Harmony Café had always been a little haunted, but tonight it felt watched. Not by ghosts, not by demons, and not by that one cursed biscotti still stuck behind the syrup rack.

It was being watched by the very walls.

Jo, still mute from the Silence Curse, had taken to communicating with a chalkboard necklace Mira had enchanted for visibility. She wrote things like Milk frother’s acting sketchy and Someone check on Clorvex, he’s suspiciously quiet.

That last one was false. Clorvex was simply napping upside down in the coat rack again.

What no one had noticed, not even Jo, was that Mira had been acting differently.

She brewed her tea slower and steeped it longer. Her shadow clung to her like forgotten thoughts, and her eyes shimmered faintly whenever she touched the Silent Steep blend.

Sev was the first to notice.  “You’re humming the same melody the curse plays.”

Mira froze and the kettle hissed.

“I think I know what the curse is,” she whispered. “I think I always have.”

Everyone paused.

Jo flipped her chalkboard and wrote, Polly said tea has secrets. Like me.

Mira nodded.

“My great-great-grandtea Beatrix wasn’t the first to brew the Silent Steep,” she said slowly. “She was the last one to contain it.”

Matteo dropped a spoon. It bounced and disappeared into the floor with a quiet gulp.

“The tea blend was never meant for comfort,” Mira continued. “It was brewed to hold a voice. A powerful one. A dangerous one. A voice that was sealed in a blend steeped too long.”

Jo scribbled on to the chalkboard. In the First Mug?

“Yes.” Mira placed her hands over the counter. “It’s not a curse. It’s a message.”

Everyone turned to Jo, who held the chalk and hesitated and then wrote, What if it’s not trying to silence us but trying to speak through me?!

The silence rang louder than a scream.