Olivia Rivera has always lived by her mother's superstitious rules: never bargain when afraid, never thank a stranger beneath moonlight, and keep protective rowan charms above every door. To Olivia, these were just harmless oddities of living near the ashen borderlands. But when the ancient wood above her kitchen door splits perfectly in half at dawn-severed by an invisible, impossibly sharp blade-she realizes the old warnings were more than just folklore. As an unseasonal frost grips her orchard and protective salt lines crust into gray sheets, the familiar world begins to feel dangerously wrong. Escaping to the local market town brings no comfort. The road traces the edge of the mystical border, where the air reeks of cold iron and unnatural white flowers bloom among dead nettles. The old protections are failing, and whatever her mother feared is finally crossing the boundary.