“You should go.”
A pressure like invisible silk, pulling taut.The shadows at the windows hissed and recoiled as if burned.Garrat’s gaze snapped to me one last time, eyes gleaming with dark promise.
“This isn’t over,” he said softly.“He’s been patient a long time.You can’t close what’s already torn.”
The darkness folded.
He vanished—not with a bang, not with a flash—with the sickening sensation of something being pulled backward through a hole too small for it.
The room exhaled.
What did he mean byhe’s been patient a long time?Add that to the list of mysteries I was investigating.
Owen staggered as the force holding him released.He caught himself on a shelf, breathing hard, fury carved into every line of his face.He gripped the sword tight in his other hand.
“Piper.”His voice went low.“Are you hurt?”
I looked down at my hands—still shaking, still gripping the sword like it was the only solid thing in the world.
“I don’t think so,” I whispered.“But I—”
My gaze snapped to the grimoire.
The clasp had been disturbed.
Tani drifted closer to the book, her expression suddenly sharp in a way that wasn’t playful at all.
“That book,” she said quietly, “is not a cute antique problem.”
Owen’s jaw flexed.“We know.”
“No,” Tani said, and for once, her voice held something like warning instead of comedy.“You don’t.”
She looked at me—straight through me, like she could see every thread under my skin.
“Guardian grimoires are anchored to bloodlines,” she said.“When Alice’s heir touched it, the book woke.Recognized you.And when a grimoire that old wakes up...”She paused.“It sings across the veil.Like a beacon calling home.”
My stomach dropped.“So anyone listening—”
“Knows exactly where you are,” Tani finished.“And what you are.Alice kept it dormant for decades.You picked it up and rang every bell between here and Faery.”
“That must be why it was hidden in the town archives,” I said.“Alice was protecting me before I ever came back.”
Owen swore under his breath.“And that’s why he came.”
“And why more will follow,” Tani said grimly, “if that door at the tree stays open.The grimoire called.The crossing answered.And now everything on the other side knows there’s a new Guardian in Hickory Hollow.”
My mouth went dry.“How do I close it?”
Owen’s fingers tightened around my elbow.“How do we make it stop?”
Tani’s smile was thin.“You start at the tree.You seal the crossing properly—before it widens.”
Her gaze flicked to the sword in my hand.
She went very still.
“Hey—” She stepped closer, eyes fixed on the blade.“That’s not the Sword of Light.”
