The first sign that something fundamental had changed in Stella came three hours after we returned to the Sanctuary.
I was holding her close in our family quarters, both Dante and I reluctant to let her out of our sight after the kidnapping. She seemed perfectly normal—chattering about her "adventure" with the casual resilience that only children possessed, asking for her favorite snacks, and demanding to know if we could visit the "pretty transformation place" again because she liked how the mean magic had turned into sharing magic.
But then she looked up at me with those bright eyes that were so much like mine, and I saw something that made my breath catch.
"Mama," she said thoughtfully, "I can hear everyone now. Not just the people in our sharing magic network. Everyone. All the supe
