Ardetia nodded. “If the wrong hands open a dropped stitch, it can unravel more than cloth.”
Before I could ask more, the temperature plunged.
A scrape at the front door.
A shadow pressed against the glass and the window trembled.
Twobble squealed. “It found us! I wasn’t ready! My will isn’t updated!”
Skonk grabbed him. “Quiet! Maybe it can’t hear terror.”
Keegan’s posture shifted into predatory and protective.
Bella bristled, fox form rippling under her skin.
Ardetia’s gaze sharpened like icicles.
The shadows had been waiting.
My eyes steadied on Keegan’s as I let out a slow breath.
But then…
A loud cough rattled through the air followed by someone clearing their throat.
“Should I come back later?”
We blinked.
A tourist wearing a puffy vest, holding a bakery box, while displaying a confused expression peered through the door.
“I saw all of you tumble inside and thought maybe there was a class,” the stranger continued.
My chest unfurled as my shoulders relaxed, and Twobble pressed his hand dramatically to his chest. “We almost died because of a woman dressed as a marshmallow.”
“Hello in there?” she called again.
Stella, rarely rattled, glared toward the woman. “We are closed. Please go away.”
“It’s six a.m.,” the stranger continued.
“Precisely,” Stella said. “Too early for wool.”
The tourist blinked, then walked off, muttering something under her breath.
“Let’s get back to business,” Twobble grumbled. “I need to get out of here ASAP after that. My goblin heart is not meant for such shenanigans.”
“You mean tourists?” Keegan teased.
“Exactly.”
Nova touched Luna’s stitched message. “Maeve… you don’t know where she means.”
I blinked. “I don’t, not really. I was thinking maybe one of our Wards or…”
“No.” Nova closed her eyes, listening to the magic. “She’s pointing us to the Glacial Hollow Forest.”
The room stilled.
