And I hadn’t imagined the way the ground changed as I began to walk back to the place I belonged.
Whatever the Hedge had given me, it had done so willingly.
That unsettled me more than anything else.
The Academy offered lessons.
The Hedge offered truths.
And not all truths made good company.
I was nearly back to the stone path when I felt it—that prickle.
It wasn’t the familiar one of wild magic brushing along my skin or the pulse of a Ward reacting to my presence.
No.
Someone was watching me.
I stopped walking, and the air thinned again as the hairs on my arms rose.
I turned slowly.
And there, just beyond the arch of vines where wild met tame, where the Butterfly Ward began to reassert itself, stood a figure.
Not moving. Not threatening.
Justthere.
Cloaked. Hood up.
Not glowing. Not shrouded in smoke.
But still, somehow, wrong.
I stared.
They didn’t speak.
Didn’t gesture.
Didn’t step forward.
A wind stirred between us, catching the ends of my scarf and dragging dry leaves across the moss.
New student?
New teacher?
Something in me whispered to go back.
Something else whispered, not yet.
I squared my shoulders. “Can I help you?”
The figure tilted their head, just barely.
No answer.
