She stopped walking, and I had to turn to face her.
“Thank you for saying that,” Diana said, and her lips twisted in a strange way that I’d never seen on her face. “It’s been really hard since Tabitha left. I know I have Phoebe, but she was here . . .” She huffed out a breath. “Thank the goddess and all the other old gods she wasn’t an idiot, and kept her head down while the demons ruled.”
“You’re one of us now, Wake,” I said seriously. “You have been for a while. We wouldn’t have made it so far without you.”
She gave me a wobbly, very un-Diana-like smile. “You know, I’m going to miss you when you don’t return. Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
“Pretty sure,” I shrugged. “It just feels right, you know? Everything has changed for me. I need a new beginning.”
“I get that,” she replied, and we fell into silence as we walked.
When we reached the entryway, it was filled with people coming and going, fixing things, leaving the academy, picking someone up.
“Honey! Odette!”
I cast a glance around, recognizing Mom’s voice, but couldn’t find her.
“Up here!”
I twisted, and spotted her beaming at me from an upper floor.
“Honey, would you come up here please?”
“Catch you later,” I said to Diana.
She went to join Andre. He was trying to help repair the front door hinges.
I climbed the stairs. When I reached the right floor, my parents moved to stand against the wall, right in front of a line of paintings.
For the first time in days, they were all alone, which was strange enough, but it was the wide grins on their faces that told me something else was up.
“Hey, what’s happening?” I asked. “You guys look happy.”
Dad put his arm around Mom’s shoulders. “We have something to show you, pea. We’d hoped to unveil it when the academy resumed sessions, but after hearing about your plans last night, we figured now was the time.”
“Okay—what is it?”
They broke apart to reveal a blank canvas on the wall, right between the portraits of Merlin and Morgan.
“Wait a minute . . . why separate them?” I moved closer to the gold plaque that gleamed back at me, and read:
Odette Dane, Eva Proctor, Diana Wake, Alex Wardwell, and Hunter Wardwell. Students who led the charge against the royal demons at the Battle of Spellcasters, and helped ensure victory.
My throat closed up. Not knowing what to say, I looked to my parents.
“Obviously, there’s nothing there yet. You’ll have to sit for a portrait with your friends,” Dad said. “And the others haven't seen it yet, so don’t tell them. Headmistress Wake would like their parents to show them. She’ll show Alex herself, since his parents are still helping with the rescued spies. But soon enough, there will be a painting there, and you’ll stand alongside all the other great witches of history.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I dragged my gaze from the plaque bearing my name to the paintings of Merlin on the left and Morgan on the right.
It astonished me how true to life their paintings were, although they were missing some key characteristics. Like the freckles across Morgan’s nose, and the premature fine lines at the corners of Merlin’s eyes, the result of his constant smiles.
“They had to relocate the one of Nicolas Flamel,” Mom said, her lips twisting in an amused grin. “Personally, I think it was the right choice. He looks like such a sourpuss. You five will brighten the hallway up much more.”
I laughed. Long ago, when I’d stumbled across these paintings in my Culling-year, I’d thought the same thing about the famed alchemist
I turned my head again, glancing at the paintings of M&M, and shook my head. “I can’t wait for the others to see this.”
Dad wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close to him. “You all deserve it, and so much more.”
