Chapter Thirty-Eight
The stars canvassed the sky as I stood in my room and looked out the window. My friends were out there somewhere, waiting.
And so were the shadows.
But for what?
If those Academy doors opened again, and I wasn’t here, I wasn’t sure what could happen or how the Priestess could grow even more powerful.
It made the idea of her taking over Stonewick even more plausible.
I knew what I had to do before I could leave Shadowick. It was the same thing I’d planned on doing when we all arrived.
We had to stop my grandmother.
I pushed my hand deeper into my pocket and felt the charm to open Shadowick Academy. I took a deep breath and looked outside again, debating whether I truly wanted to risk leaving her compound in the dead of night.
I closed the curtains and turned from the window before pacing the room again. Every instinct inside me was screaming that time was running out. It wasn’t in some vague, magical sense either.
The Priestess would only have patience for so long.
Shadowick Academy wanted something, or maybe it wanted me, but either possibility was unsettling.
The room around me felt strangely alive tonight. The candles along the walls flickered unevenly despite the lack of breeze, and every now and then the shadows near the ceiling stretched just a little too long before settling again.
Sleep wasn’t happening. Not even remotely.
I wandered toward the bed and sat on the edge of it just as something scraped softly against the outside wall.
My head jerked toward the sound as another scrape followed and another a soft tap rapped against the window.
Fear instantly climbed into my throat as I moved carefully toward the glass, already feeling hedge magic stirring in my fingertips.
But when I pulled the curtain aside, Barlen stood outside, balancing on the narrow stone ledge like a goblin who had absolutely no concern for his own survival.
I rushed forward and opened the window. “Are you trying to die?”
“Yes,” he whispered quickly. “But quickly and quietly.”
I blinked at him.
“Hurry.” I motioned for him to come in.
He climbed awkwardly through the window with considerably less grace than I expected from someone who moved like a ghost ninety percent of the time. His boots hit the floor, and he immediately shut the window behind himself before turning toward me.
“The compound changes patrol routes every hour after midnight. The corridors have extra guards.”
“What are you doing?”
He ignored me and reached into his coat, pulling out a folded dark cloak. “Wear this.”
I took it automatically before narrowing my eyes. “You’re helping me leave.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His expression tightened slightly, and for the first time since meeting him, he looked tired. Truly tired deep in his soul.
“The Priestess already marked me,” he said quietly. “There’s no reversing it.”
My stomach sank.
“What do you mean by marked?”
His gaze flicked toward the door before coming back to me. “There are consequences for disappointing her. I’ve survived this long by being useful, but usefulness only stretches so far in Shadowick.”
A strange chill worked through me.
“She’s hurting you.”
“That hardly makes me unique around here.”
I stepped closer. “Barlen—”
“She suspects me already,” he interrupted softly. “You should know that before deciding whether to trust me. It won’t be long before I’m sent to the dungeon…or worse.”
The honesty in the statement hit harder than reassurance would have.
“Then why help me?”
His jaw tightened briefly. “Because if my end is approaching anyway, I might as well do something worthwhile before it arrives.”
“No.” The word left my mouth sharper than I intended. “Don’t talk like that.”
He looked startled.
“You don’t get to decide your ending before it happens,” I continued quietly. “Especially if it’s at the hands of the Priestess.”
Something flickered across his face so quickly I almost missed it.
Hope.
I sensed it was tiny and fragile, but there it was.
“You sound like someone else,” he murmured.
“Who?”
His expression shuttered almost immediately. “No one.”
I pulled the cloak around my shoulders while keeping my voice low. “If we do this, you’re coming back with me.”
His brows rose. “Maeve—”
“I’m serious.” I pointed at him. “No mysterious sacrifice nonsense. No staying behind dramatically while telling me to go on without you. I have enough emotionally repressed people in my life already.”
A startled laugh escaped him before he quickly swallowed it back down.
“I’ll do my best,” he said.
“That sounded suspiciously noncommittal.”
“It’s the most commitment I’ve offered anyone in years.”
I tightened the cloak around myself. “So how bad is this going to be?”
His expression turned grim again immediately. “Worse once we leave the compound.”
“Awesome. That’s exactly the type of pep talk I was looking for.” I grinned at the furry goblin.
“Oh, sorry. I thought you wanted honesty.” He shrugged. “Anyway, the compound at least has rules.” He moved toward the door and pressed his ear against it briefly before glancing back at me.
“Okay.”
“Shadowick beyond the compound’s walls…” His mouth tightened. “It listens.”
Goosebumps rose instantly along my arms. “Listens to what?”
“You’ll see.”
“I don’t like that answer, Barlen. It is truly one of my least favorite phrases in magical situations.”
“It’s the truth.”
“So, what makes you think that if you have to come in through the window, we should go out through the corridor?”
He let out a sigh. “Do you think you could balance on the ledge? You’re…You don’t…”
My brow lifted. “I don’t what?”
“You don’t strike me as a mountain climber.”
“Ouch.”
“It is what it is.” His little shoulders nearly went up to his ears.
“Are you by any chance related to Twobble?” I teased.
Barlen eased the door open carefully, and the compound felt eerily quiet at this hour. Too quiet. The kind of silence that made every tiny movement feel amplified.
We slipped into the corridor, while shadows pooled heavily beneath archways farther down the hall. Barlen moved quickly but carefully, guiding me through turns and narrow staircases that felt intentionally confusing.
But the shadows never followed.
“This place is like a maze,” I whispered.
“It changes.”
I nearly walked directly into him. “Excuse me?”
“The compound rearranges portions of itself at night.”
“Oh, sure. Of course it does.” I nodded. “Just a regular night in the magical world.”
He glanced back at me. “You’re taking this remarkably well.”
“I’ve learned I rarely have a choice in life.”
A faint smile touched his mouth again before disappearing.
We descended another staircase, this one narrower and colder than the others.
“You know,” I whispered as we reached the bottom, “maybe this place isn’t so bad.”
“You say strange things when nervous.”
“I say strange things constantly. Nervousness just increases the frequency.”
Barlen shook his head slightly and pushed open a rusted iron door.
Cold air slammed into us instantly.
I stopped short as Shadowick spread beyond the compound walls like a dying dream.
The village looked even more unsettling at night.
Fog curled through the narrow streets as silence pressed over the village. It felt wrong in a way I couldn’t fully explain.
Barlen stepped beside me. “Keep your hood up.”
“Why?”
“Because not everything wandering Shadowick tonight belongs to the Priestess.”
Well, that was deeply upsetting information.
We moved quickly down the narrow street while fog wrapped around our ankles. Every building looked older the farther we traveled from the compound.
Something moved at the far end of the street, and I froze instantly.
The figure disappeared behind a building before I fully saw it, but the movement had been wrong somehow. Too fast and too smooth all at once.
Barlen didn’t stop walking.
“What was that?” I whispered.
He slowed for a brief spell. “Don’t look directly at them.”
My pulse spiked as I looked down the street. “Them?”
“The shadow walkers sometimes wander when the Priestess grows agitated.”
Excellent.
Fantastic.
Absolutely wonderful.
We crossed beneath a massive stone archway, and the village slowly began thinning around us just like before. We were getting closer.
The farther we traveled, the quieter everything became until even our footsteps sounded muffled beneath the fog, and Barlen trudged ahead as if nothing would stop him.
And there it was.
Shadowick Academy.
My breath caught painfully in my chest as the massive structure rose from the darkness ahead of us, half-hidden beneath silver mist and twisted black trees.
Towering spires clawed toward the sky while enormous windows reflected moonlight like dull mirrors.
Parts of the Academy looked abandoned entirely, with ivy swallowing whole sections of stone walls, but other portions…
Other portions glowed faintly beneath the surface as if they were still coming alive.
“It’s changed,” I whispered.
Barlen nodded slowly beside me. “It’s waking.”
The shadow mark burned hotter instantly, and the Academy responded.
I could feel it. It wasn’t just magic. It was recognition.
The enormous iron gates stood partially open now, creaking softly as fog and shadows drifted through them into the courtyard beyond. Statues lined the path leading toward the entrance, but many had crumbled over time.
The place felt abandoned and alive at once, and looked even more beautiful at night.
“We should hurry,” Barlen murmured.
I nodded slowly as the Academy towers disappeared into low clouds, while dim silver lights flickered occasionally behind the upper windows. But it wasn’t from lanterns.
It was movement…possibly magic.
A deep groan echoed from somewhere inside the structure, followed by the distant clang of metal.
“What was that?”
Barlen’s face had gone pale again. “I don’t know.”
“Not the answer I was looking for.”
We stepped through the gates together, and the moment my boots touched the cracked stone courtyard, the entire Academy shuddered beneath us as ash rained softly from above.
The iron gates slammed shut behind us with a deafening boom.
And somewhere deep inside the sleeping heart of Shadowick Academy, something ancient woke up.