Quiet's spell blanketed everything except my thudding heart with silence. Jon and Echo stood on either side of the pond's sign with their fingers pressed to their lips as if we needed the reminder. Beyond, Quiet's surface reflected the gnarled, twisted trees over it in mirror-like detail, making them all look like monstrous jaws mid snap.

The rain fell in earnest now, but because we stood in Quiet's magical bubble, it kept silent. It soaked through my cloak, and none of it made ...