But shouldn’t we be worried about closing the circle, stopping the hunger path’s plan, and learning what mygrandmother really wanted from me? Yes. Absolutely. Every part of that list pulsed in my veins like a second heartbeat.
And yet… part of closing a circle is knowing it doesn’t trap you. Being able to step out, up, sideways, if the ground under it cracks.
Nova’s grin went a shade wicked. “It all adds to the plan,” she said. “If you can hover for even a breath, you can step into the joining with a different kind of confidence. Your grandmother expects you to be bound to the earth. We’re going to give her a surprise.”
“Like a flying hotdog,” Twobble said reverently.
I stared at him. “If you ever compare me to a hotdog again, I will curse your snack drawer to produce only raisins.”
“I was just following your lead.” He gasped.
“I’m warning you…the snack drawer.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me,” I said.
Stella clapped her hands once. “Settled. Flight lessons. Today.”
“Today?” I squeaked.
“Soon,” Nova amended. “We’ll ease you in.”
“Define ease,” I said, but the word felt thin. Between the dread and downright horror of seeing myself hanging in the air like a badly aimed sausage, I was speechless.
The Silver Wolf’s eyes softened.
“We’ll catch you,” she said simply.
Dread growled in my belly.
But hope, stupid, stubborn, cheating hope, nudged my ribs and whispered:Imagine her face when you arrive on her level.
I closed my eyes for a breath and saw it: the priestess of Shadowick on some high, icy platform, looking down. The version of me she expected, ground-bound, small, staring up at her, and then another version of me, lifted by my own magic, held by my own choice, meeting her eyes without craning my neck.
I opened my eyes again to my found family arranged on the Academy steps, half-goblin, half-wolf, half-chaos, all in.
“Fine,” I heard myself say, voice a little higher than usual. “A small lesson. A very small lesson. No towers. No vertical drops.”
Twobble’s grin split his face.
“No promises,” he said, then yelped as Skonk stomped his foot in warning.
“No towers,” Skonk translated. “Ward only. Safety nets. We swear on the snack cupboard.”
“That’s binding,” Stella said approvingly.
Nova’s grin went feral.
“Perfect,” she said. “Let’s go throw our headmistress at the sky.”
My feet didn’t move.
But my heart did in a tiny, traitorous flutter that felt uncomfortably like the first step off a ledge.
Chapter Sixteen
If there was ever a day the universe should’ve sent down a disclaimer, it was the day my friends decided to teach me how to fly.
