“You missed my ex-husband?”
“I didn’t always see him that way. Sometimes, I saw him as dinner, sometimes I saw him as entertainment. The point is… I realized I needed a companion. Preferably one without as much baggage as the amphibian.”
“So…?”
“She’s a sparkly slider, snailacorn, if you will.” He eyed me, cocking his chin up slightly. “I adopted her down in the UnderLoom.”
“Well, good to know. What’s her name?”
“Cindy.”
I chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“I don’t know. I thought she’d have a name like Sparklocia or something fancy.”
He patted her shell. “She’s fancy enough. Just wait until you see her sparkly snail slime trail. That was the one thing that irritated me about your ex. I couldn’t just track him down.”
A burst of laughter peeled from the corridor to my right, and Bella came striding in from the courtyard in front of the Academy. Her copper hair caught the light, fox ears angled forward with interest, but she still kept the rest of her human form.
“You’re terrifying the new ones,” she told Twobble cheerfully.
“I’m building resilience.” He eyed her and popped in a hard candy.
I spotted Nova standing near the entrance with that calm, knowing stillness. She could always make me feel both reassured and mildly anxious. Her raven-dark hair was braided back today, and her green eyes were moving over the incoming students with a subtle intensity. It was as if she were sensing every single soul that walked inside.
“Enrollment feels stronger,” she murmured, coming closer.
“It does,” I said. “How are things going with the orc’s land?”
Nova let out a deep breath. “Skonk and Twobble sent a few goblins to collect samples. They should be back soon. Then we will know how or if we can reverse what the Priestess has done to their home.”
“If?”
She nodded, and I pushed the thought aside and looked over to see Keegan leaning against one of the pillars outside, arms folded, posture relaxed but watchful in the way that wasn’t relaxation at all. A few of the shifters walking toward the Wilds nodded respectfully as they passed him. He nodded back, chin dipping just slightly, the pack dynamics shifting without a single raised voice.
He caught my eye, and I knew he was asking if I was all right.
I gave him a small nod.
Mostly.
Ardetia emerged from the hall with a stack of schedules floating behind her like obedient birds.
Stella walked over to Twobble, handing him a scone from the tray of sweets and tea she balanced effortlessly in one hand. Steam curled upward in soft spirals from the tea, and I suddenly felt comforted again, even with everything we’d just faced near the hollows and all the uncertainty ahead.
“I brought fortification,” Stella announced.
“Are there seconds?” Twobble demanded.
She winked at him and handed Skonk one, too.
“Question remains.” Twobble eyed her.
Stella gave him a look that would have reduced a lesser creature to dust, but his question lingered. She squinted her eyes toward his shoulder.
“Is that a snail? What in the world?”
