Lots of tea.
The vampire ladies had somehow taken over the room.
Vivienne stood behind the counter like she’d been running the place for years, moving with the calm confidence of someone who had seen worse nights than this and gotten through them just fine. Opal worked beside her, pouring steaming cups one after another so quickly it was hard to keep track. Mara driftedbetween the tables with a tray balanced on one hand, weaving through chairs and people like she’d done it a thousand times before.
She stopped beside a table where a few witches sat slumped in their chairs.
“Drink this,” Mara said, setting the cups down in front of them. “And don’t argue with me about it.”
One of the orcs looked deeply suspicious of the delicate teacup he’d been handed, especially since he was already ducking to fit inside the building.
“Is this… chamomile?” he asked.
Opal didn’t even glance up. “Yes.”
The place hummed with voices.
People were talking over each other, replaying the fight, gesturing wildly as they described shadows diving through the trees and spells cracking across the clearing.
“…and then the hedge justrose—”
“I’m telling you, it grabbed three of them at once—”
“The Priestess herself was standing right there—”
“And then she ran.”
Every time someone said that part, a ripple went through the room.
The Priestess ran.
I stood just inside the doorway for a moment, taking it all in.
Stonewick felt different tonight.
Full.
That was the word that kept coming to mind.
Full of voices.
Full of warmth.
Full of life and magic and people who had decided, without planning it, without voting on it, that they would stand together when something terrible came knocking.
It settled into my chest like a steady glow.
The fiery ache in my shoulder was still there, a sharp reminder of the mark and everything tangled up in it. But for a moment, just standing there in the tea shop while everyone talked and laughed and passed around cups of tea, the pain felt… distant.
Even the knot in my chest about my mom loosened a little.
I still had to save her.
That hadn’t changed.
But suddenly it didn’t feel like something I had to face alone.
Nova guided me toward one of the big tables near the window.
