Page 36 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues (Mystical Midlife in Maine #17)
Unfortunately, they weren’t the only enemy now trying to kill my loved ones.
Behind them loomed larger, more substantial entities.
The Forgotten Ones radiated malevolence and hatred.
They would be harder to deal with. There was a reason they’d been locked away.
Fortunately, they still had one foot in their prison realm which meant they could be sent back.
"What have you done?" Persephone whispered as she did just that to a trio of Forgotten Ones.
"I've kept my promise," Lyra replied simply. "The old order ends today. The barriers between realms will fall. And these children," she gestured toward my belly, "will be the catalysts for a new age of magic. One where I reign supreme."
The triplets reacted violently to her voice.
Their magic surged in waves of protective fury.
The chamber trembled, and pieces of the ceiling began to rain down around us.
"Phoebe, you need to calm down," Clio called desperately from beyond the barrier.
"The power is making the dimensional pocket unstable! "
I tried, the gods know I tried. But between the contractions, the fear, and Lyra's presence, the triplets were beyond soothing. Their magic built upon itself, creating a feedback loop that intensified with each passing second.
"Magnificent," Lyra breathed, watching the display with hungry eyes. "Such power. And it will all be mine."
"You'll never touch them," Aidon promised. His voice was deadly quiet as his shadows pounded against the barrier separating us from Lyra.
She smiled indulgently, as if he were a child making grand but meaningless threats. "I already have." With a gesture, she caused the purple energy swirling around her fingers to stretch toward me. It bypassed all our defenses as if they weren't there.
The moment it touched my belly, I screamed. It felt like barbed wire being dragged across my soul. The triplets reacted with equal distress, and their magic lashed out wildly. Remaining calm flew right out the window then.
"What are you doing to her?" Stella demanded as she cast spells and threw them against the barriers.
"Taking what’s mine," Lyra explained calmly, despite the chaos erupting around her. "With the use of a magical tether. Oh, and it can't be broken. Not even by death or divine intervention. When these children are born, their power will flow to me, regardless of distance or protective wards."
Horror swept through me as I felt something taking root within the magical bond I shared with my unborn children. It was parasitic and wrong. I fought against it with everything I had, but the pain of labor combined with magical assault left me weakened and vulnerable.
“You won’t win,” Persephone told Lyra.
Lyra laughed. “I already have. I’ve managed to keep two gods from helping their mortal. I can do anything.”
"We're running out of time," Jean-Marc interjected. “This dimension is collapsing, and Clio's magic can't reach Mom to stop the contractions."
Clio’s face was a mask of concentration as she poured healing energy against the barrier.
She was still trying to find a way through.
Unfortunately, none of it penetrated. Meanwhile, my contractions were becoming stronger and more frequent again.
The triple threat of dimensional collapse, Lyra's ritual, and imminent birth created a perfect storm of panic that I couldn’t seem to banish.
"We need to disrupt the barriers from multiple points simultaneously," Nina suggested as her analytical mind worked through possibilities.
"Good idea,” Jean-Marc agreed. I could hear my kids, but barely registered it as my mind continued repeating that Lyra was winning. “Everyone attack the same spot, at exactly the same moment," he instructed.
Aidon, Persephone, and Stella converged like predators with a common prey.
They positioned themselves at a pulsing nexus point in the barrier where the magic ran thinnest. Their three different powers shot from their outstretched hands with pinpoint precision and met at a single spot like a magical drill bit.
For one breathless moment, I dared to hope. The barrier shuddered under their combined assault. Its seamless surface finally showed weakness as a hairline fracture spiderwebbed across the magical membrane. It started glowing with unstable energy.
On the other side, Clio crouched like a runner at the starting blocks. Her healing kit was strapped to her body, and her muscles were tensed. She was ready to launch herself through the instant an opening appeared large enough for her to slip through.
Just when it seemed like they were going to win, Lyra made a sharp, cutting gesture with her hand. The chamber shuddered violently, and a new barrier slammed down. Everything in me cried out as I was cut off from my friends and family. The new shield encircled just Lyra and me.
"No!" I screamed.
"Phoebe!" Aidon's voice was muffled now by multiple layers of magical barriers. His shadows raged against the new obstacle. They were joined by the others' powers, but none made any impression on Lyra's protection.
"It's just us now," Lyra said as she approached me with that terrible smile still fixed on her ugly face. "Don’t worry, I left some friends to keep your family busy."
I gaped as more creatures continued to flood through the widening cracks, filling the chamber until they surrounded my loved ones completely.
"They can't save you," Lyra told me as she crouched down beside me.
"No one can. When these children are born, they will feed my ascension.
Their first breath in this world will be in service to my power. "