Page 28 of Magical Mission
I was laughing and crying at the same time, dragging them all into a hug I hadn’t realized I needed. Stella smelled like orange and cinnamon. Ember like crushed lavender. Keegan like the cold just before rain.
And my dad? Dad smelled like… well, Fritos.
When we finally pulled apart, I gestured toward the doors. “Come on. Come inside. You’re not students, but the Academy, she opened for you. I don’t evenknowwhat that means yet, but I know it’s right.”
Stella took my arm. “You’re glowing, you know.”
“That’s probably just flour,” I muttered, wiping my face.
“No,” Ember said with a quiet smile. “It’s something else.”
We climbed the steps together, my dad trotting proudly ahead like he owned the place. He probably did.
And as we passed through the entry, the light shimmered gently around them, a soft, welcoming glow like candlelight meeting old friends.
That’s when I knew.
The Academy hadn’t just opened to those seeking lessons.
It had opened to the ones Ineeded most.
My anchor points.
My past, my present, my future.
It had known exactly what I didn’t…that I couldn’t build this new chapter without them.
Keegan’s hand brushed mine again as we stepped into the glow of the grand corridor.
I looked up at him, heart steady now, quiet in a way it hadn’t been all day.
“You’re really here?” I whispered.
“I’m really here,” he said. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
And just like that, the Academy felt whole.
Chapter Seven
Keegan stood inside the Academy as the lamplight caught the edge of his dark jacket and the scruff on his jaw that hadn’t been there the last time I saw him. His hazel eyes flicked to mine, steady and unreadable.
The laughter and clinking of glasses from the feast echoed down the hall, muffled by distance and thick stone, but in this quiet space, something far more profound settled around us.
It wasn’t silence.
It was certainty.
I watched him watching me, and something in my chest shifted. Not the flutter I always felt around him, not the sweet ache of affection, but something sturdier.
Somethingtrue.
And then it hit me, slow and sure.
The perfect teachers weren’t out there in some distant forest or hidden realm. They were standingright here.
Keegan tilted his head and raised his brow. “What? What are you staring at?”
I blinked at him as my breath caught halfway between a laugh and a revelation. “You.”
