Page 44 of Magical Moonbeam
“Three,” I repeated. “Not six?”
She turned, fully facing me now, as though ready to steady me should I sway. “Yes. Three nights from now. When the second bell strikes. That is when the Veil thins to its most vulnerable. Shadowick will tremble, and that is our time to walk in unnoticed. It’s a much better option than inviting him into your mind or walking through their gates.”
I sat down. Or maybe fell into a chair. My knees had given up deciding.
Three nights.
I’d depended on at least six. I’d felt it, stretching out, distant on the horizon like a shoreline I could still walk to slowly.
Now it was crashing toward us like a storm tide.
Keegan stepped behind me, a steady hand resting lightly on my shoulder. His touch grounded me and kept me from flying apart.
“But we’ve only just started preparing,” I said. “The replica of Shadowick hasn’t even been started, let alone glamoured. We haven’t run through anything. We don’t even know what’s waiting on the other side.”
“Which is precisely why time is what it is,” Lady Limora said gently. “Magic responds to movement, not hesitation. The more you lean in, the faster it sprints.”
“That’s incredibly inconvenient,” I muttered.
“Most magic is,” she agreed.
A shiver ran through me, and I heard the scuffle of feet outside the doors.
“We need everyone focused,” I said. “Nova, Ember, Bella, Twobble. Even Skonk.”
“I already sent for them,” Limora said, as if she could read my thoughts. “They’ll meet us at dusk in the green chapel by the cemetery. Just beyond the Wilds.”
I exhaled. “You’re taking this surprisingly well.”
Her expression softened. “You think the moon only whispers to us? She’s been speaking toyou,too, Maeve. You just haven’t realized it yet.”
I looked up at her, startled.
“The aching birthmark,” she added. “The instinct to prepare. The clarity when you touch the Wards. You’re aligned with her now. That’s not a coincidence.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say a word.
She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a narrow silver scroll case, etched with runes I didn’t recognize. She set it gently on the table between us.
“This contains the binding spell you’ll need to keep the portal open once it begins. It’s old magic. You’ll need a thread from each Ward, one anchor object from Stonewick, and someone from your bloodline.”
Bloodline? That left my mom or dad. I wouldn’t pull Celeste into it, and my grandma and aunt couldn’t leave the confines of their sanctuaries.
I swallowed. “What happens if we can’t keep it open?”
“Then only the strongest of you might make it through. The others will be lost in the in-between.”
Keegan’s hand tightened slightly on my shoulder.
“Good,” I said quietly. “No pressure at all.”
Limora smiled faintly. “Pressure forges things, Maeve. Diamond. Bone. Leadership.”
Keegan cleared his throat. “What happens after Moonbeam’s Eve?”
Limora’s smile faded. “That depends entirely on what you doduringit.”
A silence settled between us. Not heavy. Not cold. But filled with all the things we still didn’t know.
