A breeze scattered across my cheek as the shadow circled the fountain once before moving toward the far side of the courtyard.
I started after it when a voice spoke behind me.
“You shouldn’t follow loose shadows.” The voice was gruff and ancient.
I spun around so fast my cloak tangled around my knees, but I spotted an old man sitting in the recessed doorway of a shuttered shop, wrapped in several layers of gray wool like a mummy. His hands rested on a cane carved with tiny moons, and his eyes were so pale they almost matched the fog.
“I could say the same about strangers hanging out in doorways,” I said.
“You could.” His mouth twitched, and a little laughter fell from his lips. “You don’t belong.”
I shrugged, realizing the shadow had paused. “I’ve been accused of worse things.”
“Academy witch.” His lips pressed together as if to an exclamation point.
I studied him carefully. “Is that what everyone is calling me?”
“That is the polite version.”
“Do I want to know the impolite version?”
“No.”
At least he was honest.
The shadow hovered near the edge of the courtyard, pressed flat against the base of an old stone wall. It waited.
I looked back at the man. “Do you know where it’s going?”
“Yes.”
“Will you tell me?”
“No. But caution is recommended.”
“Because it’s dangerous?”
“Everything here is dangerous. That’s not unique.” His eyes twinkled mischievously in an unsettling way. “But it should be entertaining.”
I sighed and glanced toward the foggy passage ahead. “Then why warn me?”
His gaze drifted to the fountain. “Because once, we warned one another in this village. Before whispers became punishable and hope became contraband.”
The wordhopesettled between us, and I thought back to Legner. Sentenced to the dungeons because he dared to believe in hope, because he’d heard of a village not too far from Shadowick, where knowledge was power, and hope filled the streets.
The old man seemed to read something on my face and leaned forward a little.
“You’ve seen the lower cells.”
I didn’t answer, but that was answer enough.
His fingers tightened on the cane. “Then do not waste what you learned by ignoring what invites you.”
The shadow moved again, slipping through a crack in the far wall, and my pulse quickened.
“What does that mean?” I studied him as I waited for an answer he didn’t give.
The old man looked past me, and his face closed immediately.
