Page 23 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues (Mystical Midlife in Maine #17)

Clio stepped in front of me, arms crossed. "Absolutely not. You're staying in this bed if I have to magically glue your pregnant ass to it."

I gave her my best don't-fuck-with-me glare. "My kids are out there, Clio. Jean-Marc and Nina are fighting for our lives. I need to be closer in case they need me."

"And what exactly do you think you can do besides pop out three magical babies prematurely when you collapse?"

"I don't know," I snapped. "But I'm not staying up here twiddling my thumbs while my family gets slaughtered."

She didn’t fight me after that. Getting downstairs was like participating in an extreme sports event for the severely pregnant.

Each step required a complex maneuver factoring in my massive belly, swollen ankles, and the three magical terrors using my bladder as a trampoline.

By the time I reached the bottom landing, my nightgown was soaked with sweat, and I was panting like I'd run a marathon.

"This," Clio muttered from behind me, "was the worst fucking idea you've ever had. And that's saying something."

"Probably," I wheezed as I kept shuffling toward the front of the house.

When I finally reached the living room windows, the view punched the air from my lungs more effectively than the triplets ever had. Our property had transformed into something from a supernatural war movie. The kind where nobody expects the good guys to win.

Aidon stood at the center of a maelstrom of shadows.

His power manifested as hundreds of razor-sharp tendrils that sliced through malevolent beings with lethal precision.

Despite his formidable display, I could see the strain in his stance.

There was a slight faltering between attacks that indicated fatigue.

Jean-Marc and Nina fought back-to-back like they'd been doing this shit their whole lives.

They'd figured out how to make their powers sing together like a well-oiled death machine.

Jean-Marc used telekinesis to grab chunks of earth and debris, and then hurl them at the enemy like magical artillery.

Rocks the size of bowling balls smashed into evil sprites with bone-crunching force.

"Duck!" Jean-Marc shouted.

Nina dropped without hesitation as a massive log sailed over her head to flatten three sprites that had tried to flank them.

She then immediately lit up the battlefield with her witch fire.

She sent controlled bursts of purple flame that cut through the enemy ranks like a hot knife through supernatural butter.

Murtagh remained in his human form so he could command the shifters. He had the animals dart through enemy lines and take chunks out of anything within reach. Hades moved like a dark specter across the battlefield. His ancient power devastated wherever it touched.

Yet despite their skill and power, they were clearly outnumbered. The attacking forces swarmed like a hideous tide. Beings that had once been benevolent were now on the opposite side. They no longer resembled what they once were. Their eyes glowed with Lyra’s vile power.

"Silverheart Sprites," Persephone called out. "Lyra has corrupted healing spirits." The sorrow was evident in her tone.

"That's obscene," Mom responded as she swiped at one of them, cutting off wings with her claws. Lyra had turned Mom into a tribred, and she’d partially shifted so her fingers became weapons.

She also had her fangs and magic. "They were never meant for combat.

" She clearly felt just as bad as Persephone.

I watched as one of the corrupted sprites slipped past Aidon's defenses and scored a burning line across his shoulder. The sight of his blood ignited something primal within me. Rage and fear coalesced into a white-hot core of protective fury.

"They're going to lose," I realized aloud. My hands instinctively cradled my belly where the triplets had gone unnaturally still. It was as if they sensed the gravity of the moment, too.

"The wards on the east side are failing," Stella reported grimly as she threw a spell at a group. "We're stretched too thin."

Another explosion rocked the house. This one was close enough to shatter one of the smaller windows. Glass sprayed across the hardwood floor, catching the light like deadly diamonds.

Something inside me snapped. The helplessness, the fear, the rage.

It all crystallized into sudden, terrible purpose.

I didn't consciously decide to act. My power simply responded to my overwhelming need to protect those I loved.

It rose within me like a tidal wave. It was vaster and more potent than I'd ever experienced.

The triplets' powers joined with mine. Each adding their unique signature to the building surge.

"Phoebe, what are you—" Clio began, but her voice seemed distant, as if coming from the other end of a long tunnel.

I raised my hands instinctively with my palms facing outward toward the battlefield. The power gathered there and coalesced into a visible nimbus of swirling light that contained all the colors of the aurora. For a heartbeat, time seemed suspended as the energy built to an impossible crescendo.

The resulting magical pulse exploded outward from my hands in a visible shockwave.

It rippled across the air like lightning through water.

It was raw and electric. It also gained momentum and power as it spread.

The magic crackled and sparked as it tore through the space between us and them.

Each foot it traveled made it stronger, angrier, and more devastating.

I spared a thought for my loved ones and knew they would be okay.

They weren’t dialed into evil like those they were fighting.

When it reached the first of Lyra's corrupted sprites, the effect was fucking biblical.

The creatures convulsed as the wave tore through them.

They contorted in silent agony. The corruption that animated them unraveled like rotted thread, leaving only fragmentary wisps of their original essence that dissipated into the air.

Those nearest to the house were simply obliterated, while those at the perimeter were left weakened and disoriented. Easy prey for our defenders.

The pulse continued outward, sweeping across our entire property like a magical EMP. It disrupted every hostile enchantment it encountered. Lyra's carefully constructed corruption collapsed. The few members of her forces that survived were left scattered and vulnerable.

For a moment, elation filled me as I watched our enemies fall.

Then the backlash hit. It was like someone had violently severed every magical connection in my body simultaneously.

The pain dropped me to my knees. A scream tore from my throat as the triplets reacted to the sudden magical vacuum.

Contractions seized my abdomen with merciless intensity.

My body was convinced that the magical depletion meant the pregnancy was threatened.

"She's going into labor!" Clio shouted, dropping to the floor beside me. Her healing magic flowed into me immediately. It was cool and soothing against the burning pain of the contractions.

"It's too early," Mom protested as she ran inside. She dropped near me and supported my upper body. "The triplets need more time. "

Through the haze of pain, I heard Stella barking orders. "Aidon! Get in here now! Phoebe's in trouble!"

I caught fragmented glimpses of the aftermath through the window. We were regrouping, and our enemies were retreating. Aidon raced for the house. I felt his alarm through our bond. Then another contraction claimed my attention. It doubled me over with its intensity.

"The babies—" I gasped as terror clawed at my throat. I could barely sense their magical signatures now, where moments before they had burned bright within me.

"They're alive," Clio assured me. Strain showed in her face as she channeled more healing energy. "But severely depleted. We need to stop these contractions immediately."

Nina burst through the front door, her face pale with shock as she took in the scene. "Holy shit—what happened?"

Pain ripped through me like a serrated blade.

Each contraction was a new level of agony I hadn't known existed.

Clio's hands glowed with healing magic while Nina frantically tried to refill my magical tank.

It had hit empty. Mom squeezed my hand so hard my fingers went numb.

She was whispering something I couldn't hear over the roaring in my ears.

The front door exploded inward with a crash that sent splinters flying. Aidon materialized beside me in a whirlwind of darkness. His shadows danced around him like living things.

"Phoebe!" His voice cracked as he dropped to his knees beside me. Panic was etched into every line of his face. Even in my pain-fogged state, I could see the raw fear in his eyes. He never showed fear. "What the hell happened?"

"Your brilliant wife decided to nuke Lyra's forces with a magical bomb," Nana drawled as she cocked her shotgun. Was that a Molotov cocktail hanging from her hip? "Took 'em all out. She also nearly took herself out in the process."

Aidon's hands trembled as they hovered over my swollen belly. "The babies?"

"Critical," Clio snapped, not looking up from her work. "We're going to lose them if we don't stop these contractions now."

"Fuck that," Aidon growled. His shadows surged forward, wrapping around my abdomen as he poured his power into me.

His eyes turned completely black as he connected with our unborn children.

"We need you three to fight to stay here. And don’t try to save your mother.

I have her. You worry about yourselves."

"You were losing," I whispered. Another contraction stole my words as my back arched off the floor. "Couldn't... watch you die."

Aidon's expression softened for just a moment before hardening with determination. "And I can't watch you die. Or our children." His power surged, and the room temperature dropped twenty degrees as he channeled more energy than I'd ever felt from him before.

"It's working," Persephone announced as she and Hades entered the house. Her golden light mixed with Aidon's darkness in a swirl of power. "The contractions are slowing."

Exhaustion hit me like a freight train. My eyelids weighed a thousand pounds each. "Are they... okay?"

"They're fighters. Like their mother," Aidon said in a voice rough with emotion. He gathered me into his arms with impossible gentleness for a being of such power. "No more heroics. I mean it, Phoebe. Nothing is worth losing you and these babies."

Clio continued healing me while he carried me up the stairs.

I could feel her repairing my cervix. It was an odd sensation, but I was too tired to give it much thought.

My head lolling against his chest. My eyes refused to close until I knew my babies were okay.

A sigh left me when I felt them stir weakly within me.

They were alive. We had survived. For now.

But Lyra would be back. And next time, I'd need a better plan than ‘launch a magical nuke and hope for the best’. As darkness claimed me, I felt Aidon's shadows wrap protectively around us all. I'd once found them terrifying. Now, I couldn't imagine living without them.