Page 89 of Magical Moonbeam

Keegan gave me a sidelong glance. “Want me to come with you?”

I thought about it, just for a moment. Thought about his steady voice and his quiet faith and the way he’d kissed me like the world wasn’t about to turn inside out.

But then I shook my head. “No. Not this time.”

He nodded like he understood completely. And maybe he did.

“I’ll be here,” he said.

I stood and dusted my hands off on my skirt. “And it means more than you know.”

He gave a quick nod and smiled.

Then I looked down at him, heart full of something too tangled to name. “Thanks for reminding me I’m not doing this alone.”

His gaze met mine, unflinching. “You never were.”

And with that, I headed toward the Academy, ready to see what waited behind Nova’s unreadable smile.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The halls of the Academy were unusually quiet, and for once, I didn’t mind. My shoes echoed softly against the polished stone as I made my way toward Nova’s classroom, passing an enchanted painting that nodded as I walked by. The hush felt less like silence and more like a held breath of anticipation. As if the building itself knew something was about to happen.

When I reached her door, it was cracked open just enough to see candlelight flickering, with no students or murmured lessons inside.

There was just Nova, sitting at her low table near the window, a fan of tarot cards spread across the deep plum velvet.

She didn’t look up when I stepped inside. Her long fingers hovered above a card, with eyes narrowed in focus. Sage burned faintly on a dish beside her, the smoke curling in slow, thoughtful spirals. Her dark hair was pulled back in a loose braid that trailed over one shoulder, and the edges of her sleeves were dark with ash. She’d clearly been at this a while.

“Am I late to the reading?” I asked, voice soft so as not to startle her.

Her lips twitched. “You’re exactly on time. Sit.”

I slipped onto the cushion across from her, the candlelight casting soft shadows along the edge of the table. My fingers itched to reach for the cards, but I knew better than to touch anything before she gave me the go-ahead.

Nova finally met my gaze, and I knew before she said a word that this wasn’t going to be a casual chat.

“You’ve been feeling it,” she said.

I nodded. “Since the dream. Since I stepped into Shadowick again. Since… everything.”

“I laid these an hour ago,” she murmured, tapping the center card. “They haven’t changed.”

I leaned forward.

The cards were arranged in a star pattern, with five points. The card at the very top shimmered faintly—the Moon. Reversed.

“Uncertainty,” Nova said. “Illusion. Dreams. A truth that hides behind what you think you see.”

I swallowed. That already felt too on the nose at the moment.

She pointed to the card on the left. The Tower. Reversed.

“I pulled this once before, for you,” she said. “Do you remember?”

I nodded. “You said it could mean rebuilding.”

She gave a slight nod of approval. “And it still does. But paired with the Moon, it suggests something else this time. There’s a structure in your life, an idea, a belief, a person, that’s about to be shaken and not broken. But shifted. And how you respond to it will determine what remains.”