Page 37 of Magical Mirage (Stonewick Magical Midlife Witch Academy #6)

Twobble and Skonk crashed through the front door with all the grace of a bucket rolling down stairs. The latch banged, the rug skidded, and somewhere in front of them a wooden spoon sacrificed itself to the cause by clattering under a chair.

“We’re here!” Twobble announced, already halfway across the room and somehow treading directly on his own cape.

Skonk tripped on the edge of Twobble’s cape, cartwheeled, grabbed the doorframe, missed spectacularly, and landed with a whuff against the couch.

“I meant to do that,” he panted, popping upright. “Also, I object to capes. Capes are a trip hazard and a cry for attention.”

“We agreed,” Twobble said, indignant, “that I look dashing.”

“I agreed to nothing,” Skonk muttered, then peered around at the gathered faces and added, scandalized, “Were you having a meeting without us? Rude.”

The interruption was a blessing. I could still feel Nova’s gaze pinning me to my chair, and could feel the words I hadn’t spoken humming under my tongue.

Hunger Path .

Stella took one look at the goblin chaos and huffed in relief. “Finally, some noise I recognize. Here, take pastries, both of you. You look like you outran your senses.”

Twobble accepted a sugared crescent and a second for good measure, then leaned into my shoulder as if he’d always belonged there. Skonk sidled along the back of the couch and pretended not to stare at the untouched scones as if they might grow legs and run.

“There are crumbs on the floor that aren’t mine, which suggests meetings and ideas are taking place, and as Maeve’s first student and ally, I should be here for all important discussions.” Twobble cocked his head.

“We were talking about the curse,” Bella offered quickly, glancing between Nova and me like a fox caught between two favorite walks. “Nova has charts. And strong opinions.”

Nova didn’t take the bait. She stood from her chair with careful quiet and crossed the room until she stood directly in front of me.

Her eyes were very green, very clear. She wasn’t angry at my silence.

She had left anger behind somewhere long ago and replaced it with a gentler, more terrifying precision.

“Maeve,” she said, and the way she said my name made the cottage lean in to listen. Then, to my surprise, she lowered herself to her knees so she was below my line of sight, not above, and took my free hand in both of hers. “What are you hiding?”

I heard Twobble’s breath hitch. Skonk stopped chewing as if interrupted mid-crime. Keegan’s thumb traced a circle against my knee that said, Whatever you do next, I’ll match your pace.

“There’s no proof,” I said. My voice sounded steadier than my chest felt. “Just a hunch.”

Nova’s hair had come loose in one strand, brushing her cheek. She didn’t move to lift it away.

“Hunches are simply truths that haven’t found their footing,” she murmured. “Say it and let me measure it in the light.”

My mouth opened. Nothing came out. The worry wasn’t fear alone. It was caution. It was the old, stubborn knowledge that speaking something too soon invited it to sit at the table and ask for more bread.

Nova’s hands held mine steady, her eyes sharp as cut glass. The words had been simmering inside me for too long, burning hotter with every heartbeat. And now, with everyone staring, waiting, I couldn’t hold them back anymore.

“I’ve been to Shadowick.”

The room cracked with silence.

Stella gasped so loud her shawl slipped off her shoulder. “You did what ?”

Bella nearly toppled her chair, braid swinging forward again. “That’s impossible. No one comes back from there unchanged. You seem…fine.”

Nova didn’t flinch. But the firelight caught in her green eyes, and for once she looked startled. “Explain.”

I took a breath, steadying myself on Keegan’s presence beside me. He didn’t move, but the quiet strength in his stance reminded me I wasn’t alone in this. He already knew.

“It wasn’t reckless bravado. Skonk went into a mirage.”

Skonk, halfway through licking sugar from his fingers, froze. “I was heroically kidnapped, Twiblet, for the cause.”

“Heroically tripped right into a mirage that nobody should have fallen for,” Twobble muttered. “And you dragged us into it. Don’t rewrite history.”

“Dragged?” Skonk gasped. “I was dangling from the Keeper with flair! I had it all under control.”

“Both of you hush,” Stella snapped, though her lips twitched as if she wanted to laugh. She turned back to me with eyes blazing. “You followed him? You walked into Shadowick?”

“Not quite so simply. Twobble guided Keegan and me to unknown places, following Skonk’s essence. When I realized what was up ahead, I forced Keegan back and went the rest of the way alone with Twobble. I unexpectedly wound up in Shadowick.”

Bella’s fingers tightened on the edge of the table. “Maeve… no one does that. Not without losing pieces of themselves. You should be broken, cursed, changed…something.”

“I saw Gideon. Things are not the same there or with him.”

The air snapped. Even the flames guttered low as if the name soured the room.

Nova’s grip on my hand tightened. “What did he do?”

“He didn’t attack me. He was fighting something else.

Something inside himself.” My voice shook, remembering.

“The shadows weren’t obeying him. They were devouring him.

I recognized it as the same sickness Keegan carries.

The shifting that claws at Keegan? It’s clawing at Gideon too. It’s hollowing both of them out.”

The silence that followed felt like a knot.

Ardetia, who had been still as carved glass until now, finally spoke. Her voice was low and musical, but there was unease beneath it. “If Gideon suffers as Keegan does, then the shadows are not his tools. They are his master.”

“Exactly, and I think it is Malore who is controlling them. I think my grandfather has been pulling the strings long before Gideon arrived with a reason to be manipulated.”

Skonk’s eyes went wide. “So you’re saying the big scary man who wants to roast us like chestnuts is just another squirrel caught in the same trap?”

Twobble puffed his chest. “We escaped Shadowick’s jaws, rescued ourselves with dashing heroics, and Maeve noticed details because she was watching. Which means I was also watching. Which means I should get credit for this discovery.”

“No one is giving you credit, Twiblet,” Skonk said flatly.

Stella slapped her palm against the table, rattling cups. “Sorry! I'm just a little excited here, but not in a good way. Maeve, do you mean to tell us we’ve been fighting shadows and curses, thinking Gideon was the puppeteer, when he’s really just another puppet?”

“I think so,” I whispered. “I think he’s both the enemy and the victim. He’s dangerous, yes, but the danger may not end with him. The shadows outside…” I gestured to the window, where darkness was already curling like ink across the sky. “They’re not his doing. I think he fears them.”

The room turned as one toward the glass.

The horizon churned, black clouds spiraling too thickly to be a storm. Tendrils stretched, twisting against the stars, pulsing with a rhythm that made the air in the cottage vibrate.

Bella stepped closer, her voice hushed. “It feels like we’re being watched.”

“It is watching.” Nova’s voice was grim, her jaw set.

Keegan’s hand brushed mine. He was steady, but I felt the faint tremor in him. “If what Maeve says is true, then we’ve been aiming at the wrong target. Gideon’s dangerous, but he’s not the source.”

“Which means the source is out there.” Stella jabbed her fork toward the sky. “And it’s painting its name across our skies like a rude advertisement.”

Twobble edged behind me, clutching his cape. “I don’t like advertisements. They usually want us to do something.”

Bella turned back to me. “Maeve, how close were you to losing yourself?”

The memory burned. The tug of shadows, the cold pull that had clawed at my chest. I swallowed, but it was nothing compared to the times before.

“Not very. Shadowick felt…different. Scary but not impossible. Seeing Gideon so weak and listening to his warning that he didn’t know he was giving changed things.”

Nova’s gaze was unreadable, but her voice softened. “Then the path forward is clear. We research the root. We trace the curse through history and find its binding, its origin. If Gideon and Keegan share the same affliction, unraveling it for one may unravel it for both.”

Keegan’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue.

“But do we want to unravel it for Gideon? He really is a nuisance,” Stella muttered.

“I’m not sure we have a choice. I think for some reason they are tied closely.” I glanced at Stella.

She sighed dramatically, pulling her shawl back over her shoulder. “Fine, but if I get a chance, I might hex him into oblivion.”

Twobble brightened. “See? She understands strategy!”

I saw the truth settling into everyone’s eyes. We weren’t preparing for Gideon alone. We were staring down a threat with no name, stretching across the sky.

I pressed a hand to my birthmark. It burned faintly, echoing the pull I’d felt in Shadowick.

“No more thinking Gideon is the whole war. Whatever those shadows are, they’re coming. And if we don’t stand together, Stonewick won’t stand at all.”

“We will break this curse,” Nova said softly.

I caught her gaze and nodded. “But I don’t think it’s a curse. I think it’s a path.”

The cottage went quiet, save for the low rumble of Keegan’s growl.

“An ancient rite…” Nova’s voice trailed off.

Then, soft but certain, Keegan said the word that bound us tighter than any spell.

“Together.”

The shadows pressed heavier against the cottage windows, and though the fire still burned, the room felt colder.

My confession had landed like a stone in still water, rippling through every heart here.

I wanted to curl into the comfort of the hearth, to pretend pastries and tea could hold us safe.

But I couldn’t ignore the tug inside me, sharp and insistent, almost painful.

I stood. “I need to go to the Academy.”

All eyes swung to me.

Stella’s red lips parted. “Darling, of all the times to wander outside.”

“I’m not wandering,” I cut in. “I need to speak with my dad and grandma. She has been tied to this path longer than any of us. If anyone knows whether these shadows can be broken, it’s her.”

Nova nodded once, sharp and certain. “She’s right. Knowledge that old doesn’t rest in books alone. Bloodlines and memory carry weight.”

“Not to burst anyone’s bubble here, but if she hasn’t been forthcoming before, why would she be now?” Twobble asked.

“All I can do is hope,” I said softly. “But maybe with my dad’s help, we can get her to answer the questions she’s avoided for so long. All I know is that my place is in the Academy.”

Bella frowned, her braid slipping forward again. “Then we’re all going. If the Academy’s Wards are strong enough to keep those things out, we’re safer behind them than here.”

“And Miora has had enough cleaning up to do recently,” I offered, realizing I hadn’t seen her recently.

Ardetia inclined her head, the faint shimmer of fae light spilling at her edges. “The Academy will want answers anyway. It’s listening, always. It may even show us more if we’re bold enough to ask.”

Twobble piped up, nearly falling off the arm of my chair. “Excellent idea! The Academy adores me. Doors fly open, chandeliers sparkle brighter when I walk in. Clearly, it’s a sign I should be included.”

“You tripped over a broom and nearly set the tapestry on fire last time,” Skonk muttered.

“Details,” Twobble said, dismissively.

Their bickering was almost comforting, but Keegan’s silence weighed heavily as I turned toward him. He leaned against the mantel, arms crossed, eyes shadowed. He looked tired, bone-deep tired, but when his gaze met mine, it was steady.

“I can make it,” he said before I could ask. His voice was quiet but firm. “The thing inside is gnawing, yes, but I’ve got enough strength to reach the Academy.”

My chest clenched. “Keegan—”

“I’ve walked farther with worse wounds,” he said, pushing off the mantel. He came closer, close enough that the firelight brushed his jaw. “Don’t doubt me, Maeve. Not now. If you’re going, I’m going beside you.”

Something in me eased, even as worry tightened its grip. I nodded.

Nova was already gathering her cloak, efficient as ever. “Then it’s decided. We move quickly. Before those things in the sky notice we’ve shifted ground.”

Stella rose with a dramatic flourish of shawl and teacup. “Fine. But if I get eaten on the way, I’ll haunt you all and rearrange your furniture.”

A nervous laugh rippled through the room.

I slipped my hand against Keegan’s, just for a moment. His grip was warm, grounding, alive.

But then…

The windowpanes rattled hard enough to make the cups jump. A shadow pressed against the glass, darker than night, its edges curling like smoke with claws.

And it whispered my name.