Page 16

Keegan held the door open for me, and I stepped into the hallway beside him.

We didn’t speak right away. The inn was quiet, the lobby sounds now behind us, and only the distant clink of dishes from the kitchen reminded me it was nearing supper. The air had that hush to it as if it were waiting to hear what we had to say.

Keegan looked tired, not in the obvious way, or like he’d just shifted. His shoulders were still squared, and his expression didn’t show exhaustion, but I could feel it in the slight slump of him as we walked side by side toward the inn’s side exit.

“You look like you fought a dragon and lost,” I said.

“Just a talkative guest,” he muttered.

“Same thing.”

He gave a tired chuckle. “Honestly? A sprite would’ve been more straightforward.”

We reached the back porch where the wood planks creaked beneath our boots.

I leaned against one of the posts, watching the evening light scatter over the rooftops of Stonewick.

From here, I could just make out the chimney of Stella’s tea shop, a curl of smoke rising lazily into the pink sky.

I glanced at the area on the patio that Keegan had long ago told me about, a safe space.

“You want to tell me what actually happened in there?” I asked.

Keegan braced one hand on the railing and exhaled slowly. “I can try.”

I waited.

“The guest checked in a day ago,” he said. “Solo traveler, warlock. He says that he’s just feeling out where his next magic jackpot is, whatever that means. I think he’d had one too many magic mushrooms, if you know what I mean.”

I scowled and rolled my eyes. “Great.”

“But I told him if he speaks to anyone at the hotel like he did, he will no longer be welcome.” Keegan shrugged. “He was sniffing around with all sorts of questions, but I hope it’s just an unruly guest.”

“That’s not what your gut says, is it?”

“Nope,” Keegan said. “If he weren’t dodging questions and giving the front desk a hard time, I’d feel better.”

“Well, now it’s my turn, and I hope the two aren’t related.”

“Wait. What? You didn’t just come here to check on me?” he teased.

There was something about being with Keegan that always put me at ease, even when I was drowning in my thoughts.

“Okay, what aren’t you telling me?” His eyes stayed fastened on mine.

“I heard two students in the library talking, and it was all very cryptic…” I bit my lip for a brief second as I thought about what exactly worried me.

“I heard one student reporting to the other how you’d left for the inn.

” I glanced around, and a shiver ran through me.

“And then I heard them talk about how someone wouldn’t even know if something was happening right under someone’s nose. ”

“You’re the someone?”

“I assume so. I have no idea what they’re planning, but it’s for tonight.”

“So, this guy at the inn might be a distraction.”

“It makes me wonder or he could be completely unrelated.”

“He was asking about town businesses. All the magically owned ones.” Keegan turned to face me fully now, brow furrowed.

“He asked about the tea shop and wanted to know if Stella sold anything stronger behind the counter. Asked if Nova’s place had an underground escape for other realms.”

I blinked.

“He sounded… off. Not dangerous, exactly. But not grounded either. I don’t think he’s telling the whole truth either.” Keegan leaned back slightly, watching me.

“Could he be cursed?” I asked. “Confused?”

“Maybe. But if he is, it’s not a spell I’ve seen before. He didn’t trigger the Wards,” he pointed out.

“True.”

“I feel like he’s tied to the two women, but it’s probably a stretch.”

“Not necessarily.” He stepped closer and shook his head. “You’re usually pretty right on top when it comes to reading things.”

I laughed. “You mean like picking up on the fact that Frank was my dad?”

He chuckled. “Okay, maybe not that. But most other things.”

We shared a smile, the quiet stretching between us in that easy way it sometimes did. The porch creaked again as Keegan shifted closer, and his hip brushed mine lightly.

“You always show up right when I’m about to lose patience,” he said.

“Maybe you’re just always close to losing it.”

He gave me a crooked smile. “That sounds about right.”

I studied him for a moment, letting my gaze linger.

“There’s something to this, isn’t there?” I asked, softer now.

“Yeah,” he said. “I can usually get a read on people. This one? It’s like there’s something under the surface of this guy, but it keeps shifting shape. And the questions about the businesses, the layout of town… it didn’t feel like curiosity.”

I nodded slowly. “It felt like reconnaissance.”

He didn’t answer, but the look in his eyes said it all.

I glanced back out at the rooftops as the last of the light slid off the shingles and into the shadows.

“Do you think it could be connected to what Twobble saw?” I asked.

“I’ve been wondering that. Could be. It could be separate nonsense altogether. Either way, I don’t like it. Everything is adding up to something unsettling.” Keegan studied me for a long moment. “You think this is the start of something bigger?”

“I think we’ve been asking the Academy to open,” I said. “And now it has. But we don’t get to choose who hears the call.”

We stood in silence for a while, the hum of crickets rising in the background.

I reached over and tugged gently at the cuff of his sleeve.

“Promise me something?”

He glanced down at me.

“If he causes any other issues, let us know.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Worried about me?”

“Just want to make sure the next time you fight a warlock, I at least get a front-row seat.”

He chuckled. “Deal.”

We stood there a moment longer before I finally sighed. “I should get back.”

“Dinner duty?”

“And sprite diplomacy. There was an incident with floating ladles earlier.” I smiled. “Are you coming back for dinner?”

“Nah. Someone I know signed me up for two full-time jobs, so I need to catch up on some things over here at the one that pays the best.”

I chuckled. “Who would do that to you?”

“Some wicked witch with a great smile.”

My hands flew to my hips. “Hey, I’m not wicked.”

Keegan winked at me and laughed. “We don’t know that, yet.”

“You’re impossible.” I rolled my eyes and snickered. “Time for headmistress duties.”

He made a face. “Dangerous work.”

“Let me know if anything changes.” We walked back into the inn, and everything felt fine.

Still.

“You’ll be the first to hear,” he promised as he walked toward his office.

I smiled and walked out the door and onto the cobblestone path back toward the Academy, but I felt that familiar tug in my chest.

The one that came every time I walked away from him.

And this time, I wasn’t sure if it was just affection or the start of something stranger still.

The sun had dipped low enough to cast the cobblestones in long, syrupy gold as I crossed the street from the inn.

Stonewick looked as peaceful as ever. Smoke curled from chimneys. Porch lanterns flickered to life one by one. The faint scent of magic and something sweet drifted from someone’s kitchen window, and somewhere down the block, a wind chime tinkled like laughter.

And yet, my gut twisted.

There was something in the way Keegan had described the guy’s questions that pulled at the wrong threads in my mind. It sounded like nonsense mixed with distraction.

But Gideon had always known how to hide his intentions behind nonsense.

I walked slower than usual, my boots echoing quietly as I scanned the sidewalks, shopfronts, even the flickering reflections in dark windows. Looking for anything that felt… off. A symbol scratched into wood. A rune carved where no one would notice. A shadow in a place that should’ve been empty.

The town had its usual magic. The quiet kind that was friendly and familiar. A charmed bell jingled as a door opened behind me. Someone waved as they passed, and I waved back, though I didn’t register who.

I was looking for him.

Gideon.

I didn’t know what I’d do if I saw some sign of him out in the open. I doubted he’d come in person. He rarely did, not until the web was spun, but I couldn’t shake the thought that he’d sent someone ahead. Someone who knew how to slip through spaces others didn’t notice.

And the idea of someone sniffing around Stella’s tea shop or Nova’s store made me worry. But was it making me worry just enough to distract me from what could really be happening?

The anxiety made something in me sharpen.

By the time I reached the end of the block, I’d nearly convinced myself I wouldn’t find anything. The warlock was just a babbling traveler. The girls in the library were plotting something small and harmless. The shadow Twobble saw could be a magical fluke.

Except it wasn’t. I knew it wasn’t. Magic doesn’t babble. Magic moves when it’s ready. And lately, it had been shifting like it knew something was coming.

I turned off the main street and ducked into the alleyway near the apothecary that was hidden behind vines and shrubbery, where the bricks never stayed quite the same shade twice.

The shortcut that led toward the back of the Academy grounds, through the quiet curve of the greenhouses. I’d only taken it once before.

The wind hushed, as if it didn’t want to disturb anything. I moved quickly, fingers brushing the stone as I walked, the familiar tingle of enchantment welcoming me the deeper I went.

And then I felt that warmth in the air, the hush of magic woven into light, garden, and memory. The Butterfly Ward shimmered just ahead.

I stepped through.

It always felt like returning to another world. The pulse of the Academy hummed beneath the soles of my boots. The colors became sharper and the air richer.

The fear, for a moment, ebbed.

I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I was standing on Academy grounds again, the light of the ward folding over my shoulders like a soft shawl.

I could breathe here.

That was the difference.

Whatever waited outside, whatever plans were being whispered, I would face them. But here, in this moment, I let myself feel the magic. Whether it was the way the garden always held its breath when I walked by, or the way the stones seemed to greet me beneath my steps.

I made my way to the grand doors, pulling them open to a wave of warm chatter.

The grand foyer was bustling with students who filled the wide room in small clusters, voices rising in excitement and laughter. I caught pieces of conversation as I stepped inside.

“…and then it flew across the room and hit her right in the braid— ”

“…no, I levitated it first. You accidentally summoned the bookshelf.”

“…Bella said mine tasted like compost, but she gave me extra credit because it sparkled! ”

It was chaos, but the happy kind.

Bright eyes and faces flushed from discovery were stationed everywhere with cloaks askew and papers flying. The energy of first lessons gone just well enough to feel triumphant. It made my heart squeeze.

This was why the Academy was here.

For them. For this.

I stepped forward, smiling as I passed a group near the main stairwell, their arms full of notebooks and half-baked spell scrolls.

“Headmistress!” someone called. “Did you know the chairs in Ardetia’s room rearrange themselves if you lie on your test?”

“Entirely intentional,” I called back. “Your chair ratted you out, huh?”

Laughter followed me, and I was about to head toward the library to see if any books needed coaxing back into their shelves when I heard it.

Footsteps.

Fast ones.

Not just hurried. Urgent.

I turned toward the far corridor just in time to see Twobble skidding around the corner, nearly crashing into the wall as he barreled toward me, his cloak flapping behind him and his tiny feet barely gripping the polished floor.

He looked breathless, frantic, and… afraid.

My stomach dropped.

“Maeve!” he shouted, scrambling up the steps, eyes wide.

“What is it?”

He didn’t answer right away.

He just reached me, face flushed, hat askew, and opened his mouth to speak.