Page 27 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues (Mystical Midlife in Maine #17)

I 'd been staring at that shimmer beyond our property line for hours after Aidon left.

Sleep refused to come despite my exhaustion.

The triplets' earlier magical exertion had finally taken its toll, leaving them unnaturally quiet within me.

I hated those moments most. If not for the occasional flutters, I would be calling Clio in every three seconds to check on them.

Logically, I knew they were recharging their batteries after helping activate Hattie's dormant protection spells, but the mother in me worried.

Dawn broke reluctantly through the lingering magical fog that clung to our property.

Since Aidon purchased the property next door, we weren’t close enough for any of the neighbors to notice.

Something had fundamentally changed in our magical environment after yesterday's battle.

I could feel it in the air. There was a persistent vibration that hummed just below the threshold of normal perception.

"You look like you've been awake for days," Clio observed as she entered, carrying her ever-present medical bag. Dark circles shadowed her eyes.

“I'm the only one who isn't sleeping,” I replied, struggling to sit up against the mountain of pillows behind me. "Did anyone find more of those monitoring devices?"

She nodded as she began her examination. "They discovered three more. They were all strategically placed around the perimeter. Nana destroyed them."

"And the traitor?" I asked. “Do you have any thoughts on who it is? Cause I keep coming up empty.”

"Nothing conclusive yet." Her hands hovered over my belly, and her healing magic probed gently. "But Jean-Marc is cross-referencing everyone's movements for the past two weeks. Even those who haven’t been here the past few days."

I was about to ask more when a familiar energy signature brushed against my consciousness. Aidon was returning from patrol. Seconds later, I heard hurried footsteps on the stairs. "Hello, Queenie. Tseki's back," he announced, and then bent and pressed a kiss to my lips. "It's bad, Phoebe."

My heart plummeted. Tseki had gone to the ritual site. "What happened? Did everyone make it back?"

His shadows darkened and coiled tightly around him in agitation. "He's the only one who made it back."

That hit me like a physical blow. Tseki had taken five of our strongest fighters to scout Lyra's ritual site. If he alone returned... "Help me up," I demanded as I swung my legs over the side of the bed.

"Absolutely not," Clio objected, planting herself firmly in my path. "You're still recovering from last night's magical overexertion."

"My people died trying to stop Lyra," I snapped. My anger flared hot and bright. "I'm not going to deal with it while lying in bed like an invalid."

Aidon and Clio exchanged a look I couldn't quite interpret. "Fine," Aidon relented, offering his arm. "But if Clio says you need to come back up, you don't argue. "

"Deal," I agreed, allowing him to support most of my weight as we made our slow, ungainly progress downstairs.

The living room had been transformed into a makeshift hospital ward.

Tseki was on the couch. His normally olive-toned skin was ashen beneath hastily applied bandages.

The dragon shifter's wounds were extensive.

There were deep slashes across his chest and arms. Burns had blackened one entire side of his body.

And what looked disturbingly like acid damage was eating through his left leg.

Murtagh knelt beside him, his expression a mask of carefully controlled fury as he held his boyfriend's hand. Nina worked frantically alongside Stella. Both looked relieved when Clio rushed over and began healing the worst wounds.

"What happened?" I asked as Aidon lowered me into an armchair close enough to see but not interfere with the healing efforts.

Tseki's eyes fluttered open at the sound of my voice. "Couldn't... reach it," he managed. Each word clearly cost him, but he continued speaking. "The ritual site. It's protected by... something ancient. Not Lyra's magic."

"Easy," Murtagh murmured, squeezing his hand. "Don't strain yourself."

But Tseki shook his head weakly. "Have to tell them. The others... they were consumed. Completely." His voice broke on the last word. Anguish etched deeper lines into his pain-ravaged face.

"Consumed?" Aidon repeated sharply. "By what?"

"Guardians," Tseki whispered. "They spoke... in ancient Greek." He coughed, a wet, ragged sound that sent flecks of blood spattering across his chin. "The site isn't just warded. It's like... a pocket dimension. You were right about that."

Jean-Marc entered with several ancient tomes balanced precariously in his arms. "I might have found something relevant," he announced, setting the books down on the coffee table. "The celestial alignment Lyra's waiting for specifically amplifies magic tied to bloodlines and inheritance."

"Like Pleiades magic," I noted while I watched Clio work on Tseki’s acid burns. "And divine bloodlines. Both apply to the triplets."

He nodded in agreement. "According to these texts, during this particular alignment, the barriers that normally prevent inherited magic from being stolen thin significantly.

It makes the impossible suddenly possible.

Though still incredibly difficult." He frowned as he looked over at Tseki.

"The celestial bodies create a unique configuration that temporarily weakens the magical membranes protecting bloodline powers.

In theory, someone could exploit that and erase them entirely so they could," he paused and his expression darkened, "extract the power entirely with the right ritual framework. "

"Which is exactly what Lyra wants to do," Mom added from the doorway. She looked exhausted but determined. "She wants to steal the babies' raw power along with Phoebe’s. And she's using the alignment to access their inherited connections to both Pleiades magic and divine energy."

Hades materialized in the corner, his divine presence sending shivers through the room's ambient magic.

"The question now is whether we strengthen our defenses here or take the fight to her?

Without knowing what was able to do that to a dragon, it would be dangerous for anyone to try another incursion.

I had wondered why it was so easy to locate her site. Now, I get it."

The room was immediately divided. Stella, Jean-Marc, and Nana advocated for offensive action, while Mom, Clio, and Persephone argued for fortifying our position. The debate quickly grew heated. Voices rose as tensions that had been building for days finally found release.

"We can't just sit here waiting for her to come to us!" Stella insisted, her hands gesticulating wildly. "Every hour we delay gives her more time to get to Phoebe."

"And rushing headlong into her territory gives her exactly what she wants!" Mom countered. "You saw what happened to Tseki's team. We'd be sending people to their deaths!"

"So we just hide behind our walls until she figures out how to break through?" Nana scoffed. "That's not a strategy, honey, that's a surrender with extra steps."

"It's not surrender to prioritize protecting Phoebe and the babies," Clio argued. "If we lose them, nothing else matters."

"It's not just about us anymore," Jean-Marc interjected, his voice quiet but carrying an authority that instantly silenced the room.

"The magical community is watching. If Lyra succeeds, the ripple effects will destroy the current supernatural order.

Every being with even a trace of power will be affected. "

I looked at my oldest son with new appreciation. When had he become this voice of reason? "Both approaches have merit," I said finally. "And we need to pursue both simultaneously."

All eyes turned to me as I continued. "We strengthen our defenses here, yes.

But we also disrupt Lyra's support network.

We need to cut off her resources. Make it harder for her to complete the ritual.

Even if we can't reach the site itself, we might be able to cause her enough problems that she can’t move forward anyway. "

Aidon nodded slowly. "Stella and I have been tracking a network of safe houses where Lyra's been gathering power. If we eliminate those..."

"You'd weaken her significantly," I finished. "And take her allies from her because I bet anything she’s housing those she plans to use as fodder in those locations."

"I can help with that," Nina offered. "I should be able to identify which locations are most critical to her operation."

"And I'll coordinate our defensive improvements," Mom added, setting aside her objections with characteristic practicality once a decision had been made.

An earsplitting crack of thunder shook the house, making everyone jump.

All heads swiveled to the window. My lips turned down when I noticed the sky outside remained perfectly clear.

"That wasn't natural, yet I don’t see any evidence of her previous attacks," Murtagh observed as he moved to the window.

A heartbeat later, rain began to fall. It became apparent immediately that it wasn't normal rain.

The droplets hovered and spun in midair before gradually ascending back toward the sky in defiance of gravity.

"Ah, that would be the triplets," I sighed as I placed a hand on my belly where I could feel their magic stirring with renewed vigor. "They're awake."

"And they apparently have an opinion on things," Nana remarked dryly.

Over the next hour, as our planning continued, the triplets' restless magic manifested in increasingly dramatic ways. Clocks throughout the house stopped running. Mythia’s scones burned.

And outside, the local ley lines began to glow with such intensity they were visible even to those without magical sight.