Slipping out the back door while Lucas was preoccupied, her boot laces flapping dangerously through the icy slush, June darted into the shadowed streets of Stonebridge, her heart racing.

  “You’re a real piece of work, June Morgan,” she berated herself. “Way to alienate the man who just saved your life.”

  Shadows clung to the narrow alleyways as June made her escape. The cold air nipped at her exposed skin, but she ignored it, focusing on the silent incantation to keep her core temperature stable.

  Guilt gnawed at her. She’d left him there with nothing but questions, and now he’d think she was totally mad for running away. Would he ever understand why she had to be so secretive? Probably not, knowing Lucas.

  “Get it together,” she whispered, her breath forming a frosty plume in the air. “You can’t keep running.”

  But run she did, slipping through the streets like a ghost, dodging the pools of light that spilled from street lamps.

  Maybe there was no right choice. Maybe whatever haunted Stonebridge would catch up with her first, then she wouldn’t have to worry about it.

  A shiver ran through her—not from the cold, but from the realisation that, despite the risks, she’d have to confront what lay beneath the lake’s icy surface.

  Is he right? The question tumbled through her mind like a helpless pebble in a washing machine. Do I have to leave The Corner—leave everything—behind?

  It was no use. Her magic would refuse to stay concealed much longer and, with the darkness threatening the town, it’d become even harder. How much longer could she tell lies and half-truths to everyone she cared about? How much longer before they became targets…again?

  “Elaine will know a way,” June told herself as she reached the charity shop. Her latest teacher had mastered the elements, so she’d have a spell, an incantation, something to help her part the water and find the source of the malevolence that’d attacked the market.

  June quickened her pace, pushing into the stairwell, and clattered up to the first floor, her sodden coat heavy in her arms.

  She pressed an icy palm against the door, her heartbeat thrumming in her ears. A flicker of memory cut through the silence—her mother, bending over an ancient grimoire, a soft whisper as she breathed life into her spells. June sucked in a breath, banishing the painful memory.

  First, she had to get changed, then she’d find Elaine. Crossing through the dim, cluttered space, she made her way to her makeshift wardrobe—which was her open suitcase—bordered by a stack of worn-out books and discarded clothes. Pulling off her damp clothing with trembling fingers, she threw them into the pile with an exasperated sigh.

  June shivered, wrapping herself in Lucas’ flannel shirt. She’d made another mess, and like a broken record, she’d gone out looking for trouble…alone. Well, she’d found it and more, that was for sure.

  Her heart leapt into her throat as a frantic knocking hammered at her door. Clutching Lucas’ shirt around her, she listened.

  “June?” Harriet’s voice was muffled, but her panic was unmistakable. “June, are you there?”

  Shoving her wet hair out of her face, June padded across her flat barefoot to open the door, her heart pounding in sync with the frantic knocking. She peered around the door and found Harriet with wind-tousled hair and wide, anxious eyes.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” her friend raged, pushing past, wielding her crutches like twin swords. “Falling into a frozen lake! And running off! Lucas is beside himself with worry!”

  “I’m fine, Harriet.” June tried to keep the tremor from her voice, avoiding her friend’s worried gaze.

  “Fine? Fine!” Harriet waved a crutch in the air and hopped precariously around the cluttered room. “You almost died, June! You better start explaining.”

  Chapter 16

  The door to June’s flat swung open and Harriet barged in, her crutches clacking on the uneven floorboards.

  “What on earth happened?” Her voice was sharp, each word slicing through the quiet of the room like the icy water that June had almost drowned in. “Lucas called me, freaking out after you disappeared from The Corner. He pulled you out of the lake and you just ran off?”

  June stood motionless by the door, the cold air from the stairwell washing over her. She felt trapped, the weight of her secret pressing against her chest as she turned to face Harriet.

  “Are you okay?” Harriet went on. “How long were you under? Shouldn’t you have hypothermia? What about the hospital? Shouldn’t you go?”

  “Harriet, I’m fine,” June began. She could feel the truth squirming inside her, begging for release, but fear clamped down on her words. Fear of the unknown darkness that seemed tethered to her, and fear of endangering both Harriet and Lucas again.

  “Then what’s going on?” Harriet insisted, hopping closer. “Why would you run from someone who just pulled you from a frozen lake? It doesn’t add up and I’m worried sick. You’ve been acting strange since you went to see where your parents died. In fact, before that.”

  June’s hands trembled slightly as she clasped them in front of her. The room seemed to close in around her, the walls whispering tales of warning from witches who came before, their legacies both a gift and a curse. “I can’t…” she started, her eyes darting away. “I just can’t explain right now.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” Harriet’s voice rose, edged with hurt.

  “Please, just trust me.”

  “Trust goes both ways, June. And right now, it feels like you’ve shut me out completely.” Her blunt truth cut deep. “I want to help you, but you’re not letting me. You say you want to be friends, but I’m starting to wonder if we can really go back to what we had before you left. We’re both very different people now.”

  June knew they’d reached an impasse—the path forward was shrouded in shadows, her every step rife with catastrophe.

  “It’s not that simple,” June whispered. She dared to look up, finding Harriet’s warm eyes filled with concern and confusion. It stirred an ache in her heart, a harsh reminder of how much their friendship meant to her. “I’m sorry. There are things about my past, about who I am, that are dangerous. I’m trying to protect you.”

  “Protect me?” Harriet’s expression softened for a moment, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a stubborn glare. She leaned against the wall, holding her injured ankle away from the floor. “I don’t need protection from my best friend, June. I need honesty.”

  June closed her eyes, wrestling with the urge to confess everything and the instinct to shield Harriet from the darkness at the bottom of the lake. But she couldn’t, otherwise everything they’d been through with the shadow entity from the secret room in Fortune’s Books would all be for nothing.

  “Harriet,” June said finally, opening her eyes to meet her friend’s gaze, “you have to believe that there’s a reason for my actions. I’m begging you to be patient with me.”

  “Patience? June, I’ve been patient! Ever since you came back to Stonebridge, it’s been one crisis after another, and every time you shut me out. How much longer do you expect me to wait?”

  June’s hands trembled as she clasped them together, fighting the swell of magic that begged for release.

  “Something’s not right with you,” Harriet went on, her eyes searching June’s face for a clue, any sign of the friend she once knew. “You disappear into the night, you avoid questions, and now this…this accident with Lucas? He went out on that ice, risking his life! You owe him an explanation.”

  “Harriet, please⁠—”

  “No!” Harriet cut her off, her voice rising in frustration. “If you won’t tell me what’s going on, then maybe we shouldn’t⁠—”

  “No!” June’s cry echoed through the flat. “You think I don’t want to tell you? That I enjoy lying to my best friend?”

  “Then why do you keep doing it?” Harriet’s anger mirrored June’s. “Why push me away when all I’ve done is try to help you?”

  “Because it’s not just about us!” June’s voice broke. “There are forces at play here. Things you can’t understand. Things that could hurt you.”

  “June…” Harriet faltered. “What are you talking about?”

  “Things I can’t explain,” June said softly, her gaze dropping to the floor. “Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

  This is it then, she thought. How can I explain myself now? I’m backed into a corner…

  “I have been there for you through everything,” Harriet’s voice was trembling now. “When your parents committed suicide, I would’ve done anything to help you, but you ran away. I know it’s selfish, but I felt like you threw me away. You were hurting, but you never thought about me once and now you’re doing the same thing to Lucas. You’re doing it to me again. You don’t deserve him…or me.”

  June stared at Harriet, frozen to the spot, tears welling in her eyes. Alistair and Elaine had both tried to tell her in their own ways, that trying to have a life outside of magic was near-impossible, but did she listen? No. Stubbornness had led her here, and if she didn’t stop it now…

  She swallowed her tears and made the choice she should’ve made weeks ago. It was time to end her silly charade before it cost innocent people their lives.

  “June,” Harriet snapped. “You need help. Professional help.”

  “You’re right,” she said, forcing all emotion out of her voice. “We are different people. What happened to my parents changed me in ways I never saw coming. If you can’t take me as I am—damaged, closed, and secretive—then maybe this should be it. I’m not going to change.”

  Harriet’s eyes widened, her lips parted as if trying to form words that were suddenly lost to her. For a moment, the room was filled only with the stark emptiness of silence hanging heavily between them. And then Harriet swallowed, bracing herself against the chill reality of June’s words.

  “Then maybe I was wrong about you,” Harriet said, voice thick with hurt. “Maybe Lucas was right to be cautious. Maybe the June I knew never came back from wherever she’s been hiding all these years.”

  June’s chest tightened, making her next breath a battle. “Maybe he was. You should go, Harriet. For your own good.”

  “Fine.” Harriet’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears, but her voice was steady. “Goodbye, June. I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for. I truly do.”

  With those final, cutting words, Harriet turned and left, slamming the door closed behind her.

  June slumped against the wall, drawing in ragged breaths, trying to convince herself that this was for the best. She had to believe that isolating herself was better than seeing her world, with all its problems, consume those she loved.

  A pang of sorrow gnawed at her insides, sharp as glass as she listened to Harriet’s crutches clack as she went down the stairs. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. But the truth remained—secrets and lies were her only companions now.

  She drifted to the window, watching the streetlights flicker below, casting eerie patterns against the mundane reality of Stonebridge. Temporary fencing had been placed around the remains of the Christmas market, which had been stripped of decorations.

  “Stupid,” she murmured, pressing her forehead against the cool glass.

  The reflection staring back at her seemed to be a stranger—pale, haunted eyes that held too many secrets, lips set in a hard line from saying things that could never be taken back. Was this the future she was doomed to—one where her own reflection offered the only companionship?

  No, for now she had the coven and an unknown power at the bottom of the frozen lake to contend with. One day this would be all over, and she’d find a way to make everything right again.

  She sighed, drawing in the clammy night air as it seeped in through the slightly ajar window, her breath fogging up the glass.

  It was time to go see Elaine.

  June turned from the window, her determination calming the gnawing loss in her heart. She couldn’t afford to wallow in self-pity—not while danger threatened her town.

  Dressing in a change of dry clothes, June set aside Lucas’ flannel shirt with a heavy heart. Then she snatched up her coat, the lake water absorbed by a trick of elemental magic, and threw it on. Rushing into the stairwell, she locked the door behind her, the click resounding with a hollow finality. There was no turning back now.

  She clattered down the stairs and stepped out into the night air, Stonebridge’s usual noises muffled by a creeping fog that swirled around her ankles.

  It was time to fight. For Stonebridge. For her friends. And for herself.

  Underneath the moon’s pallid gaze, the frozen lake lay shrouded in silence, its surface a mirror to the clear sky above. But beneath the glassy stillness, something ancient and malevolent shifted in the dark waters, a stirring that’d not been felt in centuries.

  The witch’s plunge had sent ripples through realms seen and unseen, reaching into the deep where it slumbered. Now, it woke, drawn upward by an undeniable pull toward the one who had disturbed its rest.

  A web of fractures danced across the ice above, whispering of a thaw brought forth not by nature, but by an awakening hunger below.

  A darkened mass ascended through the lake’s depths, formless and massive, its essence dissolving and reshaping as it headed for the thinning ice crust. The surrounding water churned and frothed, as if recoiling from the darkness at its heart. Shadowy tendrils spiralled up like smoke, yearning for the world of light and life above…and a taste of the magic that’d spoken to it in its dreams.

  The entity, nameless and forgotten, sensed the latent power that coursed through the world, a power that echoed the arcane might it once bore. With every passing moment, it gained substance, drawing from the witch’s memory like a leech.

  A subtle shift vibrated through the water, fanning outward until it hit the ice sheet above…and began to weaken. A network of fissures branched out, the ice singing a song laced with evil intent.

  Shadows within shadows writhed, tendrils of gloom that sought escape from their watery prison, twirled and twisted, straining toward that which they craved most—the warmth of life, the spark of energy that hummed within every living being above.

  Above the surface, the people of Stonebridge went about their evenings, blissfully ignorant of the darkness blooming beneath them.

  Lucas Burger wiped down the counter inside his café, his brows furrowed as he caught a peculiar scent. Not the usual fragrance of a winter, but something older, mustier—like damp earth after a storm. He shrugged it off as just another quirk of nature, turning to serve a customer, silently reminding himself to get someone to cover June’s shifts. She wasn’t coming back.

  Nearby, Harriet Fortune chattered excitedly to a customer about the latest bestseller, her hands animated as she described the plot. Even though her heart was heavy and her twisted ankle throbbed, she was trying to move on. Promptly, it seemed.

  Alistair Blackthorn stood motionless inside his apothecary, his gaze fixed on nothing in particular. A frown etched into his weathered features as he sensed an unease he couldn’t quite place. It was as if the very air had thickened, charged with anticipation. Something was awry—something beyond the ordinary ebb and flow of magic that permeated Stonebridge.

  In her garden, Elaine Parker hummed a tuneless melody, her fingers tracing patterns in the snow that covered her vegetable patch. The vibrant hues of her skirts clashed against the grey of the impending threat. She paused mid-hum, the earth’s whispers reaching her ears—a warning of unrest.

  And in the heart of the town, Mirabel walked with purpose, her silver hair catching the light like strands of moonbeam. She felt the shift deep within her bones—a silent alarm that rang clear only to those aware of the ancient rhythms of the world. The matriarch knew that secrets long buried were surfacing, threatening to pull them all under.

  And inside the town hall, Mayor Samuel Hayes, ever the picture of composure, bent over the repair bill from the fire at the markets, pen in hand. But behind his placid exterior, his mind raced, tallying up contingencies for a disaster he couldn’t yet define.

  The entity swelled with newfound enthusiasm, feeding off the collective unconscious, and the fears and dreams of the people above. It pressed against the thinning barrier, eager to break free and reclaim the dominion it once held before time and legend stripped it away to mere whispers in the dark.

  Soon, the life that clung to nature itself would realise that some shadows, no matter how deep they were buried, always found their way back to the light.

  Chapter 17

  Snowflakes danced around June as she wove through the silent streets of Stonebridge, her boots pressing impressions into the freshly fallen snow. Each breath was a struggle as she fought back tears. Harriet’s bewildered face and hurt voice echoed in her mind, as did her argument with Lucas. But her plunge into the lake, and what she’d seen underneath the water, overshadowed her broken heart.

  The chill gripped her, yet she quickened her pace. The lake’s dark secret gnawed at her—it was as if the tendrils of that submerged power had entwined with her thoughts, demanding attention.

  Elaine’s cottage emerged from the mist, its windows glowing with warm light, a haven from the cold and the weight of the unseen eyes that seemed to follow her every step.

  June’s hand hesitated on the old iron gate leading to the cottage before pushing it open with a resounding creak. She hurried up the path and rapped on the door, her gaze moving back over her shoulder. The street behind her lay empty and dark, the mist cloaking the orange glow from the lights.

  Elaine opened the door almost immediately, her wild curls pegged up in a messy bun. “June?” Her skirts swished as she moved forward, peering at her with eyes that missed nothing. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s…uh. Well, it’s been a day,” June replied, her words trailing off as she scanned the room behind the older witch, half-expecting shadows to shift into threatening shapes. They didn’t, but the sensation of being watched persisted.

 

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