Nova nodded. “We’ll do it carefully. Together.”
“And with boundaries.”
“What do you mean? Won’t we just be walking it?” I asked.
“No, we have…other ways. The Academy knows much of what goes on in the hidden rooms, or the secret thoughts and decisions of the people roaming its halls long before the choice is ever made, and they're kept on premise.”
My heart skipped a beat. “You mean like the Flame Ward and the memory forges?”
“Yes, Hedge Witch. In a way. Follow me.” Nova led us through the hall, not toward the main doors, but toward a side corridor that curved into quieter parts of the Academy. The noise behind us softened, replaced by the hush of stone and the low murmur of distant activity.
As we walked, I caught glimpses of students at work—one carefully tying twine around a bundle of herbs, another stirring a pot with determined seriousness while a kitchen sprite supervised with the intensity of a general.
A witch looked up as we passed and gave me a small smile, and it was exactly what I needed.
Nova slowed near one of the old tapestries, its colors dulled to mauve and brown, hanging on the wall. Her fingers moved over it, and the threads shimmered to life.
She glanced at it and over at me.
“You want to follow her footsteps,” she said. “But you also want to know why she crossed that boundary with the Priestess, her intention.”
“Yes.”
Nova’s eyes sharpened. “Then we don’t just walk. We read.”
“Tarot?” I asked.
Ardetia’s gaze flicked between us. “You’re thinking about the Academy’s memory.”
Nova nodded once. “It remembers movement. Not everything. But when magic is involved, especially dark magic, it leaves an impression.”
My pulse picked up.
“You can do that?” I asked quietly.
“I can do a lot of things that you haven’t even thought to ask about, and so can the Academy.” Nova’s smile said even more.
Chapter Twenty-One
She led us down a narrow stairwell that curved into a lower hall. The turn of it made me think of the hidden room where I’d first uncovered the history about the dragons and the Hunger Path, though this part of the Academy was different.
The air cooled as we descended.
It carried that faint metallic scent I’d come to associate with old magic.
I rubbed my palms against my pants before I even realized I was doing it, until Ardetia shifted closer to me for comfort.
Nova stopped in front of a door that most would walk right on by. A faint line through the stone appeared more vivid as Nova pressed her palm in the middle.
“Well, I’m impressed,” I said, smiling. “I never would have thought to do that.”
“This is one of the Archive Halls,” Nova said quietly. “It’s obviously different than the library. This isn’t a place a student would visit unless there were a serious need. But this room is where the Academy keeps its impressions.”
My heart picked up speed. “We’re being judged?”
Nova ticked her head slightly. “I thought you knew that. Wouldn’t you say the moment you set foot inside the Academy that it's been reading you, testing you?”
I nodded, smiling. “I suppose it has. I just didn’t think it kept a running log.”
