“Do you feel it?” she asked.
“What?” I asked, not letting my voice tremble with the realization that I might never make it back to Stonewick.
“Belonging.” Her eyes narrowed on me like a predator sizing up their next meal.
“No,” I said. “But I feel why you’re afraid to let them hope.”
Her smile faded, and for the first time all day, she had no reply.
Chapter Thirty-Six
We were sitting in her study, the one I’d had my vision of so long ago, when she was hurriedly stuffing something into the drawer.
The same thing Gideon managed to steal and was now protected within the walls of Stonewick Academy.
I thought back to the stone that the Priestess so desperately needed to continue her unnatural reign and longevity, and how there were two now sitting behind the protection of Stonewick.
She sat behind the desk, but something struck me.
My grandmother, the Priestess, looked tired. That was unusual, and it made me wonder whether the effects of not having the stone in her possession were already allowing her to age naturally.
“It was nice to visit Shadowick with my granddaughter,” she said, opening a drawer, almost on instinct, and shutting it again.
I scanned the shelves of books at the far end of the room and rose without answering.
“Enjoy, Maeve. It’s about time you understood the place that has always been your home.”
Her words felt like a slice to my heart as I drew a breath and continued forward.
“I don’t belong here,” I whispered. “I never have.”
She laughed. “Gideon told me that was a sore subject.”
Barlen came into the room with a tray of tea and set it down. He brought a cup to me as I lifted my hand toward a book that caught my eye.
“Interesting that that’s the one you chose,” she said, flashing a sinister expression.
I didn’t even bother to look at the title after that comment. Instead, I kept it in my left hand while I held the tea in my right, and Barlen quietly left the study.
“What did you make of the Academy?” she asked.
My heart stopped as I let out a slow breath.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t be silly.” She laughed. “I know you saw it.”
Ah, yes. I saw it…But she didn’t know I went in it.
I turned around slowly. “Did you ever attend the Academy?”
“Indeed, I did,” she said with a quick flick of her wrist toward the window. “I’d been abandoned by my husband and left to raise a family without any means to do so, and in those days, it was a grueling sentence. This century can be a bit kinder to single moms, but not by much.”
I took a sip of tea and saw something on the saucer. Not wanting to bring attention, I set my cup down.
“I felt a calling and wound up in Shadowick. Immediately, I sensed something was different here. People came to my aid, fed my child, and found me housing. It was a new start. But when Iwalked into the Academy at forty, I knew my life would never be the same.”
Her eyes met mine, and she smiled. It was the only genuine one I’d seen on her.
