Page 45 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues
Dark shapes gathered at the edges of our property, standing just beyond the golden barrier that still pulsed with Hattie's ancient protection magic. They weren't Lyra's corrupted creatures. They were something else entirely. They were impossibly tall, but other than that, I couldn't make out their details clearly. What I could sense, though, was their ancient power.
"What the hell are those?" I whispered, instinctively placing a protective hand over my belly.
Jean-Marc's face paled. "I think... they might be some of the Forgotten Ones. The entities Hades and Persephone mentioned."
"What are they doing here?" I practically screeched.
"They're drawn to power," Mom explained,joining us on the porch. "Like moths to flame. And right now, you and those babies are putting out a hell of a lot of light."
As if in response to her words, the triplets surged within me. A wave of magical energy rippled outward, making the air shimmer. The dark entities shifted restlessly but maintained their distance from our barriers.
"They can't get through, right?" I asked, suddenly uncertain.
"Not yet," Mom replied grimly. "But they're testing the boundaries, looking for a way inside. And unlike Lyra's forces, they don't need a physical gap to exploit. They exist partially outside our reality."
"Shit," I muttered. That was terrifying.
Jean-Marc helped me to a chair as Clio emerged from the house. Her expression tightened when she saw the gathering darkness. "This is getting out of hand," she declared as she checked my vitals with practiced efficiency. "The magical strain is affecting everything within a ten-mile radius. The local mundane weather services are reporting unprecedented anomalies."
As if to confirm her assessment, a patch of sky directly above our house suddenly darkened. Snow began to fall despite the summer heat. It melted before it reached the ground and created a perpetual rainbow that encircled our property.
"That’s Thaniel," I identified automatically as I recognized my son's distinctive magical signature.
"He's getting more precise with his manipulations," Jean-Marc noted with a hint of pride. "The other day, he was randomly freezing objects. Now, he's creating localized temporal anomalies."
Nana emerged from the house carrying a tray with steaming mugs of tea for everyone. "The situation's a mess,but at least the view is entertaining," she observed, nodding toward the rainbow and snowfall.
I accepted a mug gratefully, inhaling the familiar scent of Nana's special blend. While Mom always knew exactly what herbs would help in any situation, Nana had created this before I was ever born. It was her go-to when she needed to diffuse tension.
"Any news from Aidon and Stella?" I asked after taking a restorative sip.
Mom nodded and pulled out her phone to show me a message. "They found the first safe house. It was abandoned, but they discovered something disturbing." They sent her images of what appeared to be a laboratory setup. Tables were covered with magical equipment, dried herbs, and various other items.
"What am I looking at?" I asked as I squinted at some strange configurations.
"Experiments," Jean-Marc explained, looking over my shoulder. "Knowing Lyra, they were attempts to replicate Pleiades' magic through artificial means.”
Nana nodded and grimaced when she saw the next picture. “Based on the residual energy signatures, whatever she did failed catastrophically," she said as she read the incoming message from Stella.
"Which means Lyra confirmed what she already suspected," I concluded. "She needs our actual bloodline magic. Copies won't work for her ritual."
A shadow fell across us as one of the dark entities moved closer to our barrier. It towered at least thirty feet high. "That's close enough," Nana called out as she reached back and picked up her shotgun. The weapon hummed with recently added enchantments.
The entity paused and emitted a sound that made my ears ring painfully. It wasn't language as weunderstood it, but somehow, I caught impressions of... curiosity? Hunger? It was difficult to interpret.
"They're watching the triplets," Mom filled in. Ever since she was at Lyra’s mercy, she had more insight into the darker entities. "They're monitoring their magical development."
"How can you tell?" I asked, wincing as another surge of the babies' power sent ripples through the barrier.
"Look at how they react when the magic pulses," she pointed out. "They're studying it and learning its rhythm."
Mom was right. The entities shifted in perfect synchronization with each magical fluctuation from my belly, their movements precise and deliberate. They reminded me of wolves I'd once watched on a nature documentary—the way they studied their prey for days, learning and conserving energy until the perfect moment to strike. These beings had that same patient, calculating focus that made my protective instincts scream in warning.
"I don't like this," I muttered, suppressing a shiver that had nothing to do with the anomalous weather.
"None of us do," Jean-Marc agreed grimly. "But right now, all you can do is hold your position while we strengthen the wards."
My phone buzzed with an incoming message from Aidon. The images he sent showed a second safe house. This one had been in use until very recently. The magical residue was fresh, and the equipment far more sophisticated than the first location.
