Page 124 of Iridian

But Taylor opened the envelope slowly, her hands slightly shaking, until she pulled out the thick piece of paper I’d put in there myself after I signed it.

I watched her eyes, unblinking, as she read every single word written on it, then started from the beginning.

Shook her head.

“I don’t…I-I…” Again, she looked at me as if she was waiting for me to tell her that it was a joke.

“Go ahead, read it for me,” I said instead, and it took her a moment to breathe and to stop stuttering. To read those words out loud.

“Dear Miss Maddison,” she started. “We would like to invite you to attend the Iridian School of Chromatic Magics this coming fall as its student. Your presence would honor us, should you choose to accept. We l-l-look forward t-t-to meeting you and to learn about our world t-t-together. Signed, Martin Emanuel Pascal, Headmaster, and Rosabel La Rouge, Co-director of IDD.”

Taylor barely choked the words out, then closed her eyes and gathered her knees to her chest and cried in perfect silence. Her little body shook as she held on tightly to that letter, and she just cried.

I pushed the lamp aside and went closer, hugged her to my side and let her have her time. I pretended I wasn’t crying, though my cheeks were just as wet as hers.

“What do you say, huh? Do you accept?” I asked when she calmed down and stopped shaking and leaned her head on my shoulder.

“But…but I’m Mud,” she said in that small voice, and I leaned back, raised her head to me.

“Laetus,” I told her. “There is no such thing asMud.”

“I don’t have any magic,” she whispered, and this time I laughed.

“But you do! You just can’t access it right now, and that’s okay. Because when you finish your studies and when you learn everything you need to know, you will receive all the energy you need to unlock it. It’s in you, Taylor. And it’s waiting.”

“Like…like when I made light?” She looked down at the palm of her hand, fascinated, eyes red and cheeks wet.

“Exactly like that,” I promised her. “Exactly like that.”

Together, we sat at the edge of the tree house where a part of the wall pulled to the side like a door. Taylor had requested it from the carpenter, she said, so she could sit and watch the moon again like we used to. We barely fit together, but we made it work.

Eventually, we both calmed down, and no more tears came out of us, and our hearts slowed down the beating, too.

Eventually, I found her smiling like she was right there in the sky with the half-moon she was staring at.

“They say you’re the youngest director the IDD has ever had,” she said after a while.

“I am,” I said. “Just turned twenty-one three days ago, actually.” I still signed my contract with the IDD when I was twenty, though. Technically.

“Happy birthday, Rora,” Taylor said, and my smile was so big it hurt.

“Thank you, Taylor.”

“Is it real, though? That letter? Is it…” Her voice trailed off, her eyes wide with fear suddenly.

“Of course, it is. The Headmaster, Mr. Pascal, wrote and sent me the invitation himself.” All I’d had to do was make a call.

“So, will all Mud be going to school with the Iridians now?”

I touched her face, pushed her hair behind her ear. “LaetusareIridian,” I told her. “And, yes, you will all be going to school together from now on.”

She blinked and blinked and blinked…

“Is this a dream, Rora?”

There went my tears, stinging my eyes again.

“No, Taylor. It’s not a dream,” I said. “It’s just the real world becoming right again.”

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