Page 58 of Magical Moonbeam

The fire crackled.

And in the flickering glow, I saw it…the thread that had wound from the banquet hall to this moment. The students’ laughter. The clink of goblets. The ache in my soul when my dad curled against me. The flicker of my mark.

It was all the same call.

The same reason.

I had to see this through.

For the Academy.

For my father, Keegan, and me.

My grandma reached forward and took my hand.

“You’re the first Bellemore in generations not to run from this place,” she said quietly. “Whatever happens next, that courage will carry you through.”

I nodded, my voice caught somewhere behind a thousand emotions. “You didn’t run.”

Her eyes met mine. “Because I was trapped.”

My grandma’s words dug deep, and outside, the bell tolled once, soft, distant.

The night wasn’t done with us yet.

“Goodnight, Grandma.”

“Goodnight, Love.” She started toward the door and stopped, turning slowly to look at me. “And you were right about Twobble.”

“I know.” I smiled, feeling the approval seep deeply.

She left with the same quiet intensity she always carried, and I stood in the center of my room long after the door had closed, staring at the space she’d just vacated, her words circling in my head like moths around a candle.

“You’re the first Bellemore in generations not to run from this place.”

The ache that sentence left behind was almost physical. I pressed a hand to my chest as if that would ease it.

I wasn’t running. Not from the curse. Not from Gideon. Not even from myself.

But that didn’t mean I wasn’t scared.

I moved toward the window, looking outside. The fog from the practice Shadowick had lifted, and the stars above were just beginning to prick through the sky, faint but brave.

The pull came again. Not from the Butterfly Ward this time, not from the Hedge or the ghosts of the Academy’s past, but something older. Something deeper.

And I knew, without a doubt, where I had to go.

The dragons.

Grandma Elira’s words had cracked something open in me. If the Academy remembered more each day… then so did the ones who had always lived within it. The secret keepers. The ancient witnesses.

The dragons deep within the school.

I threw on a warm shawl, tucked a charm into my pocket just in case, and made my way through the quiet halls. Most students were still enjoying the last of their meal, or lingering in the common spaces. The corridors were empty, lit only by floating orbs of light and the soft murmur of magic behind the walls.

The entrance to the dragon den wasn’t marked. It never had been. You had to know where it was, or more truthfully,whyyou needed to be there. A flutter of wings and a key appeared before me, and I unlocked the door.

It warmed beneath my touch.