Page 23 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues
Aidon and Persephone exchanged a look. "We can create a dome," he said. "Our combined power might be enough to block the worst of it."
"It won't hold for long," Persephone cautioned. "Not with her magic woven into natural patterns. Attempting to fully suppress it could trigger wider instability."
"We don't need long," I managed through gritted teeth. "Just long enough to break this connection she's establishing with the babies."
They nodded in unison and moved to opposite sides of the room. Aidon's shadows expanded outward. The dense black energy radiated from his core. The darkness stretched toward the walls, then seeped through everycrack and crevice like liquid night, flowing around the house's perimeter. It found every forgotten gap where light never touched.
Persephone closed her eyes and began tracing intricate patterns in the air as she wove invisible threads. Divine, golden light rippled from her fingertips. It crackled with ancient power that was far more potent than anything Lyra could ever conjure. The light chased Aidon's shadows and intertwined with his darkness to form a protective lattice that hummed with the opposing energies working in harmony.
The effect was immediate. The pressure eased, and the cramping subsided enough for me to breathe normally again. Outside, the lightning continued to strike, but the newly formed barrier muted its magical resonance.
"That's bought us some time," Aidon said, though the strain in his voice was evident. "But not much. The storm is already adapting. It won’t be long before it begins seeking weak points in this defense."
As if to underscore his words, a particularly vicious bolt hammered against the dome. The protective lattice held. I didn’t miss how Aidon and Persephone staggered from the impact.
"We need a more permanent solution," I said, mind racing. "If we can't suppress the storm without risking wider instability..." A sudden thought struck me. "We need to turn its own energy against it. Fight fire with fire."
"How?" Mom asked, already reaching for her phone to summon help.
Before I could answer, Nina rushed into my room. Her clothes were dripping wet. Despite the angry red welts on her exposed skin, her eyes were bright with excitement. "We did it!" she exclaimed. "Nana and I found a way to kill the shadow creatures!"
Despite the chaos unfolding around us, a surge of hope bloomed in my chest. "How?"
"It was Nana's idea—" Nina began, but was immediately cut off.
"Damn right it was my idea," Nana announced, sauntering in with a jar of viscous green liquid. She waved it proudly like a trophy. "These little bastards didn't know what hit 'em." She winked at Nina. "Go on, tell them how brilliant we were."
Nina winced as Clio began treating her burns. "We used magical binding salts to make a potion. I used my detection abilities to see their specific signatures, and she made the concoction to target only those patterns."
"They're like magical antibiotics," Nana added with a dramatic flourish of her hand. "Highly specific and effective at killing the nasty infection."
"Are they all gone?" Aidon asked, not breaking his concentration on maintaining the protective dome.
"Every last shadow we could find," Nana confirmed with a smug grin, patting her silver hair. "Watched 'em shrivel up like slugs on salt. It was very satisfying, but next time I'll bring popcorn for the show."
"The seeds they planted are still there," Nina admitted. "But without the shadows to activate them, they're just dormant potential. We're working on a way to get rid of those next."
A triumphant gleam lit Nana's eyes. "The best part?" she crowed, tossing her silver hair with a flick of her wrist. "I added a little something extra to that potion. My own special magical boomerang effect. When the last shadow died, it triggered a psychic backlash that went straight to the source. Lyra got a taste of her own medicine."
"Did it hurt?" I couldn't help the grin spreading across my face.
"You bet your bottom dollar it did!" Nanacackled. "That wasn't in the original plan. That was pure Nana innovation. And judging by how quickly this storm formed afterward, I'd say our little shadow-master is scrambling."
"Wounded predators are the most dangerous," Persephone noted.
The windows rattled as another volley of lightning struck nearby. Through the glass, I could see new horrors emerging from the unnatural storm clouds. Shapes darker than the surrounding darkness were dropping from the sky like twisted paratroopers.
"Hmph," Nana drawled, peering through the window while mixing something new in her palm. "Round two already? Amateurs always overcompensate. Good thing I saved the spicier ingredients for dessert."
Aidon's phone buzzed with an incoming message. He checked it without breaking his concentration on the protective dome. "Murtagh reports shadow creatures converging on all sides," he relayed grimly. "She believes you’re in labor and she’s going to collect you and the babies now."
"Or this is revenge for killing their buddies," Nana suggested as she picked up a shotgun from the corner after she handed Mom the potion. "They always take it personally when you exterminate their kind."
Aidon shook his head and looked down when his phone pinged again. "Tseki, Murtagh, and Layla are taking the shifter teams and engaging," Aidon continued. "Stella's coordinating magical support from the east side."
"They need help," Nina said as she headed for the door despite Clio's protests about her half-treated burns.
"Wait," I called, stopping her. "Take some of Nana's shadow-killing potion. And—" I hesitated, knowing what I was about to suggest broke every rule of magical containment Clio had established, "—and take some of my magic too."
