Page 37 of Pregnancy Pains & Mystic Chains
Mom shifted behind me. "I wouldn’t have thought she could access information about the magical world through a mundane college. What exactly did they find in those archives?"
"Even the magical world has an academic side. It’s even bigger than you think. The jobs you can find in paranormal research are endless. Anyway, she found patterns and correlations. Every time the Keepers gained influence in a region, reports of maternal magic would decline. But here's the thing. They also found records of resistance. Motherswho developed marks similar to Mom's. There have also been countless women who managed to protect their children despite everything the Keepers tried."
Pain shot through my abdomen. It was sharp and sudden. The mark flared beneath its concealment and sent pulses of energy through the car that made the electronics go haywire. The radio cycled through stations at random while the dashboard lights flickered like a disco.
"Phoebe?" Mom's hand found my shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Before I could answer, the world shifted. It was like looking through two sets of eyes at once. I could still see the car interior while also looking at a nursery. The latter was painted in soft yellows. A sharp kick made my hands - but it wasn’t my hands – go to my belly. It wasn’t as big as mine, though. I was in someone else’s head or something. The other woman's fear and confusion mixed with my own as she felt the same connection.
“Who are you?”My heart began racing with the rough voice. The thought wasn't mine.
“I'm Phoebe,”I projected back, wondering if I'd finally lost it. “I think my babies or my magic are somehow connecting us.”
“You’re the new Pleiades. I'm Rebecca,”she responded. Her relief was palpable. “I live on Cedar Street. These surges... they started last week. The magic keeps building, and I can't control it. These men came to my house...”She lived in Camden. Was she a coven member?
There was no doubt in my mind who had paid her a visit.“They’re Keepers,”I informed her. “And they’re dangerous.”
“They wanted to bind my magic.”Rebecca's thoughts carried her rising panic. “They said it was becoming unstable. But ever since they visited, I've been having these dreams about ancient symbols. And women fighting back. There’s also a song that feels familiar somehow...”
The dual vision faded as suddenly as it started. I was left gasping. Aidon had pulled over, one hand gripping mine while the other rested protectively on my belly. "What happened?" he demanded. "Your mark was pulsing like a beacon."
"We need to find Rebecca," I said as the car's electronics returned to normal. "She lives on Cedar Street. The Keepers are planning to bind her magic. Just like they did to that girl in Portsmouth that Sarah told us about."
"How do you know that?" Stella asked.
"Because I was just in her head. Or she was in mine. The magic or the babies somehow connected us during that surge. She's scared, Stella. The Keepers have already approached her, and she's starting to show signs of magical instability."
"That shouldn't be possible," Clio said through the phone. "The magical barriers between individuals are usually impenetrable without specific spells. Unless..." She trailed off thoughtfully.
"Unless what?" Mom prompted. "Clio, if you know something..."
"Unless the mark really is acting as a conduit for ancient protective magic. Which actually lines up with my latest test results. I've been analyzing the energy patterns surrounding Phoebe. They're not what we thought at all. The mark isn't controlling or channeling power. With this latest information, my guess is that it's creating a kind of magical immune system.
“It’s protecting the babies from outside influence while allowing them to safely develop their own abilities," Tarja reassured me when my fear ratcheted up several notches.
"Like magical antibodies?" Nina asked, and I jumped. When had she joined the call?
"Exactly," Clio confirmed. "The mark adapts to threats. It strengthens protective magic and neutralizes attempts at binding or control. That's why the Keepers' usual tactics aren'tworking on Phoebe. The mark is actively fighting back against anything that tries to suppress their natural magic."
That made me feel better. And felt right. I thought back to all the times the mark had flared in response to threats. Even the weird technological glitches could be seen as the mark preventing outside interference with the babies' development.
"There's more," Nina said as we pulled into our driveway. "I found something in Hattie's journals. You know, the ones we found hidden behind that ridiculous painting of the dancing lobsters."
"The ones I didn’t want to read?" I asked as the call switched to the phone in my hand. I put it on speaker while Aidon helped me out of the car.
"Yes. There's an entry from 1973 about a pregnant witch she helped. The woman was having problems with her powers. Hattie wrote that a group tried to magically bind the baby's powers. Hattie helped the mother conjure what she called 'the mother's shield'. She details the ritual and potion here," Nina reported.
“Why didn’t she put an end to the Keepers?” I asked.
“She wasn’t able to discover who was behind the threat.” Nina’s voice echoed through the phone and house as we entered.
I hung up, and we made our way to the kitchen room. Nina and Selene had transformed the space into a research command center. Papers and magical texts covered every surface. The scent of Mom's calming tea filled the air along with Mythia’s cinnamon scones.
"That tracks with what Dr. Harrison told me," Jean-Marc said as he emerged from the office with a stack of papers. "The splinter group believes the Keepers got it all wrong. The prophecy isn't about power awakening. It's about protection returning. The First Song was never meant to be controlled. Itwas meant to protect magical bloodlines. It should help mothers shield their children from those who would harm or bind them."
"Which explains why the Keepers want to stop it," Selene added. "If that kind of protective power returns to magical mothers, their whole system of control falls apart. Given what Clio said and what happened when you connected to Rebecca, I think every time your mark activates, it sends out a pulse that affects protective magic in other pregnant witches nearby."
"Like a magical chain reaction," Nina mused. "The babies’ magic is somehow kickstarting other mothers' protective abilities."
