Sight Unseen
Prologue
On nights when nature defies its own rules, magic is most potent. The perfect time to find what she needs.
Armed with a worn leather foraging bag and a sharpening knife, Veda walks the old forest’s twisted paths, ready for whatever lies in wait.
Ducking under low-hanging branches, she dodges bushes and trees, stepping over fallen boughs with the ease of years spent foraging.
Veda doesn’t stop until echoes of her destination graze her awareness.
After one final cut through thick foliage, the sound of the river’s current spills through.
Veda emerges, exposed to the sky. The blue moon remains veiled behind clouds, casting an ethereal glow.
Beneath riverbank rocks, luminescent moss flourishes. Using her knife, Veda digs out only what she needs and places it into a small black pouch. Foraging is a twofold pursuit: It keeps the school’s supply closet full of otherwise expensive ingredients and satisfies Veda’s joy for the hunt.
She retrieves a lantern from her bag and whispers, “Lux.”
The Cosmos demand payment for every spell cast, and Mages’ currency is physical pain and suffering—a price many pay willingly. But Veda is lucky. The eye-shaped sapphire amulet around her neck glows, absorbing the cost as the lantern floats ahead, illuminating the path.
What has been lurking in the darkness turns her bones to ice.
Bloodred spider lilies aren’t native to Washington state, nor are they in season, yet they are in full bloom as far as she can see.
Relief floods her veins when the flowers don’t catch fire, but it does little to ease her fear.
She tries to outwalk the prickly unease, heading downstream across slippery rocks, but anxiety clings to her like a vise.
A sudden storm of stirring winds and rumbling thunder charges the air like static fire.
Veda searches for a path, a way home; the ticking seconds echo the rhythm of her heart.
The sky opens, and rain turns dirt to mud, unearthing the sediments of her past. Taking root, fear blooms into petals of panic, driving Veda to run.
Thin branches sting her face, but she doesn’t stop until the downpour suddenly eases.
Moonlight finds her between the thinning raindrops, pushing away the darkness and revealing not only the path home but the flowers that followed her. Bloodred, and too close for comfort.
Trouble.