Our surroundings slid again, and we were standing beneath the vaulted arches of the Academy, its halls empty, echoing. The transitions were smooth and wrong, like pages turning without hands.
“Unwatched,” he said softly.
The word landed heavily.
The setting shifted again, settling back into the Hollows. The ground was pale, icy, and smooth, and the sky was an endless wash of dim light. The towering forms of the Hollows stood at a distance, their presence vast but restrained, as if honoring some unspoken boundary.
Gideon exhaled. “I’m worried.”
That stopped me.
“You?” I asked softly.
“Yes,” he said, a faint, humorless curve to his mouth. “It happens occasionally.”
I studied him, really looked at him. The edge was still there, but dulled. The arrogance tempered by exhaustion. By choice.
“I shouldn’t have been in Stonewick,” he said finally. “Not like this. Not now.”
My chest tightened. “You already told me you weren’t leaving.”
“I know,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I stopped thinking about it.”
The Hollows hummed faintly, the sound vibrating through my bones.
“You think you’re making us a target,” I said.
He met my gaze. “I know I am.”
The words were blunt, honest, and uncomfortable.
“The Priestess won’t ignore this,” he continued. “She won’t ignore you. Or the Academy. Or your daughter.”
I flinched despite myself.
“She already noticed ripples,” he said. “Celeste’s magic wasn’t subtle. Neither is yours anymore. And if I stay—” He stopped, jaw tightening. “I make the connection obvious.”
I stepped closer without realizing it. “You think leaving will protect us.”
“I think staying puts a mark on you,” he said. “On all of you.”
“And what about you?” I asked. “What does leaving do to you?”
His laugh was short and empty. “It makes me easier to take.”
The truth of it settled between us, heavy and undeniable.
“You are a sitting duck,” I said quietly.
“Yes.”
“And you think the Academy can’t protect you.”
“I think it could,” he replied. “I don’t know that it wants to or should, considering.”
I shook my head. “You don’t get to decide that alone.”
The Hollows shifted, their forms rippling faintly, as if acknowledging the statement.
