The forest pressed in with a suffocating silence, each breath Bianca drew catching on the weight of her own words.
Her eyes burned with defiance as she lifted her chin toward the hunched old woman before her.
"Let's let the cat out of the bag," Bianca said, her voice trembling between arrogance and desperation. "I know who you are Làpatasodará Valkà… the witch from Princess Elowen's childhood tales. You can drop the disguise now."
The old woman's stillness was haunting, her shadow long and crooked beneath the twisted trees.
Bianca forced a mocking smile, even as her heart rattled inside her chest.
"Can you help me leave this cursed forest?" she pressed on. "Or perhaps…" her words wavered, "if you've found the Black Book. Because it was I who misplaced it."
The air thickened. Bianca braced herself for the sting of a hoarse laugh or the lash of a cruel, otherworldly voice. She even prepared for pain.
But the forest answered only with silence.
