The Edge of the Known

warming Maya's face as she sipped her coffee. The day felt ordina

tote bag filled with a paperback novel, her lunch, and a planner packed with penciled-in reminders. Her hair was usually tied back in a low b

er desk, and nights spent reading or scrolling absently through her phone in front of a reheated

her always waited. For

Cars passed. Strangers brushed by. And yet, under the hum of it all, s

y. The crowd flowed past, but Maya paused, heart drumming. There, tucked between a newsstand and

the carvings. The wo

r filled

ya. You've b

way. The veil lifted. And the world

way. The veil lifted. And the world

moke, and something older, like forgotten stories. Maya stood frozen in place, blinking against the sudden

caught in

I doin

turned ba

till. It was that same quiet knowing that had been foll

eaked shut

unes. Shadows danced as if they had their own breath. At the center of the room stood a circle of women - seven of them - cloaked in various styles

r shoulder, stepped forward. Her voice was soft bu

d. "You felt the pull. The city may

eing. This couldn't be real - she had spreadsheets due Monday, she needed to pick up dr

rt of her recog

seen it

tremble of wind

e hush between

lace?" she mana

woman said. "A coven. One that's

t tighten and then stretch - li

y m

miled, kind

f you don't know it yet. And b

just slightly - an

er. But behind it, beneath it, something ol

ed into t

er shimmered, alive

here was no breeze - but as if reacting to her presence. The runes on the ston

ly over Maya's heart - not touching, but c

the power, you must kn

"I don't... I don't

t's because someone ma

inside it, unnaturally still. Another witch stepped forward - younger, with dark eyes and hands

ame. Memory.

; a man shouting as the sky split open; a baby hidden beneath roots and starlight. And then, Maya sa

ay

ion col

s nearly

und her, breath ragged. "That

itch stepped forwar

uncil. She vanished before they could take you. Hid you in the hum

ice crack

the woman said softly. "And becau

now-dark basin, her

and a small apartment with candles she lit to feel something. But now, standing in

sn't o

ver ha

crifice, her hidden power, her stol

now?" she

le close

ed woman smiled

mber who you are. And

reath caught in her th

uched. The office was quiet, but not empty - the usual late workers tapped at keyboard

he wa

She had been on the street. She remembered it - the feel of pavement under her

The vision.

jolt of waking up here, at h

ack, stood up too quic

er voice still thick. "D

"Not really. Maybe twenty minutes? You looked beat.

aid

, remember? You looked like you were about to collapse.

. She hadn't gone to lunch. She'd been walking, hadn'

r ash on her wrist, just under the cuff of her

p of parchment tucked neatly beside he

it in a looping, ink-dark

ling, she u

open again. Whe

- the one carved into the wooden doo

t for a long tim

her thought sh

ered walking i

ed the warmt

mbered t

old her she had

been