Alex blinked up at her. “Do I know you?”
“No,” Nova said kindly. “And you won’t.”
She guided him toward the back of the shop, toward the curtain of shimmering beads that separated the public space from her private workroom. The beads rattled softly as she drew them aside.
Celeste stared, unmoving.
“I—” She swallowed. “I really did that.”
Bella slipped an arm around her shoulders. “You did. And you did it beautifully.”
Alex paused just before disappearing behind the beads, glancing back once more at the room full of people who made absolutely no sense to him.
“Why,” he asked plaintively, “do I feel like I just had the weirdest dream of my life?”
Twobble snorted. “Because you did, pal.”
Alex frowned. “I don’t like you and your little costume.”
“That makes two of us,” Twobble shot back cheerfully.
The beads closed behind Nova and Alex, muffling his continued muttering into something indistinct.
Silence fell between all of us for a few moments until Celeste laughed.
“I turned my dad into a toad,” she said faintly. “And then I turned him back.”
I snickered at the realization that magic didn’t skip a generation. “You did.”
“I’m never topping that,” she added. “Like, ever.”
Twobble clapped his hands together. “Welcome to your magical origin story. Very few get amphibians.”
As if on cue, there was a sharptap tap tapat the front window.
We all turned.
Stella stood outside, face pressed to the glass, one eyebrow arched dramatically as she peered in. She lifted a hand and knocked again, then pointed exaggeratedly toward the back room.
I groaned. “She heard something.”
Bella grinned. “She always does. I don’t know how that woman knows things before knowing things.”
Twobble sighed. “And she came empty-handed.”
The window rattled again as Stella mouthed something that looked suspiciously likeDid I miss it?
Celeste wiped at her eyes, still laughing, still shell-shocked, and leaned into me.
For the first time all night, the tight knot in my chest loosened.
It wasn’t over, but this small, ridiculous, magical victory was enough to carry us forward.
At least for now.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I opened the door before Stella could knock again, and she nearly toppled forward into the shop, catching herself on the doorframe with a dramatic sigh that felt older than time and yet somehow perfectly me.
