Tears bloom in my eyes, because…Hudson. Even after everything that’s happened, everything that’s going to happen, he brings me flowers.

What the hell? I’ve looked forward to my high school graduation for four years and now that it’s here, everything is so messed up, I can’t even stand it. It sucks. It just freaking sucks.

“Oh, Grace. Don’t cry,” my uncle says, pulling me in for a hug. “It’s going to be okay.”

I’m not so sure about that, but it seems rude to contradict him.

“I was actually hoping I’d get some time to talk to you today,” I tell my uncle, crossing back over to sit on my bed.

“Oh yeah?” He grabs my desk chair and pulls it over so he’s sitting opposite me. “What about?”

“I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?” He looks genuinely bewildered, and that right there is the reason my uncle Finn is and always will be the best guardian ever.

“Because you took me in when you didn’t have to. Because you moved heaven and earth to help me when I turned into a gargoyle. And most of all, because you and Macy gave me a family again. For that I will always and forever be grateful.”

“Oh, Grace.” Now it’s my uncle’s turn to sniffle. “You never have to thank me. Not for any of that. From the moment you showed up at Katmere Academy, you have been a second daughter to me—one I am so very proud to know. You’re a strong, smart, capable, beautiful young woman, and I can’t wait to see how far you can fly, even without your wings.”

I laugh, because my uncle really is the sweetest man in the whole world. “I know we talked about me staying here at Katmere Academy after graduation until I figure out what to do. I just want to make sure that’s still okay with you?”

“Why wouldn’t it be okay with me?” He looks confused. “You will always have a home with Macy and me, whether it’s here at Katmere or somewhere else entirely. You’re stuck with us, kid. Got it?”

I give him a tremulous half-smile. “I’ve got it.”

“Good.” He reaches into his blazer pocket and pulls out a little box wrapped in hot-pink paper. “Macy picked out what she assures me is a kick-ass graduation present from us, but this one is from me.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to—”

“Yes, I did. I’ve actually wanted to give this to you for a while now.” He nods to the box. “Go ahead and open it.”

I full-on grin at him as I unwrap a small red box and pull the top off it. Nestled inside is a rectangular stone. It’s bright pink (big surprise) with a few white-and-maroon-colored lines running through it, and carved on the top is an inscription—two Vs nestled together on their sides.

I haven’t had much experience with these since coming to Katmere, but I totally recognize it for what it is. “Which rune is this?” I ask.

He smiles. “The inscription means peace, happiness, hope. The stone it’s carved in—rhodochrosite—means the same. Emotional healing and joy.” His voice breaks a little bit, and he looks away, blinks rapidly.

“Oh, Uncle Finn!” I throw my arms around him. “Thank you. I love it.”

He hugs me back and presses a fatherly kiss to the top of my head. “I actually have the whole set for you down in my rooms, but it’s a big one, and I wanted to give you something you could carry with you.”

My heart melts, and I hug him again. “I don’t think you know how much I needed this today,” I whisper.

“There’s more, and I hope it makes you happy, not sad.” He hesitates for a second, and just as I try to figure out what he means, he says, “They were your father’s, Grace. He left them in my safekeeping when he and your mother chose to move away from this life. I always hoped he would come back for them, but once you got here, I knew they were always meant to be yours.”

His words catch me off guard, and a sob rises up out of nowhere, lodges in my throat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

“Shh, it’s okay.” He pulls me against him and rocks me as I cry into his shoulder just a little.

Because it’s my graduation day, and my parents aren’t here.

Because I finally opened myself up to Hudson, and now I have to lose him before I ever really had him.

Because I don’t have a clue how this day is going to end, and I am terrified that it’s going to end horribly.

“Oh, Grace, you’re so brave,” Uncle Finn whispers to me. “I’m so sorry about everything you’ve had to endure this year. I wish I could take it away from you.”

I pull back as I shake my head, drying my tears with my hands. “I just miss them, you know?”

“I do know,” he says. “I miss them, too. Every single day.”

“Thank you for the rune,” I tell him, picking it up and rolling it back and forth against my palm. It’s surprisingly hot for a stone that wasn’t being touched.

“Runes—I’ll bring the whole bag up to you after graduation. But, Grace?” His voice turns deadly serious. “No matter what happens, no matter where you are in the next several days and weeks, I want you to keep that rune on you at all times.”

“Okay,” I tell him, but I can’t help being a little confused. “Is there a reason why—”

“You’ll know why soon enough,” he tells me. “And you’ll know when. Just remember to trust yourself and the people who love you. We’ve got you.”

He looks like he’s about to say more, but Macy comes bounding out of the shower in a long robe, with her hair up in a towel.

“Trust the people who love you,” Uncle Finn says again before getting up to go to Macy. “You’ll need them all before this is through.”

103

With a Lot of

Help From

My Friends

“You ready for this?” Flint asks several hours later as he picks me up and twirls me around.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I answer once he puts me back on my feet. I give him a once-over. “You look like a giant eggplant.”

“Yeah, well, better than a mini eggplant,” he says with a definite waggle of his brows. “So who gets the last laugh?”

“Apparently you, you perv.”

“Hey, you’re the one who brought up eggplants.” He glances into the makeshift stands—hastily constructed for graduation by the witches after Hudson leveled the Katmere stadium—and waves. “I just came to give you a hug and make conversation.”

“Did your parents get in?” I ask, trying to follow where he’s looking, but there are just so many people in the stands that it’s hard to pick out any individuals—even the dragon queen and king.

“Oh, yeah. They’re here,” he says, but then his smile dims at the edges. “And so are Cyrus and Delilah.”

“Of course they are.” I glance around. “Are Jaxon and Hudson okay?”

He gives me a wide-eyed look. “After last night? I’m not sure any of us are going to be okay ever again.”

“True that,” I tell him, and I can feel my stomach getting tight.

“Grace—” He starts to say something, then breaks off when Eden and Mekhi come walking up to us.

“There’s purple, and then there’s too much purple,” Eden says with an eye roll. “This”—she gestures to her cap and gown—“is too much purple.”

“I think you look cute,” Mekhi tells her, and he must be feeling really brave today, because he goes so far as to bop her on the nose.

She narrows her eyes at him. “And I think you look like you want to die.”

He laughs. “Where is everybody else?”

“Probably making a break for it,” Eden snarks. “Because seriously, can you see Hudson in this getup?”

“I wish I couldn’t see me in this getup,” Luca says as he walks behind Flint and wraps an arm around his waist.

“Oh my God!” Macy comes running up, phone in her hand. “You guys look so great! I have to get some pics.”

We grumble a lot, but in the end, we move into some semblance of photo formation—if you don’t count Flint either making faces at the camera or “dragon ears” over our heads.

Hudson joins us about halfway through the impromptu photo session. He’s got the hat on, but his robe is draped over his arm.

“You’re supposed to be wearing that, you know,” Macy teases him.

He gives her a horrified look. “This is Armani,” he says, gesturing to the bespoke suit he’s wearing.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Mekhi asks.

“It has to do with everything, and I’m not covering it up with that monstrosity one second before I have to.”

Macy rolls her eyes. “You’re a dork, you know that, right?”

“Says the only other person standing here not in a purple robe,” he shoots back.

“Only because I can’t be in one.” Her chin trembles just a little. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to be here next year without you guys. What am I going to do?”

“Come visit us a lot,” Eden says, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and hugging her tightly. “We could use a little witch perspective in the Dragon Court.”

“So you’ve decided?” Macy asks, eyes huge. “You’re going into guard training.”

“Yeah, I think so.” She glances at Flint. “Someone’s got to keep this guy in line.”