Page 23 of Hexy Bear
She looked up to find Nico standing beside her stall, his ancient fae features drawn with concern and approval. His armswere full of books again, but these texts radiated protective energy rather than historical significance.
"She needs you," he said without preamble. "The child's power is becoming increasingly unstable without proper guidance. Griff's protective instincts are understandable, but his timing is catastrophically poor."
"Tell me something I don't know," Mara said, securing her most potent healing herbs in spelled containers that would keep them stable during whatever confrontation was approaching. "How bad is it?"
"Bad enough that the protective ward around their house is failing," Nico replied grimly. "Bad enough that other entities are beginning to take notice of a powerful, untrained child who's been separated from her support network. Bad enough that Griff's attempt to protect his family has actually made them more vulnerable than they've ever been."
Mara's hands stilled on her packing as the implications hit her. "Other entities? What kind of other entities?"
"The kind that feed on magical chaos and emotional trauma," Nico said. "The kind that view isolated, frightened children with immense power as opportunities rather than people to be protected."
The temperature around Mara's stall seemed to drop several degrees as her fae heritage responded to the threat assessment with magic that smelled of winter storms and protective fury. "Where is she now?"
"Home, with her father, surrounded by failing defenses and increasing supernatural attention." Nico's expression was grim but determined. "The harvest festival begins in four hours, and the entity that's been manipulating Ruth is planning to use tonight's gathering for some kind of final manifestation. If Tilly's power continues to destabilize, she'll become a beacon for every predatory force in the region."
"Then we stop letting Griff's fear make decisions for all of us," Mara said, shouldering her supply bag with the kind of determination that had carried her through every crisis she'd ever faced. "Tilly needs protection and guidance and stability. I'm going to provide all three, whether her father likes it or not."
"He won't like it," Nico warned.
"I don't care," Mara replied simply. "I care about keeping that little girl safe and helping her understand that love doesn't abandon people just because life gets scary."
As she made her way toward the Cooper house, Mara could feel the magical atmosphere of the town shifting in response to approaching danger. The guardian spirits were becoming more active, their forms visible even in daylight as they took positions around key locations. The founder descendants who remained in town were unconsciously gathering in groups, their inherited instincts recognizing the approach of threats their ancestors had faced before.
But it was the wrongness in the air around Ruth Blackthorne's house that made Mara's blood run cold. The corruption that had been subtle for so long was finally becoming visible, dark energy that twisted around the familiar building like smoke given malevolent purpose.
The entity was preparing for its final move, and tonight's harvest festival was going to become a battleground whether the community was ready for it or not.
The only question was whether they could unite their defenses in time to stand against something that had been planning this moment for centuries, or whether the fear and isolation that had fractured their strongest magical alliance would prove to be the weakness that destroyed them all.
TWELVE
MARA
The harvest festival was in full swing when the shadow beings began screaming.
Mara heard them first, her fae-touched senses picking up the psychic distress calls that the guardian spirits were broadcasting across Mistwhisper Falls like supernatural air raid sirens. She was three blocks from the Cooper house, her arms full of emergency magical supplies and her heart racing with protective determination, when the temperature around her dropped twenty degrees in as many seconds.
"Something's wrong," she whispered to the evening air, her breath misting as autumn warmth gave way to preternatural cold. "Something's very, very wrong."
The festival lights that had been strung between the maple trees began to flicker, their cheerful glow dimming to sickly yellow before failing entirely. The laughter and music that had filled the town square faded into an ominous silence broken only by the sound of wind that carried voices speaking in languages that predated human civilization.
Through the gathering darkness, she could see shapes moving between the buildings with predatory purpose. Not the guardian spirits who had been trying to protect the community,but something else. Something that fed on fear and isolation and the kind of despair that came from believing you had to face cosmic horrors alone.
The entities were converging on the Cooper house.
Mara broke into a run, her herbal magic blazing to life around her fingers as protective instincts overrode every other consideration. Whatever was happening, wherever these new threats were coming from, Tilly was at the center of it. The six-year-old's unstable power was drawing predators like blood in the water, and her father's misguided attempt at protection had left them both vulnerable to forces that specialized in exploiting isolation and fear.
She reached the house just as the front door exploded outward in a shower of splinters and silver light.
Griff stood in the doorway, his bear fully surfaced and his eyes blazing with golden fury as he faced down a small army of shadow creatures that definitely weren't the helpful guardian spirits. These entities were wrong in fundamental ways, their forms constantly shifting between human shapes and something that hurt to look at directly.
"Stay away from my daughter!" he roared, his voice carrying harmonics that made the windows of neighboring houses rattle in their frames.
But even in his bear form, even with five years of single parent desperation fueling his protective rage, he was clearly outnumbered. The shadow creatures circled him with pack tactics, their movements coordinated in ways that suggested a shared intelligence directing their assault.
From inside the house came the sound of Tilly crying, her young voice raised in terror as her magic responded to the supernatural attack with chaotic surges that seemed to crackle with dangerous potential.
"Griff!" Mara called out, her herbal magic lashing out at the nearest shadow creature with vines of green light that wrapped around its form and began the slow process of dissolution. "I'm here!"
