Still trembling faintly from the path.
And yet, something inside mehummedin return.
No need for a wand.
No need for spellwork, I couldn’t recall.
The magic was already there, quiet and waiting. Watching.
I squared my shoulders, heart pounding. “Let’s go.”
We ran together, Twobble just behind me, already muttering protection spells under his breath as we passed more students fleeing the commotion. Nova appeared at the edge of the grand stair, her coat half-on, face flushed and tense.
She caught sight of me instantly. “Maeve!”
“What is it?” I asked, my voice louder than I expected.
“Something’s inside,” she said, and her expression was pale as glass. “But it didn’tbreakin.”
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the Wards didn’t flare. Nothing was triggered. It’s just…here.”
Twobble growled beside me, and it was a goblin sound, low and ancient. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
“No,” Nova agreed, her voice shaking. “It shouldn’t. But whatever it is, it’s already on the third floor.”
The third floor.
Near the library.
Near the heart of the Academy.
My pulse surged.
I didn’t know if this was related to me, or the path, or something older and darker that had just been waiting for the veil to stretch thin.
But I did know one thing.
This wasn’t over.
Not by a long shot.
Chapter Forty
The staircase trembled beneath their feet as the retreating students stampeded, robes whipping past, spells fizzing in the air like startled fireflies. I took them two at a time, Keegan just ahead of me, Twobble clinging to the banister in bursts and hops as he muttered obscenities aboutwitches running in every direction except the right one.
The third-floor landing loomed just ahead. The library’s arched doors pulsed with faint blue light. Active charms, yes, but dimmer than they should have been. The normally warm stone hallway felt chilled now, as if someone had opened a window between realms.
And then I saw it.
Just beyond the arc of the windowlight where the corridor narrowed, ashapemoved.
The being wasn’t fast nor skittering.
Itglided.
A tall figure, more outline than body, trailing something like smoke behind it, moved in front of us.
