“If you won’t tell me, then fine. I’ll die finding the answers myself.”
“Sanora.” His voice wrapped around my name with a quiet warning.
“All you ever say is that The Crater’s dangerous, but you never say why. Do you really think that’s going to stop me?” I threw my arms up. “If anything, the word dangerous just makes me want to get even closer and see exactly how bad it is.”
“Sanora.” He sighed it this time, tired.
I stood up, heat rising in my chest. “Never mind. I’ll go again and figure things out on my own.”
That caught him. He jerked forward, his entire posture changing. “Goagain?” His voice darkened, eyes narrowing. “You went near The Crater?”
I stared him down, jaw clenched, like I was daring him to reprimand me.
“What made you turn back?” he asked.
I crossed my arms. “I think you already know.”
He ran a hand through his grey hair, looking around the shop like the walls had ears. When he finally spoke, his voice had dipped an octave lower. “Humans can’t near that Crater.”
My chest tightened. I kind of figured that out myself earlier.
“You’ve never read about anyone reaching it because no one ever does. The ones who tried never came back. They froze to death long before they could get close. Birds can’t fly over it—whatever energy it emits kills them mid-flight. No animals, no humans. You’re lucky you turned back when you did, Sanora”
I would’ve died.
The hope drained from me like someone had kicked it out of my ribs. I’d spent years imagining the day I’d finally see The Crater upclose, imagining how massive and otherworldly it must look in person. I wanted to stand at the edge of something legendary and...ancient.
I didn’t know for what reason aside from my weird interest, but the need to get close to it haunted my sleep sometimes.
“The Crater is an epicentre of tragedy,” Weeny Man continued. “It is the scar of the moon and most believed to be the resting place of the Moon Queen’s final child. I wouldn’t go near it if I were you. People don’t go there anymore.”
I looked at him carefully, letting the next words slip out. “People still do. I saw someone there yesterday.”
His expression changed instantly, his shoulders pulling back. “Who?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. A strange man.”
He stood suddenly, the air around us shifting. I instinctively stepped back, thrown by the urgency in his movements.
“What man?” he demanded. “Tell me everything about him.”
“Uh…tall. He—he didn’t look like a local. He was in black from head to toe. He was dressed for the cold weather, but he didn’t look quite cold.” I frowned. “Why?”
Weeny Man’s jaw tensed. He turned his back to me, running both hands over his head, fingers dragging through grey strands like he was trying to wring out a nightmare. When he turned again, his face was pale beneath the warm flush of age. “Did he touch you?”
“No.” The answer came quickly. I didn’t even have to think. “No, he didn’t come close. He stood very far and said weird things. Called me stupid for attempting to go near The Crater.”
“Do you still have the medallion I gave you? The one from when you were ten?”
I nodded, blinking at the question. “Yeah. For protection, right?”
“Has it ever burned?”
My eyes widened. “How did you know?”
He moved past me, muttering under his breath, steps uneven like his thoughts were tumbling faster than his body could keep up. At the counter, he rummaged through a drawer with trembling hands. “Sanora, when? How many times?”
“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice rising.
