“I won’t be long,” I said. “Stay here with Stella.”
Stella smiled sweetly. “I’ll traumatize her minimally.”
Celeste snorted. “Good luck with that. I’ve already been held hostage in Shadowick once.”
I slipped out of the tea shop into the crisp air, heart thudding, mind already racing ahead. Somewhere in Stonewick, Gideon had been unmoored again, and the Academy and the cottage were no longer aligned.
Which meant someone else had stepped into the gap.
And if there was one person in this town who understood the spaces between things, the pauses, the threads, the quiet knowledge that didn’t announce itself, it was Luna.
I headed toward the knitting shop with purpose, knowing with absolute certainty that whatever I was about to learn was going to complicate everything.
Chapter Twenty
The bell over Luna’s door chimed softly as I stepped inside, and the knitting shop wrapped around me like a well-worn shawl.
I remembered the first day I’d arrived here with my best friend Skye.
Skye.
It had been so long since I saw her. We texted, traded photos of her new baby, and whatever I could think of to snap a photo of that didn’t scream a goblin lives here. But we always traded missed promises to visit one another, and truthfully, I didn’t want to put her in harm’s way.
Since coming to Stonewick, I realized that friendships were like seasons. They’d come into our lives with quiet purpose. Some arrived gently, like spring, when flowers bloom for the first time, and everything was fresh and new again. Some friendships burned bright like summer, with intense joys and revelations filled with long moments that we swore would last forever. But then autumn would roll in as leaves changed and fell, teaching us it was okay to let go. And finally winter allowedsome friendships to fall silent like the snow falling softly, covering what the other three seasons left behind. It wasn’t until Stonewick that I realized that it was okay to have different stages of friendships and that didn’t mean failure.
Luna looked up from behind the counter and smiled. She wasn’t just being polite. I could tell she was truly happy to see me, and a sudden fling of guilt struck me. I hadn’t made myself as available to her since the whole thing with Gideon. I’d pulled back.
“There you are,” she said, her voice brightening. “I was hoping you’d come by today.”
Something in my chest tightened at that.
She came around the counter and gave me a brief, warm hug.
When she stepped back, her eyes searched my face with open curiosity.
“I heard about the circle,” she said. “Congratulations.”
I hesitated. “It was… complicated.”
She chuckled softly. “Things always seem to be with Gideon.
There it was. That common recognition with a mage we both knew, but she seemed to understand or…?
I followed her toward the small seating area by the window, where two chairs sat tucked beside a low table stacked with yarn samples and an untouched teapot. Outside, Stonewick drifted along in its early fall, with bustling tourists and locals wary of what was ahead.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” Luna added as we sat. “All of you.”
I nodded. “For the moment.”
She didn’t argue with that.
I folded my hands together. “I wanted to ask you something.”
Her brow lifted slightly. “About Gideon.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” I admitted.
