Bearly Bewitched (Mystic Hollow #4)

Chapter 45

FORTY-FIVE

D awn painted Vail’s bedroom in soft rose gold when she first sensed the disturbance. Beside her, Kaine was already awake, his body tension-wire taut. His fingers traced idle patterns on her bare shoulder as he listened to something beyond human hearing.

“The wards?” she murmured, not wanting to break the lingering peace of their first morning together.

“Something’s wrong.” His voice rumbled low in his chest. “The forest is too quiet. Even the birds have gone silent.”

Before Vail could respond, magical alarms shrieked through the air. The remaining ward stones’ warning pulses lit the room in amber light. She bolted upright, sheets tangling around her waist as her magic instinctively flared in response.

Kaine moved with the fluid grace of a predator, already pulling on his clothes. His eyes had taken on that dangerous golden gleam that meant his bear was close to the surface. “I’ll check the perimeter. You?—“

“Need to get to the academy.” Vail grabbed her emergency bag from beside the bed. “If the wards are failing this dramatically, we’ll need everyone.”

They arrived to find chaos already blooming. Storm clouds gathered unnaturally fast overhead as Romi directed precise lightning strikes to energize failing protective barriers. Her usual playful demeanor had vanished, replaced by fierce concentration as electricity crackled in her brown hair.

“Romi,” Vail called out, “where’s Daisy?”

“She’s with the other kids in the ward-protected dorms.”

Vail was happy with that. The dorms were probably the safest place for her.

“About time you two showed up.” Xabir’s deep voice carried across the courtyard. The alpha wolf stood surrounded by his pack, their silver-gray fur bristling with tension. “We’ve got movement in the western woods. Something’s trying to breach the boundary spells.”

A massive tiger burst from the shadows, shifting mid-leap into Sabine’s human form. “More than trying,” she reported grimly, adjusting her hastily donned clothes. “The corruption’s eating through the anchor points like acid. Ren’s trying to contain it, but?—“

Golden dragon fire suddenly illuminated the pre-dawn sky. Through the trees, they glimpsed Ren’s massive form, wings spread as he channeled ancient magic into the failing wards. The air itself seemed to shimmer around him.

“The foundations are destabilizing.” Clover knelt to press her hands against the ground, emerald magic spiraling outward. Her usual gentle expression had hardened into determination. “Whatever’s attacking the wards, it’s going deeper than before.”

Rook’s answering growl made the windows rattle. The alpha tiger’s massive form prowled the perimeter Clover created, his pride falling into defensive formations with practiced ease. Their synchronized movements spoke of countless hours training together.

“Zephyrine and I can reinforce the eastern anchor points,” Neve called out, her silver hair streaming behind her as she wove complex protection spells. “But something’s interfering with the natural flow of power.”

“It’s not just interference.” Burke emerged from the academy’s main entrance, ancient scrolls clutched in his arms. “The corruption’s following specific patterns. Like it’s being guided?—“

A scream cut through his words. Young voices raised in panic as darkness erupted from the ground near the student dormitories. The corruption rose like tentacles of liquid shadow, seeking vulnerable points in the magical barriers.

Kaine’s roar shook the very air as he shifted, charging toward the endangered students. His massive bear form scattered the shadows, giving the children time to retreat. But more corruption simply bubbled up from other points, following some malevolent design.

“The evacuation routes,” Xabir barked to his pack. “Secure them. Now!” The wolves moved like quicksilver, herding students toward safety while Romi’s lightning kept the shadows at bay.

Through the chaos, Vail caught glimpses of their allies working in seamless pairs: Sabine flowing between tiger and witch forms while Ren’s dragon fire created safe corridors for students. Rook and Clover combining earth magic with raw shifter strength to stabilize crumbling sections of the academy. The twin elders weaving barriers of such complexity they hurt to look at directly.

Then she saw him.

Ames stood in the courtyard’s center, but his familiar warmth had been replaced by crystalline coldness.

“How did he break out of containment?” she hollered to anyone who could hear her. No one replied.

Ledger’s corruption pulsed beneath his skin in sickening patterns. As they watched in horror, he raised his hands and pushed .

Dark energy exploded outward, following the academy’s ley lines like poison in veins. Every ward stone screamed in protest. Every magical bond between student and teacher suddenly strained to breaking.

“No,” Vail breathed, understanding dawning. “He’s not just breaking the wards. He’s using them to create a network of corruption. Every failed protection feeds power back to his crystal.”

A child’s cry of pain drew her attention. Near the library steps, Daisy stood unnaturally still, watching the corruption’s advance with strange intensity. Before Vail could reach her, Kaine was there, his bear form a mountain of protective fury as he shepherded her toward safety.

“The patterns,” Daisy said, her voice oddly distant. “They’re like the ones in my dreams, but... twisted. Wrong.”

More darkness erupted from the ground. Romi’s lightning cut through the shadows while Xabir’s wolves created a defensive ring around the students. Sabine’s tiger form tore through corrupted barriers as Ren’s dragon fire purged the poison. Through it all, Ames remained eerily motionless, a conduit for Ledger’s power.

Then the air... shifted. Like reality itself had hiccupped. For just a moment, Ames’s form seemed to flicker, becoming translucent before solidifying again.

“It’s not him,” Sabine snarled, shifting back to human form. “It’s an illusion. A powerful one, but?—“

“A distraction,” Vail realized. “While we’re fighting this phantom, Ledger’s somewhere else, preparing for the eclipse. Using our own defensive magic to fuel whatever he’s planning.”

The false Ames smiled, an expression that looked wicked on his familiar features. When he spoke, the voice was Ledger’s: “Very good, Headmistress. But by the time you figure out my true location...” His form began to dissolve into corrupt magic. “It will be far too late.”

The explosion of dark energy that followed tested every defensive spell they’d cast. Only their combined powers kept the academy from being torn apart: Romi’s storms, Xabir’s pack coordination, Sabine’s dual nature enhanced by Ren’s ancient strength, Rook and Clover’s earth-based protections, the twin elders’ centuries of experience.

When the darkness finally cleared, Ledger’s illusion had vanished. But the corruption remained, spreading through the academy’s magical foundations like a cancer. And somewhere out there, the real threat waited, gathering power for the celestial event in less than an hour.

Vail found Kaine still in bear form, standing guard over the huddled students. His massive head swung toward her, golden eyes fierce with protective fury and something deeper. Something that made her heart race despite the danger surrounding them.

They had until tomorrow’s eclipse to find Ledger’s true location and stop whatever he had planned. And somehow, watching Kaine’s bear form naturally place itself between danger and those he considered his to protect, Vail felt the first stirrings of hope. They were stronger together - all of them. Their bonds might be exactly what they needed to counter Ledger’s corruption.

The crystal’s stolen power pulsed somewhere in the distance. But Vail held onto that hope as she organized their defenses, knowing their connection - all their connections - might be the key to saving everything they loved from Ledger’s twisted vision.