The Silen

Person (S

rippling as if stirred by unseen hands. My heart thundered as I stood fro

High Assembly by saving a mysterious stranger named Mason. His hazel eyes and hidden

the sacred spring was alive with a forbidden prophecy.

ted ruin into

under the starlit sky. The commune was asleep, its wooden

screamed fugitive. Yet, when I'd pressed a cup of water to his cracked and bloodied lip

: "When starlight falls at the spring, the plains shall ch

t gurgle of water and the scent of wet earth. My flashlight swept the

mystical secrets. My fingers tightened around the prophe

ring the High As

en him, suspecting

her small figure darting from the shadows. Her

sacred hymns forbid lingerin

k," I said, my

n's g

the High Assembly everything. They're saying h

ynasty of steel and tech in Chicago, was a

g over the plains like a rival kingdom. If Mason was

Assembly over me. But I couldn't blame her. I'd broken e

la?" I demanded,

nah do so

know! But the elders are coming. You need to

sembly would strip me of my title as High Sister-i

Mason's arrival had changed everything, stirring a clash of ide

its beam catching a figure crouched by the spring. Mason. His calloused

aking him look like a fallen heir from some forg

" I hissed, stor

n't just

zel eyes locking with m

voice rough, like gravel under

"I saved your life, and you insult our traditions

ou think you're some chosen one, don't you? Foll

thing!" I snapped,

ring of Willow Creek is our heart.

ening. "Maybe I don't. But I d

at my role in the Wi

ade my skin prickle. I hated how his presence invaded my t

attraction the sacred

ged my arm. "Sarah, we need to

rn lights bobbed in the distance. The elders were appro

red spring, they'd call him a traitor and cast him o

Mason, shoving him towa

eyes searching mine. "Wh

he prophecy scroll burned hotter, as if urging me

ter grace making him vanish like a ghost. Lila and I

o a secret heritage. Was he running from Ravenwood, or was

arrived, their robes sweeping the ground. Mother st

cold, "you were seen at the

trayed me fully, her loyalty to th

, my voice steady despite

, as the river

rcy

ctest of the High Ass

ome. The sacred spring glowed crims

phecy scroll pulsed in my pocket, its

ivated, not yet. "It was just the mo

're hiding something, Sarah.

don't know," I said, the lie bitter on my ton

r whispers sharp with suspicion. "

before he defiles ou

re playing with fire, Sarah. The sacred texts warn of a Starborn who b

hought of Mason's calloused hands, his hazel eyes, the shimmer around hi

r said. "The High Assembly w

pped away, heading for the sagebrush where he'd hidden. The night was heav

stood by the Spring of Willow Creek, his silhoue

wing in their hand, its light casting eerie shadows. Mason's

is voice low, "you

den, but their voice was chillingly famil

kened, and the forbid

heat searing through my pocket. Who was t

destiny that would save Wil

tone knows Mason and the forbidden prophecy. Who ar