The circle brightened, and the toad stretched.
“Oh,” Twobble breathed. “Here we go.”
Alex’s body elongated, limbs pulling outward with an audiblepopthat made Celeste flinch and gasp. The toad’s mouth widened far beyond what any amphibian should reasonablymanage, and a sound came out of his lips somewhere between a croak and a cough, followed by a deeply offended grunt.
Light wrapped around him and twisted upward as his shape shifted—legs lengthening, torso expanding, hands unfurling with fingers that flexed and wiggled.
Alex collapsed forward onto the rug with a solidthump, and the circle flared once more before dimming to a quiet glow.
He lay there on his hands and knees, coughing violently, hair falling into his eyes, shoulders heaving as he sucked in breath like it was an unfamiliar concept.
“Oh my gosh,” Celeste whispered. “Oh my gosh, that’shim. It worked.”
Alex gagged, then coughed again.
“Why—”cough“—does my throat—”hack“—taste like pond?”
Twobble winced. “Buddy, you don’t want the answer to that.”
I stared at the man in front of me, who was fully human and fully Alex, but I couldn’t say if he still had warts.
A part of me,a small, traitorous part, felt disappointed.
And another part felt dizzy with excitement for what my daughter managed to do.
Alex pushed himself upright into a sitting position, rubbing his chest, his expression deeply agitated and wildly confused. He looked around the room like he’d just woken up at the wrong party.
“What? Where…” He squinted. “Why are thereso manycandles?”
Nova stepped forward immediately, calm and unruffled, her voice cutting through the moment like silk through water. “Easy. You’re safe. Take a breath.”
He coughed.
“I was…” He frowned. “I was at my condo. No. Wait. The coffee shop. Or—” His brow furrowed deeply. “Why do I feel like I missed… days?”
Celeste made a small, strangled sound.
Keegan’s arm slipped fully around my shoulders as my knees threatened to give out. I hadn’t realized how tightly I’d been holding myself together until that moment.
Alex’s gaze finally landed on me.
“Maeve?” he said uncertainly.
My stomach flipped.
That was it. That was the sound. The voice I hadn’t heard say my name without bitterness or entitlement in years.
I didn’t answer.
His eyes flicked past me, landing on Celeste.
“Celeste? Why are you—” He broke off, rubbing his temples. “Why does my head feel like static?”
“That,” Nova said smoothly, stepping closer, “is my cue.”
She placed a hand gently on Alex’s shoulder. He startled, jerking slightly, but didn’t pull away.
“I’m going to help you sort through that,” she continued. “There’s been some… overlap. Let’s get you comfortable.”
