The walls were covered in pinned botanical drawings of plants, herbs, even a few labeled fungi. Animated diagrams showed the life cycle of a flower that bloomed only during eclipses and another that tracked the movement of a certain breed of nocturnal owl.
On the windowsill sat a row of glass jars containing feathers, bones, and pressed leaves.
There were nests here. Not bird nests. Something else. Carefully built in the crooks of the beams, hidden in the highest corners of the room.
This wasn’t Nova’s energy, not exactly. But itwasfamiliar.
The room hummed with it.
Fae.
“Language,” Elira said softly, walking past one of the tables. “Herbs. Familiar spirits. Animal speech. All fae disciplines.”
“It’s Ardetia’s classroom,” I said softly.
“Maeve, are you in there?” Bella’s voice echoed down the corridor.
Elira turned toward the sound, and I followed her gaze to see Bella and Ardetia walking into the classroom, side by side.
Bella’s eyes were wide as soon as she saw us. Ardetia’s expression was harder to read, though something about the way her gaze settled on the open door made me think she wasn’t surprised.
“Well,” Ardetia said, stopping just outside the threshold. “Looks like the Academy’s made up its mind.”
“About what?” Bella asked, looking between us.
“These rooms,” I said, stepping forward. “They weren’t here before. But they are now. One for Nova. And… one for someone else.”
I didn’t say it out loud, not yet.
But I felt it.
I knew somewhere deep in my bones, where hedge magic stirred and dragon secrets pressed behind my ribs.
The Academy was waking up.
And it was choosing who would guide it next.
I didn’t even wait for the snow to let up.
“This is even more lovely than I could have imagined,” Ardetia said, sweeping her fingers along a table.
The moment the others began murmuring to each other, Bella asking questions, Ardetia making observations in that quiet way that sounded more like pronouncements, I turned and slipped back into the hall.
I needed fresh air.
Space.
I needed to see Nova.
The first room, with the crystals, cards, and dried herbs bundled so carefully that it looked like a poem,belongedto her. I felt it in my gut. The same way you know when someone’s left their scarf on your coat hook, or when you hear laughter in a place that used to echo empty. It wasn’t just magic. It was resonance.
Nova was unable to set foot inside the Academy. Not past the Butterfly Ward, anyway.
She always looked a little sad when she looked past the beyond. I could tell her heart belonged inside the Academy.
Nova used her hands like they were listening, and the plants always leaned toward her when she passed.
She had magic in her bones, wild and unapologetic. And now the Academy was calling to her.
