Page 134 of Magical Mission
Twobble smirked from the doorway. “You two make a disgustingly cozy pair.”
“We work with what we’ve got.”
He nodded once, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Sleep well, Maeve.”
“Thank you for bringing him.”
“He wouldn’t stop staring at me,” Twobble muttered. “It was unsettling.”
I laughed softly, then watched as he disappeared into the hall, the door clicking shut behind him with a soft finality.
My dad let out a pleased grunt, stretched out across half the mattress, and promptly began to snore.
I shifted under the covers, pulling them over both of us. The warmth seeped into my skin immediately.
My eyes drifted to the dimly glowing sconces and then to the ceiling, where faint traces of starlight shimmered through the enchanted skylight above.
The Academy had never really stopped surprising me.
Neither had life.
And now, with my dad pressed warm against my side and the echoes of Twobble’s grumbling still in the air, I let the weight of the day finally settle.
The truth was, I hadn’t figured it out yet.
How to balance who I used to be with who I was becoming.
How to be a mother and a headmistress. A witch and a woman who still wanted late-night calls from her best friend and shared mugs of tea with her daughter.
But maybe I didn’t need to have it all sorted right now.
Maybe the magic wasn’t in the mastery, but in themerging.
One moment at a time.
One Ward at a time.
One biscuit-bribed goblin and one huffy bulldog at a time.
I smiled to myself, reached over to scratch behind my dad’s ears, and let the steady sound of his snoring lull me into the edge of sleep.
Somehow, I thought,some way… I’ll figure out how to merge my worlds.
And for the first time in a long time, that thought didn’t scare me.
It gave me hope.
Chapter Thirty-One
I awoke to the scent of cinnamon and frost. Winter had slipped in with the speed of light and knocked spring off its feet again.
I blinked up at the intricate artwork on the ceiling and smiled.
The scent deepened.
Something spicy, a little wild, and just a hint of… lavender?
My dad lifted his head before I moved, and his ears twitched.
