Page 39 of Magical Mission
“There’s no quiz,” he said. “You can just tell me.”
I looked down at my hands. At the faint scuffs on my sleeves. At the ink stain on my thumb, I hadn’t noticed until now.
“I’m proud,” I said slowly. “But I’m also scared.”
His brows knit together. “Of what?”
I hesitated.
This was the part I hadn’t said out loud. Not to Nova. Not to my grandma. Not even to myself, really.
But with Keegan standing here, steady and quiet, I felt the words rise like a tide I couldn’t push back.
“Gideon,” I said finally.
His name made the garden chill.
Keegan’s jaw tensed. “What about him?”
“He knows,” I said. “He’s known since the moment the Wards brightened and strengthened. The moment the students arrived. He felt it.”
“Let him.”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand. He wants this place. Always has. Not for what it is, but for what itcanbe.”
Keegan stepped closer, just enough that I felt the warmth of him.
“He’s always wanted power,” I said. “Control. And now that this place is breathing again, he’ll try to take it. Imagine if Shadowick had Stonewick under its power…”
“Then he’ll have to get through you.”
I looked up at him as frustration tightened in my chest. “I’m not invincible, Keegan. I’m still figuring this out as I go. I don’t have all the answers. Some days I don’t even have therightquestions.”
He searched my face like he was trying to read between the lines.
“You think he’ll try something soon,” he said.
“Iknowhe will. He’s not the type to let magic slip through his fingers without grabbing for it again.”
Keegan was quiet for a long moment. “You’re not alone, you know.”
“It feels like I am, sometimes. I’m the one everyone looks to. The one everyone expects to have a plan. And I barely figured out how to get the dining hall open.”
He didn’t laugh at that. Just reached out and gently tugged the edge of my sleeve.
“I don’t think the Academy opened for someone who had all the answers. I think it opened for someone who wouldn’t give up on it. And it picked right.”
His words hit something deep in me.
I let out a slow breath and dropped my arms to my sides, suddenly tired in a way I hadn’t let myself feel all evening.
“I want to believe that,” I said. “I do.”
“Then believe.”
We stood there in the hush of the garden, with only the rustle of leaves and the occasional chitter of something small and winged above us.
After a while, I looked back toward the tall hedge of roses that marked the far end of the garden.
