The doorbell above the door rang out as I pushed it open and stepped into the dimly lit antiques shop. It smelled of polished wood and lavender. Fiona Ravenshadow was sitting behind the counter, her raven-black hair spilling over her shoulders. Her cold grey eyes looked up from an ancient-looking ledger.

"Back so soon, Evie?" Fiona's voice was soft and curious.

I smiled. "I couldn't stop thinking about the tea set you showed me last time, the one with the rose pattern. My gran had one like it and it made me feel nostalgic."

Fiona smiled knowingly. "Ah, the Staffordshire bone china. An excellent choice for a lady of your refinement."

She glided out from behind the counter. I followed her down an aisle with towering shelves of trinkets and baubles from times gone by.

"There's something else," I said. "When you served the tea the other day, I noticed something rather strange."

Fiona stopped and turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"The way you poured the tea, without touching anything." I took a deep breath. "It was very impressive."

Fiona's eyes flitted with something, surprise, caution, maybe even a hint of respect for my directness.

She looked at me for a moment before replying enigmatically. "It's often best to keep certain skills under wraps, even in Llyncroft. Although we are all arcane, some gifts are more accepted than other."

"I get that," I said. "I don't want to cause any trouble. I've just never seen anything like that before."

Fiona studied me for what felt like an age. Then she relaxed and chuckled.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Fiona smiled wryly.

I laughed nervously. "I guess so."

Fiona held my gaze, sitting back against the wall of antique curiosities. "I know what people think of me here," she said. "They fear what they do not understand. And my abilities, they unsettle folks."

I nodded. "I've heard whispers. If I'm not being too blunt, what can you do?"

She tilted her head, half-smiling. "Of course you have."

Fiona's gaze was intense, and I squirmed under its weight.

She held up her hand. "I'm a shadow weaver. I can manipulate the very fabric of darkness."

As she spoke, the shadows in the shop seemed to move and dance. I watched as a tendril of darkness wrapped around her fingers, twisting and turning at her command.

"I can turn myself into shadow, move unseen, even make the darkness take physical form." She shaped a swirling, shapeless mass near her face.

"That's amazing. I've never heard of anything like that before."

Fiona nodded. "It's an ancient and rare gift. It's what makes me different from most people." Her gaze became guarded. "Not everyone in Llyncroft appreciates what I can do."

I remembered the whispers I'd heard, the suspicion that seemed to follow Fiona. "I guess people don't like what they don't understand or trust. Is that why you keep it hidden?"

She nodded. "It's best not to draw attention to myself. My powers are unique and also dangerous. I use them carefully despite what other would want you to believe."

I nodded. "So you can do all sorts of things with shadows? Can you move through them, change them? I read something about vampires being able to move through shadows to hide themselves. Is that something you do?"

"Absolutely." Fiona smiled. "Darkness is my paint, and I am the artist." She looked at me. "Maybe one day I will show you what I can do."

"I'd love that. That would be amazing."

Fiona laughed. "I thought you might." She gestured towards the tea set. "So, are we going to talk about the fine bone china from Staffordshire and how long it was going to be before someone got you to talk to me about the Davies' death?"

I took a deep breath. "I don't want to believe that's why I'm here."

"Isn't it?" Fiona's eyes were sharp.

"No, I came back because I wanted to learn more about the tea set. Well, no, that's not the truth. I was curious about you, too." I admitted conscious if I wanted to build a relationship with Fiona I needed to tell her the truth as she could clearly tell when I was lying.

Fiona pushed off from the wall and walked towards the counter where a silver tea set gleamed under the lamp. She ran a finger over the handle of the pot, not looking at me.

"People are often curious," she said. "Until their curiosity turns to fear." She turned to face me. "But you're not like them, are you, Evie? You're different."

"I don't know what I am," I said.

Fiona's gaze softened. "Maybe we're not so different after all." She walked back towards me and stopped only inches away.

"I didn't kill Thomas," she said. "But suspicion has a way of sticking to people like me." She gestured to herself.

"I know what suspicion feels like," I said. I was reminded of my conversation with Marcus and Zoe and how I knew he was in a relationship with her, even though he hadn't admitted it to start with.

Fiona cocked an eyebrow. "Do you now? Well then, Evie Hartwell, let's hope neither of us drowns in it."

Fiona smiled and beckoned me to follow her to a secluded corner of the shop. As we walked, the air seemed to thicken, and the shadows on the walls seemed to move in a way that was almost alive.

She paused, looking at me. "You know, being a Shadow Weaver, it's not just about what I can do. It's about understanding what darkness really is. It's not bad, like some people think. It's just one of the things that is there in the world. I understand why people would suspect me."

"What about light?" I asked. "Does it stop you from doing things?"

Fiona nodded. "Yes, light is like my opposite. I need light to be there for me to do anything. But I have to make sure I have both."

"Both," I said, thinking about my own new connection with the earth.

"Yes," Fiona said. "We all need to have both." She looked at me. "I think you understand, too. You're like me, I think."

I stepped closer to her. "What can you teach me about balance?"

Fiona's eyes, two chips of flint in the fading light, bore into mine. "Balance is not something you can be taught, Evie. It's something you have to learn, living, feeling the pull of both sides of you." I scuffed my feet on the floorboards. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "You have to trust yourself, and sometimes," she said, her eyes narrowing, "you have to trust others completely."

The word 'completely' hung in the air between us. Trust was something I'd lost recently because of Marcus.

"What about you?" I said. "Are you trustworthy?"

She laughed, a low, musical sound that filled the room. "Now that is the question, isn't it?"

I glanced at the door behind me, considering my escape, but my feet stayed put.

Fiona leaned in. I could see the fine lines around her eyes. "I could show you things about balance that would blow your mind. But to learn them, you'd have to let go of your fear."

My heart thudded in my chest. "Let go of my fear? And if I do that,"

"Then you'll get what you want," she said, looking deep into my eyes. I found her gaze both thrilling and frightening.

I swallowed. "What do you think I want?" I asked. My voice sounded like a whisper in the cavernous room.

Fiona cocked her head and studied me. "Isn't it obvious?" she murmured. "You want to belong, Evie. You want to know your place in this new world."

I blinked. She was right. Since I'd arrived in Llyncroft, I'd felt lost. I'd been torn away from the life I knew and thrown into a world where the earth spoke and the shadows moved.

"To belong," I repeated.

Fiona nodded. "Yes, to belong, and more. You want to understand the full extent of your power. You want to stop being at the mercy of things you don't understand."

I felt a surge of excitement. I'd felt powerless since Marcus had left me on the other side of the invisible barrier outside Llyncroft. I felt like I was being offered my power back.

"And what about you?" I said. "What do you want?"

Fiona smiled. "I want many things," she said. "But most of all, I want to be in control."

"Of your powers?" I asked.

"Of my powers," she said. "And of my life." She leaned in. "It's not so different from what you want, Evie."

I realised she was right. "So, how do we get this control?" I asked.

Fiona grabbed a small box from a shelf and pulled out an amber coloured stone. "By learning," she said. "And by choosing which shadows to let in. This, for example, is arcanite."

"What about arcanite?" I said. "I thought that was just something that enhanced magic. How is that part of balance?"

Fiona's expression flickered. "Arcanite," she said. "It's a rare and powerful thing."

"But dangerous?" I asked.

"Only if used wrong." She ran a finger along the rough edge of the stone in her hand.

"But why?" I said. It came out more accusing than I meant.

Fiona pulled her hand back from the arcanite and looked at me. "Because everything has its place in balance, even arcanite."

I shivered. There was something unspoken in her words.

"You seem to know a lot about arcanite," I said.

She smiled. "Knowledge isn't always what it seems, Evie." Her eyes flicked to the door and back to me, dismissing me. "Be careful where you tread."