A (mostly) cozy fantasy in which the rule of three is misused, the slow burn is glacial, and the cast of characters is twice as large as it needs to be. Also, there are monsters now.
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In a city unknowingly on the edge of chaos...
In the season of goldenrods and dahlias, and of the crisp coolness of everlasting evenings, where bright cold stars are alight in sable skies, and when sunrays shine brilliantly through warm-hued leaves,
Jasper's bell takes him to Zahara's home, where her curly-haired cousin Araceli bakes them all an apple pie with cinnamon in the filling, latticework on the crust, and a smell that Jasper already knows he will always be nostalgic for.
(Another specter is found by the city's northern wall, attempting to climb.)
In the season of camellias and pansies, and of the bracing bite of whistling winds, where ice hangs from eaves like crystal knives, and when bare branches bearing snow form lacework against the sky,
Jasper walks through the city of Beledon, admiring the way the clouds wrap themselves around the clock tower and settle over spires and chimneys; he pauses at the smell of cider coming from a nearby home.
(Three specters scratch their long nails along the city's southern door, barely spotted in time by guardsmen who could not at first distinguish the creatures' drained color from the snowy landscape.)
In the season of tulips and daffodils, and of the musical speech of chattering robins, where bumblebees idle through the freshly sweetened air, and when the woods adorn themselves with blossoming pink crowns,
Jasper plants sugar snaps and azaleas with Fallon outside the Taymon cottage, gingerly crouching to place his gloved hands into the soil while enjoying the light of a gentle sun.
(Edeline is forced to shoot another approaching specter with shaking hands, does not tell her siblings about it, and prays that nothing else will crawl its way toward them from the west.)
In the season of daisies and sunflowers, and of the unchanging hum of windless heat, where sparkling light falls upon the world's waters, and when the trees stand leisurely in their verdant glory,
Jasper pulls off his shoes to feel the sea lap its cool touch up to his ankles, hands filled with rocks of varied colors and shapes that had happened to catch his eye through the water.
(Days later, a specter attacks a group of picnic-goers along the eastern coast, whose sprint to safety is not enough.)
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Needless to say, the chimera remains unchanged.
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