I swept my gaze across the darkening trees, the failing light leeching the color from the area. Nothing moved within the lengthening shadows. The light breeze didn’t stir the branches. All was still and quiet.
That did nothing to shake my certainty. Something lurked in the patches of darkness nestled between the branches in front of me. Something watched and waited.
Chills spread across my flesh.
Slowly I got up and grabbed my books. I didn’t intend to hang around and see what the night would bring. Besides, I had things to do. I needed to attend to those leaves.
Turning, I thought I heard the shimmy of leaves.
I jerked my head back toward the Forbidden Wood and squinted as I peered into the gloom. Whatever it was, it was well hidden.
My nerve snapped. I clutched the books to my chest as though they would protect me—classic bookworm reaction—and hurried home.
I slammed the front door behind me and sucked in a deep breath.
“What’s the matter?” Hannon asked, looking up from his own book in the front room.
“Nothing. Just…” I set my books on the little table by the door and plopped down on the couch next to him. “I got spooked, is all. The Forbidden Wood is messing with my mind.”
“Good. That’ll keep you out of there.”
“I want nothing more than to be kept out of there.”
“The day is dying,” he said, going back to his book.
“In other words, get out of your hair and do something useful?”
“Yes. This is a good part.”
“Where are the kids?”
“With their friends.”
They’d be home soon. The setting sun was curfew for children, no exceptions. Even if a creature didn’t wander out of the Forbidden Wood, there were still the demons that lurked in the village after dark. Since the curse, the night was too dangerous for children.
I peeled myself off the couch and headed outside to tend to the everlass.
Time passed in a series of familiar movements. At some point, Dash brought out a bowl of stew and then hung around, listening as I described what I was doing. Working with plants—this one especially—calmed me in a way I couldn’t describe. I enjoyed the careful finesse it required. The way its properties changed with its environment.
In a few hours, I finally finished my tasks and shoved Dash inside so he could go to bed. This harvest would last for a while, thanks to the strong, healthy plants the leaves had come from. By the time I needed more, my plants would hopefully be thriving in the spring sun.
Glowing golden eyes stared at me from the trees. Terror pounded a steady beat in my body. A roar sliced through my bones while also yanking on my middle.
I jerked awake, snapping my eyes open.
Damn that beast’s glowing eyes. I was sure I dreamed of other things, but the only thing I ever remembered upon waking was those accursed glowing eyes, and now the roar, apparently.
A low, menacing growl curled through the air. Cold flowed through my veins.
Please say I’m still dreaming. Please say I’m still dreaming.
I was afraid to move, to turn my head to the side and look for the source of the noise.
The growl sounded again, deep and low, from the same place.
Right outside my bedroom window.
Dread pierced me, and I sat up slowly, fighting the fear freezing my joints.
This couldn’t be what I thought it was. It couldn’t be. The beast couldn’t pass the boundary of the Forbidden Wood. Or at least that was what people said.
The deep growl sounded for the third time, rolling through the dense night air.
“Finley!” Sable lay on her side facing me. Through the hazy moonlight I could just see her wide eyes. She’d heard it too. It was no dream. This impossible situation was happening in real time.
The moonlight through the window flickered…and then went dark, something enormous blocking the light.
“Goddess help us,” Sable said with a quivering voice. “The beast has come for us.”
“It’s fine. It’s going to be fine.”
How was this possible?
I threw myself down and rolled onto the floor. It might be able to see in the dark, but it shouldn’t be able to see much detail through our shades, even as worn and flimsy as they were.
“Don’t move,” I whispered.
On elbows and knees, I crawled to the rickety dresser in the corner. The light resumed streaming in through the window. The beast had moved on.
I pushed up to standing and grabbed my dagger off the top. A moment later, I hurried to the door and ripped it open.
A scream tore through my throat, cut off quickly by a hand clamped to my mouth. Hannon put a single finger to his lips.