Page 4

THREE

MARA

T illy was finger-painting with shadows.

Mara discovered this unsettling fact when she arrived at the Cooper house the next morning, her arms full of carefully selected herbs and her mind buzzing with lesson plans for helping a six-year-old learn magical control.

She'd spent most of the night researching grounding techniques for children with multiple magical influences, cross-referencing her grandmother's journals with modern theories about supernatural education.

Deep down, she was also looking forward to seeing Griff again, her fae magic and heart buzzing under her skin. She told herself that she had to take this slow.

What she hadn't prepared for was finding her new student sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, her small hands moving through the air as if manipulating invisible clay while actual shadows danced and swirled around her fingers like living things.

"Good morning, Miss Mara," Tilly said without looking up from her work. "The shadow friends want to show you something, but Daddy says they're not real friends and I shouldn't talk to them."

Griff emerged from the kitchen carrying two cups of coffee, his expression hovering somewhere between exhaustion and barely controlled panic. He'd clearly been up all night, his dark hair more disheveled than usual and his brown eyes shadowed with worry.

"It started about an hour ago," he said, handing Mara one of the mugs with hands that trembled slightly. "She woke up talking about 'messages' and 'warnings,' and then... this."

He gestured helplessly at his daughter, who was now coaxing the shadows into forming what looked like crude stick figures.

The figures moved with their own volition, acting out some sort of scene that involved a lot of dramatic gesturing and what appeared to be running away from something much larger and more threatening.

"They're not trying to hurt anyone," Tilly said, finally looking up with eyes that held far too much ancient knowledge for someone who still needed help tying her shoes.

"They're trying to warn us. But they can't talk the normal way because they're not alive anymore.

They're just... pieces of people who used to be alive, and they're really, really scared. "

Mara set down her coffee and crouched beside Tilly, studying the shadow figures with her enhanced senses.

What she felt made her breath catch in her throat.

The entities weren't malevolent or chaotic.

They were desperate, their essence fractured and incomplete but driven by what felt like protective instincts.

"What are they trying to warn us about, sweetheart?" Mara asked gently.

The shadow figures suddenly moved faster, their stick-like forms clustering together as if seeking protection. Then they pointed toward the window that faced the forest preserve, their movements urgent and unmistakably fearful.

"Something bad is coming," Tilly whispered. "Something that hurt them and turned them into pieces. And it wants to hurt more people, but especially people like us. People with the old magic in their blood."

Before Mara could ask what she meant by "old magic," the front door burst open without warning.

Griff spun toward the entrance, his bear surging close to the surface as protective instincts flared, but relaxed slightly when he saw Leo Maddox striding into the house with the purposeful energy of someone dealing with an escalating crisis.

"We've got a problem," Leo announced without preamble, then stopped short when he noticed the shadow figures still dancing around Tilly's hands. "Well, that's new."

"Leo," Griff said, his voice carefully controlled. "Meet our supernatural complications."

"The shadow friends aren't complications," Tilly protested. "They're trying to help. But something's making them scared to get too close during the day. They're stronger at night, but even then they can't stay very long because the bad thing is looking for them."

Leo's golden eyes sharpened as he studied the entities with the focus of someone trained to assess supernatural threats. "Dr. Thorne is going to want to see this. We called Aerin in from the research facility as soon as the readings from the sanctuary got worse."

"Worse how?" Mara asked, though she suspected she didn't want to hear the answer.

"The disturbance is spreading," Leo said grimly.

"What started as localized magical chaos in the eastern quadrant is now affecting nearly half the preserve.

Trees aren't just growing wrong anymore, they're actively hostile.

And something's been leaving symbols burned into the ground, forming patterns that Dr. Vasquez says match pre-Columbian binding rituals. "

At the mention of symbols, the shadow figures became agitated, their forms wavering between terror and urgency. One of them broke away from the group and moved toward Leo, gesturing frantically at something only it could see.

"It wants to show you something," Tilly translated, her young face creased with concentration. "Something about the burned pictures. It says you need to see them before the pretty lady makes them all disappear."

"The pretty lady?" Leo's voice sharpened. "What pretty lady?"

"The one from my dreams," Tilly said matter-of-factly. "She has dark hair and star eyes and shadows that follow her around like pets. She says she's been waiting a really long time for all the right people to be in the same place, and now she can finally wake up properly."

Mara felt ice form in her veins. The description was almost identical to the entity that had terrorized Boston's supernatural community, the one whose influence had slowly corrupted her protective wards until they shattered completely.

"Leo," she said urgently, "I think we need to call that meeting sooner rather than later. And we might want to consider the possibility that what we're dealing with is connected to the supernatural attacks that have been happening in other cities."

Before Leo could respond, the air in the living room suddenly grew thick with magical pressure.

The shadow figures scattered like startled birds, their forms dissolving into wisps of darkness that fled toward every part of the room.

Tilly gasped and pressed closer to Mara, her small body trembling as her own magic reacted to whatever force had just made its presence known.

"Someone's coming," she whispered. "Someone really, really old."

The front door, which Leo had left open in his haste, suddenly filled with a figure that made everyone in the room go still with recognition and surprise.

Nico Beaumont stepped across the threshold, but this wasn't the casual, eternally amused fae who ran the town's bookstore with charming efficiency.

This version of Nico looked like he'd aged a decade in the seven months since anyone had seen him, his usually pristine appearance replaced by travel-stained clothes and the kind of bone-deep exhaustion that spoke of weeks spent in dangerous places doing dangerous things.

His arms were full of ancient texts that practically vibrated with their own magical energy, and his pale eyes held the hollow intensity of someone who'd discovered truths they'd rather not know.

"Well," he said, his cultured voice rough with fatigue. "It seems I've returned just in time for the family reunion."

"Nico," Griff said, rising from his protective crouch beside Tilly. "Where the hell have you been? The whole town's been wondering if you'd disappeared into whatever fae realm you came from."

"Research," Nico said simply, setting his burden of books on the coffee table with reverent care.

"Seven months of very thorough, very dangerous research into questions that I should have asked decades ago.

" His gaze moved around the room, taking in the lingering traces of shadow magic, Mara's obvious magical signature, and Tilly's wide-eyed stare.

"Questions about bloodlines and destiny and the reasons why certain families keep finding themselves drawn to this particular town at this particular time. "

He looked directly at Tilly, and something in his expression made Mara's protective instincts flare. "Hello, little one. You've grown quite powerful since I last saw you."

"You're the book man," Tilly said, tilting her head with the bird-like curiosity that marked her fae heritage showing through. "Mr. Gruff says you smell like old magic and secrets."

"Mr. Gruff is very perceptive for a stuffed animal," Nico said, a ghost of his old humor flickering in his eyes. "And he's not wrong about the secrets, I'm afraid."

"What kind of secrets?" Leo demanded, his law enforcement instincts clearly triggered by Nico's dramatic reappearance and cryptic comments.

Nico opened one of the ancient texts, revealing pages covered in diagrams and genealogical charts that looked like they'd been compiled by someone with access to records that officially didn't exist. "The kind that explain why Griff's daughter carries magic from different founder bloodlines when that should be genetically impossible.

The kind that explain why a certain herbal witch with Beaumont fae ancestry was drawn to this town at exactly the moment when her particular talents would be most needed. "

Mara's heart stopped. "What did you just say?"

"Your great-great-grandmother," Nico said, his attention focused entirely on her now. "Eloise Beaumont Voss. She wasn't just connected to the old bloodlines, Mara. She was my sister."

The words hit the room like a physical blow. Griff stepped protectively closer to both Mara and Tilly, his bear rising in response to what he clearly perceived as a potential threat. Leo's hand moved to his weapon, though they all knew conventional firearms were useless against fae magic.

"That's impossible," Mara whispered. "My grandmother would have mentioned something that important."

"Your grandmother was protecting you," Nico said gently.

"Just as Griff's mate protected him by never mentioning that her bloodline traced back to Helena Whitaker's descendants.

Just as no one in this town has ever spoken about the fact that Griff's own ancestry includes wolf shifter heritage from the Halloway line and human descendant from the Whitaker line. "

"What the hell are you talking about?" Griff's voice carried the dangerous edge that meant his control was slipping.

Nico turned to face him directly. "I'm talking about the fact that your great-great-grandfather was Marcus Halloway, Cade's ancestor.

That your bear magic has always been anchored by latent wolf energy you never recognized.

That Tilly isn't just a powerful child with unusual abilities, Griff.

She's the first person in two centuries to carry active magic from two primary founder bloodlines. "

The shadow figures suddenly reappeared, materializing from every corner with desperate urgency. They swarmed around Tilly, their figures solid and defined than they'd been before, as if Nico's revelation had somehow strengthened their connection to the physical world.

"They're excited," Tilly said, her voice filled with wonder. "They say it's finally happening. The thing they've been waiting for and trying to protect. They say we're all here now, all the right people with all the right magic, and maybe this time it'll work."

"What will work?" Mara asked, though she was beginning to suspect the answer would change everything about their understanding of the current crisis.

"The binding," Nico said, his expression grave.

"The original founders didn't just create a prison for the entity they contained.

They created a lock that could only be opened by their combined bloodlines working together.

But they also created a key that could strengthen that prison permanently, if the right descendants ever found each other and chose to complete the work their ancestors began. "

Mara interrupted, “But I’m not the only one that has the Whitaker bloodline, right?” She asked, confused. “Why specifically me?”

Nico looked at her with a knowing glint his eyes. “Why do you think you’re here in this particular time? Only time will reveal the connection. It’s best if you move in and stay with the Cooper family, Mara. Not only for safety, but to figure out what’s going on.”

Leo's radio crackled to life, cutting through the heavy silence that followed Nico's revelation. "Sheriff Maddox, we need you at the preserve immediately. The disturbance has reached the parking area, and Dr. Thorne says the magical readings are unlike anything she's ever seen."

"We'll be right there," Leo said into the radio, then looked around the room at the assembled group. "It seems our supernatural crisis just became a lot more complicated."

"Not complicated," Nico corrected, gathering his books with renewed energy.

"Inevitable. The entity that's been contained beneath this town for centuries has finally realized that the descendants it needs to complete its escape are all in one place.

It's going to make its move soon, and when it does, we need to be ready. "

The shadow figures suddenly let out what could only be described as a collective shriek of warning, their forms flickering between visibility and nothingness as if something was actively trying to disperse them.

"It knows," Tilly whispered, her amber eyes full of terror. "The pretty lady knows we're all talking about her. She's coming, and she's bringing all her shadow pets with her."

Outside, the afternoon light seemed to dim despite the clear sky, and in the distance, a laughter echoed through the streets of Mistwhisper Falls.

The seven months of peace were officially over, and the real battle for the town's survival was about to begin.