FAYE
The moment I lay down fully on the cold stone surface, reality settled into my chest in a way it hadn’t before.
This was it.
No more standing around discussing possibilities like this was some distant thing that might or might not happen.
Inside Stonevale territory.
Inside the witch’s ritual ground.
Wearing the strange robe Janet had given me after I took off my clothes.
And willingly waiting to die.
The air around us felt heavy.
The moon hung above the clearing, pale and cold behind the trees, while shadows stretched across the ground around the altar-like stone platform Janet had laid me on.
I swallowed slowly and stared upward.
The robe felt thin against my skin.
The night breeze brushed lightly across my arms and face.
Somewhere deep in the woods, an owl cried softly.
