(Three Months later)
The rain had not abated for three days running.
Rivers of silver mist hung from the forest like cobwebs as Cassie stumbled along the trail, one hand wrapped around her distended belly, the other holding the edge of her sodden cloak. Every step sent shudders of lightning down her spine. It was time—too early, too early, and in the most inadvisable location.
She fell into the glade and the totems and braided ivy trinkets—the den of the ancient healer, camouflaged among the oaks and shrouded in the heavy cloak of ancient power. Smoke poked out of the creak at the apex, and deep under the roots, the earth vibrated with leftover power. Cassie's gasps were shallow.
"I made it," she croaked.
The door groaned open before she could knock.
Larna, the healer, stood in her d
