Shadow's Reckoning by Nicole R. Taylor

Author:Nicole R. Taylor [Taylor, Nicole R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nicole R. Taylor

Chapter 11

The evacuation happened that night and bled into the following day. It happened so fast that June barely had time to process everything. If she was struggling, what must all those people think?

The once lively Stonebridge town square now stood deserted, its streets empty of the usual hustle of a weekday afternoon. Shadows stretched across the charming facades of the closed shops, their colourful displays hidden behind locked doors. Silence enveloped the empty streets, broken only by the occasional rustle of fallen leaves skittering along the ground.

June sat on a bench in the town square, opposite the gazebo. As she looked up at the white structure, she couldn’t see any trace of the vandalism that’d scared the wood way back when she’d first arrived. She wondered who’d been responsible for it. Fletcher or Harriet?

It didn’t seem to matter anymore.

The stillness was unnatural, a forced hush that turned each soft rustle into a shout. June wrapped her arms around herself, not for warmth but for comfort against the exposed sensation of solitude in a place where the signs of life still lingered.

Above, the sky faded into twilight, purples and blues bleeding into one another, casting Stonebridge into a scene that should have been beautiful, like something out of a turbulent Turner landscape painting. Perhaps there was a kind of elegance in the desolation, no matter how depressing.

She looked toward the edge of town, where the magical barrier raised by the coven shimmered weakly, a mere glimmer. It reminded her of a spider’s web glistening with dew—beautiful but fragile.

It was temporary, a ward to keep innocent people away. But for how long?

The barrier pulsed, its translucent surface rippling as if in response to her thoughts, and for a moment, June thought she saw a flicker of something more substantial within the glow—a hint of power the coven had woven into the fabric of their protection spell.

Someone had passed through it, leaving their home behind because of a fictional chemical spill.

It’s better than nothing, she thought, trying to convince herself. But even her thoughts fell flat as she took in the closed doors and shuttered windows.

A shadow moved in the corner of her eye, and she turned sharply, only to find it was her own, elongated and distorted by the lanterns that flickered weakly in the growing dark. She let out a breath and scolded herself for being so jumpy.

“Get a grip, June,” she muttered. They’re not coming for you. Not right now.

Her phone buzzed, jolting her to attention. She snatched it up, the screen illuminating a message from Alistair.

Harriet’s been located, the text read. Ritual in progress. Urgent you come to the apothecary.

June’s heart leapt. Ritual? Did he mean the final ritual that would call the ultimate dark? Then maybe she was right. Maybe they would come for her today.

“Damn it,” she swore. Standing, determination drove her movements as she turned on her heel and began a brisk walk toward the apothecary. The town square suddenly felt like a maze of shadows and whispers, the veil awfully close.

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