Soon, it was just me and Keegan walking toward the Academy.
The night air had cooled, and a light breeze moved through the trees along the edge of town. My shoulder still achedfaintly where the mark had burned earlier, but it had dulled to something manageable.
For a while, we walked in silence.
I glanced sideways at him.
The lantern light caught the edge of his face as we passed beneath one of the lampposts. His expression was calm, but there was a heaviness in the set of his shoulders that I hadn’t noticed before.
“You’re tired,” I said.
He huffed a quiet laugh.
“Is it that obvious?”
“A little.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“It’s been a long night.”
“That’s one way to describe it.” I chuckled
We walked another few steps before I spoke again.
“I was watching everyone earlier,” I said. “In the tea shop.”
Keegan glanced down at me.
“And?”
I looked back toward the town behind us. The lantern lights, the quiet streets, the faint glow coming from Stella’s windows.
“I didn’t realize how much they’d all started to feel like family.”
He didn’t answer right away.
But I saw the small smile tug at the corner of his mouth.
“That happens in Stonewick,” he said.
“I know.”
I kicked lightly at a pebble in the road.
“But it made me realize something else, too.”
“What’s that?”
“That I still have another family out there.”
My voice softened without meaning to.
“Celeste. My mom. My dad.”
The words settled between us.
“I keep thinking about Celeste,” I admitted. “About how quickly everything can change.”
