"Then who is?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out."
The crowd shifted, muttering amongst themselves. Tristan could feel the mood balancing on a knife's edge, ready to tip toward violence or reason depending on what happened next.
A crack split the air just then.
Everyone spun toward the sound. The ice coating the fountain in the center of the square had fractured, splitting into geometric patterns that spread outward like a dark spider web. Frost climbed the stone basin, turning white to gray to black in seconds.
The lanterns around the square flickered simultaneously, flames dimming to blue before sputtering back to normal.
An illusion formed in the fountain's spray of a woman's face, dark-haired and silver-eyed, twisted into a smile that held nothing human. It hung there for three heartbeats, staring at the crowd with something like amusement, before dissolving into mist.
Screams. Panic. People scrambling backward, shoving each other in their haste to get away.
Tristan grabbed Maren's arm, pulling her close. "That wasn't you."
"I know." Her voice shook slightly, the first crack in her composure. "But they don't."
The crowd had reformed at a safer distance, fear and anger radiating from every face. Someone was crying. Someone else was praying. The illusion had lasted only seconds, but the damage was done.
"We need to get you out of here," Tristan said, already steering her toward a side street.
"That'll make me look guilty. Like I'm running."
"Staying will make you a target. These people are terrified, and terrified people do stupid things." He kept moving, putting distance between them and the square. "Let me investigate. Talk to witnesses. Find evidence that points to whoever's actually doing this."
They emerged onto a quieter street, away from the crowd but not away from the stares. People watched from windows, fromdoorways, from shadows between buildings. Hollow Oak had always felt cozy to Tristan, a small town that took care of its own. Now it felt claustrophobic, hostile, ready to turn on anything it perceived as threat.
Maren stopped walking, pulling her arm gently from his grip. "I need to get some things from my cottage. Supplies I couldn't bring to the safe house initially."
"I'll come with you."
"No." She shook her head, silver eyes not quite meeting his. "I'm sure you have other things to check on. Witnesses to interview. Evidence to collect. You don't need to babysit me every moment."
"It's not babysitting. It's protection."
"I know. But people are watching, Tristan. Every moment you spend with me makes you look like my defender instead of an objective investigator." She finally met his gaze, something complicated moving behind her eyes. "Right now, my best chance at proving innocence is you finding real evidence. You can't do that if you're following me around."
He hated that she wasn't wrong.
"Your cottage isn't secure anymore. The wards were compromised during the vandalism."
"I'll be quick. In and out, nothing more." She attempted a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I survived two years alone in Hollow Oak. I can manage an hour."
Everything in him rebelled against letting her go alone. The figure in the maelstrom, the twisted presence mimicking her signature, the escalating attacks, it all pointed to someone who wanted her vulnerable, isolated, easy to frame or worse.
But she was right about the optics. Right about his investigation. Right about everything except the cold fear settling in his gut at the thought of her walking away from him.
"One hour," he said finally. "Then I'm coming to find you."
"Fair enough." She started to turn, then paused. "Tristan? Be careful who you trust with what you find. Not everyone on the Council wants the truth."
She walked away, black cloak swirling around her like living shadow. He watched until she disappeared around a corner, his hands clenched at his sides.
Someone was copying her magic. Using her signature as a weapon, turning an entire town against her while hiding behind illusions and manufactured fear.
A spellcaster with knowledge of shadow work, access to her magical signature, and a reason to want her destroyed.
