ra'

ks of gray, smudging the horizon like ash dragged across parchment. I lingered outside my cottage, basket of herbs in hand, though my gaze refu

g had wa

he world together. He had always been like that-steady, unwavering, a man who believed faith could shield a

woods, basket slipping from my

that spoke less of wild hunger and more of a warning. Fresh. Splinters curled outward,

Perfectly parallel. A wolf's claws, perhaps, but no wolf

rs returned unbidden-of beasts too large to be real, of glowing eyes in

ds. Kalen. The way his shadow had stretched long against

it b

hi

shield. He stood at the doorway, worry carved into his brow. His hands, once stea

ssed thin. For a heartbeat he seemed as though he might speak further, confess something that

d. "Someon

held mine with an urgency that pulled

d like stone ag

oins in Bloodmoon Hollow. Women tugged their children closer, men sharpened the

by my home but scattered along the outs

s follow me as if the marks had been carved into m

d one woman hiss behind me. "Th

woman lowered her gaze, clutching her shawl t

oo

allowed. She had been of the priestess line, that much was certain, but

though her blood, and min

elt feeble against the pressing dark beyond the windows. My father retired

ordinary life. But the scrape of claws lingered in my mind,

d jolt

t like a growl ca

dles fl

d to the window, pressing

saw

y

ods. Too high above the ground to be any ordinary wol

struck the table, toppling the basket of herbs. Rosemary

st and monstrous, though it refused to step into the open. As thou

d the villagers, prayed until my voice cracked. Instead I fr

eyes softened, as if recog

la

w, broken,

to my mouth. No beas

And then they vanished,

neve

ut my mind raced with a single though

omething in me knew. It belon

me? Why mark the trees li

Bloodmoon Hollow had always been a place of quiet dread, but now the d

elves into the very fence of my cottage, carved deep into

staking the mes

s ma

d by

ed the Hollow had no int

er. A shadow moved, closer than the trees, closer than the dark. She turned slowly-only to

whispered, vo

had