Page 28 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues (Mystical Midlife in Maine #17)

"This isn't sustainable," Clio warned after a particularly violent surge caused all the electronics in the house to short out simultaneously. "Their power is growing faster than your body can contain it."

"I'm open to suggestions," I replied through gritted teeth as I tried to calm the magical hurricane building inside me. “The babies are responding to the tension in the room. They're amplifying it and reflecting it back through their unpredictable magic.”

"Perhaps we can use this to our advantage," Aidon suggested as he began pacing. "If the celestial alignment amplifies inherited magic, and the triplets' power is already affecting the local magical infrastructure..."

"We could create our own amplification field," Persephone finished for him as her eyes widened. "One that disrupts the conditions Lyra needs for her ritual."

"At the very least, it would buy us time," I agreed. "How soon can you and Stella investigate those safe houses?"

Aidon glanced at Stella, who nodded decisively. "We can leave immediately," she said.

"Be careful," I warned. "After what happened to Tseki's team..."

"We'll take every precaution," Aidon promised, leaning down to kiss me. "Stay put and try not to let our children destroy dinner while I'm gone. We’re going to be hungry when we get home."

"No promises," I murmured against his lips.

After they departed, I convinced Jean-Marc to help me to the front porch. I needed fresh air and a change of scenery after being confined for so long. The view that greeted me froze the breath in my lungs.

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 we understood 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.

"They're getting closer to something," I said, showing Jean-Marc the images. "Each site shows progression in her experiments."

He nodded, his expression thoughtful. "If we can identify her latest research focus, we might be able to disrupt whatever she's doing more effectively."

Another crack of thunder split the air. It was followed by a bizarre sight. Fish began swimming through the sky above our house. They left trails of glowing magical residue in their wake.

"That would be Melaina," I sighed, recognizing my daughter's distinctive golden energy signature infusing the anomaly. "I wonder if that means she’s going to be a water baby."

"It’s going to be fun to find out. The barrier is holding," Mom reported as she scanned the area. "But for how long? Between the triplets' magic and these things pressing from outside..."

"We need more power," I realized. "Or rather, we need to redirect what we already have more efficiently."

Jean-Marc tackled the ward at the side of the porch. "You mentioned using the celestial alignment for our purposes."

Nodding, I explained, "We need to create a counter-ritual? One that strengthens those same barriers instead of weakening them and makes our bloodline magic impossible to extract, no matter what she does."

Jean-Marc's eyes widened. "That's... actually brilliant. We'd be using the same celestial energy she's counting on, but inverting its purpose."

"It would require massive magical reserves," I acknowledged, "but we've got three magical powerhouses right here.

" I patted my belly where the triplets shifted restlessly.

"And if we combine everyone's unique abilities in the ritual, we could create something Lyra has no defense against because she's never considered cooperation a strength. "

"Can you develop something like that in just three days?" Mom asked, her expression hopeful for the first time in weeks.

I nodded firmly. "With everyone's help, yes. We'll be actively sabotaging her ritual before she even begins. She'll reach for the triplets' power and find it completely inaccessible."

The triplets kicked in unison, as if signaling their agreement. Their combined power sent a ripple of golden light cascading from my belly outward through the protection barrier. "I think they approve of the plan," Jean-Marc said with a smile.

Taking control of the alignment's power rather than just defending against it gave us an advantage that would keep us away from her ritual site. Lyra was expecting us to hide behind our walls. She wouldn't expect us to weaponize the very cosmic event she was counting on.