There’s shadow residue near the parking lot. I’m tracking it now.
I pressed my hand against my mouth, and for one horrible second, all I could picture was Celeste alone and frightened, trusting the wrong voice that was making her run toward danger instead of away from it.
Guilt tore through me so fast I almost doubled over from it.
“This is my fault,” I whispered as several students congregated in murmurs.
“No,” Stella said immediately. “It is not. That’s the Priestess’ fault.”
The witches surrounding us had gone completely silent now.
Bella stepped closer. “Keegan will find her.”
I nodded automatically, but panic still clawed at the inside of my ribs.
“She’s smart,” I whispered. “Celeste is smart. She knows better than to trust strange magic.”
“We can’t let fear change the rules,” Nova said softly.
I hated how true that felt.
Caleb took my phone gently from my hand and scanned the messages himself.
“Keegan’s already making headway,” he said. “Good. But this shouldn’t change our plans.”
There weren’t words big enough for what I was feeling.
A mother’s terror is a living thing. It doesn’t sit politely in your chest. The worries claw and bite their way to every thought. And the trauma screams images into your head that you never wanted to see.
And now the Priestess had touched Celeste.
Caleb handed my phone back carefully. “Maeve. Look at me.”
I did.
“Keegan’s one of the best trackers I know,” he said steadily. “If there’s a trail, he’ll find it.”
“What if there is no trail?” I asked.
Bella nodded. “There’s shadow residue, so the Priestess moved quickly. That means she’s impatient.”
Caleb nodded. “It also means there is a trail.”
Nova’s expression darkened. “She’s desperate.”
That settled heavily through the corridor. Desperation made powerful people reckless.
My birthmark pulsed as if Grandma Elira herself pressed a steadying hand against my hip.
Breathe.
I could almost hear her voice as we walked down the corridor with my dad beside me.
“Keegan will find her,” he said.
Twobble climbed onto the staircase railing in front of me and cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Well,” he announced into the suffocating silence. “I’m absolutely done with your grandma, and it’s time to rally the troops.”
