Page 52

I pushed through the restaurant door so fast it banged against the frame, the wind catching it as I rushed into the night.

My boots hit the cobblestones hard. The warmth from dinner, from laughter, from the illusion of calm vanished the instant the cold air sank into my chest like a warning. I ran, my eyes locked on the shadows beneath the bookbindery overhang where I’d seen the figure, no longer still.

They were moving now.

Swirling.

And not just one figure. Two.

I recognized the shapes immediately.

Krina and Mys.

Krina’s hair was loose around her shoulders, her coat flaring out behind her as she turned sharply, a flicker of magic crackling at her fingertips. Mys stood slightly ahead of her, her posture too casual, too cocky, like she wasn’t in a town pulsing with old wards and nervous witches.

But it wasn’t just the two of them.

A shadow twisted between them, no shape, no weight, just motion. A whisper of darkness that shimmered where the light should catch. It spun between their feet like it was tethered or feeding.

“Hey!” I shouted, my voice echoing down the street.

Krina’s head jerked toward me.

The shadow paused.

Then flared.

A shock of wind rolled out from the corner like a slap. Windows shuddered. A lantern flickered and blew out.

Mys hissed something I couldn’t hear. Krina raised both hands, and for a moment, I thought she might strike.

But she didn’t.

She grabbed her arm and ran.

The shadow, whatever it was, rippled, coiled in on itself, then disappeared into the night like smoke pulled through a crack in the sky.

I chased after them. “Krina!”

They didn’t stop. I turned the corner hard, just in time to see the blur of their coats vanishing into a narrow passage between buildings. My breath came in sharp gasps, but I followed, dodging trash bins and low-hanging signs.

“Krina, stop! ”

The alley spat me out into the courtyard behind the bakery. Empty.

They were gone.

But the shadow, that thing , its chill still clung to the air, to the stones, to my skin.

My hand went to my hip, pressing against the butterfly mark. It was warm. Alert. Not burning. Not warning. But listening.

I stood alone, the buzz of the town muffled around me. Laughter drifted faintly from somewhere nearby, but it felt like another world.

I’d been so sure.

So certain it was Darren. That he’d brought danger to Celeste. That he was part of Gideon’s twisted web.

But it wasn’t him.

It was them.

Krina and Mys. Together. And that thing between them, it wasn’t attacking. It was responding. Drawn to something in them or because of them.

And I’d let them slip away.

I leaned against the wall of the bakery, trying to catch my breath, heart hammering against my ribs with more than exertion. My mind raced through everything I knew: Krina’s story, her fear, her ex-husband’s supposed tie to shadow magic. But tonight… There had been no fear in her face.

Only certainty.

Only choice.

She wasn’t running from the shadow.

She was moving with it.

I pulled out my phone, hands still trembling. I fired off a message to Keegan.

On the back side of the bakery. I lost them. Krina and Mys. There was shadow magic. Not an attack. Something else.

I didn’t even hit send before I heard footsteps approaching.

Keegan rounded the corner a second later, face sharp, coat flapping behind him. His eyes scanned me, then the empty space behind.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “But I think I was wrong about Celeste’s boyfriend.”

He blinked. “What?”

“It wasn’t him. It wasn’t that. ”

I pointed behind me. “It was Krina and Mys. They were in it. And there was shadow magic with them. Not chasing them. Moving with them.”

Keegan didn’t speak. His jaw clenched, and I could see him piecing it together, the same way I was.

“I don’t know what it means,” I said. “But they ran. The second I saw them, they ran. ”

“That’s not guilt,” he murmured. “That’s planning.”

“I thought they were the ones who needed help,” I said, my voice quieter now. “But they may have been hiding something from the beginning.”

Keegan looked down the alley. “Then we need to find out what. Before the shadow shows up again.”

And this time, I didn’t disagree.

Because it wasn’t waiting anymore.

It was moving.

By the time we got back to the cottage, Skye was slumped in the passenger seat, her hands tucked under her belly, eyes half-lidded and fluttering. The ride had lulled her into a drowsy state, and I didn’t blame her; emotionally and physically, this whole day had taken a toll.

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.”

“She’s going to suspect something,” I whispered.

Nova stepped closer and placed her hand over mine. “We could use magic to get her home tonight.”

My heart dropped, but I knew it was the only way.

“Protect the people you care about,” Nova said simply.

This time, we would not let it fall.