Chapter 1
This was going to be the last halfway warm day of the year, I just knew it. I could feel it in my bones. So instead of heading straight inside the meeting hall to find my grandmother as I was supposed to, I veered instead off towards the bank of the river. It was the best place I'd found so far to sense the magic of the world around me, but soon it would be too cold to sit there for more than a minute or two.
I was early to meet my grandmother anyway, and the sun was going to sink under the western hills soon enough. I could take a moment to bask.
Not that it was warm enough for sunbathing or anything. I was wearing a windbreaker over my hoodie for a reason, and the brisk breeze that had nipped at my cheeks from the minute I had stepped out of my grandmother's cabin was even b
