Chapter Six
“The orcs confirmed that sounds like their homeland,” Nova explained. “And they told me the best spots where Gideon might decide to take cover.”
I glanced at them and gave a quick nod in appreciation.
“Is this good or bad?” I asked.
“Well, it complicates things,” Nova said. “The goblin scouts came back with samples from the orcs’ soil in the wetlands so that we could decipher what type of spell or magic was used to deplete the marshes of their resources.”
“Right.” I nodded.
“From what research we've managed to do so far, it looks as if she cast a dehydration spell that creates an inability for the bogs to soak up and retain water. We're working on a counterspell, but it will take time.”
“And one thing leads to another, and food becomes scarce, families become scared, and the power play begins,” I said softly.
“Except that you threw a wrench in her plans,” Keegan said.
“We all did.” I looked at Keegan. “Even Gideon.”
A smirk touched Keegan's lips as he shook his head. “Fair enough.”
Nova nodded. “But there's more. The Priestess cast a curse that affected both the orcs in the caverns as well as the swamp lands. The good news is that if we can break the curse, it will break it in both areas. The bad news is that I've never seen anything like it.”
“Why would Gideon go to the place where the orcs can't go back to? There have to be other hiding places.”
Keegan let out a sigh and shook his head. “He’s still all about self-preservation and survival. My concern is he has something else up his sleeve and wants you isolated when he hands over the stone.”
I wasn't sure that was it, but it was the most logical answer.
“Well, the orcs can come with us as far as they can safely, and I will go the rest of the way on my own.”
“The shifters will be with you,” Keegan told me. “All the way up till the end. We will be by your side when you confront Gideon.”
I shook my head. “I don't think that's a good idea. He's had plenty of moments where he could have hurt me or taken me back to the Priestess. We're at the stage where we have to start trusting.”
Keegan’s jaw tightened, and he didn’t answer right away as we moved through the Butterfly Ward, the soft glow of butterfly wings above us fluttering along the path like everything here still believed in gentler things.
“I don’t like it,” he said finally.
“I didn’t ask you to,” I replied, keeping my voice even as I walked beside him, the gravel crunching softly beneath our steps.
Twobble hurried ahead, then doubled back, then hurried ahead again, like he had too much to say and nowhere to put it.
“You two do realize this is not the time to test trust exercises,” he muttered. “We’re dealing with a shadow stone, a Priestess who has entirely too much free time and shadow magic up her sleeve, and a goblin who is currently in way over his head.”
“That goblin chose to go,” I said.
“He chose poorly,” Twobble shot back.
Nova walked over to my other side, her gaze steadily ahead. “Gideon doesn’t move without purpose.”
“I know,” I said quietly.
“That doesn’t mean his purpose aligns with ours,” Keegan added.
“I know that too.”
We stepped out of the Butterfly Ward and into the narrow alley that led toward the main street of Stonewick, and the shift in space was immediately felt. The magic here felt different. Less contained. More exposed.
Stella trailed a step behind, her presence calm but watchful. “You’re all circling the same concern,” she said. “The question is whether you’re willing to act on instinct or wait for certainty.”
“I don’t think we have the luxury of certainty anymore,” I replied.
“That’s usually when instinct matters most,” she said.
Keegan let out a slow breath and ran a hand through his hair, his frustration quiet but present. “And what happens when instinct gets you hurt?”
I glanced at him. “Then you pull me back.”
He didn’t like that answer. “Except that you won't let me be anywhere near you.”
I could see it in the way his shoulders held just a little too tight, the way his gaze flicked toward me and then away again like he was holding something back.
Something he hadn’t said since the woods.
Since the fight.
Since Rendel.
The thought of him sat just beneath everything now, like a shadow that hadn’t fully stepped into the light yet.
Sure, we'd spoken a little bit earlier about his father, but he didn't say much, and certainly not enough to heal the wounds that his father caused.
We reached the end of the alley, the street opening up before us, morning fully settled over Stonewick now. The shops were opening, and voices carried softly in the distance. It should have felt normal, but it didn’t.
“We know what we need to do,” I said softly.
“Stop.” The word cut clean through the air, but the voice that went with it was even worse.
Everything in me went still as Keegan’s hand found my arm instantly, not pulling, just anchoring.
His attention snapped forward as the space in front of us shifted.
Keegan’s father stepped into the street like he’d always been there.
Rendel.
The breath caught in my throat before I could stop it.
I gasped softly, my gaze flicking to Keegan without thinking, because I needed to see it. Needed to know if he would react.
Keegan didn’t move.
He didn’t speak, but something in him changed.
Twobble took a few steps forward as if he thought he was shielding father from son.
Silence stretched between us, and it didn’t feel calm or thoughtful. The moment felt like everything had just shifted, and none of us had quite caught up yet.
I glanced at Keegan again, because he still hadn’t said anything, and that worried me more than if he had snapped or pushed back.
Keegan didn’t look at me right away. His gaze stayed locked on Rendel, his shoulders set in a way I hadn’t seen since the woods.
Rendel didn’t react either, but something in the air tightened again, like the space between them carried more history than thought possible.
I shifted my weight and looked between them. “Are we just going to stand here and pretend this isn’t… something?”
Keegan’s jaw ticked slightly. “We don’t have time for that right now.”
“It sounds like we definitely have time for it,” Twobble muttered. “Why not throw in a toxic father-son relationship to add to the whole complexity of the situation. It's what separates the good from the great.”
I appreciated Twobble’s timing and glanced at Keegan, who didn't seem as pleased as I was.
“No,” Keegan said, sharper now. “We don’t.”
“You're being led by the Priestess, and you don't even know it,” Rendel said.
“Start from the beginning,” I said. “You said we’re being led. How?”
Rendel didn’t hesitate. “The Priestess knows how you think. She knows what you’ll prioritize.”
“My mom,” I said.
“Yes.”
The word landed heavily.
“So she moves her,” I continued, my thoughts starting to line up in a way I didn’t like. “Forces urgency. Forces a reaction.”
“And she ties that urgency to the stone,” Rendel said. “You go to the stone, she follows you, and she has everything she needs, and you do the hard work for her.”
Nova stepped closer, her voice steady. “Which means every path Maeve takes connects back to the same place.”
“But if I go to my grandmother's compound, then she has us both, and that isn't acceptable either.”
“I'm not sure if we should be listening to this man,” Keegan said. “After all, he's not very good with responsibility or loyalty.”
Rendel took a step forward. “If it's the stone you want first, you must make sure that she doesn’t follow you.”
Keegan looked annoyed. “Thanks for the tip.”
“The wetlands,” I whispered.
“Whatever you choose, first, you must embrace the element of surprise.”
Stella let out a slow breath. “The Priestess is narrowing the board.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Twobble said. “Another way is that she’s being extremely ornery.”
No one corrected him.
“She wants me there,” I said again, quieter this time, more to myself. “With the stone. With Gideon. With all of it lined up.”
Rendel watched me for a moment before answering. “You’re assuming she needs everything in one place at the same time.”
My stomach dropped.
“She doesn’t?” I asked.
Rendel shook his head as Keegan stepped forward again.
He eyed his father. “She just needs enough pieces in motion.”
“And she’s already started,” Nova added.
The village felt different now. The light hadn’t changed, the sounds of Stonewick still carried around us, but none of it felt as it had.
It felt like we were standing in the middle of something that had already begun.
I looked back at Rendel. “What made Gideon leave the village?”
“The stone,” he said simply. “And something else.”
“What else?” I asked.
He held my gaze. “You.”
That hit harder than I expected.
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said.
“It does if you stop thinking of the stone as the only thing pulling him,” Rendel replied.
Twobble made a face. “I don’t like that either.”
“Neither do I,” I muttered.
Keegan’s attention snapped to me. “What does that mean? What are you saying? He has a crush on Maeve?”
He didn't answer.
I shook my head slightly, trying to piece it together, because I could feel it. There was something there. Something just out of reach that kept brushing against my thoughts and then slipping away.
“He didn’t take the stone just to run,” I said slowly. I didn’t like what Rendel was implying. “He took it to move it.”
“Move it where?” Stella asked.
“That’s the problem,” I said. “I don’t think he picked the destination.”
Rendel inclined his head slightly. “You’re getting closer.”
Keegan’s patience was thinning. I could feel it. “Then say it plainly.”
Rendel didn’t look at him.
“The stone is leading him,” he said. “And the Priestess knows where it will go.”
“That’s not possible,” Nova said, though her voice had shifted just enough to tell me she wasn’t entirely sure. “The stone only leads bloodlines, kin.”
“Do we know that for certain?” Rendel shot back.
“Everything about this is possible now,” Stella murmured.
I pressed my palm lightly against my shoulder again, the shadow mark cold, steady, present.
“She’s not just waiting for it,” I said. “Maybe, she’s guiding it.”
Rendel didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
The truth of it settled in the silence that followed.
Twobble let out a long breath. “Well, that’s just unfair.”
Keegan looked at me again, his gaze sharper now. “You still think you should go alone?”
I hesitated but only for a second.
“Yes,” I said with a quick nod.
His jaw tightened immediately. “Maeve—”
“Like Rendel said, use the element of surprise, and I doubt she expects me to go alone.”
“That doesn’t make it safer.” He kept his eyes on me.
“I’m not trying to make it safer,” I replied. “I’m trying to make it work.”
That didn’t sit well with him.
It didn’t sit well with me either, to be honest.
But it felt right.
Or at least, it felt like the only direction that didn’t end with all of us walking straight into whatever she had waiting.
Nova stepped in, her tone calm. “We adjust the approach. Not the goal.”
Stella nodded. “We don’t abandon the plan. We refine it.”
Twobble perked up slightly. “Refining sounds better than abandoning.”
Keegan ran a hand over the back of his neck, his frustration clear. “And where does that leave us?”
I met his gaze. “It leaves you where you can still help without stepping into the exact trap she’s set. We can't all be trapped by her net.”
“We’re a team. That’s not how this works,” he said.
“It might have to be,” I replied.
The tension between us held for a second longer before something shifted in his expression, not agreement, not acceptance, but understanding.
Reluctant.
Hard-earned.
Real.
Rendel watched the exchange without interrupting, and Nova eyed the orcs and shifters as they approached.
“You don’t have much time,” Rendel said.
“I gathered that,” I replied.
Stella stepped forward, her gaze flicking between all of us. “We prepare quietly. No sudden departures that draw attention.”
Nova nodded. “I’ll continue gathering information from the orcs.”
“And I’ll make sure the Academy stays steady,” Stella added.
I looked at them, really looked at them, because this wasn’t just a plan anymore.
Keegan’s hand brushed mine again, just briefly.
“We’re not letting you do this alone,” he said, quieter now. “Somehow, I will be there.”
I didn’t argue.
Not fully.
But I didn’t agree either.
Because deep down, I knew this next part was going to come down to me.
And the stone.
And whatever waited for us in those wetlands.