Chapter Sixteen
“I'll speak with the shifters. We'll leave about twenty percent here at the Academy, same with the orcs, but the rest come with us,” Caleb told me.
“Thank you, Caleb.” Somehow, hearing that made things feel a little safer. He left the room, and I looked over at Nova.
“On a side note, I think we're getting closer to restoring the orcs' homeland. The spell is close,” Nova told me. “It won't be easy, but it would certainly be easier if the Priestess wasn't in the picture.”
I laughed. “That's a running theme.”
Twobble turned his crouton bag upside down and shook it.
“I’ve informed all of the professors as well as Lady Limora and the crew that we will be indisposed for a short period of time, but we will be back, and all will be in order again.” Stella flashed a mischievous grin, and I did my best to ignore it.
“The one thing I don't want is for students to get wind of what we're about to do. These are midlife witches who came here to start over or get away from a life that was no longer theirs. They didn't sign up for this,” I explained to everyone.
Nova and Ardetia exchanged a look as I walked to the door.
“I mean, it's bad enough that they've been dragged into some of the battles, like with Malore.” I shook my head. “But my job is to keep them safe.”
Twobble came up next to me. “Technically, I'm not sure that is part of your job.”
I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I opened the door.
But what I saw in front of me took my breath away. It was like a continuous sea of midlife witches and their familiar faces. There were the vampire witches like Lady Limora and her crew, human witches, Fae, goblins…
They crowded the halls shoulder to shoulder. Their eyes were focused on me as I scanned the crowd and glanced back behind me to see Nova, Ardetia, and Stella watching.
“Hello, ladies.” I smiled. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“I think there's something we can help you with.” Lady Limora stepped forward. “Isn't that right, dears?”
All the midlife witches nodded their heads as nervous enthusiasm ran through the crowd.
“I'm not sure where you're going with this.” I shook my head.
“You of all people should know The Academy is strongest when we're united, when we are together.” Lady Limora beamed.
Stella walked up beside me. Her gaze met mine. “What they're trying to tell you, darling, is that you can't hold them back. They’re going to help get your mom back.”
I shook my head. “I can't let that happen.”
The floor beneath me rumbled, and Stella smiled. “I don't think you have a choice in the matter. The Academy has spoken.”
The magical lanterns overhead flickered warmly. If I didn’t know better, it was as if they moved to the heartbeat of the Academy as golden light spilled over the gathered witches and familiars.
I saw the nervous excitement stitched into every face staring back at me.
There were too many people, too many people willing to step into danger for me.
For my mother.
For Stonewick…
That idea alone made my chest hurt worse than fear ever could.
“Okay. Before this turns into a magical stampede fueled by emotional solidarity and poor decision-making, maybe we should all take a breath,” I said, glancing at the witches before me.
Twobble leaned toward Skonk. “That’s the same tone she uses before someone gets snacks taken away.”
“I hate that tone,” Skonk whispered back.
I glanced at them and frowned. “It is not.”
Lady Limora moved through the crowd with smooth elegance, the other vampire witches parting around her, before her gaze stayed focused on me.
“You reopened these doors,” she said softly. “You brought magic back into the lives of women who thought their stories were already over.”
I swallowed and pushed down the overwhelming amount of emotions because I was one of them.
Letting out a sigh, I shook my head. “That doesn’t mean you owe me your safety.”
“Oh, darling.” Stella stepped beside me, adjusting her shawl. “That’s precisely why they’re willing to give it.”
The Academy thrummed beneath my feet again, and it felt like agreement settling into its old bones and architecture.
A witch near the back clutched her wand tighter. “The Academy has taught us protection spells.”
Another nodded quickly. “And defensive charms.”
A small goblin pushed through the crowd. “And grounding rituals.”
“And most of all, confidence,” Opal said softly.
It hit hard.
Because I remembered what many of them looked like when they first arrived. They looked like I had felt the first time I’d stepped into magic…the first time I stared up at the Flame Ward, not understanding its power, or when the library doors opened for me.
I felt small, not physically but spiritually. I remember these same women apologizing for taking up space. Women afraid of their own magic. Women who had spent decades pouring themselves into everyone else until there was barely anything left in the cup.
Their cup.
Now they stood shoulder to shoulder in the Academy hallway as if they belonged there.
Because they did.
Bella folded her arms with fox-bright eyes sweeping over the crowd. “The Priestess is expecting fear, and she will use it to her advantage. Shadows and darkness use fear as fuel and will propel it into unimaginable weapons.”
“Ah, then the Priestess is going to be disappointed,” Lady Limora purred. “We’re not fearful of her games.”
A ripple of nervous laughter spread through the corridor, but underneath it, tension still curled tight as wire.
Because everyone here understood something bigger was coming.
Caleb appeared at the far end of the hall with three shifters behind him.
The crowd moved instinctively to make room, but his expression alone drained the lingering warmth from the moment. It was just something about him, and shifters in general, as he walked straight toward us.
“We’ve got movement near the eastern boundary,” he said. “Scouts possibly, but it’s hard to tell yet.”
Nova’s pacing stopped immediately. “Shadow creatures, I assume?”
He nodded. “They seem to be lurking more than advancing.”
The floor gave another faint tremor beneath us.
Ardetia’s pale gaze lifted toward the ceiling. “The Academy feels them.”
“Wonderful,” Twobble muttered. “I was worried tonight lacked enough horrifying atmosphere.”
My phone buzzed in my hand before I could answer anyone, and every nerve in my body instantly tightened.
Keegan.
Relief hit me first, but dread followed right behind it because Keegan would not interrupt this meeting unless something was wrong.
Very wrong.
I opened the message quickly.
Celeste wasn’t at her apartment.
The words blurred for half a second before my stomach dropped clean through the floor. She knew Keegan was coming. She wouldn’t have left.
“What is it?” Nova asked immediately.
I couldn’t answer right away.
The corridor suddenly felt too warm, too crowded, and too far from my daughter.
Keegan sent another message before I could even breathe.
Her roommate said she left an hour ago after getting a phone call. She told them there was an emergency with you.
Ice flooded my veins.
“No,” I whispered.
Every conversation in the hallway died instantly.
Caleb stepped forward. “Maeve.”
I looked up at him, and I knew my face gave everything away because Stella’s expression changed sharply.
“What happened?” Stella asked, worry etched her features.
My fingers tightened around the phone so hard they hurt.
“She’s not at her apartment.” The words scraped out of my throat.
The entire corridor seemed to tilt, and even Twobble stopped chewing.
Bella pushed away from the doorway so fast her fox ears flashed into view before she smoothed them back.
“Where is she?” Caleb asked, taking a step toward me.
“Keegan doesn’t know.” My voice cracked slightly, and I hated it. “Someone called Celeste pretending there was an emergency with me.”
Nova closed her eyes, and the Academy lights dimmed overhead.
“She’s drawing the lines tighter,” Nova murmured. “She’ll stop at nothing.”
“I’m a mother first.” My heart hammered so hard it felt painful.
Stella and Nova exchanged looks.
Keegan’s third message came through.
There’s shadow residue near the parking lot. I’m tracking it now.
I pressed my hand against my mouth, and for one horrible second, all I could picture was Celeste alone and frightened, trusting the wrong voice that was making her run toward danger instead of away from it.
Guilt tore through me so fast I almost doubled over from it.
“This is my fault,” I whispered as several students congregated in murmurs.
“No,” Stella said immediately. “It is not. That’s the Priestess’ fault.”
The witches surrounding us had gone completely silent now.
Bella stepped closer. “Keegan will find her.”
I nodded automatically, but panic still clawed at the inside of my ribs.
“She’s smart,” I whispered. “Celeste is smart. She knows better than to trust strange magic.”
“We can’t let fear change the rules,” Nova said softly.
I hated how true that felt.
Caleb took my phone gently from my hand and scanned the messages himself.
“Keegan’s already making headway,” he said. “Good. But this shouldn’t change our plans.”
There weren’t words big enough for what I was feeling.
A mother’s terror is a living thing. It doesn’t sit politely in your chest. The worries claw and bite their way to every thought. And the trauma screams images into your head that you never wanted to see.
And now the Priestess had touched Celeste.
Caleb handed my phone back carefully. “Maeve. Look at me.”
I did.
“Keegan’s one of the best trackers I know,” he said steadily. “If there’s a trail, he’ll find it.”
“What if there is no trail?” I asked.
Bella nodded. “There’s shadow residue, so the Priestess moved quickly. That means she’s impatient.”
Caleb nodded. “It also means there is a trail.”
Nova’s expression darkened. “She’s desperate.”
That settled heavily through the corridor. Desperation made powerful people reckless.
My birthmark pulsed as if Grandma Elira herself pressed a steadying hand against my hip.
Breathe.
I could almost hear her voice as we walked down the corridor with my dad beside me.
“Keegan will find her,” he said.
Twobble climbed onto the staircase railing in front of me and cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Well,” he announced into the suffocating silence. “I’m absolutely done with your grandma, and it’s time to rally the troops.”
Skonk nodded. “I’ll go to the UnderSoot, and you head to the UnderLoom.”
Twobble jumped from the railing. “We’ll meet you in the Wilds in under an hour.”
Lady Limora stepped closer, her gaze softer now. “Your daughter is not alone, Maeve. We’re with her in spirit and guidance.”
“No child of Stonewick remains untouched by its magic forever,” Nova said gently.
The Academy trembled beneath us again, stronger this time, and somewhere deeper in the halls, doors began opening one by one.
The gathered witches looked around nervously, and Ardetia tilted her head slightly, listening to something none of us could hear.
“It knows,” she whispered.
The Academy.
It knew about Celeste.
Magic moved strangely through grief and bloodlines and promises. I knew it. I’d seen it. And now, I was witnessing it.
I stared down the hallway at all the women gathered there. Midlife witches gripping wands with trembling hands. Vampire witches standing tall in velvet and silver. Goblins with crumbs on their jackets. Fae with ancient light in their eyes.
And suddenly, the fear inside me shifted.
Because this was no longer only about rescue.
The Priestess had escalated something in a way her cold heart could never understand.
My phone buzzed again, but this time, Keegan called.
I answered instantly. “Keegan.”
Wind crackled through the line along with heavy breathing.
“I found the trail,” he said roughly.
Hope surged so hard it hurt.
“Where is she?”
There was a pause.
“Keegan.”
His voice lowered. “Maeve… the trail leads northeast.”
The room went deathly still around me.
Northeast toward the compound.
Toward the Priestess.
Just like we expected.
Caleb caught my arm before I could stumble, and suddenly every face in the corridor blurred together around me beneath the lantern light.
The Priestess hadn’t just threatened my daughter.
She’d taken her.
And somewhere deep beneath the Academy, the stone groaned low and angry like the building itself had finally decided enough was enough.