By the time Rose and Basil returned to Brimstone Academy, they were covered in muck, damp with grave fog, and thoroughly exhausted. Nimbus was dripping swamp water all over the library carpet, much to the librarian's horror.
Professor Belladoma had returned to her post after her Mirrorwood imprisonment, though she now wore a shimmering rune collar "for stability," as she called it. The moment they entered her office, she shoved two teacups toward them and snapped, "Explain."
Rose took a sip. The tea was bracing, like elderflower and thunder. "Dead knights. Haunted monolith. Screaming mist ghost named Elavara. The usual."
Belladoma's eye twitched. "And you didn't write this in your report because…?"
"It burst into flames," Basil offered, setting his burnt scroll on the desk.
Belladoma pinched the bridge of her nose. "Elavara was a high necromancer exiled centuries ago. Her bones are sealed beneath the Bone Orchard. If she's reaching through the veil—"
"She mentioned the veil thinning," Rose interrupted. "Like, between life and death?"
"Precisely," Belladoma said. "Someone's tearing at the borders of magic itself. And your bond may be acting as a beacon."
Rose blinked. "So our magic is like…a glowing magical target for death spirits?"
"Not just death spirits," Belladoma said grimly. "Others will notice. Those who want that power."
A pause. Then, softly, Basil asked, "What do we do?"
Belladoma studied them for a long moment. "Stay alive. Keep your bond balanced. And stop making out in crypts."
Rose choked on her tea. "We didn't—! That was ONE time and it was technically just almost—"
"Dismissed," Belladoma said, grinning behind her cup.
As they left the office, Rose elbowed Basil. "You didn't correct her."
"I didn't deny it either," he replied without looking at her.
Her heart skipped. Stupid charming menace.
Back in the dormitory hallway, Rose paused outside her door. Basil hesitated beside her.
"You okay?" she asked.
He nodded, then added, "You were incredible today. With the lightning. With… everything."
For once, Rose didn't deflect. "You too. Your dagger work? Precise. Elegant. Very stabby."
"High praise from a walking lightning bolt."
They stood there, words unspoken between them like hovering magic. The air shimmered faintly where their bond glyphs pulsed under their skin.
"I guess we're stuck with each other," Rose said.
Basil's voice dropped to a murmur. "Could be worse."
Something shifted in the silence, the weight of it fragile but real.
Then Nimbus burst out of Rose's room, trailing a pillow and screaming, "I AM HAUNTED. THE PLANTS IN THE BATHROOM HISSED AT ME."
The moment was gone. Rose laughed as she chased after him, and Basil, for the first time, genuinely laughed too.
Somewhere deep in the veil between worlds, something ancient stirred—watching them, waiting.
But for now, they were just two misfit magic users trying not to die. And maybe—accidentally—falling for each other.