Page 174 of Magical Mischief

And slowly, I understood.

She wanted me to take it.

I took a step forward.

The air around the crystal tingled slightly as I reached for it. I bent slowly, heart in my throat, and scooped it into my hands.

It was warm.

Not just warmed-by-the-floor warm. It pulsed with its heat, its rhythm. I could feel it under my fingers like a second heartbeat. Alive in a way that had nothing to do with breath or blood.

I held it close to my chest, still crouched, staring at the dragon.

“Why me?” I whispered.

She didn’t answer, of course. But somehow, I knew.

Because this was bigger than me.

Bigger than her.

Bigger than the Academy, even.

Whatever was about to happen, whatever wascoming, it was already in motion. The egg would hatch. The Butterfly Ward would heal or fall. The curse would rise or break. And I would have to stand in the middle of all of it.

Not because I had asked to.

But because Iwasin the middle of it. Chosen not by destiny, blood, or prophecy, but by every step since I first opened that cottage door and walked into a world I didn’t know would askeverythingof me.

The red crystal vibrated once against my palm.

I closed my fingers around it, letting its warmth spread up my arm, down into my bones.

And for the first time in a long while, I didn’t shrink from what it meant.

I didn’t askwhy meagain.

I just stood.

Not as someone uncertain.

Not as someone pretending.

But as myself.

And then I realized what my role in all of this was.

The mother dragon watched, protected, but most importantly, she waited.

As headmistress, my role was to watch and protect, but most importantly, wait until the Academy or the students needed me.

Whatever this crystal was, whatever it was meant for, I would carry it. I would trust that the dragon knew something I didn’t. That the magic inside this stone, insideme,was ready.

Then I bowed my head, just slightly, to the mother dragon.

And turned to go.

As I stepped back down the corridor, toward the hidden door and the world waiting just outside it, I didn’t feel small anymore.