Sleep was the last thing on my mind, so I practiced shooting the wands for hours to improve my aim, even as the sun set and night arrived. As midnight approached, a thick fog rolled, blotting out the moon and the stars. Silence clogged the night, while anxiety boiled in my mind.

We hadn’t agreed on a plan, but I told them I would just go to scout the village at midnight to see if they were still there. Ivy was eager to come along, but Darya thought it would only make things worse. She thought that they might be waiting in ambush, or that it would only lead to more violence and deaths. Our deaths. But what alternatives did I have? Hide in the swamp for the rest of my life?

After all the talk that went nowhere I left early, planning to arrive at the village at midnight. Darya hesitated at first, but followed after me and Ivy. The three of us walked in silence, heading south through the swamp. Frogs croaked, and insects buzzed in my ear, taking opportune bites where I wasn’t covered in scales.

“This is stupid,” Darya grumbled under her breath.

“If someone tries to kill me, I don’t give them a pass,” I replied. “And I won’t let them hang you no matter what.”

“If they’re still here, there’d be more of them than us, and they’re much stronger than you.”

“Not in twenty minutes they won’t be.”

“Quiet down,” Ivy shushed us. “The wraiths are lurking about.”

I jerked my head from side to side. “The what?!”

Ivy waved me along. “Keep moving.”

“Are they the-”

“Shh, they’re not close, okay? Just concentrate on what’s ahead, and not-” Ivy looked to an area in the distance behind us, occluded by fog and thick vegetation. “And not the- … let’s pick up the pace a bit.”

Ivy moved past us, breaking into a jog. We followed after her, trying to step light and looking over our shoulders. While I had [Cartographer] with its compass, I was quite amazed that Ivy could navigate in the right direction, despite the fog and the darkness. Without it, I would have been completely lost.

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Setting a faster pace, we covered the distance to the village in fifteen minutes, arriving five minutes before midnight. The gates were shut, and the place was silent.

“Are they still following us?” I asked, peering into the thick fog, but unable to see anything.

“No, they don’t like to go far from their territories,” Ivy replied.

“And these wraiths are always in the swamp?”

Ivy nodded. “It’s a rare sight, but they venture out on some nights.”

“How do you deal with them?”

“By staying away from them and where they haunt.”

Darya motioned for us to follow, and we walked along the outside of the wall until we came to a darker section. There, I helped Darya and Ivy over the wall, then climbed up after them. My claws dug into the cracks between the stone blocks making up the village walls, giving me a hold. I felt like a cat.

Once over the wall, we crouched low, then sneaked from cover to cover, peeking down the dimly lit road that split the village down the middle. Nobody was outside, and the night was silent, except for the distant sounds of an owl.

However, down the way I spotted the carriage, unhitched without horses.

“They hadn’t left,” I whispered. “Where are they staying? The inn was destroyed.”

“The carriage is next to Karl’s hut. They probably pushed them out for the night.”

As we crept closer, I spotted a new structure just past the carriage, standing in the middle of the village center that I hadn’t seen before.

“What is that?” I asked quietly.

“I-I .. I’m not sure,” Darya replied in a nervous tone, and picked up pace to get a better look.

I followed after her, listening intently. I pivoted my large, bat-wing ears about, but couldn’t pick up anything except occasional snoring and the creaking of wood.

Suddenly, Darya stopped and stared with eyes widened in panic. She jerked her hand to her mouth to muffle a whimpering cry. At first I didn’t understand why, but then it became clear as I got closer.

In the center of the square stood erected gallows. Three ropes dangled from the beam above. Two loops were empty, but the third had a single figure hanging still. The victim’s blue face with bulging eyes wasn’t covered. It took me a moment to recognize who it was. I felt sick. I clenched my fists as anger welled up inside me.

Darya turned to me with fury in her eyes, tears running down her cheeks. She didn’t have to say a word, I knew what had to be done.