Page 39 of Magical Mirage (Stonewick Magical Midlife Witch Academy #6)

“We have two choices,” Nova said, turning toward the window where the shadows pressed like dark waves against the glass. “Shelter under the cottage’s roof and wait. Or test the edge and see what pushes back.”

Twobble let out a dramatic sigh and slumped against the arm of the couch. “I don’t know about going out there. In fact, I’m almost certain I don’t want to go out there. Did anyone else notice the sky looks like it’s holding a grudge?”

Skonk peered through a gap in the curtain. His ears twitched. “I vote we stay inside. Permanently. We’ll just live here. Raise turnips in the kitchen, barricade the doors, and become legends. People will sing of the foolish goblins who refused to leave the cottage.”

“Legends?” Twobble sniffed. “More like tragic footnotes.”

Bella dragged a chair toward a spell map spread across the table. Her braid slipped forward again, and she tucked it back, eyes sharp.

“We can’t afford to linger. If Maeve’s right, the Academy may be the only place left with answers. But the path matters. If we try the goblin tunnels and fail, we could open the way for whatever’s clawing at the sky to follow us in.”

Twobble sat up straight, scandalized. “I would never invite the shadows into our tunnels. Absolutely not. The tunnels are sacred. A goblin’s only place to retreat from you people and all wild things.”

Skonk gave him a flat look. “Says the goblin who once invited a badger in because you thought it looked lonely.”

“That badger and I had an understanding,” Twobble protested.

Bella pressed on, ignoring them. “If we stay above ground, we’ll be exposed. But at least we’ll see the threat coming. And if the Wards flare, we’ll know before it’s too late. We know it’s throwing mirages. We can lean on one another to ensure we don’t fall for what it’s tossing our way.”

Ardetia, quiet until now, circled the table with her usual fae hesitation, light rippling faintly along her skin.

“Neither path is safe. But she’s right. The tunnels might carry more risk than open air.

Shadows love hidden places.” She paused, then added in a softer tone, “And I’ve no wish to be cornered underground with mirages. ”

“Not to mention, as I’ve said before, the tunnels aren’t meant to open in times like these.” Twobble shook his head.

“Above ground it is, then. We’ll follow the ridge, cut through the maple grove, go into the woods, and keep close enough together that we’ll sense the mirages.”

“We need to go,” I said firmly, my voice surprising even me with its steadiness.

“I can’t just wait while the sky darkens.

My dad is there. Elira’s there. If anyone knows how to sever these shadows, it’s them.

Not to mention, the remaining summer students are surely noticing the darkening skies.

We need to assure them that things will be fine. ”

Keegan’s gaze turned to mine, with his hazel eyes, steady and fierce. He hadn’t sat since Nova spoke, his frame taut as if ready to spring at the first sign of danger.

“Then we go,” he said simply. “You’re not walking into this alone.”

Warmth bloomed through my chest at his words. I almost smiled, but before I could thank him, something else bloomed.

It started as a hum, low and insistent, crawling through my bones. My hands lifted to my ears, trying to block it out.

But it wasn’t exactly sound. It was pressure. A ringing that wasn’t ringing. The scrape of shadows dragging claws across the inside of my mind.

The room tilted. I gasped.

“Maeve!” Keegan was at my side instantly, one strong arm wrapping around my shoulders, grounding me as my knees buckled. “What’s happening?”

I couldn’t answer. The hum grew louder, blooming into pain. My palms pressed harder against my ears, though nothing dulled it.

Shapes danced at the edge of my vision as twisted silhouettes curled and writhed, their outlines indistinct but their hunger undeniable. Shadows. But not outside. Inside. Slithering through the crack the curse had left in me when I crossed into Shadowick.

“I—” My throat caught. The air tasted like ash. “They’re here.”

Nova moved quickly, sage already in her hand. She struck a match, green eyes sparking with calculation. “Keep her grounded. It’s intrusion.”

“The mirage. It’s trying every one of us.” Bella darted to the window, scanning the horizon, her fox instincts in full flare. “The shadows are pressing harder. They can sense her.”

Twobble dashed up onto the table. “What do we do?”

“Sit down before you fall,” Skonk groaned, but his wide eyes betrayed his panic.

Keegan’s grip tightened around me. His voice was low, meant for me alone. “Stay with me, Maeve. You’re not alone in this. You hear me? You’re not alone.”

I clung to that voice, the steadiness in it, even as the shadows clawed deeper. The ringing split into whispers, hundreds of them, threading through my mind like smoke.

“Mom!”

The word hit me so hard, my knees nearly gave out.

Celeste…

Her voice was unmistakable. Images floated in through the glass as if she were standing just at the end of the drive. Then another, weaving into hers, my mother.

“Maeve, please…help us!”

My body moved before my mind could catch up. The mug in my hand clattered to the floor, tea spilling across the wood like a warning I didn’t bother to heed. I was already at the door, fingers on the latch, pulse hammering against my ribs.

Twobble squealed. “No, no, no, bad idea! Worst idea! Catastrophic idea!”

Skonk was faster. He flung himself onto my leg like a sack of flour with elbows. “You’re not leaving this cottage!”

“Let go!” My throat tore on the words. “That’s my daughter and my mom! They need me. They’re out there with the shadows.”

Keegan was there then, his arms like iron bands around my waist, hauling me back from the door. His chest pressed to my back, his breath harsh against my ear.

“It isn’t them,” he growled. “Maeve, it isn’t them.”

But the voices kept calling, breaking me in half with every syllable. “Maeve, please, it hurts.”

“Mommy, please come quickly,” Celeste’s voice dug deep.

I lunged again, dragging all three of them with me. Keegan’s strength was nearly gone from days of fighting, but the desperation in his grip told me he’d burn his body out entirely before letting me go.

Twobble scrambled up my body to cling to my arm, his little fingers digging in with surprising power. Skonk bit my pant leg for extra leverage.

“Listen!” I screamed, tears blinding me. “Don’t you hear them? Don’t you hear?”

“We hear nothing,” Keegan said, hoarse, right into my ear. His voice was shaking, whether from strain or something darker, I didn’t know. “Maeve, you’re hearing what it wants you to hear, remember?”

The latch rattled under my hand. My heart was breaking against my ribs like it wanted to answer the door even if I didn’t.

Celeste’s cry carried again, thinner now, desperate.

“Mom!”

The sound undid me. My knees buckled, and we went down in a heap, with me thrashing, Keegan gritting his teeth, Twobble squawking, Skonk growling his protests into the floorboards.

And then silence.

Not quiet. Not peace. Just… nothing. As if a candle had been snuffed.

My body went still.

The cottage floor met my cheek, cool wood and woven rug pressing in. My breath rattled like a loose hinge.

Gone.

The voices were gone.

The images vanished.

Twobble slid off my arm, panting like he’d run a mile uphill with rocks tied to his ankles.

Skonk sat up and spat out a thread from my sleeve, grimacing. “That tasted like linen with spray starch,” he muttered, almost offended.

Keegan kept holding me, though his chest heaved like he’d run ten miles to keep me here. His cheek brushed my hairline as he lowered his head.

“You see?” he whispered. “It’s all lies.”

My eyes stung. I pressed my palms into the floor until my nails bit wood. “But it felt so real.”

“That’s the point,” Twobble said, collapsing backward onto the rug. “It digs around in your head and picks out the ripest, juiciest fears. Then it puppets them until you’re drooling for the trap. Very advanced nastiness. A plus on creativity, F minus on hospitality.”

Skonk gave me a long, measured look, unusually serious for once. “You’re not weak because you almost answered. You’re strong because you didn’t.”

I shook my head, still dazed. “I didn’t. You all stopped me.”

Keegan finally loosened his grip, but he stayed pressed close, anchoring me with his presence as much as his arms. “We stopped you because you’ve stopped us before. It’s what we do.”

The truth of it sank in with a slow, raw burn. They had been calling for me, my daughter, my mother, and everything inside me wanted to run to them, but it was nothing. A phantom. A trick. And where would it have taken me? To the Keeper tree where Gideon had let us go?

I lifted my face, finally daring to glance at the window. The shadow still lingered beyond the drive, darker than before, like ink seeping into cloth. But I understood now. It wasn’t just circling us. It was studying and testing us, learning where we bled.

The thought hollowed my stomach.

Keegan’s hand closed over mine, steadying me.

“It can’t have you,” he said. “Do you hear me? Not while I’m here.”

The words cracked me open in another way.

Not while I’m here, as if he knew his time left was limited.

Stella’s voice carried from the kitchen, gentle but pointed. “We’ll need stronger tea. With honey this time. Lots of it.”

“Make it a vat,” Twobble groaned, flopping dramatically onto his stomach. “I’ve aged seven goblin years tonight.”

Skonk elbowed him. “You were already shriveled.”

“At least I don’t smell like old mushrooms when I sweat,” Twobble shot back.

I almost laughed, a wet hiccup of sound, because even in this, they couldn’t stop being themselves.

But the dread still sat heavy in me. That mirage had been crafted perfectly, exactly for me. If I hadn’t been pulled back, if Keegan hadn’t been here, what then?

I pressed both hands to my face, trying to breathe through the ache.

“It knows me,” I whispered. “It knows us all.”

The cottage hummed under me, warm and fierce, as if to argue that knowing wasn’t the same as winning.

Twobble looked at Nova and shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t know about going out there and testing the edges just yet.”

I chuckled and nodded. “You were the absolute best choice for a sidekick.”

He beamed and folded his arms. “I am, aren’t I?”

Skonk groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “If he’s the best sidekick, then we’re all doomed. I suppose I’ll just start writing our epitaphs now. Here lies Skonk, who told them all this was a bad idea, but alas, no one listened. ”

“You’ll live to write your memoirs,” Stella muttered, rearranging the drinkware as though order on the table could mean order outside the door. “And you’ll exaggerate, I’m sure.”

Nova ignored their chatter, her gaze sharp and calculating. “Every moment we hesitate, the shadows grow. But Maeve’s right. Elira and Maeve’s dad are our only link to understanding what this path truly is. The Academy must be our destination.”

Bella pushed her braid back again, eyes glittering. “Then we choose a route quickly. Above ground, no matter the risk. The shadows already sniff at the tunnels. I won’t be buried alive.”

Ardetia gave a reluctant nod. Her fae glow shimmered faintly, like candlelight on water. “The open sky is treacherous. But so are burrows. If we move fast, perhaps the Wards will follow our trail and keep them back.”

Keegan reached for my hand, his thumb brushing against my palm. “We’ll make it. Whatever hunts us, it doesn’t get to take you.”

The cottage creaked as if in agreement, the Wards shivering with the weight of unseen eyes.

I swallowed the dread rising in my throat.

The mirage wasn’t meant to destroy me. Not yet. The voices were bait. The shadows wanted me to falter before I reached the two people who might still hold the truth.

I straightened, the ache still buzzing in my skull, but my resolve sharper than ever.

The door rattled again, harder this time, and the latch strained, as though something outside had already heard my vow.

But then, I heard my daughter’s voice once more.