"No."

She blinked slowly, mouth agape. Then she cackled like a wicked witch. Her fragile frame wheezed and coughed, but she kept her maddening cackle going until she breathed deep and settled.

Her arms clutched at her staff, clinging desperately as her body struggled to stand. She fixed me with her good eye and grinned a gap-toothed smile. "My my, out of all the youths to come to my cart, you are by far the boldest! What a delight."

Never before had my warning signals for a crazy witch flared so drastically in my head. Every detail about her practically oozed, "I'm a witch!" At any moment, I was either ready to run and find Alice or throw myself into a desperate bid to attack before I got cursed with a nasty hex.

Yeah, no. I like myself too much to want to be turned into a frog or lose all my teeth.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Hildegrim, I didn't mean to disturb you. I'll be on my way," I said slowly.

The old bat held up a gnarled hand. "Wait! Don't leave so soon, pup."

Nope!

I leaned into a light bow and took a step back. "You have a great day, ma'am."

When she spoke, her voice carried on the wind and shouted into my ears with physical force. "Calm down, pup! I will not hurt you."

A growl rumbled in my chest, but my cloak pulsed. It didn't restrict around my shoulders; it merely alerted me to its presence. The safety of it was enough for me to stop.

"I have zero reason to believe that."

She leaned forward as her bony fingers grabbed the edge of her cart. "I'm in your territory, pup. To hurt one of your own here would be the height of folly."

Not pack!

The voice was right; she wasn't pack. Her calling me pup poked at my sides and brought the warm energy inside my chest to a boil.

"Stop calling me pup."

Her eyes twinkled, and she smacked open her lips before settling on a crooked grin. "You're right, my apologies, Cain."

A snarl escaped my throat. "How do you know my name?"

Something about her set me on edge. The cloying scent of cloves mixed with oranges filled the air, bringing a sharp contrast to the geriatric old woman in front of me.

Now that I wasn't about to bolt, she eased her grip on the counter and stood up straighter—as straight as she could with her hunched back. "I heard your name on the wind. When you came into town, you introduced yourself to someone."

That sounds like a lie, but I have no way to verify things.

I relaxed, but only a little. "What do you want? I don't have anything to trade."

"Oh, but you do, dear boy. You certainly do."

"Listen, whatever it is, I'm good. And I should go."

"Stop your cowering. I said I wouldn't hurt you, so sit and hear out my offer."

She shuffled in place, her thin white hair escaping the confines of her hood. She brushed it aside and ran her hands across the assortment of hanging trinkets. "How about this: you hear me out, and I'll give you a trinket. You don't even have to agree to anything yet."

I don't feel like getting cursed, lady.

Her eyebrow raised, and she leaned forward. "How about I swear to it? Hmmm, would that satisfy your paranoia?" She didn't wait for an answer before she looked to the sky, the sunlight draping itself across her weathered face. "Oh System, by the rules that bind and the powers that be, I solemnly vow not to strike against the one before me during our discourse. Let my intentions remain true and unswayed, pledging harm only if betrayed or provoked. Let this oath stand as testament to my words."

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Accepted. Safe, oathbound.

Her arms dropped to her side, but her staff remained standing. The sickly-sweet scent intensified, and I covered my nose. This time, my cloak did react, and I felt it stretch around me. I looked around, but it did not physically change; yet, I knew it provided a shell of unseen energy against the wave of pressure that emitted from her staff.

The noise of the bustling town behind me fell away until only a low buzz zipped between my ears. I couldn't see it, but something poked at my chest. It bounced off the shell and squirmed around. Another poke and prod followed every shift in position until it felt like someone rapidly knocking on a window.

The old lady snapped her head in my direction and opened her mouth in rage.

Her mouth was black as tar.

I shifted my hand to my axe, but she looked away and bent forward in a position that threatened to break her spine.

Her hands scratched at the staff until they found purchase on a burled knot. She stood up and breathed rapidly with ragged breaths.

She gingerly placed her hand on the counter and narrowed her eyes. "An astounding cloak. You don't know how lucky you are."

Her tone lacked the politeness from before; she scowled at me with narrowed eyes as her breathing slowly shifted to a normal rhythm.

I slipped my hand under the beard of my axe. She wasn't human; every instinct inside me screamed that fact. "Did you just try to attack me? What was that I felt? What did you do!" I demanded.

Her staff smacked into the wooden bed of the cart, and she grunted. "I already swore; you felt it. Even a stripling as fresh as you could feel the promise made to the system."

She was right. The energy in the air remained, but I felt it centered around the old woman. It felt heavy, in the metaphysical sense, like chains that weighed on the area above her.

I moved my hand away from my axe, but I kept it near my belt just in case.

"Tell me what you want already."

Her bony hand waved me off. "Yes, yes. Give me a moment."

Her eyes flickered to the sky above, and she snorted before leaning her staff against the counter. She placed both hands behind her back. In slow movements, she stretched until something popped.

"Aaahh. Much better." She coughed up sticky phlegm, which she spat on the ground, before grabbing her staff off the counter and bringing it close to her chest. "Very well, my favor is simple."

"Go on," I said.

"On the eve of the solstice, I only ask that if you see me, you protect me."

That's way too vague, Grandma.

"Hard pass."

She blinked slowly. "Why not? I do not ask much."

I resisted, crossing my arms. "Find someone else. I'm nowhere near equipped to protect you."

"Even if I offer up important knowledge? The kind of information that would make you reconsider everything you know?" she asked smugly.

I blinked just as slowly. "No. I don't know what you think you know about me, but I have zero interest in that."

A near-purplish tongue slipped between her lips before receding back inside the abyss she called a mouth. "Even if I promised that the information is something you would want to know? Desperately so?"

I turned to walk away.

"Even if the information is important to the girl you came with? Even if Alice would kill for this knowledge?" Hildegrim teased.

My feet stopped, and I hesitated.

What kind of devil's bargain is this?

"I..." I shook my head. "No, thanks. Not for something that vague."

To my surprise, Hildegrim didn't complain. Instead, she smiled and tapped her staff three times. The movement rocked the cart and sent the different trinkets and knick-knacks jingling. Melodic clinks filled the air, and she gestured to her wares.

"Very well, Cain. I won't push, but know I may approach you to reconsider." She waved her hand to the dangling items. "Now, as I promised, pick something."

"Why? I didn't agree to anything."

"I keep my word, boy. I promised you an item even if you did not accept my deal. Now pick one."

Colorful charms and trinkets bobbed on hooks. The sunlight had shifted from behind the cloud cover and shone directly on some of the prettier jewelry, painting the nearby ground with a rainbow of colors.

I couldn't help but ask.

"And these things aren't cursed, are they?"

A weary sigh left the old woman's body. "It's part of the deal that I do no harm. Since we are still conversing, willingly giving you such an item you are imagining would constitute as harm. So no, they are not cursed."

I don't fully trust that, but the weird thoughts in my head aren't yelling at me to be careful.

As I approached, Hildegrim remained still, only her eyes shifting around to track my actions. I ignored the scrutiny as best as I could.

I didn't know what to look for. Some items were pretty and intricate; others were dull and barely more than a burnt stick tied to some grey string.

I think that's a rabbit's foot. Do they usually have six toes?

There wasn't anything for me to go off, so I went with whatever caught my eye first. I closed my eyes and gave them three seconds before opening them. My eyes landed on something red, and I pointed to the necklace sitting on a black pillow.

"I'll take that one, then."

"Hmm. Interesting."

And that makes me regret everything.

She grabbed the necklace and tossed it over. I caught it with my right hand, and the cloying smell returned. "Remember my favor. You'll want to help me. I know it."

Instead of arguing, I nodded and walked away. This time, she didn't call for me to stop or wait and instead waved her bony fingers as I left. Not wanting to spend another second in her presence, I squeezed between the two houses and forced my way through until I was back on the town street.

A sigh didn't ease the tension in my shoulders, but it helped me relax. My cloak's shell faded away, and I felt it adjust subtly against my back. Smirking, I tapped the flap covering my chest and then opened my hand to stare at the necklace.

I sniffed and caught a new scent. Sniffing again, I raised the red stone up to my nose and inhaled deeply. The smell made me sneeze, but I wasn't crazy.

That's a weird smell for a piece of stone.