CHAPTER 7Two Wizards, One SpellFour Days Before Homecoming, Behind the BleachersTuesday, three days after the binding, four days before Homecoming.I was cutting behind the bleachers to avoid Brittany’s cheer-practice ambush when I heard it: a tiny, panicked chirp.A sparrow lay on the concrete, one wing bent wrong, chest heaving.The mist curled around it like it was trying to help and failing.Grandma Elowene’s voice drifted in, soft as morning fog.“Mist and light, dragă. Never blood. That was never our way. Reach.”I crouched.The bird didn’t flinch when I scooped it into my palms.Its heartbeat fluttered against my lifeline like a trapped moth.I didn’t know the words, but Grandma did.They spilled out of me in Romanian and Japanese at the same time, overlapping like double exposure:“Lumină lină, ceață blândă—ridică aripa frântă.”“Yasashii kiri, hikari yo—tsubasa o naose.”The mist answered.It rose from the cracks in the concrete, silver and warm, wrapping the bird like cot
Last Updated : 2025-12-08 Read more