Page 47 of Magical Mission

That earned an actual giggle from Opal, and I tucked that little sound into my chest for safekeeping.

Stella grinned at me and gave a nod toward her friends. “In case you don’t know, they’re all vampires.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Believe it or not, I was pretty certain that was the case.”

As the foyer began to thin and students drifted off to their classes or toward breakfast, I finally leaned against the banister at the base of the stairs, letting the thrill of the room soak into me.

Nova appeared beside me, her schedule folded into a paper phoenix.

“You realize we have absolutely no idea what we’re doing,” she said.

“I know.”

Bella arrived next. “My classroom tables are suddenly all different heights. Is that a metaphor?”

“Probably,” I said, knowing the last time we’d walked into Bella's classroom, they were all equal in height.

Ardetia simply floated past us and said, “Chaos is the beginning of understanding.”

I turned to Keegan, who had appeared with a mug of coffee and no schedule at all.

“You’re just here to look good and nod wisely, right?” I teased.

“Obviously,” he said, deadpan.

Stella leaned on the other banister, cheeks pink with laughter. “This is going to be a wonderful disaster.”

“But, it’ll beourdisaster.” I wiggled my brows, finally feeling the edge of uncertainty leave my bones.

They all chuckled.

And somewhere behind us, the halls of the Academy exhaled like it was laughing too.

I told myself I wouldn’t interfere. I was going to bedignified.

Headmistressly.

“Duty calls,” Keegan said, starting down one of the main corridors.

“Good luck,” I called after him as the others fell in step behind.

I wandered toward the kitchen, taking in the goodness of the morning and how smoothly it was going, when, not even five minutes into the first period of the day, I caught a whiff of something unusual.

All of that patting myself on the back went straight out the arched window.

Because the smell of burned lavender was drifting down the east hallway.

Andnothingtorched lavender unless, of course, something’s gone very, very wrong.

I made my way down the corridor toward the scent as the warm light filtered in through ivy-draped windows, giving the illusion of peace.

Emphasis onillusion.

Because from the moment I got within a few feet of Bella’s door, I heard it.

“Stop waving it! You’re fanning the flames!”

“I’mairing out the energy!”