Page 36 of Pregnancy Pains & Mystic Chains
A delicate music box near my elbow began to play on its own. The melody was beautiful and familiar, though I knew I'd never heard it before. The babies shifted in response. The mark pulsed beneath its concealment.
The woman's expression suddenly hardened. "We must stop them," she hissed, her ethereal facade cracking. "Before they ruin everything we've worked for!" She lunged toward me with inhuman speed, but Aidon was faster.
His obsidian blade materialized in a burst of shadow, the edge pressing against her throat before she could take another step. "Everyone forgets about a father's protective magic," he said, his voice deadly quiet. "That was your mistake."
Mom and Stella pulled me back at the same time Aidon roared, "Get Phoebe out! Now!"
Without another word, we backed toward the door. I was not about to risk myself and my babies to fight this creature. Not when Aidon had things under control. The last thing I saw before Mom pulled me through the doorway was the woman's face transforming into something ancient and terrible, and Aidon's sword beginning to glow with answering power.
Outside, my phone rang, making me jump. Clio's name flashed on the screen, but I could barely focus on it. My heartwas pounding, and I couldn't stop staring at the shop's entrance, waiting for Aidon to emerge.
"He'll be okay," Mom said, squeezing my shoulder, but I could hear the worry in her voice. "Aidon knows what he's doing."
The phone kept ringing in my hand as another wave of magical labor pains hit. This time, they were stronger and more urgent. I swear the babies could sense their father was in danger.
"Answer and put it on speaker," Stella suggested.
"Phoebe?" Clio's voice was excited. "I'm on a conference call with healers from all over New England. There's someone you need to meet."
I blinked and shook my head. I was about to tell her we would talk later when Aidon exited the store. My entire body relaxed, and the pains stopped. A new voice joined the call then. I registered that it was warm and confident but nothing more as I allowed Aidon to wrap his arm around me and lead me to the car.
"You might want to go over that again, Sarah," Mom suggested. "Phoebe didn't hear a thing you just said."
Sarah laughed warmly. "Of course. Pregnancy brain, plus magical surges? I'm surprised any of our mothers can focus at all these days. As I was saying, I'm Sarah Montgomery, director of the New Moon Birth Center in Portland. We're part of a network that's been serving magical families for generations. We've got midwives trained not just in normal birth practices, but in the old ways of protecting magical mothers and their babies. And we’ve seen a surge in problems recently. Mothers are reporting disturbances at an alarming rate."
"How many mothers?" I asked as I thought of all the mothers out there facing these changes alone. "How many pregnancies are being affected?"
"More every day," Sarah replied. "The old power is returning, whether they want it to or not. Some mothers are getting their protective magic back while others are getting weaker. But we're here to help. To protect. To teach. The Keepers aren't the only ones who've preserved ancient knowledge. We've kept our own records and have our own prophecies. And we've been waiting for this moment."
"This moment?" I echoed as Aidon drove home.
"The return of the First Song," Sarah explained. "The reawakening of powers that were meant to protect, not control. Your children are carrying the key to unlocking what was bound away eons ago."
I stared out the window at the passing streetlights, one hand resting on my stomach where the twins moved restlessly. Everyone wanted something from my babies. The Keepers wanted to suppress their power, Sarah's group wanted to use it to restore the old magic, and who knew what other factions were out there, waiting to claim them for their own purposes?
They werenotvessels for ancient powers or keys to unlocking the past. I didn't care about restoring maternal magic if it meant sacrificing my babies to powers beyond their control. I would find a way to protect them, even if it meant standing against both sides. Some prices were too high to pay, even for the return of what was lost.
CHAPTER 13
The drive home from Madame Rosewood's was tense. My back ached, and the babies were doing their best impression of a traveling circus while Sarah's voice continued through the car speakers. Each word she spoke added another layer of dread to the knot in my stomach. The last thing I needed was another group trying to control my babies' destiny.
"The pattern is undeniable," Sarah was saying as Aidon navigated a particularly nasty pothole. The bounce made me wince. "We've documented over thirty cases of miscarriages in magically powerful mothers across New England in the past year alone. All of them showed signs of Keeper interference."
My hand went protectively to my belly. "What kind of interference?"
"Magical suppression so severe it destabilized the pregnancies. The Keepers would show up offering 'protection' or 'guidance’. Within weeks, the mothers would start losing their natural defenses. Of course that caused their magical cores to destabilize. Then..." She paused, and the rustle of papers echoed through the speakers. "The youngest was nineteen. A girl in Portsmouth. Her family had a strong line of weather magic. The Keepers claimed they were helping her control her powers forthe baby's safety. By the time we realized what was happening, it was too late."
Aidon's knuckles went white on the steering wheel. "That ends now."
"It might not be that simple," Jean-Marc cut in. He must have joined the call while I was lost in thought. "I've been going through my research notes with Dr. Harrison. She’s a supernatural professor Emmie discovered at the University. There's something you all need to know."
"What is it?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer. The babies responded to the tension in my voice and stirred restlessly.
"I didn’t know this before, but Dr. Harrison is part of a Keeper splinter group. But before you freak out," he added quickly as Aidon's power darkened the car interior enough to make Mom squeak in protest, "she thinks the main faction has completely misinterpreted the prophecy. She's been collecting evidence for years."
"Evidence?" Stella leaned forward from the backseat. "What kind of evidence? And how do we know we can trust her?"
"Because she's been helping magical mothers escape the Keepers' influence," Jean-Marc explained. "Her group has been documenting cases of magical suppression going back centuries using archives she has access to through the University."
