Page 44 of Magical Mayhem

Ahead, at the base of a split oak whose two trunks twisted around each other like a married union, the prints ended.

There was no mossy canopy here, no mushroom guard. Only the oak’s twin hearts and the smell of smoke-that-wasn’t and the faintest whisper of breath not far enough away to be imagined.

Bella didn’t speak.

Neither did I.

The Wilds held its breath with us.

We were close enough to hear him not speaking.

Close enough to feel the circle tightening.

Close enough to know we would find him or he would decide to be lost.

I lifted my hand, steady at last.

“Together,” I said.

Bella nodded, and we stepped toward the twin-hearted oak.

Chapter Fourteen

Gideon’s form looked carved from shadows and stone, slumped against a mossy trunk,

Bella’s eyes darted to me, and I caught the same question mirrored there. What now?

I stepped closer. “Gideon.”

His eyelids fluttered but didn’t lift. Words spilled out of his mouth in broken fragments, tangled in the rasp of a man who’d walked too long through dark corridors.

“Maeve?” Bella asked, voice taut. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t think he hears me,” I murmured. My fingers hovered over his shoulder before I dared to rest them against the rough fabric of his shirt.

Behind us, the quiet crackled with footsteps, and Stella materialized like fog rolling in.

“Well,” she said, studying him with a dramatic sigh, “he’s not looking ready for much.”

I swallowed. “He’s barely breathing.”

Before Stella could answer, Twobble and Skonk burst through the undergrowth in their usual chaotic chorus with branches snapping, mutters and complaints, and a well-timed curse word or two.

Twobble stopped short, his green cheeks paling as he looked at Gideon.

“Yup,” he said, shaking his head, “he’s past his expiration date.”

“Twobble,” Stella snapped.

“What? I’m being delicate,” he said, gesturing wildly. “I could’ve said he looks like a half-squashed pumpkin someone forgot behind the shed, but I didn’t. You’re welcome.”

Skonk leaned against a tree, grinning devilishly. “Delicate as a rock in a teacup.”

I ignored them, sinking to my knees beside Gideon. “He needs help. But we’re not taking him to the Academy.”

Stella arched a brow, stepping lightly over a patch of mushrooms. “And where, darling, do you propose we put a half-dead shadow of a man who’s tried to destroy us all?”

My throat tightened. “Somewhere safe. Somewhere out of sight.”