The First Keeper

Before Whispering Falls, there was the first keeper. Long before the wards, hidden records, and generations of women who would inherit their magic, Mercy Lovejoy was learning what power could protect—and what it could destroy. In colonial New England, belief in witchcraft is no harmless superstition. A careless word can ruin a reputation. A frightened neighbor can become an accuser. And a woman who knows more than she should has every reason to keep that knowledge hidden. Mercy can sense disturbances others cannot. She can strengthen a threshold, ease suffering, and understand the strange intelligence of the cats who seem to watch the world more closely than people do. But when a genuine magical danger threatens her household, Mercy discovers that strength alone is not enough. The cats will not simply obey. Protection can become a prison. And magic used without consent can cause as much harm as the danger it was meant to prevent. To save the people she loves, Mercy must create something new: a way for witch, magic, place, and cat to work together without ownership or domination. Her choices will become the first foundation of a legacy carried through generations of women, eventually reaching a town called Whispering Falls. The First Keeper begins the Chronicles of the Whispering Falls Keepers, following the women and cats whose choices will shape a magical legacy for generations to come.