“I know,” I said gently. “And you’re allowed to feel that way.”
Skonk glanced between us. “She’s got a point.”
“This isn’t about whether we like him,” I said, opening my eyes again. “It’s about balance. The Academy wanted him close. The cottage rejecting him creates a vacuum.”
Stella sipped her tea, unfazed. “Vacuum’s a polite word. I’d call it a magical disagreement with teeth. But when you told me that the Academy agreed to a compromise…”
“What?” I prompted.
“Well, darling…the Academy doesn’t compromise.”
My thoughts raced ahead, mapping consequences. Gideon alone. Gideon displaced. Gideon between places that didn’t want him. That was exactly when people like him made terrible decisions or got scooped up by worse forces.
“Where is he now?” I asked.
Skonk grimaced. “Last I saw, he was standing on the path out of town, looking deeply offended and fanning at Karvey, who was circling over him.”
That didn’t reassure me.
Celeste frowned. “Is that bad?”
“It’s not good,” I said honestly. “Gideon isn’t someone you want feeling cornered.”
“And yet,” Stella said lightly, “here we are.”
I paced once, then stopped abruptly as something clicked into place.
Luna.
Our quite timid fiber witch. The quiet, constant one who always seemed to know just a little more than she said, whose shop Gideon had wandered into like it was familiar territory rather than neutral ground.
I turned back toward the window, scanning the street as if the answer might be written between the pumpkins and bunting.
“I need to talk to Luna.”
Skonk blinked. “About Gideon.”
“Yes.”
Stella arched a brow. “Interesting choice.”
“She knows more about him than she lets on,” I said. “She always has. The timing. The way she watches. The fact that Gideon ended up in her shop of all places.”
Celeste tilted her head. “You think she knows where he’ll go next.”
“I think she knows why he keeps ending up where he does,” I replied.
Skonk let out a low whistle. “Well. That’s comforting and alarming.”
Stella set her cup down decisively. “Don’t dither. Go before the universe rearranges itself again.”
I nodded, already reaching for my coat.
“You okay?” I asked Celeste
She smiled, small but real. “Yeah. Honestly? I feel safer knowing you’re handling it.”
That trust my daughter handed to me landed heavier than any prophecy.
