NarrativeNest8708

  Chapter 2: Whispers Beneath the Surface Cambry couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching her. The familiar routine of her morning should have brought her some comfort—the warmth of her coffee, the steady rhythm of Aurelia’s chatter over breakfast—but everything felt... off. Even the house seemed to hold its breath. She stood by the kitchen window, eyes unfocused as she stared at the backyard, at the path they had walked the day before, at the well hidden in the trees. It was quiet now, too quiet. The inscription on the door had stayed with her all night, playing on a loop in her mind, along with Aurelia’s innocent admission: I saw it too, the day Grandpa died. Cambry shivered, the reality of her situation finally settling in. She wasn’t imagining things. This wasn’t just a passing dream or a figment of her grief. Her daughter had seen it too. And now, Cambry couldn’t avoid the truth any longer—magic, real magic, was at her doorstep, and it wanted something from her. ...

  CHAPTER ONE:  The First Fall Wind      Cambry Keller sat by the window, her fingers absently tracing the rim of her mug as she watched the golden leaves swirl down from the trees. There was a crispness to the air, the kind that only appeared in late October, just as the last whispers of summer gave way to the long stretch of fall. For most, it was the season of endings. But for Cambry, it felt more like a beginning.  Thirty-seven. She was thirty-seven, and life had been a steady, predictable march of days, one blending into the next. But beneath the routine, there was always something—a quiet hum in her chest, a restlessness she couldn't explain. She had tried to ignore it for years, convincing herself it was nothing more than a fleeting feeling, a symptom of the passing seasons. Yet this year was different. She felt it in her bones, as though the very air was charged with something unseen. And as the first cold wind of the season slipped throug...