Nova watched me quietly, her calm eyes patient as always, waiting for me to process what she’d implied.
I stared back, my mind scrambling to catch up to my heart, which had already started to race ahead with possibilities I’d long stopped believing.
“Fae?” My voice came out softer than I expected. “Are you serious, Nova?”
She smiled, gentle but mysterious, as always when her instincts outran explanations. “They haven’t walked these streets in more than forty years. But I’d recognize that feeling anywhere. That sense of something that doesn’t quite belong here, and yet always did.”
I shook my head, disbelief tangling with excitement inside me. My stomach fluttered strangely, with part nerves, part the early stirrings of hope I was almost afraid to trust.
Nova’s words were quiet, nearly a whisper.
“Fae are among the only beings who can move between worlds as easily as we step between rooms. They can move between worlds like we saw tonight or disappear in front of you in the gardens. If one of them is lingering in the Butterfly Ward, watching us carefully, it likely means they’re testing us. Wondering if Stonewick is safe again.”
My throat tightened. Safe. The idea of the Academy allowing this to reveal itself, or setting foot on the Academy grounds, was extraordinary.
I moved to the window, needing to feel the ordinary wood of its frame beneath my fingertips. Outside, Stonewick lay quiet under a soft veil of late evening moonlight. Nothing about it looked different, yet everything had somehow shifted.
“It was timid,” I finally said, glancing back toward Nova. “The figure in the garden wasn’t threatening at all. It felt more curious, maybe even nervous.”
Nova’s expression softened even more. “It makes sense. Think about the sapling in the Maple Ward, Maeve. You told me of its growth and spark. It’s been reaching out, trying to grow stronger. All on its own, it’s decided the time for hiding is over. That little tree is a sign. It’s the Academy’s way of quietly telling us that the wounds it’s carried for so long might finally be starting to heal.”
If only she knew about the dragons as well.
Her words landed softly, each one sinking deeper inside me. I drew a slow breath, steadying myself against the quiet awe that had begun to fill the room.
“So, you think the Wards healing could signal to the fae—and maybe even shifters—that it’s safe to return? To reunite,” I said carefully. “To come back and be a part of Stonewick again?”
Nova didn’t reply at first. She seemed to consider it deeply, fingertips tracing absent-minded circles on the table.
“I do,” she said finally. “But not because of some grand gesture. It’s happening slowly, subtly. A sapling grows quietly. A fae steps gently back into a garden after decades away. Bella, a shifter, walking freely inside the Academy’s halls... Each small moment is a piece of something much bigger. A puzzle Stonewick gave up on long ago.”
My heart swelled painfully.
“Do you think we can heal all that damage?” I whispered. “So many years, so many grudges. People in town have long memories. Even Keegan…”
Nova gave me a slow, knowing smile. “Memory can be powerful. But so can forgiveness. Change doesn’t come with loud announcements. It creeps in at the edges, quietly, like vines growing through cracks in stone.”
I thought back to the Academy grounds and how subtly the creeping vines hover and caress, no sharp and quick movements, just slow and steady.
She leaned forward a little, her voice thoughtful. “The Academy was never just stone walls and Wards. It’s always been something alive. It feels the shifts, the tiny movements toward reconciliation. The Maple Ward’s growth isn’t a coincidence, Maeve. It’s responding.”
Something tight in my chest loosened, replaced by a warmth I hadn’t felt in ages. “It’s responding to us?”
“To all of you. You, Bella, even the fae lingering nearby. The Academy sees what you’ve been doing, sees how you care. It senses the magic returning—not just literal magic, but the magic of trust, kindness, hope.” Nova paused, searching for the right word. “Belief, I think. The belief that Stonewick doesn’t have to stay wounded forever.”
My gaze drifted to the window again, seeing not just the streets but beyond them—the woods, the Wards, the Academy itself. I thought of the figure in the Butterfly Ward, lingering just out of reach. Waiting. Watching.
“So, the fae came to see if we’ll accept them,” I murmured. “If we’ll welcome them back, after all the hurt and division.”
Nova nodded softly. “They wouldn’t risk being seen if they didn’t have hope. Just as Bella wouldn’t stay if she didn’t feel safe.”
I smiled a little at the thought of Bella, sharp and bright-eyed, carefully digging through ancient library tomes. The town had accepted her more easily than I’d expected, quietly embracing a shifter’s return.
Was it possible that Stonewick could extend that kindness to the fae, too?
Something fragile inside me brightened. This was more than I’d ever hoped for. More than I’d dared imagine so quickly when the Academy first opened its doors to me.
“It all feels so delicate,” I said softly. “Like the smallest mistake could unravel everything.”
