Chapter
Thirty-Three
I stare at the sign hanging from Alchemist’s glass doors, the letters written in a heavy hand with orange chalk.
Closed for a Private Event
I stop in my tracks.
“What did you do?”
Noah can’t tell a lie to save his life. So he just bites his lips to hide his grin and lifts his shoulders in an overdramatic, comedic shrug.
We’d spent last night together—and several of the ones before it, too—and Noah had asked me to stop by Alchemist on our way back to Liam’s to play the last game of our campaign. Said he’d forgotten something.
When I push through the glass doors, I’m met with the pounding drums and heroic trumpeting of tense battle music spilling from the speakers. I find Liam with his fingers steepled, sitting at the head of a table decorated with the most extensive battle map I’ve seen yet.
Donati’s gardens are reproduced in exquisite detail, with fake greenery, hedges, and flowers spread out over the surface area oftwo long tables pressed together. Half a dozen white mini figurines float atop tiny bowls of water scattered across the grounds, representing the wizard’s ridiculous fountains. Dotted throughout the shrubbery are decorative plates piled with some of Jules’s very best pastries, including a brand-new and most welcome addition: cinnamon rolls. Morgan circles the table and sets down freshly poured pint glasses brimming with golden beer. Confused, I glance to the bar. Dan catches my eye and waves before returning to his laptop.
“Took you two long enough,” Liam says wryly.
Morgan and Jules sit on either side of him, looking far too pleased at my shock. “We were going to throw you a going-away party,” Jules admits. “But I’m really glad we didn’t have to.”
“Figured this was much better,” Morgan agrees.
I laugh, delighted. “You booked the whole day?”
Noah slings his arm across my shoulders and pulls me to his side. “You forget, Sadie,” he says. “I’m the boss man now. I can do whatever I like.”
“Not for another two weeks, Mr. Walker,” Dan warns teasingly from the bar.
Liam catches my gaze and shakes his head slightly. “He’s had this on the books for a while,” he corrects.
Noah’s arm at my back keeps me from melting to the floor as I will my eyes to stay dry. Looking quite pleased with himself, he squeezes my shoulder and takes a seat at the table, drawing his notebook from his backpack. I gasp, dismayed. “But I don’t even have my—”
Liam wordlessly hands over my tote bag. My lips twist into an amused grin. “Really thought of everything, didn’t you?”
Noah catches my wrist before I sit, speaking low. “Do you want to show them? Before we start?” His shining gaze slides past me, and I turn to see Dan standing by the curtains.
Dan nods, one thumb hooked into the belt loop of his jeans. “It only makes sense, y’know. For y’all to be the first to see it.”
Jules’s eyes have gone wide, and I don’t bother to hold back my smile. I nod.
Dan draws the curtain back with a flourish.
As my friends turn to take in the mural for the first time, I’m gratified to hear their gasps of surprise. My eyes linger on the elements I’d added at the last moment—the parts that made the project finally feel complete. I can’t help but think that the scene I’ve painted doesn’t look all that different from the one before me.
The traveler isn’t alone anymore. A woman in robes perches on the fallen log across from him, smirking into her own mug, while a man in armor stands just outside the campfire’s ring of light, slightly shrouded in shadow as he peers into the night. Another woman leans dramatically over the campfire, arms outstretched and lips parted as she recounts a story to the group. I’d even given the traveler a dog to curl at his feet, his dark eyes hopeful that he might be given the night’s scraps.
The traveler no longer sits by himself at his campfire, staring moodily into his drink.
Instead, he’s surrounded by friends.
“Before we put our lives on the line today, I’d like to tell you all a secret,” Jaylie begins.
She stands before the ranks of gathered adventurers at sunrise, dressed in her ceremonial robes. Her hands are clasped neatly before her, cradling her holy symbol. It was Loren’s idea for her to make a speech before the battle began.Give them a little faith,he’d said as he’d kissed her good morning.
“There is no such thing as luck,” she announces.
