Page 90 of Magical Mission
The Ward behind me pulsed softly.
I took a single step forward. “You don’t belong inside the Hedge.”
Still no reply.
The longer I looked, the less sure I was aboutwhatI was seeing. The cloak was mottled, like bark and shadow stitched together. I couldn’t make out a face, only the shape of it in a veiled shade of confusion despite the full light of the afternoon.
Another breeze rolled through that rattled the vines.
And still, they didn’t move.
I didn’t like the weight settling into my stomach. It didn’t feel like fear, exactly, more like… recognition.
Which was far more unsettling.
Something about the way the figure stood told me they’d been waiting for me, not following
My fingers itched. I didn’t reach for magic. Not yet. This moment didn’t feel like a fight.
But it didn’t feel like a blessing either.
I tried again. “You’re trespassing. That Ward is closed to non-students.”
Nothing.
And then, finally, they raised a hand and pointed, no fingers…just shadow and shape to guide me.
It wasn’t at the Academy or at the path, but at theHedge.
My mouth went dry.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
The vision I’d just seen, with the flickering image of the circle bending, the shadow in its wake, the future I didn’t want to believe, rose again in my mind.
Is that what you’re here for?
I didn’t ask it aloud.
Because somehow, I already knew the answer.
And they…knewI knew.
The pointing hand dropped slowly and deliberately.
And then they turned.
The gesture wasn’t made in haste, nor did it seem like they feared being stopped.
In fact, it was as if they had nothing to fear at all.
The figure stepped once, twice, and then faded, not into the woods, not behind trees, but into the Hedge itself.
The vines didn’t move. The moss didn’t stir.
They were simplygone.
I didn’t breathe for a long moment.
