Chapter Thirty-One #2
And not in the dramatic, poetic sense either.
I missed stupid little things like Stella threatening customers with magic who insulted her tea, the tourists getting an absolute delight out of it, or Nova pretending not to know anything while clearly knowing everything.
And oh, how I missed the Academy’s floors thrumming under my feet and Keegan leaning against doorframes looking at me like I was both a problem and a miracle every time I entered the room.
Most of all, I missed Celeste, and the ache hit so hard I nearly stopped walking.
Barlen glanced back. “Do not linger. It always brings trouble.”
“Why?”
“The hills remember, and the shadows remember even more.”
“Like what?”
He hesitated long enough that I knew he regretted speaking. “Things buried…things unnoticed.”
The fog thickened as we continued downward until the compound vanished entirely behind us. Ahead, dark shapes slowly emerged through the mist.
Buildings came into view, the things that should make Shadowick lively and bustling.
My pulse quickened despite myself. It wasn’t that it was exhilarating or that I didn’t know what to expect.
It was quite the opposite. I remembered the forced silence that coated everything and lingered long after I left.
It was like dealing with someone who had a bad day and was determined to make everyone feel it as well, long after they’d left the room.
Narrow buildings leaned toward one another over cramped streets. And like always, their windows were covered with heavy curtains.
It didn’t matter if it was homes or stores; everything looked hidden but not abandoned. People moved through the streets quietly. Cloaked figures slipped through fog with heads lowered. Shop signs creaked overhead in the wind, though most storefronts appeared closed.
They weren’t boarded up, merely locked as if the residents knew that trouble was always around the corner.
I spotted a woman carrying a basket. She glanced at me once before hurrying away so quickly that apples spilled from the cloth lining. Something told me they weren’t the apples I was used to eating.
“She didn’t stop to gather them,” I told Barlen.
“Nope.”
A child standing in a doorway stared openly at me until an older man pulled him back inside and shut the door with the click of a lock.
My stomach twisted.
“They’re afraid.” I shook my head. “Of me.”
Barlen scurried faster beside me. “Shadowick survives because people are careful. It’s not you they’re terrified of. It’s the Priestess.”
“But she’s not here.”
“Her people are.” He looked up at me. “There are eyes and ears everywhere.”
I slowed near a bakery window fogged with steam. I looked through the glass and was surprised to see baskets of rye and dinner rolls. There was a woman inside peeking over the counter, but once she spotted me, she immediately turned away.
My shadow mark burned softly beneath my clothes as I spotted a group of men huddled on the corner. They glanced at me and tightened their circle as they spoke in whispers.
“What are they saying about me?” I asked quietly.
Barlen made a nervous little sound. “Nothing.”
I laughed quietly. “That’s another lie.”
“They know who you are.” He turned and stopped.
“And who is that exactly?” I asked, glancing back at the men.
“You’re the Academy witch.”
I wasn’t Maeve, a mother, or a Headmistress. I was simply the Academy witch. I suppose it was easier to make an enemy of someone without personal characteristics, family, and quirky traits.
A cart rattled past us, pulled by a creature that resembled a horse if horses occasionally had glowing white eyes and breathed smoke through their nostrils. The driver never looked directly at me, but I caught the symbol stitched onto his sleeve.
A root with a shadow. Everything fed downward.
My gaze drifted over the village again as I watched the shops locked too tightly and the people whispering behind curtains and street corners.
This was how you planted the seed of distrust and fed the fear that kept the roots burning alive and well as fear pressed into every crack of Shadowick so thoroughly it had become strength.
But I could feel something just beneath it… a movement or pressure.
There was a strange, restless current that reminded me of the Academy right before something important happened.
Hope possibly?
Shadowick was churning.
That was the only word for it. Ideas were tumbling silently in people’s minds. Connections were being made when the answers didn’t make sense. It took time, but eventually, when the walls crumbled down around them enough…they just might choose something different.
We were still standing on the sidewalk when I let out a deep breath.
“What keeps it going?” I murmured more to myself than anything.
Barlen’s ears flattened instantly. “Do not ask that.”
“Why?”
“Because people disappear after asking questions like that.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to frighten you.” The little creature was scared. I could see it in his eyes and his quick movements.
“Barlen.”
His whiskers twitched anxiously.
“What else is Shadowick afraid of?”
Before he could answer, something moved in the alley beside us.
It wasn’t a person this time. It was a shadow. It slid across the stones unnaturally fast before vanishing beneath a doorway, but it was unlike the others.
And that intrigued me more than anything.
Barlen grabbed my sleeve with surprising strength.
“We should go.”
But all I wanted to do was stay.