Chapter Thirty-Four
A hush fell over the cottage.
The warmth from the hearth still glowed, but all sense of cozy comfort evaporated when Frank went berserk.
The only sound in the room was the steady clicking of his nails against the floor and fast panting as he paced in front of the fire, occasionally letting out a low, rumbling growl that vibrated through the space.
My breath caught in my throat as I struggled to understand what happened to my constant companion.
Keegan’s stare was cold—focused on me, yes, but also somewhere far beyond me, turning over old memories that refused to stay buried.
Usually lively and carefree, Stella stood rigid behind a chair, her gaze darting anxiously between Nova, Ember, and Keegan.
Twobble walked over to Frank in a gesture that surprised me with its tenderness.
The little goblin—so prone to sarcasm and petty grievances—knelt by the bulldog’s side and gently touched Frank’s back.
“Easy, big guy,” Twobble whispered, stroking Frank’s fur as if trying to siphon away some agitation coursing through him. The sight was enough to make my eyes sting with tears.
We were all in uncharted territory, stumbling in the dark.
I tried to keep my voice steady as I addressed Keegan.
“Tell me what exactly , Keegan? What angered Frank? I don’t understand what’s going on.”
A pulse pounded at my temples, reminding me something big lurked beneath the surface.
Keegan’s eyes flicked toward the fire and back to me. He exhaled, the sound barely audible over Frank’s unsettled panting.
“Maeve, why don’t you take a seat?” he said at last, his voice a ragged mixture of concern and resolve.
A dozen questions jostled for space on my tongue.
I shook my head, stepping closer to where Frank paced.
“I’m not sitting until you tell me why or what made Frank freak out.” My words tumbled out before I could carefully arrange them, but I refused to be still, polite, and patient when fear was clawing at my gut.
I kneeled beside Frank, placing a tentative hand on his back.
He turned a fraction, deciding whether to allow the touch.
After a heart-stopping moment, he huffed and leaned into me, quieting just enough that my heart no longer felt like it was about to crash through my ribs. His sides heaved with the last ragged breaths of that wild agitation. His bulldog eyes looked almost feral, but at least he wasn’t barking anymore.
Twobble hovered on my other side, his gaze snapping between me and Keegan, and I felt an odd surge of gratitude for the little goblin’s solidarity.
Even if we’d had our differences—trivial arguments and snarky banter—he was choosing to stand with me at that moment, which meant something.
“Why did mentioning… make Frank angry?” I asked, carefully weaving my words so I didn’t inadvertently inflame the situation again. “We’ve spoken of so many unnerving things tonight—things more awful than I care to recall right now—yet this is what set him off?” I looked at Keegan expectantly. “Why?”
Keegan’s lips tightened.
“Maeve,” he began again, his voice low, “it’s complicated.”
“I’m so sick of that phrase,” I murmured, stroking Frank’s head. His breathing finally evened out, though a thin thread of tension remained taut beneath my fingertips. “Everything’s complicated. The Academy, the curse, my family, Gideon… the shifters. It’s always complicated. But you know what? I can handle complicated.”
My words echoed in the hush.
Stella took a slow, deliberate breath as if she was about to speak but stopped herself at the last second. I noticed how her gaze slid over Nova and Ember, seeking permission or direction.
Did they all already know what triggered Frank's reaction?
Sitting closest to the window, Ember cleared her throat but said nothing.
Nova, arms folded over her chest, looked torn between annoyance at the tension and genuine pity for me. I recognized that look. It was the same one she wore when she knew a painful truth was imminent but didn’t want to be the one to say it.
Keegan took a step forward, crossing into the glow of the fireplace. The light and shadow played over the sharp angles of his face, making him look both older and more vulnerable simultaneously.
“It’s not just about what was mentioned,” he said at last, “it’s about who —and what that means for you, for all of us.” He paused, inhaling like he needed the air to finish his thought. “I wanted you to sit because this… it’s going to take time to explain.”
A lump swelled in my throat, but I tried to swallow it.
“Then we’ll take all the time needed,” I managed, pressing gently against Frank’s side to let him know I was still there. Finally, I conceded a fraction, scooting back until I found a spot on the floor where I could sit with my back against the couch, my legs folded under me. “There. I’m seated comfortably.”
“You are so stubborn, Maeve.” Keegan’s gaze traveled over me, but a slight smile touched his lips.
For a heartbeat, he just stood there, fists clenched at his sides. It felt like we were on the precipice of something big—like he was about to lay out some piece of Stonewick’s history that would rewrite what I thought I knew.
But he hesitated, and I could see the conflict flickering behind his eyes.
“It all comes back to the events that led up to the curse,” he said, voice thick with unresolved anger. “To what Gideon did, what certain people… surrendered. And also what was lost that night.” He broke off, letting his words drift.
I hated that my mind was already racing to fill in the blanks, drawing half-formed conclusions that terrified me. I replayed the recent conversation in my head…the moment I announced that my grandfather was the one who breached the Wards, the jolt of shock and fury in Keegan’s eyes, and then Frank’s explosive reaction. How did that connect?
“Frank,” I whispered, stroking his ears. He settled onto his haunches beside me, the tension in his posture slowly draining away, but his eyes never left Keegan as if he were on guard. “What is it? What set you off?”
I realized I was asking a dog for an explanation, but in Stonewick, that didn’t seem so absurd anymore. I’d just discovered dragons, after all. Why couldn’t a bulldog sense secrets in the air?
Twobble tsked softly, crossing his arms.
“He’s always been more intuitive than you give him credit for,” the goblin muttered. “You should have seen him at the cottage last month when he chased away that shade.”
“Twobble,” I started, but the goblin just shrugged, his eyes darting between me and Keegan as though expecting one of us to produce the missing puzzle piece.
Instead of giving it, Keegan turned his gaze to Stella, who lingered near the kitchen doorway. She looked more uncertain than I’d ever seen her.
She clenched and unclenched her hands like she was wringing out invisible dishrags.
“You don’t have to do this alone,” she said quietly to Keegan. “It doesn’t all fall on your shoulders, you know.”
Keegan’s jaw worked as if he was biting back a retort. At length, he nodded, but the look in his eyes was haunted. “I know. But it’s… it was my burden long before Maeve arrived.”
Those words landed like a stone in my gut.
Long before I arrived.
It drove home the reality that Stonewick’s problems, its heartbreak and curses, existed independently of my presence. I was stumbling into a tapestry already half-woven with tragedy and secrets. If anything, I might be the catalyst for unearthing them, but I hadn’t been the cause. At that thought, a strange sort of relief mixed with guilt blossomed in my chest.
Nova, still standing to the side, let out a soft breath.
“Keegan, you and I both know there’s more to it. The clan business, Gideon’s demands—”
“Nova,” he warned, voice quiet but edged.
She lifted her hands in a gesture of surrender.
My frustration flared. “Why does this have to be like pulling teeth?” My voice trembled slightly. “Look, we all risked a lot. I know you’re trying to protect me, or each other, or maybe everyone in Stonewick, but I can’t keep operating in the dark. I need to know. Even if it puts me in danger or whatever you’re afraid of.”
Silence washed through the room, and the tension only grew. Frank shifted, curling closer to my leg. His frenzied mood had dissipated and been replaced by a watchful calm.
Keegan finally met my eyes, and the look in them made my heart feel as though it were shattering into a million pieces.
He looked tired—so exhausted—and there was a raw pain there, something that made me want to reach out and comfort him even as confusion raged through my mind.
“Maeve,” he whispered, “I promise I’ll explain… everything.”
I wanted to shake him, to demand the explanation right now, but the tremor in his voice stopped me. The question roared in my mind.
What was so horrifying that even Frank, a bulldog who’d slept through a magical explosion once, had gone ballistic over it?
I glanced around the cottage, taking in the scene: Stella standing rigid by the doorway, Nova half-turned away as if she couldn’t bear to watch this unfold, Ember hugging herself like she was bracing for impact, Twobble at my side in silent support, and Frank—a bulldog who normally snored through half the day—still trembling from leftover adrenaline.
We were hardly the picture of a comfortable Christmas gathering anymore. Yet somehow, the cottage still held onto that undercurrent of coziness, the memory of shared laughter and companionship.
It struck me that this was my home ; these were my friends , and we were bound by something far stronger than we’d anticipated. Magic, sure, but also a sense of responsibility for one another. And that meant I could only push them so far before they broke. But someone had to push, or we’d remain stuck in this endless cycle of half-truths and fear.
I opened my mouth to speak, to insist that Keegan or Nova or Stella come clean, but the words died in my throat. Because the defeat in Keegan’s eyes told me it wasn’t that they wouldn’t tell me. They weren’t sure how much I could handle—or how much we could handle once the truth was laid bare.
So I pursed my lips, nodding once in a gesture of reluctant acceptance as Frank set his wide chin on my knee.
No one answered. We just sat there, enveloped by the flickering firelight and the heaviness of secrets unspoken, all of us knowing the conversation had only begun.
Keegan finally parted his lips but didn’t have to say a word.
I knew… I finally knew…