That same prickling awareness.
Someone nearby.
I turned slowly.
“Hello?”
Nothing answered.
Just wind shifting the leaves.
Twobble lowered his voice.
“This,” he said nervously, “is exactly how goblin cautionary tales start.”
Skonk perked up.
“Do those stories involve snacks?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
I took another step, and the air shifted.
It wasn’t dark magic, and it wasn’t threatening either.
Just… there.
Like someone standing just out of sight.
Then a man’s voice carried through the trees.
“Maeve.”
Everything in me went still.
Twobble’s ears popped straight up.
Skonk blinked slowly.
I didn’t move.
The voice was familiar enough to make my heart stumble.
For a split second, my mind jumped to the obvious.
Gideon.
“Maeve.”
The voice came again from deeper in the woods.
But it wasn’t Gideon.
The tone was different. The weight behind it.
Older.
