Page 90 of Magical Moonbeam

I tried to breathe slowly and attempted not to think about Gideon. Or Keegan. Or my father who is still locked inside a spell of fur and silence.

“What else?”

She tapped the card to the right of the Moon, which was the High Priestess.

“You’re stepping deeper into knowing,” she said. “Not learning. Knowing. There’s a difference.”

I furrowed my brow. “That sounds nice in theory, but I still can’t cast a food spell without nearly burning the pan.”

Nova’s smile was quick. “Magic isn’t always flashy, Maeve. You’re tuning in to the kind that’s built into the bones. It’s the breath and the intuition that doesn’t ask permission. That’s what you’ll need.”

“And the cards think I’m ready?”

She tilted her head. “I think they believe you will be. The moment you stop trying to do it like anyone else would.”

That one landed hard. I looked down at my hands. They still bore the faint ink stains from the practice Ward, and a soft smear of ash from the forges, even though I’d washed several times.

The bottom card, the foundation, caught my attention. The Lovers. Upright.

I arched a brow and wondered why my love life was suddenly on display and a public topic.

Nova chuckled. “Not always about romance.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It’s about choice,” she said, tapping the card. “Commitment. Alignment. You’ll have to choose where your heart lands. And when you do… the rest will follow.”

“And if I choose wrong?”

She looked at me for a long beat. “Then the Academy will help you choose again.”

The simplicity of that made my throat tighten. I looked up, caught in the truth of it. This place, Stonewick, the Academy, all of it, wasn’t just a backdrop to this story. It was part of the magic. And it was rooting for me and all of us.

Nova leaned back slightly and pulled the final card from the point of the star, the outcome.

She flipped it slowly.

Death.

I didn’t flinch. Not anymore.

Nova studied it. “Transformation. Something will end. Something always does. But you already knew that.”

“I think I did.”

She reached for the sage and waved the smoke gently across the spread, clearing the air.

“I’m not going to tell you what to do,” she said. “But I’ll tell you this. Every part of you that still thinks you can walk away from this? Let it go. You’re already in it. And you’re stronger than you were yesterday.”

I sat there for a long time, watching the way the smoke curled above the table and disappeared into nothing.

“Do you ever pull for yourself?” I asked finally.

Nova’s expression softened. “Not often. The cards get sassy.”

I smiled despite myself, then rose slowly to my feet. “Thanks. For the reading. And for… everything.”

“You’ll know what to do when the time comes,” she said.