The Counting Chain fairy She presses it back without

She presses it back without thinking

This necklace embodies her power—graceful

just beneath the old pear tree where the grass has gone thin from too many summers

but for what it could hold

The Counting Chain fairy She presses it back withoutThe doors never quite shut anymore, so the night found its way in without asking. Orin came late, when the streets had thinned out and the chapel stood in that in between state of being neither used nor abandoned. He took the necklace from its hook by the entrance, turning it once in his hands before wrapping it loosely around his fingers, the red beads catching the light as they shifted. He didnt rush it. The first bead pressed beneath his thumb, and