Page 12 of Pregnancy Pains & Mystic Chains
"Stay calm," Aidon advised, hovering nearby with his hands raised like he was spotting a gymnast. "Maybe try to?—"
He was cut off by a loud pop. My hands flew to my stomach, thinking the worst had happened and my water broke. A sigh of relief whooshed from me when several delivery boxes materialized in the middle of the room. They were wrapped in black paper that shimmered with Underworld energy and tied with ribbons that looked suspiciously like pomegranate vines. A faint scent of brimstone and designer perfume wafted from the packages.
"Oh good," I said from my elevated position. "More surprises. I was just thinking we haven't had enough of those lately. Please tell me your mother didn't send another three-headed puppy. The last one ate my favorite shoes." And Buttercup had only been with us for five days.
Aidon snorted at the same time his gaze traveled to the window as if searching for Buttercup, whom Tseki and Murtagh had taken charge of corralling until Aidon could return her to the Underworld. As if that was going to happen. The little hellhound had already wormed her way into our hearts. All three of her heads sported different personalities that somehow worked in perfect chaotic harmony. I'd caught Aidon sneaking her treats and letting her sleep in his office chair while he worked, those six ears perked at attention. I had decided she could stay if we could train her not to eat the furniture - or the triplets' futurebelongings - before they arrived. A girl needed a good guard dog, after all. Or in this case, three guard dogs in one very energetic body.
Nina approached the packages excitedly. "They're from Grimpop and Flowergram," she announced as she snagged the attached card. "Baby gifts from the Underworld. How thoughtful? The babies will have a piece of their other home. The card says 'To our favorite grandchildren-to-be. May these ancient treasures guide your path through both light and shadow’."
"Ancient treasures?" Mom's eyebrows shot up. "Persephone doesn't do anything halfway, does she?"
"Perhaps we should open them after Phoebe's feet are back on solid ground," Selene suggested diplomatically. "Her energy is understandably off the charts now."
The yoga instructor's voice echoed as if trying to counter Selene's observation. "Now transition into warrior pose?—"
"Lady, I am literally defying gravity here. Warrior pose is not happening. Unless you want to explain to my mother-in-law why her grandchildren were born in downward falling pose," I snapped.
Stella, who'd been flowing through poses next to me with irritating grace, stopped mid-motion. "And you're doing a bang-up job of it, Pheebs. I would have fallen off that mat the second it went airborne."
The symbol on my belly pulsed again, making every object in the room with even a hint of magical energy start floating. Tarja's tail puffed up as she gracefully leaped away from a now-hovering pillow that nearly hit her in the head. Binx hissed at another as he raced for Mom’s legs.
"This is ridiculous," I declared. "I can't even do regular pregnancy yoga without—" The light glowing from beneath my shirt flashed, and my mat tilted alarmingly. "Okay, okay! Nocomplaining! Just please don't dump me on my head. These babies are breach enough right now without adding actual breaches of gravity."
"I've got you," Aidon assured me. He lifted his hands and was ready to catch me if needed. "Though I have to admit, whatever this symbol is doing is a new one even for me. And I've seen Zeus try drunk shapeshifting."
That's when one of Hades' packages decided to unwrap itself. A beautiful mobile emerged, the paper falling away as if guided by invisible hands. I was transfixed, completely forgetting about my precarious floating position as I watched delicate pieces rise into the air. They were crafted from whatever divine elements the gods used.
The pieces began to dance through the air. They spun and connected with soft musical chimes. We watched in awe as the mobile assembled itself. Each component found its perfect place as if choreographed by the Fates themselves. Tiny constellations sparked to life around it, sending shimmering patterns of starlight across the walls. They shifted and moved.
The symbol on my belly resonated with the mobile. The harmony of light and energy made the floating yoga mat vibrate beneath me. The babies kicked in synchronization with the shifting stars. I realized they were telling stories that made my heart catch. There were three bright stars rising against darkness and becoming heroes who stood against titans and monsters. My instinct told me it was my babies. Whether it was their destinies already being written in the stars or Hades’ version of a bedtime story, I had no idea. It was touching regardless.
Your father," I said to Aidon in a voice thick with emotion, "is getting really good at this whole grandfather thing."
"He's been waiting a very long time for grandkids to spoil," Mom said softly, her eyes following the dancing constellations."Though he's definitely showing off now. He's making our strongest spells look like party tricks."
"The magic in this is older than the Titans," Aidon confirmed with a thoughtful expression. "Father must have pulled some serious strings to get this. These constellations are from the first age of the gods. When the stars themselves were young."
Nina's eyes lit up. "Speaking of ancient things. I’ve been thinking about how we might learn more about what is happening to Mom and was wondering about the seers. The old ones, from ancient Greece? If we could find one, maybe they could tell us what's happening with the babies? There must be someone left who remembers the old ways."
"Absolutely not," Aidon and I said in unison. I was thinking about the chaos one cryptic prophecy could cause, while Aidon's face had darkened with ancient memories.
"The seers are notoriously unreliable," Aidon explained as I finally managed to guide my yoga mat back to solid ground. "Their prophecies often caused more problems than they solved. I've seen entire dynasties fall because someone misinterpreted a single word."
"Besides," I added as I awkwardly climbed to my feet, "I'm not risking some ancient oracle getting their hooks into my kids before they're even born. I've read enough Greek mythology to know how that usually turns out."
"But Mom," Nina pressed, "if they could tell us what this symbol means?—"
"No seers," I said firmly. "The last thing we need is a prophecy telling us these kids are destined to, I don't know, overthrow Olympus or something. Your father would have an aneurysm," I told Aidon.
The mobile continued its celestial dance above us while another of Hades' gifts decided to put on its own show. Three blankets woven from shadow and starlight unwrappedthemselves and unfurled in the air. As they drifted down, the fabric solidified into the softest blankets I'd ever touched. It put mink to shame. When one corner brushed against my belly, the symbol pulsed with recognition and sent ripples of light cascading through the fabric's patterns. The deep blues and purples swirled with silver threads that looked like shooting stars racing across a night sky. Leave it to the Lord of the Underworld and his wife to turn shadows into something this cuddly. These were works of art that were perfect for swaddling babies in.
"There's definitely something bigger at play here," Selene mused as she studied the interaction between the gifts and my magical tattoo. "It's like they're both part of the same magical language."
"Maybe we should try celestial divination," Stella suggested as she began flipping through one of the books that had been on the coffee table. "It might give us answers about what's going on. Look, there's a whole section here about stellar alignments and divine offspring."
Divination sounded like woo-woo magic to me. I wasn’t going to trust my babies’ lives with something like that. I shook my head. "No divination. It’s up there with the seers. What I want is a protection spell. Something to shield the babies from whatever this mark is trying to do."
"That could be dangerous, Phoebe..." Mom's warning tone made me bristle. She had that look she got whenever I was about to do something stupidly dangerous.
