Varion’s posture changed so suddenly that my heart stuttered. His eyes sharpened, scanning the trees like he’d heard something I hadn’t. Then his voice dropped, low and commanding as he stood upright.
“Stay here. Don’t move!”
Before I could even open my mouth to ask what was happening, he was gone—vanished into the blur of motion only he and his kind seemed capable of. The silence that followed was thick, unnatural. The water of the stream no longer burbled cheerfully, the breeze stilled, even the birds had fallen mute. It was as though someone had pressed pause on the entire world, leaving only me in motion.
And that was when I saw it.
Across the stream stood a figure, draped in a black, hooded cloak that seemed to drink in the light rather than reflect it like all other things I h
