Page 24 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues (Mystical Midlife in Maine #17)

M y eyes slowly opened and landed on the aurora surrounding our house.

It had become a permanent fixture. It shifted from vibrant waves of color during the day to a subtle, pulsing glow at night.

Three days had passed since our improvised counterattack.

We'd entered an uneasy stalemate with Lyra's forces.

They hadn't launched another full-scale assault since we'd repelled them with my magical EMP.

I shifted uncomfortably in my bed and watched the early morning sunlight filter through the window.

It cast rainbow patterns across the floor where it passed through the magical barrier.

My body ached from the strain of carrying three increasingly active magical babies and from the magical exertion of days ago.

I was nearly thirty-one weeks pregnant, and each day felt like a miracle.

Clio had begun giving me betamethasone injections to develop the babies’ lungs.

It was a precautionary measure that would ensure they survived if she couldn’t stop labor next time.

"You look like hell warmed over," Nana declared as she entered with my morning tea .

"That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me," I replied as I accepted the steaming mug gratefully. "Any news from the overnight patrols?"

"All is quiet on the western front," she said, perching on the edge of my bed. "Too quiet, if you ask me. That witch is planning something big."

“Yeah, the Ascension,” I replied as I sipped.

Nina entered then with a flushed face. She clutched a small leather pouch that seemed to be writhing in her grasp. "We have a problem," she announced without preamble. "A big one."

I set down my tea and was immediately alert. "What is it?"

Nina held up the bag like it contained a venomous snake.

"I was preparing the emergency supplies.

You know the extra potions, spelled crystals, and daggers.

Something was off as I was working." She opened the pouch and carefully extracted what looked like ordinary sea salt.

"This was supposed to be purified for protection circles. "

"It's not?" I asked. Cocking my head, I squinted and really looked at the stuff. A second later, I noted a faint sickly glow.

"It's been corrupted," Nina confirmed grimly. "And not just this. All of our backup magical resources have been ruined. The emergency crystals, reserve potions, and even the enchanted weapons. They've all been tainted with Lyra's magic."

Nana cursed colorfully. "That sneaky, manipulative, conniving?—"

"How did she manage this?" I interrupted. "We've been checking everything that enters the house."

"That's just it," Nina said as she set the corrupted salt on my nightstand where it continued to emit its subtle, malevolent glow.

"This corruption is different from what we've seen before.

It's like a magical slow-release poison.

It was clean when it entered the house, but over time, it's been slowly transforming. "

"Which will limit our options when it comes down to fighting her," I realized. "If we can't trust our reserves..."

"We're essentially fighting with one arm tied behind our backs," Nana finished.

Nina nodded, her expression troubled. "I can detect it now that I know what to look for, but I’m not sure we can fix it in time."

I reached out and squeezed her hand, pride momentarily overriding my concern. "You've saved us from walking into a trap. Now we just need to figure out what to do about it."

"I've already started purifying what I can," Nina said. "But some items are beyond saving. We'll need to rebuild our emergency supplies from scratch."

"With what?" Nana asked pointedly. "Our resources were limited to begin with. We can’t exactly leave the property very easily, and bringing in food is Tseki’s priority."

Before either of us could answer, a commotion erupted downstairs. I was getting so used to it happening that I barely flinched. "Check it out," I told Nana, who nodded and hurried from the room.

Nina moved to the window and peered out cautiously. "Someone is here," she reported. "It looks like... Stella! And she's not alone."

Hope flared in my chest. "Stella's back? She's been gone for days tracking Lyra's movements."

We both turned and looked at the door when we heard my best friend’s voice.

She was walking through the door less than a minute later.

She looked trail-worn but triumphant. Her clothes were torn and dirty, and her hair was wild.

She looked nothing like the usually impeccably put-together woman we all knew and loved.

Aidon, Murtagh, Tseki, and Jean-Marc followed behind her.

They wore expressions that combined hope with grave concern.

"We found it," Stella announced as she dropped a worn leather satchel on the foot of my bed. "The ritual site where Lyra plans to perform the Trifecta Ascension."

My heart skipped a beat. "You're sure?"

Stella nodded, pulling out a hand-drawn map and spreading it across my bed. "It took us days of tracking, but we followed the corrupted ley lines to their convergence point. It's an ancient power nexus hidden in the mountains about fifty miles north of here."

Aidon sat next to me and placed his hand over my abdomen. "The place predates human civilization. It's where multiple ley lines naturally intersect, which created a power nexus that Lyra needs for her ritual."

"The good news," Stella continued, "is that now we know exactly where she'll make her move. The bad news?—"

"Let me guess," I interrupted dryly. "Getting there is a suicide mission through monster-infested territory?"

"Pretty much," Stella confirmed with a grim smile. "The approach is guarded by some of the most dangerous magical traps I've ever encountered. Corrupted nature spirits, temporal distortions, reality warps—the works."

"She's created a gauntlet," Layla explained. "Anyone trying to reach the ritual site would have to fight through layers of increasingly deadly defenses."

I studied the map, noting the marked danger zones and the winding path that led to the central ritual space. "This is where she plans to take me and the babies once I go into labor? I didn’t expect it to be so close. Or to be on this plane."

"It might not be,” Jean-Marc pointed out. “The map indicates there are magical pathways directly to this house. That can’t happen on this plane. We’ve warded against that. And they’re holding now. When the time comes, she could potentially create a direct portal from here to the ritual site."

"Bypassing everything. Including her own defenses," I concluded. "Clever."

"We have an advantage now that we know where she is planning things," Aidon said, his voice hardening with resolve. "We can look for a way to get to her before."

The triplets stirred within me as they responded to the surge of emotions in the room. Their combined magic pulsed visibly beneath my skin, creating a shield of light that covered my entire belly. Aidon smiled and ran his hand over it.

"Well, well," Stella remarked as her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Looks like the little ones have been developing some new tricks while I was away."

"They've been getting stronger," I explained, placing a hand over Aidon’s. "And more active even though things are tighter for them in there."

"I'll need to analyze the intel about Lyra's ritual site and traps," Jean-Marc said, running his hand through his already disheveled hair. "And factor in my research on countermeasures. But with this, I think we have a fighting chance."

"You've been researching countermeasures?" I perked up. That beat the hell out of no chance.

He nodded, yanking a battered notebook from his jacket. The thing looked like it had survived a war zone. "I've been mapping how our family powers interact with the triplets. There are patterns we can exploit."

"Like what?" I shifted and rolled into Aidon, knocking him off the bed with my girth and the momentum I had to use to move. "Sorry!” I laughed.

Shaking his head, Aidon stood and returned to his place with a smile. “You’re moving much better now. ”

It was my only workout during the day. Smirking at Aidon, I turned to Jean-Marc. “You were saying?”

My oldest son had a smile on his face when he explained, "I was saying that when Aidon's shadows merge with little Nyssa's, they create a barrier that corrupted magic can't penetrate for shit.

" He flipped through pages crammed with diagrams that looked like magical circuit boards.

"Nina and Melaina together can scramble hostile signatures.

And my connection with Thaniel creates temporal shields that buy us precious seconds during an attack. "

"We're building a magical defense system based on family connections," Nina beamed.

"Damn straight we are," Jean-Marc agreed. "Traditional protection spells are like single-layer security systems. This?" He tapped the notebook. "This is like having ten different alarm systems all working together. One goes down, the others compensate."

Mom and Persephone chose that moment to walk in carrying what looked like a glowing blanket woven from pure light. "Speaking of compensating systems," Mom said, carefully spreading the magical construct over me. Warmth spread through me like the best kind of whiskey burn.

"Holy shit," I breathed as the magic settled around me. The triplets responded immediately. Together, they reinforced it like spiritual duct tape.

"The babies approve," Persephone said with a smirk. "They're already smarter than half the people I know."

"We don’t have much time," Stella added grimly. "From what I could gather, Lyra is planning the ritual for the next celestial alignment, which is four days from now on the full moon."

"Four days?" My hand flew to my belly protectively. "I'm only thirty-one weeks. That's way too early."

"Which is exactly why she picked it," Aidon growled. "The ritual needs unstable newborn magic. She's going to force early labor."

"Like hell she is," Mom snapped.

Murtagh leaned forward and studied the map with the focused intensity of a predator spotting prey. "We have another option. We know when and where she's setting up. Let's hit her first."

"You mean go on the offense?" Aidon asked as his shadows darkened with interest.

"Through a magical territory designed to stop us?" Nina raised an eyebrow.

"Not all of us will go," Murtagh clarified. "We send in a small strike team. We get in and out."

Before anyone could respond, the triplets decided to join the conversation.

Nyssa's shadows formed a detailed 3D model of the map that would have made Pentagon war planners jealous.

Thaniel's magic highlighted the weak spots, while Melaina's golden energy traced a path through the magical minefield.

"Are they... strategizing?" Stella asked as her jaw dropped open.

"Hell yes, they are," Jean-Marc replied with a chuckle. "And they're good at it."

"This path could work," Murtagh nodded approvingly. "It should avoid most of it."

"But it's still a suicide mission," Aidon countered as his gaze moved from the shadow map to my face.

I took a deep breath. "We need to do both. Prepare here while disrupting her ritual preparations."

"A two-front strategy is sound," Aidon mused. "Who goes and who stays?"

Nina suddenly tensed. "Something's coming," she warned as her eyes fixed on the window. "Something big."

We all turned to look. On the horizon, a dark mass was spreading like spilled ink across the sky. The magic rolled toward us in waves so thick I could almost taste it. It was shit that had been baked in the sun for hours.

"Is that...?" Mom didn't finish.

"Lyra's launching another assault," Aidon confirmed, his expression hardening. "She wants to get her hands on Phoebe before the alignment."

"Or she's creating a diversion," Stella suggested, eyes narrowing. "Keep us busy while she sets up her ritual."

The dark mass approached relentlessly. I could make out countless beings swarming within it like maggots in rotting meat. The air grew heavy, and it pressed against our barriers like a physical weight.

Aidon's phone buzzed. "Hades says we're surrounded. There are similar phenomena positioned all around us."

"So much for our carefully laid plans," I muttered, as the triplets surged with protective magic inside me.

"We adapt," Murtagh said simply as he moved toward the door. "I'll coordinate our defense here.

“And I’ll arrange a team to go to the site," Tseki added from beside his boyfriend.

"I'll reinforce the wards," Persephone added. Her divine power exploded around her like a solar flare.

"And I'll try to cleanse more of our emergency supplies," Nina said.

Aidon hesitated, torn between joining the fight and staying with me. I grabbed his hand. "Go," I told him. "They need you out there. I've got Clio, Nana, and three very pissed-off babies in here."

He leaned down, kissing me with fierce intensity. "We'll push them back," he promised. "And then we see about ending this bitch. Once and for all."

Clio and Nana remained close to the window.

Nana’s shotgun was loaded and in her hand.

I could see the sky but not what our ground troops were doing.

The sight of massive green dragon wings made me say a prayer for Tseki’s safety as he took off for the ritual site.

He didn’t get far. The mass in the sky intercepted him.

The wave split and half hit our barriers while the rest engaged our dragon. Combat magic lit up the sky like the Fourth of July as Aidon and the others engaged as well. Through our connection, I felt his savage determination as his shadows ripped through Lyra's forces.

But beneath the chaos, I sensed a subtle magical current probing our defenses. It was searching for weaknesses. It was far sneakier than a frontal assault. "She's looking for a way in," I told Clio and Nana. "This attack is just the opening move."

"She can look," Nana replied. Her eyes gleamed with dangerous promise as she readied her considerable power. "What she'll find is a magical fist to the face. It’ll be the biggest mistake of her miserable existence."

The dark mass outside pressed harder. Within my protective circle, surrounded by family and wrapped in layers of magic, I felt something unexpected. It wasn’t fear. It was fierce determination.