Page 30 of Incipient

“Alright, I’m here. What did you want to talk about?” I asked, standing beside her with my arms crossed against my chest. I wasn’t in the mood for phony greetings or small talk, so I didn’t bother with either.

“Sit down,” she said without looking up from her phone.

I scoffed at her command. I most certainly did not take orders from Morgan Sinclair.

Her eyes slid up to mine with irritation. “Please?” she added, exaggerating the word in order to appease me. “This is a sensitive topic.”

I peered around the almost empty Quad and then rolled my eyes at her before stalking to the bench and plopping down onto it. “Happy?”

“Thrilled.” She shut her phone off and slipped it into her purse before angling her body toward me. “By the way, what’s going on with you and Trace? He looks really pissed off today.”

I skewed my face at her. “None of your damn business. I thought you had something important to tell me?”

“You know he’s one of my best friends, so it kind ofismy business. If something happened—”

“I’m leaving in three seconds,” I warned.

“Jeez, so touchy,” she said, irritated, as though I were being the nosy one. Crossing her legs under her pleaded skirt, she met my eyes and announced, “I’ve been having visions again.”

“And?” I replied, unimpressed, because, well, she was a Seer. Having visions was what she was supposed to do.

“I’ve been having visions aboutNikki,” she amended and then glanced around the courtyard to make sure we were alone before dropping her voice. “I’m pretty sure she’s…with child, if you catch my meaning.”

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to act surprised or whether it was better to just come out and tell her that I’d already heard thegoodnews. I didn’t see the harm in telling the truth…if for no other reason than it being one less person to keep all my lies straight with. Not to mention, she was Nikki’s best friend. If anyone had the ability to get close enough to talk some sense into her, it was her best friend. “I’m already aware of Nikki’s status.”

“So, it’s true?!” Her eyes rounded out as though this was brand-new info, like I was the one who had just made the big reveal. “I didn’t want to believe it, but I kept seeing the same thing over and over again,” she said, shaking her head and looking positively distraught about it.

I guessed I would be too if I just found out my best-friend was in the middle of a teenage pregnancy crisis. “Oh, it’s definitely true, but that’s not even the best part.”

Morgan’s eyebrows puckered with apprehension. “What’s the best part?”

“She’s somehow managed to convince her crazy self that it’s Trace’s baby.”

Morgan thought about it for a moment and then asked, “How do you know it’s not?”

“Well, the timeline doesn’t match for one,” I said, but decided to leave out the part about the Four Horseman. The less people that knew another apocalypse was upon us, the better. “Not to mention, Lucifer was in total control of Trace’s body when she slept with him. Trace had nothing to do with any of it.”

It was no different than when a possessing demon mated with a human. The resulting offspring was ademonbornchild—half human, half demon. It didn’t matter one bit that the demon was possessing a human at the time.

Morgan nodded knowingly. “How far along is she?”

“How should I know?” I said and made a face at her. “She hasn’t exactly invited me to her checkups. My guess is she’s a few months along since it had to have happened right before the summer break.”

Her expression turned sad. “Does he know she’s pregnant?”

“Trace?” I shook my head as a heaviness pressed in over my heart. “I don’t think so.” I mean, if he did, he sure as heck hadn’t shared it with me.

“Oh, shit. Not again,” she said suddenly, her voice laced with panic.

“Huh?”

She didn’t respond. Instead, her head veered toward the forest, her gaze distant and forlorn as a whiteish-gray film settled over her eyes, removing all traces of color and making them look almost corpse-like and hollow. I shoved away from her, unsure of what was going on before realizing she was having some kind of vision.

I stared in disbelief, half expecting her to start convulsing and speaking in some foreign language, but it seemed to end just as quickly as it had started.

Blinking several times, she turned to meet my gaze, her own eyes back to their usual emerald green. “She’s going to tell him it’s his. And he’s going to believe her.”

Still leaning away from her as though frozen in that position, I narrowed my eyes at her and asked, “Did you just see that? Like in a vision?”

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