Page 100 of Truly Madly Magically

I regret it immediately when I realize it’s not in any language I know. “What if you’re the princess in the book?”

Georgie laughs. “Then I’d be carousing with dragons, apparently. Not reading books about it.”

I eye her. “The thing about being pregnant is that I have to pee in the middle of the night. Like, a lot. Sometimes, when that’s handled, I start thinking that what would be really nice is a snack, and maybe I don’t feel like sharing. Which I’d have to do if I just magicked myself some food that Zander would wake up and eat.”

Georgie makes an encouraging yet distracted sound. “I support your secret snacks, Ellowyn.”

“Last night, for example, I got up around two and popped down to the kitchen to eat some ice cream,” I say in the same offhanded way, but I’m watching her closely. “When I was done with my extreme chocolate and peanut butter moment, I decided to virtuously walk back up the stairs.”

She’s not distracted any longer. Georgie looks up at me, gaze intense.

“How long have you been sleepwalking?” I ask her softly. Her throat works, but she doesn’t say anything. “Or in this case, sleep-sitting, I guess? Is that what you call it when a person is curled up on the stairs, talking to a newel post?”

Georgie looks at me for a little too long, a little too intently, before she laughs. “That’s so embarrassing. Why didn’t you wake me up?” Before I can answer that, she’s flipping pages again. “I used to sleepwalk all the time when I was little. It must be the stress of all this ascension stuff that has me regressing. I’m going to have to charm my bedroom at night again so I don’t end up out in the street, easy pickings for the Joywood.”

I want to chase that down a little more, and maybe work my way around to why her research-happy boyfriend isn’t here, making sure she doesn’t wander off into traffic or worse in the middle of all this—but I can’t. Because Frost and Rebekah appear, quickly followed by Emerson and Zander, and the moment is lost.

“Jacob will be here soon,” Emerson says, a little tightly. Worry in her eyes.

Zander puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I sent Storm over to fly back with him.”

She nods in appreciation and looks around the room, literally vibrating. “I’ll go make us some snacks while we wait.”

I can see Zander is about to follow her when she charges off, but I hold up a hand and point to myself. Wound-up Emerson seems like a job for me.

She’s back in the kitchen, magicking a ridiculous amount of food together. I know she doesn’t realize the way worry radiates off her, or she’d hide it.

“It’s okay to not be okay, Em,” I say when I come to stand beside her in the kitchen where her grandmother used to teach us silly little spells. How to clean up all the crayons. How to make the wind chimes sing without a breeze. How to really talk to plants.

I can hear Grandma Wilde’s voice as clearly as if she’s right here with us.

Beside me, Emerson sucks in a deep breath. “Sometimes, even when you’re worried or scared, you’re still okay.” Then she smiles. Exuding Warrior confidence. “I can feel it all, all at the same time.”

So I make the small drooping plant on the windowsill dance a little, the way her grandma would have, until she smiles.

It’s not until Jacob appears, right here in the kitchen, that relief washes over her enough that her shoulders actually slump. “Hi,” she offers.

“Hi,” Jacob says, his voice deeper. Maybe darker. He heads for her with an intent look on his face that has me immediately vacating the premises.

Jacob and Emerson take a few minutes to follow. Both carrying trays of the food Emerson put together. They set the trays down on the coffee table in front of the hearth, where Zander has lit a fire. When they straighten, Emerson is all leader again. No hint of that overwhelmed woman I glimpsed briefly.

Old Ellowyn would have seen that as a sign that love is weakness, but I see it now for what it really is. The strength to feel it all, all at the same time.

Emerson fixes Frost with a look. “Let’s hear it.”

Emerson’s expression darkens as Frost recounts the story of the missing Skipweasel. There’s that Warrior glint in her eye, but it’s not quite as gleeful as it has been at some other points.

“We knew they were going to do something,” she says after we all sit in the things we’re not saying for a bit.

Georgie strokes Octavius on one side of her in her favorite chair and Rebekah’s Smudge on the other. “I’m not sure how they got around Frost’s protections—”

“Nor am I,” he bites out glacially.

“They covered their tracks. We can’t accuse them of anything. We can’t bring this to the Undine.” Emerson crosses her arms. “It feels like they’ve been working on this a long time.”

“It would explain their quiet times,” Georgie agrees. “Storing up energy, working on spells. With all of us here, it likely gave them time to weaken the protections there.”

Frost’s gaze is frigid as he inclines his head.

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