KEILAH

The old woman didn’t flinch at Aaron’s warning. Instead, her sharp eyes studied me, her expression unreadable. The people around her murmured in hushed voices, their gazes shifting between Aaron and me as if we were pieces of a puzzle they couldn’t quite fit together.

Garbie moved closer, her arm brushing against mine. “Keilah,” she whispered, “I don’t like this.”

Neither did I.

The old woman took a step forward, her long robes whispering against the ground. A faint golden mist trailed her movements as if the air itself bent to her will. “Step aside, Aaron,” she said calmly, but there was an unshakable authority in her tone. “The...