I exhaled and tried to gather my thoughts, forcing myself to step away from panic and into problem-solving.
“Celeste,” I said gently, “tell me exactly what happened. No skipping. No ‘and then it was weird.’ Every detail.”
Celeste’s mouth flattened. “You’re going to hate this.”
“I already hate this,” I said.
“No, you’re going to hate the reason,” she replied. She shifted her bag higher on her shoulder like she needed something solid to hold onto. “Okay. We were walking toward the bus stop because Dad had suddenly decided he didn’t want to drive me here after all and then he insisted on carrying my backpack, even though he complained about it the entire time. It felt like he thought he was doing me a favor by carrying my stuff, not even realizing the bigger picture, like going back on his word bring me here.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Of course he did.”
Celeste gave me a look that said,Brace yourself.
“He was on one of his rants. About how Stonewick is a cult, and the local inn is a glorified haunted house, and how you’ve lost your mind.”
The toad croaked, a sound that was far too pleased with itself.
Keegan’s shoulders went tight. Stella’s expression intensified, but her fangs behaved.
Celeste continued, voice steady but with that faint edge she got when she was trying not to explode. “Then he started talking about his last girlfriend.”
My stomach sank. “Celeste…”
“I know,” she said quickly. “I know. I told him I didn’t want to hear it, and I thought it was so rude that he wouldn’t drive me here and was dumping me at the bus depot. But he kept going on about the girlfriend.”
The toad shifted, settling its belly more comfortably on the stone as if preparing for story time.
Celeste’s eyes flicked to the toad, then away, mortified. “He said she was two years older than me the whole time he dated her. Turns out she was my age.”
Stella’s face went very still.
Twobble’s eyes widened slowly. “That’s… gross.”
“It gets worse,” Celeste muttered. “He said he wasn’t that into her, and it was fine she dumped him because she was too needy anyway, and that if it would make me feel better, he’d drive me to Stonewick, so we stopped walking and turned back to the car, but then he kept going about the new woman he had eyes on.”
Keegan made a low sound under his breath that wasn’t human.
My dad showed up just in time to hear his granddaughter talk about my ex, and his jaw clenched so hard I heard his teeth click.
Celeste pressed on, cheeks flushing darker. “When we got to the car, my dad said, and I quote,Thankfully, someone at the coffee shop in my condo building caught my eye, as if he were doing market research or something.”
The toad croaked again, but it was louder and absolutely smug.
My hands curled into fists.
“And then,” Celeste said, voice dropping, “he started picking on you again. He said you were still obsessed with him and still dramatic about the divorce and that you’d never get over him and that you were probably teaching me how to be a professional grudge holder.”
I blinked, anger flaring so fast it made my vision sharpen. “He said that?”
Celeste nodded, lips pressed together. “I told him to stop. He laughed. And then he said—” She hesitated, eyes flicking up to mine. “He said you were lucky anyone wanted you at your age.”
The air in the hall seemed to tighten.
Stella’s eyes went dark, and the glint of her fangs emerged.
Keegan’s hand flexed like he was imagining the shape of Alex’s throat in a previous, less amphibious form.
Twobble’s voice went small. “That’s… unbelievably rude.”
