Luna leaned back in her chair, hands resting loosely in her lap, listening without bracing herself.
“The Academy wanted him nearby,” I said. “It made that very clear. We agreed to let him stay at the cottage—away from my daughter, but close enough that the Academy felt… satisfied.”
“And that didn’t last?” Luna asked, which told me she hadn’t seen him.
“No,” I replied. “The Stone Ward rejected him. Booted him right out, while Miora and Elira locked the doors after him.”
Luna exhaled slowly. “That sounds appropriate considering everything Stonewick has been through.”
I frowned. “You’re not surprised.”
“I’m not,” she said honestly. “The Stone Ward isn’t sentimental. It protects what’s rooted.”
“And Gideon isn’t,” I said.
She nodded. “No. He never has been.”
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees.
“That’s what worries me. The Academy wanted him near. The cottage refused him. Now he’s… displaced.”
Luna studied me carefully, not as someone hiding answers, but as someone choosing her words with care.
“Stonewick doesn’t like things that don’t settle,” she said. “People included. Gideon is conflicted.”
“Do you know where he might go?” I asked. “Or what he might do?”
She considered that for a moment, gaze drifting to the window where a knitted pumpkin hung from a hook, gently spinning.
“I don’t know where he’ll go,” she said. “I don’t think anyone truly does.”
That wasn’t comforting.
“But,” she continued, “I’ve seen him around town enough to know he doesn’t move without thinking it through. He watches first. Listens.”
My stomach knotted as I watched her gaze skirt along the colorful skeins beside us. It wasn’t just because she saw him around town…there had to be more.
“To what?” I asked.
“To his surroundings,” she replied. “To people. To patterns. He learns his place.”
I frowned. “That makes it sound like he belongs here.”
Luna smiled faintly. “It makes it sound like he’s curious. There’s a difference.”
I let that sit for a moment, then asked the question I’d been circling.
“You always seemed to notice him.”
Her smile softened. “It’s hard not to notice someone who doesn’t quite fit.”
“That’s not an answer,” I said gently.
“No,” she agreed. “It’s an observation.”
I sighed. “You don’t have some hidden knowledge you’re not telling me, do you?”
Luna shook her head immediately. “No. I don’t see the future. I don’t pull strings. I don’t make things happen.”
