug

. Elias woke gasping in the town square, his watch frozen at 11:03. On his bleeding