And I realized I was telling myself that probably more than anyone.
“No, thank you.”
“For what?” I asked, confused.
“For letting me decide.”
Her dad ribbited again, quieter this time, almost uncertain…
And I would be lying if I didn’t mention that it made me feel a little good inside. For once, he didn’t have the upper hand, and I fully recognize that I was still growing as a person.
Nova glanced at Alex and back at us. “We will do it later this evening when the Wards have settled down, and the tourists have wandered back to the towns and cities they came from.”
Celeste nodded. “That works.”
“And,” Nova added gently, “once this is done, he’ll leave Stonewick. He can’t linger.”
Celeste didn’t hesitate. “Good.”
“All right,” I said, drawing in a breath. “We’ll do it tonight. At Nova’s shop.”
The decision settled into the room, solid and final, but that didn’t ease the worry in this mom’s chest.
But as much as part of me wanted to delay, I knew Celeste was right. The sooner, the better when it came to turning the toad back into the cheating scoundrel he was.
With so much magic moving in the world, so many forces shifting beyond our understanding, the safest thing to do was finish this.
Chapter Thirty
Celeste was working with Bella, Ardetia, and Nova for tonight’s spellwork, and I could tell she wanted a little space.
I was halfway down the corridor to my bedroom when the whispers began. At first, they caressed me as if asking me to follow the soft voice, and I swiftly remembered I’d had a long day, and I wasn’t hearing anything other than the Academy settling into itself after a long day.
That lasted all of three heartbeats.
The whispers weren’t far-off words that were abstract and obtuse. They weren’t layered, distant, or woven into the hum of the building the way I’d gotten used to the Academy behaving.
No, these sounds were closer and more deliberate. The words brushed against my thoughts like fingertips testing the surface of water.
Maeve.
I stopped walking at that point. It was one thing to hear words that didn’t pointedly ask me for something, but this…
This was far too personal.
The sound of my name wasn’t spoken aloud, but it landed fully formed in my head in a precise way that made my scalp prickle.
“Okay. That’s new.”
The sconces along the wall flickered, and I took another step, followed by a few more, but the whispers followed.
They turned from my name to impressions and warnings disguised as questions.
You stand at a hinge.
I swallowed back my worry.
This wasn’t the Academy’s style.
