“Maeve…” Keegan’s voice was rough, jagged like glass. “It’s calling.”
“I know,” I said fiercely, even though I wanted to deny it. “But you don’t have to answer.”
He closed his eyes briefly, like a man drowning, and I felt the tremor ripple through him.
And then…
A new presence at the end of the corridor.
The ripple shifted, not cold this time, but steady. Ancient.
I turned, and my breath caught.
She was there.
Keegan’s mother.
The silver shimmer was gone, the wolf vanished, but the power clung to her even in human form. Her long hair fell down her shoulders.
She didn’t need words; her eyes carried them all.
For one brief moment, I could almost believe she had been waiting for this, waiting for the exact second Malore’s call reached her son.
Keegan’s breath hitched. His eyes snapped open, blazing hazel, fixed on her. The darkness in them wavered, like the tide pulling against the shore.
She stepped closer, her face unreadable but her presence commanding the shadows to retreat just a little. The Academy hummed louder with attention.
I stayed at Keegan’s side, my hand still pressed to his chest, my heart thundering.
Because I didn’t know if her presence would save him…
…or remind him of every wound she’d ever left behind.
And in that instant, it felt like all of Stonewick’s magic held its breath, waiting to see which way he would turn.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The corridor felt too narrow, as if the walls themselves leaned closer to witness what was about to unfold. Shadows pooled along the stones, twitching like restless dogs. My heart was thundering so loud I wondered if anyone else could hear it.
Grandma Elira stepped quietly from the corridor, her form shimmering with the faint glow of the Academy’s magic.
She came to stand beside Keegan’s mother—silver-haired, proud, and unbearably still. Together, the two women looked like the embodiment of past and present, the roots and the branches of a tree I wasn’t sure could stand the upcoming storm.
Beside me, Twobble scowled as though he’d rather be anywhere else, while Skonk’s grin, sharp as a knife, had lost none of its devilish edge, though he shuffled his feet uncomfortably close to Keegan as if ready to hold him up if he fell.
And Keegan… Keegan’s hazel eyes blazed.
“Don’t.” His voice was low, tight with the fury of years left unspoken. He took a step forward, muscles trembling with restraint. “Don’t you dare try to talk to me like…like nothing happened.”
His mother’s lips parted, but he cut her off with a snarl that vibrated down my bones. His wolf was close, closer than I’d everseen it, prowling just under his skin. His hands clenched into fists, his whole body trembling with the urge to shift.
But he would not survive.
“You left,” he spat. “You and him. Both of you. You abandoned me. You abandoned Stonewick. You left us to fight Shadowick alone.”
The words echoed through the hall, bouncing back at us like knives.
She flinched slightly but lifted her chin.
