Page 26

It was time to get the students into the village of Stonewick. Stella announced the trip before I arrived, and dinner ended with laughter and leftover rolls being enchanted to sing off-key lullabies, much to the kitchen sprites’ dismay.

The students were rosy-cheeked, bellies full, slinging arms around each other as they wandered back to their wings, buzzing about the field trip like they’d already begun packing.

Stella gave out little paper pouches of lemon balm to anyone who looked even remotely anxious about leaving the grounds, which meant most of them.

For a while, it felt like everything might be all right.

I lingered near the hearth after the meal, sipping spiced cider with Twobble while my dad sprawled like a shaggy rug under a bench.

The students had gone, and the hall had thinned to a hush.

Stella had slipped away to prepare her shop for tomorrow.

Bella had left in fox form, slipping through the garden like a ribbon of light.

Even Keegan hadn’t returned from town yet, though I wasn’t worried.

He liked to stay at his house rather than the Academy.

I was standing near the great windows, looking out into the lavender-gray dusk of the courtyard, when it happened.

Not loudly.

Not even visibly.

Just a shift that makes your skin prickle before your thoughts catch up.

The flame in the lantern nearest me flickered twice, then flared, not with light, but shadow. It snuffed itself out entirely.

Twobble looked up. “Did you feel that?”

I nodded, setting down my mug.

My dad lifted his head, ears twitching.

Another lantern died—then another.

And the air turned wrong .

It wasn’t cold

It wasn’t hot.

It was too still, and the air was suffocating.

I took a step toward the door, already reaching inward for the familiar wellspring of my magic.

But the Wards hadn’t sounded.

There wasn’t a bell that rang or an alarm that shimmered. There was no pulse of warning through the stones.

“Where are the sprites?” Twobble murmured, standing beside me now.

They weren’t gone.

I would’ve felt if they were gone.

But they weren’t visible.

No flutter of wings or giggling trails of light zipping by us.

The air was too quiet.

“I’m going to check the corridors,” I said. “Grab Stella or Ardetia if you see them.”

“Okay,” he said, voice unusually low.

My dad stood up slowly and followed me as I moved toward the corridor. The moment I passed under the archway into the west wing, I felt it again— that twist .

It wasn’t magic, exactly, but possibly a mimic of it.

I didn’t run.

But I moved faster now, the old reflexes rising to the surface. I passed the mirror alcove just beyond the corridor and froze.

The hallway ahead was shimmering faintly, almost like a mirage heating above summer stone.

But it wasn’t heat.

It was… layered.

Two versions of the same corridor, slightly out of sync. It was as if someone had tried to overlay one place on top of another, and the edges didn’t quite line up, so I stepped closer. My heart thudded, but it wasn’t out of fear.

I’d seen this shimmer before.

In the Hedge.

The veil between places in the here, then, and now.

But this wasn’t supposed to be here.

And that’s when I realized that something was pressing in and trying to fold space inside the Academy.

And it was doing so quietly with just one slow, invisible intrusion.

I raised my hand and cast a gentle light spell to scan the space.

The shimmer responded, but not violently. Rather, a soft ripple moved toward me as if it noticed me, too.

I swallowed hard and took one more step forward as a whisper brushed past my ear, but with only breath.

Then, I heard it in my bones.

It’s beginning.

I turned around, looking at the ceiling, the walls, the floors…any signs of cracks or entry points.

There were none, so I turned on my heel and rushed back toward the main hall, with my dad bounding beside me.

Every lantern was extinguished.

And the air?

It felt watchful but not suffocating.

As if the Academy itself was unsure what had just brushed its skin.

I found Twobble mid-hall, eyes wide, clutching a lantern that refused to stay lit.

“I can’t find anyone,” he said. “The Wards aren’t responding.”

“They can’t,” I told him, chest tight. “Something’s pressing through from somewhere else.”

His expression twisted. “Shadowick?”

“Maybe.”

But I wasn’t sure anymore.

Because this wasn’t forceful.

It was surgical.

The movements were delicate and precise as if someone were trying to fold a piece of paper to see if the corners matched.

“Where’s the orb?” Twobble asked.

“In my quarters.”

“Is it doing this?”

“No,” I said. “But I think it knew this was coming.”

We looked at each other then, and I saw in his face the same thought blooming in mine.

Tomorrow’s field trip?

It might be the perfect opportunity to keep the students safe or the perfect trap to stop the Academy.

I reached for my dad, who pressed close to my leg.

The stillness shifted again, and I knew…

This was only the beginning.

“Twobble,” I said, already heading toward the central staircase, “go get Ardetia. She’ll know how to read the shimmer.”

He nodded once and took off down the corridor, his little feet surprisingly fast, his usual snark replaced by sharp focus.

I knelt by my dad and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Stay with me.”

He snorted like I was being ridiculous and stuck close to my side, tail twitching, ears up.

The lanterns were still out in the wing. The shimmer hadn’t advanced, but I knew that didn’t mean it wasn’t spreading.

It was just being patient.

I moved quickly now. The few students still meandering near the great hall pulled aside, sensing something had changed.

The calm was thinning, and magic knew before minds did.

I found Nova in the side corridor just off the entry vestibule, where she’d been reviewing spellwork notes on floating parchment with two students.

She turned when she felt me, and immediately dismissed the students without a word.

“What is it?” she asked.

“There’s a shimmer in the west wing,” I said. “It’s like a fold in the air. It reminds me of the Hedge being manipulated.”

Her expression shifted into immediate seriousness.

“The Wards?” she asked.

“Unresponsive.”

She didn’t hesitate and stood.

“Twobble is rounding everyone up.”

She was already moving as I turned.

Stella walked over to us and glanced at my trembling hands.

“Something’s wrong,” I said without preamble.

Stella blinked, then stood, brushing off her hands. “What happened?”

“A shimmer. Magic. It’s not hostile. But it’s folding in. ”

She didn’t waste time asking questions, nodded once, and followed me.

By the time we returned to the scene of the crime, Nova had lit the space with her own magic. The usual sconces were dim, and her spell light painted the walls in gold-blue light that rippled like shallow water.

Ardetia arrived next, with Twobble beside her and a look on her face that I couldn’t quite read—worry, maybe, or something deeper.

Keegan came through the hall minutes later. He still wore his coat, dusted with the last raindrops of an early spring storm.

He didn’t speak.

Just looked at me, then the others.

And waited.

“We’ve had a breach,” Nova said, keeping her voice low and measured. “Not violent. But precise. Maeve saw the shimmer first. West wing. Space is folding.”

“Like something from the Hedge,” I added.

Ardetia stiffened. “Here?”

I nodded.

“Can it be reversed?” Stella asked.

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Nova said. “This isn’t magic cast . It’s magic invited. ”

A chill ran down my spine.

Keegan stepped closer. “How long has it been happening?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I only noticed it tonight. It started with the lanterns. One by one.”

“They weren’t just going out,” Nova added. “They were vacating. ”

“Someone cleared the light,” Stella whispered, catching on. “So it couldn’t reflect what was there.”

Twobble crossed his arms, eyes narrowed. “Someone wanted the shimmer to go unnoticed.”

No one spoke.

Until Keegan asked, “Do we stop the field trip?”

I didn’t answer immediately as my mind spun with what tomorrow promised. Stonewick was just beyond the Academy’s safe bounds, the students were excited, and the promise of a normal day waited just over the hill.

But this?

This wasn’t normal.

This was a door creaking open, so softly that no one noticed.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “But I think it might be safer to go than to stay.”

Nova nodded once. “We’ll double the shielding spells on the Academy when we leave. Ardetia and I can anchor two of the Wards tonight to ensure they're solid.”

Keegan looked at me.

“I’ll keep my eyes open,” I said. “Everywhere.”

We all knew something had begun.

And it wasn’t just about the Academy anymore.

It was about what was watching from beyond the shimmer.

And what it wanted to let in.

That was when it hit me.

Whatever it was had already come inside.

But the question was...

Could we get it out?