Page 122 of The Warlock's Trial

Nadine beamed, and I knew she must be proud of whatever was in that bag. “Consider it an early birthday present.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You want me to open it now?”

Nadine glanced to the bathroom, where Grant was shuffling around still cleaning up. She gestured to the door across the hall, which led to the library. “Let’s go in here.”

The library had become one of my most frequented rooms in the house. The books Hattie had given me lay in stacks on the desk, and the whiteboard we’d been gathering clues on stood in the corner. I’d cobbled it all back together after I’d practically torn the whole display apart a few months ago. It looked better now, but the clues weren’t nearly as organized as before.

Nadine shut the door behind us. “You should sit down.”

I followed her instructions and took the seat behind the desk, eyeing her curiously. Nadine set the gift bag in front of me. She knotted her hands together, but otherwise hid her expression. I had no idea what she had in store for me.

I pulled tissue paper out of the bag and set it aside. “You really didn’t have to do this…”

My voice trailed off when I found what was inside. It was just a pen and a notepad—nothing special. I didn’t understand what she was so excited about. I guess the pen was nice. It was a smooth black with silver accents.

“Oh,” I realized. “For my journalism major. Makes sense. Thank you, Nad.”

I hadn’t finished my classes before we’d fled Octavia Falls, but one day when this was all over, I wanted to return to school and complete the required curriculum to get my journalism degree.

I started to stand to give her a hug, but she stopped me. “That’s not all. You have to write with it.”

I hesitated and sat back down. She wore a grin, like there was a lot more to this gift than she was telling me.

“Okay…” I placed the tip of the pen to the notepad. The pen moved beneath my fingers as if it had a mind of its own. I jumped back and dropped the pen, but it didn’t fall to the table like I expected. It remained upright, scrawling a message across the paper as if a ghost were writing with it.

I glanced up to Nadine. “It’s an enchanted pen.”

Her smile widened. “I enchanted it myself. Watch.”

I kept my eyes on the paper as the pen spelled out a message. I read it aloud. “Congratulations, you’re going to be a…”

My heart stopped when the pen spelled out the final word. It made a stabbing motion on the exclamation point at the end of the sentence, then dropped to the table and rolled across it, as if it was never enchanted at all.

I barely noticed when the pen fell to the floor. All I could do was stare at the words on the notepad. The smooth lines blurred in front of me, and I blinked a few times before I read the words over again.

Congratulations, you’re going to be a dad!

My thoughts became cloudy. This didn’t seem real. Nadine and I had always used protection. I couldn’t understand how this had happened.

By some miracle, it was happening.

Nadine and I hadn’t talked much about having kids. It’d only come up a few times several years ago, when we thought the Reaper’s Shadow curse would kill her. She’d said she wasn’t sure she ever wanted kids, and she’d be happy without them. I’d agreed with her at the time.

But here we were in this moment, our future laid out in front of us, a future with children and a family of our own. In a single moment, everything had changed.

It was something we couldn’t take back, and I didn’t want to even if I could. This was the beginning of a brand new life together, and though our present was shrouded in darkness, our future was bright. I never realized how much I wanted it until now.

Excitement filled my bones at the thought of being a father. It was strange, because I always thought if I was going to be a dad, it’d be the scariest fucking thing in the whole world. And it was… but it came with an all-encompassing joy I hadn’t expected.

We hadn’t planned this, and this was the worst time to bring a child into this world, but none of that mattered. Nadine and I were going to be parents, and we’d figure out the rest together, no matter what happened.

“Lucas, say something,” Nadine begged softly.

I finally managed to tear my gaze from the paper. “You’re pregnant?”

Tears brimmed in her eyes, and she nodded eagerly. “Are you upset?”

“No! Not at all!” I shot out of my chair and wrapped her tightly in a hug. “This is great news!”

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