The Demon in the Wood (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #0.5)

by Leigh Bardugo

It’s a balance, his mother always said. Fear is a powerful ally, but feed it too often, make it too strong, and it will turn on you.

That was how they always found Grisha. He and his mother followed legends, whispers, tales of sorcerers and witches, of demons in the forests. Stories like that had led them to a tribe of Squallers camped along the western shore, to Baba Anezka and her cave of mirrors, to Petyr of Brevno and Magda of the black woods.

“Your true name is written here,” she said tapping his chest. “Tattooed on your heart. You don’t let just anyone read it.”

These were the trees he liked best, the kind that never lost their green, that always smelled of sap. In woods like these, it felt like summer was still alive, as if a sun were buried in every rough trunk like a warm, dormant heart.

He could belong to this place. He could have a home, maybe even friends. And friends went on adventures. They broke rules together.

He was aware of the way men looked at his mother. It was one more weapon in her arsenal.

Let me make a mark on this world before I leave it.

He understood then. The Grisha lived as shadows did, passing over the surface of the world, touching nothing, forced to change their shapes and hide in corners, driven by fear as shadows were driven by the sun. No safe place. No haven. There will be, he promised in the darkness, new words written upon his heart. I will make one.