Ivy pov

Fear reached me before words ever did. It moved through Bloodmoon in small ways at first. A pause that lasted too long. A step taken back instead of forward. A silence that fell whenever Rick entered a room. I felt it in my chest before I saw it with my eyes, a tight pressure that had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with people.

Rick noticed it too.

We were walking through the lower courtyard when a group of mothers stopped talking the moment they saw us. One of them ...