Page 70 of Magical Moonbeam
The townspeople were just waking, and the tourists were lazily drinking their morning brews with catchy names like Starlight cappuccino and Mystic Divine latte.
The road bent, rising slightly, and then I saw it.
The building.
It stood like it always had in its tall, rectangular form, carved from dark stone streaked with veins of something darker still. Its windows were too few and oddly placed, centered high up on the walls, as if they had never been meant for looking through.
The gate loomed ahead, wrought iron twisted with runes that pulsed faintly in the morning light. I slowed as we reached it.
I remembered the first time I saw this place.
It had been late, the moon high. I hadn’t known where I was going, just that I’d been pulled out of my hotel room. That feeling of something ancient watching me from within those walls had stayed with me, nestled under my ribs like a secret.
And now, I was walking straight toward it.
So much had happened since that night.
I’d found the Academy alive again. I’d met friends I hadn’t known I needed. I’d kissed a wolf shifter I’d had a crush on. I’d remembered who I was.
But I was still learning what that meant.
Ardetia laid a hand on the gate. It sighed open with a groan of old hinges and whispered enchantments.
We stepped inside.
I didn’t speak. I didn’t have to.
Whatever was waiting for me behind those doors was ancient.
And it was listening.
“Remember, we always want to walk quickly through the main floor.” Nova turned to me.
I nodded. “I remember last time I was here, you hurried me out of there.”
“Yes. For good reason. It’s a prime place to snatch thoughts and memories because there are no buffers. It’s just a bare room that awaits the echo of thought to amplify and capture. There’s nothing here to absorb your thoughts like in the real world.”
“Got it.”
Ardetia glanced at me and then at Nova. “Ready?”
“That’s a tricky question, but I suppose the answer is yes.” I grinned as Nova opened the door to the main floor.
Just like that night, the darkness was layered into an empty room. I followed them up the steps to the second floor, where the warmth immediately heated to an almost uncomfortable state.
I wiped the back of my hand across my brow, breathing slowly and steadily now. I hadn’t realized how tightly I’d beenholding everything inside, not just the fear or the hope, but the secrets. The truths too dangerous to speak aloud.
That’s when it clicked.
This wasn’t just about shielding. This was a training ground. The fire sprites weren’t here to expose me. They were here to challenge me. To ask me,Do you know your own mind well enough to guard it?
I turned toward the nearest cauldron, its molten surface calm now, flickering with the faintest reflections of thoughts unspoken.
“This is a test,” I said aloud, almost to myself.
Nova didn’t answer.
But Ardetia did.
