The Spellshop

This section opens with the formation of a new support network. Its first line is, “Pine Cone Coven, Kiela thought as she waved goodbye to the three women. She’d decided she’d call it that to herself, though it was wise to say ‘society’ out loud” (232). Opening with this moment of introspection shows how Kiela’s path has been subtly shifted in a new direction, and the group is one of the strongest symbols of Rebirth and New Beginnings in the text. There are four members of the Pine Cone Coven, which is a traditional number for folkloric magical workings. This refers to the four cardinal directions, the four quarters of the year, and the four magical elements of Western hermeticism. Together, the four women come together to create a magical feminine whole.

However, this opening chapter quickly raises the stakes and introduces a new problem: Radane announces her intent to root out illegal sorcery on the island. This introduces a time constraint, a mainstay of narrative suspense. Whereas previously, Kiela’s goals were open-ended, she now must cover her tracks before Radane makes her way to the cottage. If she’s too late, everything she’s worked for will fall apart. Radane, meanwhile, is working toward a goal that is in direct opposition to Kiela’s needs. This conflict of motivation heightens the tension of the story.

As Kiela works toward protecting her spellbooks and her secret, some of the foundation she has laid in previous chapters offers its aid in her time of need. Larran repays her treatment of Sian with unquestioning, unconditional assistance: “He didn’t ask what was in the crates. He didn’t ask why they needed to be hidden. He simply helped” (245). In the same scene, the mermaid mother whom Kiela aided previously returns to repay the favor and provide Kiera with a safe haven. Both of these are a direct result of actions that Kiela has already taken. Once she is safe, however, Kiela is presented with a crossroads: “Radane being here meant the empire hadn’t fallen, which could mean that the library was still there. Kiela could sail back to the capital, explain what she’d done and why. Heck, she could even be welcomed back as a hero for saving the books from the revolution” (252-53).

When Kiela first arrived, her goal was to keep herself and the books safe until she was able to return to the life she’d left behind. Here, she finds an unexpected opportunity to finally achieve that goal only to discover that it’s no longer what she wants. She has developed new priorities including her community, Larran, and Meep. Her reluctance to return to her home—to what would be the “ordinary world” in the hero’s journey plot structure—shows how much she has changed since her journey began.

As Radane’s tirade progresses, Kiela’s situation becomes increasingly precarious, and she determines that she needs to leave the island to protect her new friends. This crisis of faith forms the final moments of the novel’s second act, with a cataclysmic choice hanging in the balance. Kiela is faced with three contrasting options for her next steps: stay on the island and navigate the predicament as best she can, return to Alyssium and hope for leniency, or venture even farther away from home and seek refuge elsewhere. Each choice has its potential advantages and disadvantages, although she quickly discerns that what she truly wants is to build a life with Larran and the citizens of Caltrey. However, she begins to believe that this life is increasingly out of reach, thinking, “I can’t stay. No matter how much I want to” (263). Her path is finally determined by the support of the Pine Cone Coven, the novel’s personification of magical feminine power, which restores Kiela’s lost faith and reaffirms The Value of Kinship and Community. They show her that she is not alone in her struggles and that she has the power of a community behind her. During this time, the narrative briefly detours into Larran’s past and shows how he became the person he is in the present day.

The final scenes of this chapter act as the pinnacle of the novel’s rising action and the hinge between the second and third acts. Kiela and Larran finally come together and declare their feelings, despite the tumult happening around them. In traditional romance novels, the hinge between the second and third acts is normally the moment of confession or openness between the lovers before the “catastrophe,” or just before the climax. Although this novel’s conflicts are of an external nature rather than an interpersonal nature, the narrative still follows this established trajectory. Finally, this section lands on a major revelation that closes the second act and shatters everything the characters thought they knew: Radane reveals that her identity was a sham.