Page 152 of Magical Moonbeam

I could feel it gathering as the magic coiled tight, humming like a warning in my blood. I moved fast, calling them one by one from their watch stations, their hidden posts near alleys and shadow-touched thresholds. I didn’t give details. I didn’t need to. They could hear it in my call. Something had changed. The perk of being a Hedge witch.

Ardetia appeared first, her hood slipping back as she emerged from the archway beside the chapel. Nova wasn’t far behind, wind tangled in her dark hair, her gaze already sharp with unspoken questions. Bella slunk from behind a crooked postbox, fox eyes gleaming as she shifted fluidly back into human form with a muttered curse about broken nails. Twobble and Skonk stumbled down the path next, mid-argument about whether or not their perimeter illusion had been tampered with. Both fell quiet when they saw my face.

Stella arrived next, hurrying down from the ruined bell tower, her lipstick slightly smudged and her boots caked in moss and stone grit.

“Maeve,” she said breathlessly. “What is it?”

I didn’t answer right away. I waited for Keegan and Celeste.

He jogged into view, his sleeves pushed up and eyes scanning the group before settling on me.

“Your dad is safe,” he said. “He didn’t want to stay hidden, but he understands.” Then, catching the tightness in my shoulders, his voice dropped. “What happened?”

“He’s not safe. No one is safe.” I turned to them all. The weight of what I had to say sat like iron in my chest. “At the mansion, I was met with the illusion of Gideon.”

“What?” Twobble asked, squinting. “You mean—”

“An illusion,” I repeated. “He flickered. His hand… I saw through it. It was magic. Not him.”

A gust of wind swirled through the cracked square, dragging leaves in a spiral at our feet.

And I thought of the in-between. It was about time I took advantage of my abilities. We needed time, which we didn’t have, and privacy.

“Let me try something,” I whispered to everyone.

It went silent between us, and the world around blurred. Celeste watched me, but I realized she couldn’t live in the in-between, not yet. But the rest of us could.

“He’s not here?” Nova asked, tone unreadable.

“Not any longer.” I looked at Keegan, and I saw the second he understood.

The color drained from his face. “He lured us all away.”

“All of us. Everyone who could protect the Academy.”

Ardetia drew in a breath. “So he could slip past us.”

“The Academy houses more than classrooms and chalkboards,”Stella said, crossing her arms. “He’s after the deeper magic. The oldest pieces.”

And I wondered if she knew.

Keegan stepped toward me. “He played us.”

“Yes,” I said. “And I let him.”

“No,” Nova said quickly. “He manipulated us. There’s a difference.”

“But we have to move,” I said with urgency. “We don’t know what he’s done in our absence.”

Keegan’s jaw tensed. “If he’s trying to breach the interior… if he’s near the vaults…”

Twobble groaned. “This is bad. This is worse than bad. This is bedazzled-catastrophe-level bad.”

“He’s after something,” I said. “And he’ll tear the Academy apart looking for it.”

“We split,”Nova said. “Some stay to hold the Veil here. The rest of us return.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We can’t split. He’s counting on us to be scattered.”