Page 63 of Summertime Hexy
Not until the veil groans once more.
Andseals.
For now.
I collapse to my knees, blood dripping from my lip, the magic sizzling out of my bones like smoke after a fire.
Derek’s still breathing.
The Grove is still intact.
The kids are safe.
And me?
I’m cracked all the way down.
But I didn’t break.
The Grove is too quiet.
No birds. No rustle of curious pixies. Even the wind seems to have taken a vow of silence, like the whole forest is holding its breath, waiting to see if we’re still alive in the morning.
I sit cross-legged in the dirt beside Derek, my arms aching, my fingertips raw, my soul practically hollowed out by whatever the hell just came out of me.
I did it.
I sealed the veil.
Or at least—IthinkI did.
It’s holding. For now. There’s no more screaming magic, no more shadows slithering out of the rift like hungry smoke. TheGrove is still. Unnaturally still. Like even the ley lines are too stunned to vibrate.
I let out a shaky breath and glance down at Derek.
He hasn’t moved.
His face is pale, drawn tight with pain even in unconsciousness. His shirt is soaked through—blood, sweat, maybe both—and his hand is ice in mine. The kind of cold that scares me.
The kind of cold that feelsfinal.
“You absolute idiot,” I whisper, brushing a leaf out of his hair. “You couldn’t let me haveonedramatic self-sacrificial moment, huh? Had to go and make it about you.”
The only answer is the low buzz of ley energy curling beneath the soil. Distant. Faint. Like everything’s still reeling from what just happened.
The trees lean in around us, their limbs arching overhead in a canopy of soft shadow and silver moonlight. Ferns crowd the edges of the Grove, damp and dewy. Wildflowers wilt where the surge hit hardest, petals scorched, color drained.
It smells like burnt magic and wet moss.
I shift so I’m kneeling beside him, gently lifting his head to rest it more comfortably on my rolled-up coat. The movement pulls at my side—probably bruised. Definitely punished. But I don’t care.
“I think I messed it up,” I whisper.
There’s a lump in my throat I can’t swallow.
“I mean, itworked,technically. The tear’s closed. Temporarily. It’s just… I don’t know. I cut glyphs too fast, I merged runes that probably shouldn’t be merged, I didn’task permissionfrom the ley flow. I did everything wrong.”
My voice cracks.
