But the pull in my chest didn’t ease.
The Wilds called, a low thrumming in my bones, insistent and unnerving.
“I’ll check in with Nova after I see the students,” I said carefully. “But first… there’s something I need to do.”
Keegan gave me a suspicious look. “Maeve.”
“I’ll be fine,” I promised, leaning in to brush my lips over his, quick and soft. “Eat. Teach. Brood. Whatever order you prefer. Just… let me handle this one thing.”
His eyes searched mine, but he didn’t press further. Instead, he cupped my cheek, thumb brushing along my jaw, and murmured, “Don’t take too long.”
“I won’t.”
And then I slipped from the room, leaving behind the warmth of the fire and the faint rumble of his voice telling me to take care.
The halls of the Academy hummed with morning energy. Students darted past with satchels and scrolls, their laughter echoing against the stone walls. I smiled faintly, nodding at a few who waved, but my feet carried me faster, quieter, toward theback of the building. My heart thudded with each step, and the heavy oak doors groaned softly as I pushed them open, spilling me into the back courtyard. The air outside was heavy with the strange gloom that clung over Stonewick, but it didn’t slow me.
Off to one side, Twobble sat cross-legged in the grass, a string of daisies perched crookedly around his head. He was petting the bramble mule as if it were the most ordinary creature in the world, murmuring something that made its leafy garland puff brighter. The mule looked smug.
When Twobble spotted me, he lifted a hand in a wave. I waved back, offering him a smile, but didn’t stop. If I paused, he’d pepper me with questions, and I didn’t have the heart, or the patience, to deflect him this time.
My steps quickened. Past the gardens, past the lavender swaying in its boxes, past the last cluster of rosemary and mint Stella had demanded for her tea shop. The path narrowed, cobblestones giving way to soft moss, and the trees of the Wilds rose tall ahead of me.
The moment I reached the edge, I knew.
The air shifted to its cooler, sharper blend laced with the scent of earth and green things. The gloom pressing over Stonewick seemed to lift just enough here, as though the Wilds themselves were exhaling to greet me. My birthmark tingled faintly, warm against my skin.
It wasn’t fear that gripped me, not this time. It was certainty.
This was why I’d come back.
Not just for the mule. Not for the mushrooms. Not even for the voice I couldn’t stop hearing in the back of my mind.
The Wilds were alive, shifting, calling. And whatever waited inside them, I couldn’t turn away.
I tightened my cloak around my shoulders and stepped forward, leaving the Academy’s safety behind.
Chapter Nine
I crossed the unseen line of the Wilds' boundary. At once, the air grew heavy and cool, carrying the scent of pine and rich loam. The Wilds opened ahead of me, wide and hushed, as if they had been waiting all along.
I kept my gaze low and chose each step with care. The mushrooms had already taught me that mistake once. Red caps gleamed along the path’s edge, their rims catching the dim light in a silvery glow.
I skirted them quickly, unwilling to give anyone, especially Nova, the chance to say I’d been caught by spores again.
Because I knew better.
That voice had been real.
Not some conjured echo from a mushroom’s poison. Not some hallucination stitched from fear.
Real.
And threaded through it, I heard something that sounded perilously like a cry for help.
I drew a steadying breath and let the forest wrap around me.
The Wilds in summer were different from the Wilds I’d walked before in the spring. Here, the trees rose higher, their branches moving together overhead in canopies so thick thatthe gloom of the skies barely reached the ground. Shafts of pale green light filtered down through the leaves, scattering across mossy trunks and pools of shadow. Vines draped from branches, heavy with blossoms that released sweet perfume when the wind shifted.
