"Has it ever done that before?" she asked.
"Never," Sage said, her voice tight with worry. "The falls are supposed to be dormant. Whatever's causing that glow, it's not natural."
As if responding to her words, the glow intensified, and Lyra could swear she heard something carrying on the night air. Not quite music, not quite voices, but something that made her founder's mark tingle with recognition.
"I need to get closer," she said, already moving toward the garden path.
"Lyra, no," Marcus caught her arm. "If something's awakened down there, approaching it alone would be?—"
"I'm not alone," Lyra said, gesturing to the gathered crowd. "And I'm the founder descendant. If something's wrong with the falls, it's my responsibility to investigate."
She pulled free from Marcus's grip and headed down the garden path, her magic stirring restlessly as she approached the source of the glow. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of people following, though she suspected most of them were keeping a respectful distance.
The path through Vera's overgrown garden was treacherous in the dark, but Lyra's magic seemed to guide her steps around obstacles she couldn't see. Twisted rose bushes reached out like gnarled fingers, and something that could be poison ivy that glowed softly in patches that formed patterns too deliberate to be natural.
When she reached the clearing where Hush Falls tumbled into a natural pool, Lyra's breath caught in her throat.
The water was definitely glowing, but that wasn't what held her attention. It was the way the light seemed to be moving beneath the surface, swirling in patterns that reminded her of the founder's markings in the cellar. And it was the voice she could now clearly hear, rising from the depths of the pool with words that bypassed her ears and spoke directly to her soul.
"Daughter of magic," the voice said, and Lyra knew with bone-deep certainty that it was the same entity that had been whispering to her in the cellar. "Come home to us."
"Who are you?" she called out, moving closer to the pool's edge.
"We are the bound. We are the waiting. We are the hunger that grows with every passing moon."
The Mistbound. Lyra knew it without being told, the same way she'd known the founders' spirits were trying to help her. But this voice was different—older, hungrier, filled with a patient malevolence that made her magic recoil in instinctive fear.
"You're supposed to be sealed," she said, though she continued walking toward the water.
"Seals weaken. Bindings fray. And daughters of founding blood call to us whether they mean to or not."
Lyra was at the pool's edge now, staring down into water that glowed like liquid starlight. Somewhere in the depths, she could see shapes moving—not quite human, not quite animal, but definitely aware and definitely watching her.
"What do you want?"
"Freedom. Power. The magic that flows in your veins."
The pull was getting stronger now, and Lyra found herself leaning forward over the water. Her reflection stared back at her, but it wasn't quite right—her eyes were glowing the same blue-green as the pool, and her skin had taken on a translucent quality that made her look more spirit than human.
"Just a taste," the voice whispered. "Just a touch. Let us remember what magic feels like."
Lyra's hand was reaching toward the water before she consciously decided to move. The glowing surface looked so inviting, so peaceful. It would be so easy to just trail her fingers through the light, to make contact with whatever was calling to her from the depths.
"Lyra!"
Cade's voice cut through the supernatural compulsion like a blade, and suddenly she could think clearly again. She wasleaning so far over the pool that another inch would have sent her tumbling into the glowing water with a presence so vast and hungry waiting just beneath the surface.
Strong arms wrapped around her waist, hauling her backward from the pool's edge. Cade's scent surrounded her—pine and leather and something wild that made her magic settle immediately.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded, his voice rough with panic and terror.
"I heard voices," Lyra said, though now that she was away from the water, the compulsion was fading. "Something was calling to me."
"Something was trying to drown you," Cade corrected grimly, pulling her further from the pool. "The Mistbound feeds on magical energy. If you'd touched that water..."
He didn't finish the sentence, but Lyra could imagine the implications. Around them, the gathered party guests were maintaining a respectful distance, though she could feel their attention focused on the glowing pool and the drama unfolding beside it.
"It knew my name," she said quietly. "It called me daughter of founding blood."
