Page 216 of Magical Mission

She gave a soft groan as I helped her out of the car.

“Maeve, is it always this… active here?” she asked, blinking toward the flickering porch light. Somewhere overhead, Karvey shifted on the roof with a faint scrape of stone against slate.

I glanced toward the edge of the woods, where firefly-like lights had started to bob. Nova, probably, signaling her arrival through the enchanted trees.

“Yeah,” I said truthfully, guiding her gently toward the porch. “Lately, it kind of is.”

Skye exhaled through a laugh that was more breath than sound. “Then I am officially too pregnant for this magical mystery tour. I’m pooped. You mind if I crash for the night?”

Relief surged through me like warm tea after a storm. “Not at all. I was hoping you’d say that.”

I opened the door for her and led her inside, with Keegan right behind. The cottage was still gently humming with its own charms, the ones Twobble had reinforced last night. It felt like a living creature holding its breath, quiet, waiting, watchful.

“Wake me if there’s a unicorn stampede.”

“I promise,” I called after her.

I stayed still for a breath or two, letting the silence settle, letting my pulse slow. The moment the hallway dimmed again, a warm flicker sparked behind me.

Nova appeared in a soft shimmer of flame-colored light, brushing snowflakes of spark magic from her coat. “She’s down?”

“Out like a light,” I whispered. “I think the baby was doing most of the talking.”

Nova nodded solemnly and stepped into the kitchen, where Keegan was already pulling chairs from the corner. Stella arrived next, appearing not through magic but through the front door like she had walked straight from the tea shop with a tray of something wrapped in linen and steam.

“Fresh scones,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Because if we’re going to face shadows again, I refuse to do it on an empty stomach.”

“Stella,” I said softly, “thank you.”

She waved me off but touched my arm briefly as she passed, a gesture full of unspoken support. Ember swept in last, looking flushed and wild-eyed, her hair half-unbraided like she’d abandoned her work mid-spell.

“I saw the distortion from across the valley,” she said without preamble. “The Butterfly Ward is signaling. Did something trigger it?”

“Yes,” I said, shutting the cottage door behind her. “Mys and Krina were in on it the whole time. They were the ones controlling the shadow.”

“On Gideon’s behalf?”

“Wouldn’t doubt it.”

Keegan leaned forward. “You think the shadow is inside the grounds?”

I shrugged. “The pulse I felt earlier was like a sickness. What if the Academy isn’t just holding back an attack? What if it’s trying to contain something already there?”

Ember pulled a ward map from her satchel and spread it across the table. “If it’s inside, we have to identify where it’s anchored. The shadows Gideon uses aren’t free-floating. They latch onto weakness, emotional or structural.”

Nova circled the table, her fingertips crackling faintly with firelight. “We’ll canvas every nook and cranny. It’s all we can do.”

“If it’s there, we will find it.” Keegan nodded.

“There’s always the chance that we managed to get it out last time, and they were just trying to figure out how to bring it back in,” Twobble suggested.

“That is precisely what I’m hoping.”

I looked toward the loft where Skye was sleeping, curled beneath a floral quilt and dreaming, hopefully, of something mundane like pancakes or nursery wallpaper.

“She can’t be here for that,” I said. “If the cottage becomes a target…”

“We’ll reinforce the outer Wards,” Keegan said. “And tomorrow morning, we’ll arrange for her to leave town early. I’ll make sure the car’s ready. Maeve, you’ll go with her for part of the way, make it seem normal.”