Chapter Forty-Two
My pulse lurched.
“Empty?” I repeated numbly. “But… but I put him there, locked the hatch.” Panic twisted my stomach. “Are you sure? Maybe he left on his own.” Even as I said it, I felt a creeping dread that told me otherwise.
“I didn’t move him because it was too chaotic. I didn’t want to take a chance with anyone sensing him.” Ember’s expression was taut with fear.
A hush fell over our group. Nova and Keegan exchanged troubled glances while the fox lady pursed her lips, calculating.
I felt my lungs tighten.
“Could Malore’s decoy have been a diversion to kidnap Dad?” The pit in my stomach deepened into a void of horror.
That had to be it. Malore was still alive, out there, and if he wanted to punish my father or me, stealing him away was the cruelest blow. I almost imagined him leering in the shadows, triumphant at our confusion.
Keegan rested a hand on my shoulder, voice thick with regret. “Maeve… I’m so sorry.”
I barely registered his words. My mind whirred with images of my father, cursed to be a bulldog, stolen away by the very clan who had condemned him.
The devastation on my face must have been clear because Nova squeezed my arm reassuringly. But all I could think of was that he was gone.
I left him alone in the cellar, and now he’s gone.
Our new friend’s amber eyes flickered with sympathy.
“This was the plan all along,” she said, regret lacing her tone. “They—whoever controls that decoy—knew you’d be distracted. And in that moment, they took him.”
I stared at the battered yard, at the swirling snow that still fell, burying fresh footprints.
Dad.
My father had sacrificed so much to keep me safe, and now I hadn’t been able to protect him.
Why would Malore want him? Was Gideon behind it?
The questions battered my skull like I’d stepped before a freight train.
My chest tightened, tears burning hot. Deep numbness crept over me.
“Maeve,” Nova said softly, “we’ll find him.”
Ember nodded vigorously, her breathing still labored from her frantic search.
Stella emerged from behind the porch, expression resolute. Keegan tried to set his features in a comforting smile, even battered and raw. They all seemed so sure, so ready to help. Yet a shard of dread lodged beneath my ribcage, reminding me that I’d thought we’d faced Malore, only to learn it was a decoy.
But one thing overshadowed my fear.
The stubbornness and refusal to lose my dad again when I finally got him back.
He needed me.
I needed him,
My trembling grip tightened on my wand.
If I had to become the Academy’s Headmistress, if I had to gather teachers and secrets from ancient times, if I had to rally Stonewick’s battered Wards and rekindle old alliances—then I would for Dad. For the family, we could still be. For the fragile hope I clung to that would drive me to take down Gideon, my grandfather, and Shadowick.
“I will help you find him,” the newcomer said quietly. “If I’m to be your first teacher, let this be our first lesson. We stand together or never bother standing.” The lady fox stared at me confidently. “I will serve the Academy and you, Maeve, for as long as needed.”
A spark flared in my heart, a glimmer of stubborn determination.
I nodded, swallowing past the lump in my throat.
We stand together.
But dread weighed heavy in my chest for now, and the swirling snow felt unbearably cold.
“Thank you.”
Chill seeped into my bones, and the night’s silence pressed again. Behind me, the cottage walls groaned as though in mourning for Dad’s absence.
Somewhere in the distance, I thought I heard a muffled yelp or maybe just the lonely cry of the wind. I didn’t know which. But in my mind’s eye, I saw my father in the grip of a far crueler reality than the one we’d just survived.
If Malore—and possibly Gideon—had orchestrated all this, they were too many steps ahead.
I forced back tears and steadied my voice.
“We’ll find him,” I repeated as if saying it would make it so. “I won’t rest until we do.”
They all looked at me with that same unwavering confidence I barely felt.
But I’d lead them if I had to. Because someone had to bring my dad home, and that was me.
My grandfather, the real Malore, roamed the grounds with twisted illusions.
Gideon lurked in the shadows because he was too afraid of the light.
The Academy had chosen me as Headmistress.
The fox had revealed herself as a teacher.
I stood in the swirling snow, feeling that quiet, unbreakable thread of midlife magic coil in my heart.
We’d lost so much, but we hadn’t lost everything.
We still had each other.
And though my world lay shattered at my feet, I could almost feel the promise of something bigger—something that might be forged in the fires of this crisis.
I just had to survive long enough to save Dad.
A sudden hush fell as if the night paused to catch its breath. Then, from the far side of the cottage, I heard Ember’s panicked voice call out,
“Nova, Maeve—this might be bad. Real bad.”
She sounded so shaken that I ran toward her at once, the rest of us stumbling over splintered boards and drifting snowdrifts to see what new horror had arrived. My heart pummeled my ribs, the world tilting beneath me as I realized that it never ends, does it?
If Frank was missing—kidnapped or stolen by illusions— where had they taken him?
I reached Ember, who stood at the yard's edge, scanning the gloom. Her face was drained of color, eyes wide with fear.
“I can’t find a single track,” she whispered, trembling. “No footprints, no sign of forced entry. Just… nothing.”
My pulse raced. Of course, there’d be no sign. Malore was cunning enough to vanish an entire body.
“It was Gideon,” Keegan said darkly, voice still raspy from shifting. “And Malore’s illusions are strong enough to hide him from us.”
A wave of despair crashed over me, but before it could consume me, the fox shifter touched my arm. She looked up with unflinching confidence.
“We will find him,” she promised.
“The Academy called me for a reason—and I suspect it’s not just to be a teacher. If you let me, I’ll show you how illusions can be broken and made. We’ll track him. Foxes are cunning.” She smiled. “And I’m the most cunning of all.”
I swallowed, nodding slowly.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Please.”
Her smile was kind, but the sorrow in her eyes mirrored my own. She knew how dire this was. Nova set her jaw, scanning the horizons with a faraway look. Stella appeared behind her, face streaked with soot and tears. Keegan, leaning on a broken post, regarded me with unwavering determination.
As for me, standing amidst the shattered remains of my life, I felt fear and hope in equal measure, a wild tangle of longing to see my father safe again.
I’d become Headmistress.
I’d gather teachers.
I’d rebuild the Academy.
I’d face Malore and Gideon or both.
Whatever it cost.
I would stop Shadowick.
But for now, I could only look into the swirling darkness and silently pray that Dad would hold on until we found him.
A lonely moan of wind or perhaps a distant echo of a bulldog’s muffled bark drifted through the air.
I tightened my wand grip and let the midlife magic swag surge through me. This was only the beginning, and if I wanted any chance of saving my father, I couldn’t wait for the next storm.
I would be the hurricane.