It was all I could do to not scream as fear gripped my heart. It felt like an iron fist was squeezing my chest, and I stumbled backward, away from whatever had just moved in the shadows. All I could think of was running, so I turned around, trying to move out of the Veil and toward the safety of the river path. But before I could get more than a step, something grabbed my ankle.

Now I screamed. The hand on my ankle jolted me, and I fell hard to the ground. I crawled backward, yanking the bottom of my skirts away so I could see what had grabbed me. And to my horror, what I saw was a long, wiry arm with a bony hand. It was wrapped tightly around my ankle, grasping just above my boot, so I could feel the rough and prickly skin digging into my flesh.

My sight narrowed as panic set in. There was a ringing in my ears, my limbs began to tingle, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe. I scuttled further back, moving deeper into the Veil, and fought through the panic to plan my attack. There was no way it was going to end like this. I was not going to end up as a dinner for the witch of the Veil. Not without a fight, anyway.

I thought back to grappling with Tamsen and what I had learned from him. He was usually the instigator of those fights, and I often complained, but I was suddenly grateful we’d spent so much of our childhood locked in mock combat. We have to, Tamsen always said. To prepare.

Prepare for what? I’d always ask, incredulous that he imagined danger approaching.

Enemies real and imaginary, he’d tell me cryptically.

Gritting my teeth tightly, I kicked myself free of the witch, ready for whatever she was going to do to me next. The hand fell away, and I was shocked to see that the arm was not an arm, and the hand that had grabbed me so suddenly was nothing more than a Hand of Fire vine. The Hand of Fire was a creeping vine known for reaching out its tendrils and wrapping them around anything nearby. Healthy ones could move fast, tricking unwary travelers.

My breath came hard and fast as I sat there looking at the vine, stunned.

I wiped a hand across my eyes, glad for the first time that I was alone. If Tamsen had been with me, he would be on the ground at this moment, howling with laughter at my foolishness.

Getting to my feet, I shook my head, annoyed with myself. I kicked the vine away and stepped over it, peering into the underbrush for the ice berries. I knew they were here. They had to be. I’d seen them in the sunlight.

I picked up a stick and used it to look under the leaves, where the berries liked to grow.

And then I found them. A small cluster of them, shining icily blue. They were bigger than any I’d ever seen before, and while there certainly weren’t enough of them for a meal, they would make a perfect birthday treat for Tamsen.

I shook off the unnerved feeling the creeping vine had given me and reached for the berries. They felt cold and firm beneath my fingers as I plucked them from the vine and dropped them into my basket.

I looked carefully through the bushes, making sure I’d gotten every last one of them. I didn’t want to have come all this way just to leave any behind.

When I was sure, I stood straight and looked at my harvest. The ice on the berries was starting to melt, revealing the waxy blue skin underneath. I had gotten them for Tamsen, of course, but looking down at them, I just couldn’t resist. I plucked one from the bunch and popped it into my mouth.

The berry was cold and sweet and tart. The taste exploded on my tongue, and I had to stop myself from gobbling up the whole basket.

But I managed not to. Maybe I could make another trip to the Shadow Veil for more berries before they fell, but right now I needed to get back home. My father was preparing to summit the peak with Tamsen, and I wanted to get back home so I’d have time to give my brother his present.

I could still taste the tartness of the berry on my tongue, and I savored it. But as I turned to go, I stopped in my tracks and screamed, the sound cracking through the cold air like a whip.

Because there in front of me stood the witch.