The hedge.
But the shadows slipped through the vines again, twisting their way along the paths my magic had opened.
This time, I didn’t let it happen.
I dug in, the way the roots did, and shoved back hard.
“I’m trying!”
But the vines weren’t listening.
The hedge surged outward again, thicker now, thorns snapping and curling—but the shadows slipped between them as if they belonged there.
My magic felt wrong.
Unsteady.
Like someone else had their hands on the wheel.
Keegan hit the next shadow head-on, his jaws snapping shut with a sound that carried across the clearing. The thing tore apart under the force of it, scattering into ragged pieces of dark that vanished before they hit the ground. His fur was streaked with mud now, sides heaving as he pulled in breath after breath.
Another shadow dropped from the trees.
It came fast.
Too fast.
Keegan never saw it.
“Look out!” Bella shouted.
The shadow slammed into his side and knocked him off his feet. He hit the ground hard, the impact sending leaves and dirt flying.
The whole clearing erupted at once—voices shouting, spells cracking through the air, someone swearing loudly enough that it echoed off the trees.
Something inside me gave way.
Not a quiet crack. Something sharper.
The fear. The frustration. The horrible sense that my own magic had turned into a weapon someone else was holding.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but not to hide from it.
I forced myself to stop looking at the chaos around me and turned my attention inward.
The mark on my shoulder burned, hot and angry, like it had its own pulse. For a second, it almost drowned everything else out.
But beneath it, under the pain and the noise and the shadows tearing through the clearing, I could still feel the magic that belonged to me.
Hedge Magic
Not just the branches I’d thrown into the fight, but the deeper part of it. The roots pushing through dark soil, the slow, steady life of it spreading outward and holding its ground.
It had always been there.
Quiet. Steady. Waiting for me to stop fighting it and remember how to listen.
The shadows were tangled in those roots now.
