There’s more than enough here to catch and hold my interest. Prose like this is easy to read – the cadences (flow) are flawless.

hmm, seems there’s more to cora than she’s telling. i expected some huge explosive scene after all that foreshadowing, instead of “Cora, and not interested.” She knows the future? she is the killer? she is part of a cultish group?
Grammar Ninja: was she standing or leaning in the first sentence, pick a pose! :)

She’s leaning; the word leant infers leaning

she stood there, she leant against.. those are different poses in one sentence, but i never saw her move. that’s what I meant. if you choose lean, then the sentence needs to drop ‘she stood there’. re-read it to yourself without it.

I like the possibilities….dark possibilities. Her comments make me wonder what her, perhaps, even supernatural role might be. It makes me want to read more…