“So, the rats have made their way here, after all?” the man with the crown commented. I tried backing up a bit but was immediately up against a stone wall. My eyes darted around the courtyard, looking for an escape route. The way out of the courtyard appeared to be through the corners, but there were more than twenty soldiers no matter which path we chose to take.

“So, you’re not all that surprised to see us, then?” I thought that maybe if I bought some time, an opportunity would present itself. The man with the crown made quite a show of looking at the shimmering guardian tree, and I let myself take in more clearly just how large it was. Its trunk was wider than the size of a large apartment building and the grassy courtyard we were in was as big as a city block.

“I would have been much more surprised to not see you turn up here at all, given the shaking of the earth and our shining tree in the middle of my palace.”

“Your palace?” It was hard to tell from this distance, but it seemed like he put on a rather disdainful face before responding.

“Yes, my palace. Was that truly a question out of ignorance or was it some foolish attempt to provoke me?”

“Well, I’ve never been here before so I’ve just been learning tons of new things all night so far.” I kept my tone of voice nonchalant as I continued to observe the area, trying to find an escape route.

“Really?” The man let out a sigh. “I think I’ve heard enough useless things come out of your mouth, so I will now ask that you quickly cooperate. What did you come here for?”

“Sightseeing,” I said rather calmly. The man in bronze lashed out at my answer.

“You dare lie so boldly in the face of His Majesty!”

“I’ve no idea what you are talking about. I heard that Eden was nice this time of year, so I wanted to see for myself, but you know, it was such a hassle trying to get through the guards and everything so I took a different route.” The man in bronze started pacing towards me and the rest of the soldiers came closer as well.

“Let’s see if you can keep up the act when your arms and legs are broken!” the armoured man roared at me.

“Garden!” The man in bronze stopped, as did the rest of the soldiers. The king walked towards us as well now. “Now, intruder, as you can see, everyone here follows my command. So, if you don’t want us to be overly forceful with you, I suggest you honestly answer my questions.”

“Okay, I’ll do just that,” I replied cheerily.

“Excellent. Now, why are you here and where are the rest of you?”

“Which question do you want me to answer first?” I asked, joking with him.

“Whichever one you’d prefer.” Either the king was poor at acting, or he simply didn’t care to mask his annoyance.

“Okay, well, there is no one else. Just me. In fact, this person over here,” I began, pointing at Tasha, “does not actually exist. She is a figment of all our imaginations.” Garden muttered something under his breath and the king tried to maintain his composure.

“Oh, yes, very funny. However, if you don’t want something to happen to you, or your imagination, I’d expect you to start answering seriously.”

“Oh, I am, it really is just us two. Well, really only me, but we can count her if you want.” Please, if some kind of miracle is about to occur, occur very soon.

“Intruder, I know that there must be at least one other person. The guardian tree would not be in this state for no reason. I also recently received word that the entrances to our Spirit Altar have been blocked off. Who is in there right now and what are they doing?!” If the king was actually trying to hide his anger earlier, he was clearly done with that now. I waited a moment before answering.

“Well, okay, the truth is…” I looked over to Tasha and she stared at me so intently, it was as if she was trying to silently transmit her thoughts.

“Yes?” the king spoke with a growl.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Tasha turned to face the soldiers and prepared herself. With some effort, I tried to gather as much power as I could and, for the very first time, charged up to a total of five bolts, which made my head feel light and my vision go blurry for a second.

“General Garden, seize them.” Garden smiled.

“You heard His Majesty! Soldiers, capture them!” They came charging in and I went to meet those coming in from the left flank. I kicked off with more explosive power than I expected and ended up nearly crashing into an incoming soldier. I slashed with my sword while kicking at the ground in order to change my direction. I slashed at another soldier after kicking off. When I got both feet on the ground again, I quickly crouched down and kicked off the ground again, and speared my sword handle into the closest soldier. This knocked him into another soldier and opened up a gap in their ranks. I charged through the gap, but not to escape. I merely got behind them in order to slash at another one of them before he had a chance to defend. With my new strength and speed, although these soldiers were definitely tougher than Destiny’s men, I could more or less repeat the same tactic. They were more coordinated and were a lot faster at encircling me, but I would either quickly jump and run back or charge through a soldier, whichever had a larger gap I could take advantage of. However, I could feel my muscles rapidly begin to ache and burn and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep this up for.

After another minute of this, I only had eight of them left to deal with. I was sweating profusely and I was growing worried about the grip on my sword possibly slipping. I gritted my teeth and focused entirely on speed. I got in just close enough to slash at the soldiers and even when nearby soldiers attacked me as well, instead of moving back, I just got in closer, just barely avoiding the path of the attack, and quickly countered. I refused to move back as I felt any additional strain on my legs could cause me to trip. Never before had I focused as much as I did that day as I predicted the attack paths and moved as little as possible to just barely avoid them while swiftly countering. On the last two soldiers to deal with, one of their spears tore through the side of my leather armour while I knocked out the other one. However, it was a shallow injury and I took out the last spearman as well. I immediately fell down to one knee, but just as quickly, I got back up and looked at how the other side was doing. Garden and the King were just watching the whole time and Tasha only had a few soldiers left to deal with. I tried to put on a smug look when I locked eyes with the King. He stared back at me with contempt, but then his eyes shifted upwards and he put on a smile. I looked up as well, but saw nothing. Then, I looked over to the side and saw a group of figures on the courtyard wall.

“You are late!” the King bellowed out with a mix of both satisfaction and anger. One of the figures jumped off the wall and the rest followed suit.

“My apologies, Your Majesty, but we came as soon as we could.” As they stepped under the green light of the guardian tree, I could see that they weren’t dressed like the other soldiers. They wore hooded cloaks over hide tunics with some kind of symbol in the center, likely the same as on Garden’s armour. They wore leather gloves and boots and none of them carried any visible weapons. I got back into my stance, but my legs were a bit shaky. From behind, I heard footsteps coming towards me and Tasha stopped by my side, apparently finished dealing with the rest of the soldiers.

“So, the cavalry has arrived?” I commented, still trying to act brave while having difficulty keeping myself steady.

“Cavalry? We are not mounted,” one of the reinforcements replied. Apparently, the phrase was taken literally here.

“Sorry, what I meant to say is that it looks like reinforcements showed up right on time.” The man who replied earlier seemed a bit confused by how casually I was treating the situation.

“I see.” The man stepped forward, and it now seemed like he was the leader of the group. As walked in closer, he looked around at the fallen soldiers. “This looks somewhat impressive. Do you mind telling me what the two of you are?” This time, I’m sure I understand the question properly.

“I’m human. Just a human outlander.”

“A human outlander would trespass upon Eden and do all of this? Stop with your lies!” Garden shouted out at me.

“I do agree that this does all seem rather peculiar,” the leader of the reinforcements said, his tone of voice still strangely polite.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what’s really going on. So, are we going to do this or not? You guys are some kind of big shots aren’t you?” I would have wanted to keep buying more time, but I don’t think my body could hold out that much longer, even if I was just standing still.

“Hmmm, does that mean you don’t actually know who we are?” he genuinely inquired.

“Should I?” The leader smiled, but it wasn’t an unpleasant one.

“You came all this way to stir up trouble for the Nature Clan, and you don’t even recognize us? We are the royal guard of the Nature Clan, the Druids.” If I was actually from this world, maybe that would have meant something. Heck, if I wasn’t so exhausted, I could at least pretend it meant something. I was going to keel over any moment now anyways, so without further hesitation, I charged forward and Tasha followed.

I slashed at the leader of the group, but he dodged. I quickly transitioned into a series of follow-up attacks but he dodged all of them except for the last. He stopped the last attack by catching my sword with his hands. I was stunned. He pulled the sword out of my hands and flung it off to the side. I took a few steps back but another Druid came from the side and pinned me to the ground. I tried to shake him off but to no avail. Beside me, I saw the earth splitting open and huge waves of dirt flooding out. Tasha evaded a couple of them but the third one pounded her from the side while a pair of Druids blocked off her escape route. Then, one of them pinned her to the ground and she tried to violently throw them off. It looked like she was about to succeed, but her whole body suddenly started sinking in the ground as it started turning into mud.

I gritted my teeth and mustered up the last of my strength in order to break out of my pin and elbowed him hard. As I got up another Druid came at me and I threw a punch that actually managed to just barely connect. But then, the ground around me also began giving way as it turned into mud. I tried to escape but the ground turned to mud even faster than I could react and it felt like I was sinking into quicksand. Eventually, I stopped sinking when it came up to my shoulders. From behind me, I heard someone chuckle.

“Not so tough, now, eh?” Garden mocked.

“Quiet, Garden. You and your men failed to capture them. Do not think I will let this go lightly.”

“What? Uh, but Your Majesty-”

“Silence!” The King cleared his throat. “Now then, intruders, your time has come to an end. I don’t know what you thought to accomplish, but it ends here. I will give up on trying to make you answer any more of my questions. I’m sure your missing companions will be keener to comply, especially once they’ve seen your bodies. Sir Dristan, execute them!” Wait, what…?

“What? We’re not going to take them prisoner?” Sir Dristan, the leader, asked, while looking honestly shocked.

“No, they are far too dangerous for that. Just kill them. Ah, but don’t drown them in the mud, I want them beheaded outside of the courtyard. Our ground here is too precious for filth like them to drown in.” Is this really how it’s going to be?

“Your Majesty-”

“Are you refusing my command, Sir Dristan?”

“No, but…uh, the Druids don’t really deal with executions. I mean, beheading? We don’t even have blades.” The King scoffed.

“Really, that’s your excuse to me?” Yeah, even I thought it was pretty lame. But, please, don’t give up, keep arguing. “Go take his sword then, it’s right over there. He won’t be needing it anymore.” I saw Dristan go and retrieve my sword and then pause. “What are you just standing over there for?!”

“Y- Your Majesty, this is a Battle-Hardened sword!” I heard the footsteps from behind me go to the side and I now saw the King standing before me.

“Oh, really? So much for being a human outlander. Oh, don’t tell me you’re with the Bronze Colony. How foolish. Because of you, the treaty has been violated. I suppose we’ll have to execute some of the prisoners now.” I had no intention of correcting him. Maybe, just maybe, if I get him to think what he wants to think, he won’t kill us.

“Should we take them in for questioning, after all?” Please, please, please.

“No. I’ve made up my mind, already. He is much too dangerous and must die now.” The King walked away and my last hope of salvation faded from my view. “Do it.” Dristan walked over to me. “Oh, wait.” Tree stopped. Is there still hope? “Kill the girl first.”

“You bastard!” I screamed out. I knew he was saying that he would kill both of us this whole time, but hearing it finalized in such a way just made me explode with anger.

“Oh, finally got a rise out of you?”

“Don’t you dare touch her!” I felt suddenly revitalized and I tried to force my arms out of the muddy quagmire. I felt my arms ever so slightly begin to move, but it was far too gradual.

“This is what happens to those who cross the Nature Clan. Druids, have the girl say something as well. She’s being far too quiet given this dire situation.” I grinded my teeth and forced another three bolts through my body. It felt as if my entire being was on fire, and my muscles and bones felt like they were on the verge of snapping. However, with the extra burst of strength, I managed to force a single arm out of the mud and I grasped at the grassy courtyard. I pulled as hard as I could and I felt my body being dragged out of the mud.

“I’ve never seen someone escape from a mud pit made by multiple Druids before,” Dristan commented, apparently too amazed to even think to stop me.

“What?! This- this is- Kill him! Kill him now!” I dragged my body up to my waist out of the mud as I saw Dristan come towards me, my sword in his hand. No, damnit! Dristan was already back and my legs were still trapped in the mud. There was no chance of getting out. Even if I did get out, there was no way I could hope to take on all of them. I stared out with hatred in my eyes as I continued to struggle. At the very least, I would be defiant to the end. If I wasn’t, I would just end up thinking about the impending death that would befall me and Tasha…

Suddenly, the light from the guardian tree vanished in an instant. The courtyard went pitch-black and there were several confused voices. Then, the ground shook far more violently than all the other times. Fissures opened up all around us as the ground itself seemed to explode as if dozens of mines were going off in quick succession. The confused voices turned to panic as everyone started backing away from the fissures. The Druids retreated back towards the courtyard walls with Garden and the King, and the fallen soldiers fell away with the sinking earth. The mud pit I was stuck in turned to regular mud and I easily pulled the rest of my body out of it. I watched as tons of earth around the guardian tree fell away completely. The shaking subsided slightly and a green light shone out from the giant hole next to the guardian tree. Huge columns of earth rapidly shot out of the earth, and perched on the pillar in the middle of the other pillars was the source of the new green light.

“What is the meaning of this?!” the King shouted out. “You! How dare you steal the powers of the guardian spirit! Druids, kill her now!” The Druids hesitated. Flora, radiating green light, reached out one hand towards my direction and I felt the earth underneath begin to shake. Then, the earth rapidly shot upwards as a column. I almost lost my balance, but managed to steady myself well enough after the column stopped rising. “What are you waiting for? The intruders are going to escape!” The Druids then took action and started rushing at us. A couple of them started striking at the pillar I was standing on and it soon crumbled away. I jumped off the collapsing column and landed safely on my feet. The two Druids advanced, but then tree roots suddenly came out of the fissures in the ground and grabbed the two of them and flung them into the courtyard walls.

At this sight, the remaining Druids who hadn’t already ran after Flora, ignored me completely and went to attack her as well. I watched as the Druids launched stones and huge mounds of earth at Flora. She defended most of the attacks well, but occasionally the attacks slipped past her guard of earth columns and struck her body. However, it didn’t seem to do too much damage, at the very least, she didn’t get knocked off her column. Still, though, I needed to give my support. I looked around for a weapon and saw my sword discarded on the ground a few yards away. I immediately went to pick it up, and as I did, I noticed the King standing by himself off to the side, staring at the battle angrily. My rage which had been interrupted by Flora’s surprise appearance boiled over again. I dashed at the King and before he could even defend or call for help, I already had my sword at his throat. I wanted to savour the reaction so I didn’t kill him immediately.

“Hey there,” I said in a chilling tone in personal contrast to my body which was still feeling like a furnace. It took a second for him to realize the situation he was in. However, he still put on bravado.

“You do not casually address the King of the Nature Clan!” From behind, I could hear the sounds of battle subsiding. I quickly stepped in and made my way right behind the King, with the edge of my sword at his throat. I took a good look at the stopped Druids and the massive mounds of earth lying all around them. Tasha was also among the edge of the Druids, her sword recovered and in hand. Flora was still on her column, but she only had one other one left, the others already destroyed.

“No, I think I can say whatever I want,” I replied belatedly.

“You think a mere outlander can get away with this?” I pressed the edge of my sword against his throat. It was enough to apply some pressure, but not enough to cut the skin, which was rather difficult given my pounding heart and increasing fever.

“Oh, and what’s going to stop me?” I asked sadistically.

“You will all die here, today. This day where you came to intrude upon Eden is the last day of your lives.” Spare me the redundant threats.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I think you’re the one who’s going to die here today.” I pressed my sword in more, this time enough for a shallow cut. Garden, who wasn’t participating in the battle, suddenly ran up to a couple yards away from me and drew his sword.

“Unhand the King this instant or else!” I laughed. A lot.

“Just a minute ago you were already going to execute me! And now that I’m not trapped, you think you can threaten me with something worse?” I laughed again. “I don’t think so,” I said coldly as I pressed the sword in deeper.

“W-wait, stop it! Release His Majesty this instant. I-If you do, we will let you go!” Garden offered.

“We will do no such thing!” the King decreed adamantly. “The Nature Clan does not cave in to such threats.” The King turned his head to look at me, which also caused the cut to go in a bit deeper. “Outlander, you, your family, your friends, everyone you know and cherish in the slightest, will suffer for your crimes. As long as the Nature Clan remains, none of you shall ever escape this judgement!”

“P-Please, Your Majesty!” Garden began to plead.

“Garden, silence! Druids, this is your king’s command: kill all of the intruders and hunt down everyone they know!” I guess this was it. I was just about to deal the killing blow when Tasha shouted.

“Dad! Don’t kill him!” Honestly, Tasha, this is not the time to be arguing about the morality of killing. This is a real life or death situation for us here.

“This is no time for you to continue being naïve!”

“What’s the point in killing him, though?” she shouted back at me. Everyone remained motionless, waiting for something to happen, I suppose.

“What’s the point? Are you seriously asking that?! This man ordered our deaths! Our lives mean nothing to him and you think he’s someone that we should go out of our way to spare?” I had no intention of letting him live when I first caught him. This whole hostage situation was really accidental and a part of me appreciated how uncooperative he was.

“Mr. Braith, listen to Tasha!” Oh, now Flora’s going to preach to me. “This was all my idea and all my fault! Don’t become a murderer because of me!” I laughed.

“It’s a bit late for that now! He won’t be the first person I’ve killed.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised by your past, but the nature of your companions is surprising,” the King said to me. “I suppose they are a couple of orphans whom you picked up in order to rationalize your actions. Typical of uncultured outlanders who refuse to acknowledge how worthless they really are.” I punched the King in his side with my free hand.

“You’re going to be dead soon, anyways, so why don’t you just shut up!”

“All the more reason for me to speak. My words carry weight to them and shall be remembered for years. You, on the other hand? Your existence is worth so much less and shall be forgotten the moment you die.”

“Don’t you think it’s time for you to drop all the bravado? Or are you really this stupidly arrogant?” It was quite the toll to keep up my tough act as well, but I wanted him to break first.

“Your Majesty, please, do not die for this!” Garden tried pleading once more.

“I thought I told you to keep quiet, Garden!” I was a bit surprised, too. This whole time, Garden was giving me the vibe of some incompetent man who caves in to authority.

“No, the General is quite right, your Majesty.” Now even Dristan was speaking up. “This is a rather unconventional situation. Intruders, release the King and we shall not pursue you this day.”

“Sir Dristan, you are overstepping your boundaries here. It is I, not you, who will determine the fate of these intruders.”

“Dad, don’t kill him!”

“Your Majesty, please reconsider!”

“What are you waiting for, outlander? Kill me! For one fleeting moment, delude yourself into thinking that you are superior!”

“Shut up!” I was nearly fed up with everyone else yelling as if anything they said was going to work. However, killing a man who wants to die has little appeal. But, if he really wanted to die, wouldn’t he have just pushed his neck through my sword by now? In any case, I can’t just let him live, can I? Whether he lives or dies, we’ll still be on the run. At the very least, I want to put this bastard to death so that he can’t have the last laugh. Yes, I’ve decided on this since the beginning. I will kill him. Just like the others, this is a man who deserves to die. The choice of letting him live is just a trap. There is only one option. I am not wrong. I tightened the grip on my sword. “Any more last words?”

“No!” a variety of voices screamed out.

“What more needs to be said?” He was right. I took in my surroundings to determine the best place to run to right after I killed him. Everyone else was rooted in place, either silent or still shouting or screaming at us. There really didn’t seem to be a good place, but escaping through one of the corners would probably be the best bet. I glanced at the corners of the courtyard, trying to determine which one to run through, but with the green light only around Flora now, it was hard to make out anything that far away. Then, from one of the corners, I saw a light. It seemed to be coming closer, and then, I saw that it was a soldier carrying a lantern. He sprinted into the courtyard, and nearly collapsed onto the ground, breathless. Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Couldn’t he read the situation? He took a few quick breaths before speaking.

“E- Emergency!” Nobody said anything. He sucked in some more air before continuing, but then he noticed the situation that was occurring. “Uh…”

“Speak up, soldier,” Garden commanded in a somewhat uncertain tone.

“Uh, yes, yes! We have an emergency! The prisoners from the Bronze Colony have escaped and are currently engaged with the troops underground! They have made a huge advance and are near Eden’s gates! Requesting reinforcements to subjugate them!” The soldier saluted and stared nervously around him.

“I see…” Garden responded, but with a face that seemed to barely comprehend what was said.

“General, please allow the Druids to take on this request,” Dristan spoke up.

“What? Do you not see the situation we are currently in?” Dristan looked at Flora, then Tasha, and then at me.

“Intruders, as a show of good faith, we will be leaving the courtyard to attend to something else. In our absence, please release our king and make your exit.” Dristan ended his words with a bow. Then, immediately afterwards, he went up to the soldier. “Show us the way. Druids, we are leaving!” The Druids looked towards the king, expecting him to overrule him. He did not. After a few seconds of waiting, the Druids left, leaving only Garden, the King, me, Tasha, and Flora.

“W-wait! Sir Dristan, you can’t just leave us like this!” Garden argued, much too late. This truly was an ideal situation. Without the Druids, I could easily kill the King and escape. I could even kill Garden, too, for good measure.

“Dad! Let him go! We can leave now! We don’t have to kill anyone!” We don’t, but why shouldn’t we? “He trusted us! Please, let’s just leave!”

“Outlander, listen to them! J-just get out of here, alright!” Garden pleaded. Flora used her magic and moved her earth column over the ground and then over towards the courtyard wall.

“Mr. Braith, we really should just leave now!” I found it strange how the King was so silent about this. I took a closer look at his face, and saw that he looked rather expressionless and his eyes were closed. Huh? I pulled the sword a bit away from him but he gave no reaction. I nudged him and he immediately collapsed. I instinctively pulled my sword out of the way as he fell to the ground. What?!

“Your Majesty!” Garden screamed out as he saw him fall to the ground. He rushed at me, but I rather easily blocked his attack and knocked the sword out of his hand. I knelt down next to the King and checked for a pulse. I grinded my teeth when I found it. This whole situation was upsetting in a different way now. All that bravado and all those vile things you had planned for us and this is what happens to you? You pass out from fear right when you thought I was about to kill you? I kicked the King. “You! How dare you!” Garden charged at me without a weapon and I jabbed him hard with the handle of my blade. It knocked him to the ground, winding him.

“We’re getting out of here!” Tasha and I gathered together, and Flora created another column of earth for us. It was a bit weird, but they were really just shaped mounds of earth so with her magic, Flora could move them even over the walls and buildings. They were also surprisingly fast, even when just traveling. On the way out of the palace, we saw a few towers with archers in them. It was still very dark out and they were a bit too off-guard to really engage us though. Flora took us all the way to the outer wall, but almost exactly when the mound of earth we were on got past the wall, Flora’s green light dissipated and we fell to the ground. Fortunately, the several tons of earth cushioned the fall reasonably well. Flora looked very pale and was panting heavily. I went to go pick her up and she recoiled a bit from the heat of my touch. Surprisingly, the pain had mostly gone away, and now I just felt very hot and dehydrated.

“Flora, what’s wrong?!” Tasha cried out as she scrambled over to her.

“Gaia,” she spoke weakly.

“The guardian spirit?” Flora nodded.

“Yes, it wasn’t a complete contract, so she’s left now. So…I’m just a bit tired now.” An incomplete contract? What does that even mean?

“Tasha, can you carry her back to the cottage?” She nodded and picked her up. We fled back to the cottage in silence. When we reached the front garden, as if coming off an adrenaline rush, the pain suddenly returned, and my muscles seized up and I collapsed onto the ground. Flora, who had now somewhat recovered, came over to me.

“Mr. Braith, are you okay?!”

“Yeah,” I barely managed to mutter. Yeah, just fine. “Actually, no, I’m not fine.” I didn’t mean to say that part aloud, but with all the pain and frustration about the situation hitting me all at once, I wasn’t going to let it end there. “No, I’m not fine at all. Tasha and I accompanied you on a suicidal mission so that you can contract with a guardian spirit. However, we almost got executed and you failed to even get a complete contract!”

“Dad, stop, it’s not her fault!” Tasha tried to intervene, but I was going to keep going.

“No, you’re the one who needs to stop!” Probably through sheer willpower, I pushed myself back off the ground. “You keep acting like you are always right and that you can always make good decisions! Well, guess what, you can’t! You are thirteen, Tasha! Do you honestly think you have the knowledge and experience to always know what’s best?!”

“Mr. Braith, I’m really, truly sorry about everything. Please, don’t blame Tasha, it’s all my fault!” She looked like she was on the verge of crying.

“Damn straight it’s your fault! If it weren’t for us, you would have been caught by the first group of soldiers in the tunnels! Honestly, what were you thinking?! How can someone as weak as you even get the idea in your head to do something so stupid?! And even if you did get the chance to do it anyways, at least do it right! We risked our lives for you, and you come back empty-handed! Just who do you think you are?!”

“Dad, stop!” Tasha grabbed me and I tried to shake her off.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry!” Tears were already flowing.

“Do you think sorry would have helped when they were about to cut off our heads?!” Tasha kept pulling at me but I fought her off as I continued my tirade.

“No, but I’m sorry! I’m really, really sorry!” Flora broke out in a hysterical bit of sobbing and went into the fetal position on the ground. Then, at either the worst or best timing possible, the cottage door swung open and Hiram stepped outside. He looked over to Flora sobbing on the ground, over to me and Tasha, and then back to Flora.

“Get inside,” he finally ordered.