Page 9 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues (Mystical Midlife in Maine #17)

Clio immediately poured a glass of water and pressed it into Stella's hands.

She drank deeply before continuing. "Layla and I separated from Aidon's group to follow a magical trail I recognized.

It was similar to the energy signature from when Lyra kidnapped us before.

It led to an ancient stone circle about twenty miles north. "

My heart raced with a mixture of fear for my friend and eagerness for information. "What did you see?"

"Lyra," Stella confirmed grimly. "But she wasn't alone.

She was meeting with... I don't even know what to call them. Shadow beings, but they were nothing like we’ve seen before.

These felt older and more primal." She shuddered visibly at the memory.

"They spoke in a language I couldn't understand. It didn’t sound exactly like ancient Greek, but it was close. "

"Could they have been shadow beings that predate the Titans?" Clio asked sharply, her usual composed demeanor slipping to reveal alarm.

Stella lifted a shoulder. "Lyra called them the Forgotten Ones. Layla said they ruled before the gods rose to power, before Zeus and his siblings overthrew Cronus."

"That's impossible," Clio whispered. "Those entities were bound at the creation of the current world order. They couldn't possibly be free."

"Well, they looked pretty free to me," Stella retorted. "And they weren't the only ones there. I saw a lot of other monsters. Beings I've only read about in the oldest grimoires. Lyra's building an army and promising them a return to power if they help her with the ritual."

The implications were staggering. Lyra was planning to upset the supernatural order. She wanted to overthrow the gods themselves. "Where's Aidon now?" I asked, suddenly desperate to know he was safe.

"Following another lead with Hades. Layla and I came back to bring this information. We almost didn’t get out of there when something with six arms came after us," Stella explained, her voice steadying as she recovered.

"Layla went back with Murtagh and the shifters. They’re maintaining surveillance on the stone circle, but I doubt she will stay there long now. "

The air in the room suddenly thickened, carrying the scent of pomegranates and spring soil. A shimmer of golden light materialized beside my bed and coalesced into the regal form of Persephone. Her expression was grave as her eyes met mine.

"Phoebe," she greeted me with a quick embrace. "I'm sorry to disturb your rest, but we have a situation developing that cannot wait."

"Is it Aidon?" I asked, fear gripping me.

"No, no," she assured me quickly. "He and Hades are still in the field. This concerns the Underworld itself."

That was hardly reassuring. "What's happening?"

Persephone perched on the edge of my bed as her expression grew grave. "The deepest levels of the Underworld are experiencing unprecedented disturbances. Ancient beings imprisoned there since before human civilization have become agitated. They're pounding against barriers that have held for eons."

"Could it be related to what Stella just saw?" I asked, gesturing to my still-recovering friend.

Quickly, Stella recounted her observations of Lyra's meeting with the shadow entities. With each detail, Persephone's frown deepened. "The Forgotten Ones," she murmured when Stella finished. "So, it's true. Somehow, Lyra has found a way to contact them across the barriers."

"Who exactly are they?" I pressed.

Persephone's gaze grew distant, as if looking back through millennia of memory.

"They were the first beings to emerge from Chaos at the dawn of creation.

Neither gods nor titans, but something..

. other. They ruled the primordial world until Gaia and Uranus established the first order.

The power later passed to the Titans, and then to the Olympians. "

"But they weren't destroyed?" Stella asked.

"No," Persephone shook her head. "They could not be destroyed, only bound and imprisoned in the deepest void between worlds. Some were sent to Tartarus. Others went to places even darker."

"And now they're stirring," I said, the weight of this new threat settling heavily. "Because of Lyra."

Persephone inclined her head. "Some of Hades' most secure prisoners have become violently agitated. The Hekatonkheires—hundred-handed giants from before the First War—are throwing themselves against their chains. The prison wardens report they keep chanting the same phrase over and over."

"What phrase?" I asked, though part of me already knew the answer.

"'The Trifecta comes,'" Persephone said softly. "They know something is going to happen. Even locked away in the deepest pits of the Underworld, they can feel the power building within you."

My hands instinctively moved to my belly in a protective gesture. In response, all three babies shifted at once. Their combined magic created a momentary shield of light around me that both Stella and Persephone had to step back from. "They're getting stronger," I whispered.

"It’s also more dangerous for you," Clio observed as she assessed the magical display. "Their individual signatures are beginning to harmonize, but that still poses a threat to their stability in the womb."

Persephone nodded gravely. "That makes them an even more tempting target for Lyra and her allies. If she succeeds in capturing their combined essence through the Trifecta Ascension, she could potentially release many from their imprisonment."

"She needs bigger, badder monsters if she’s going to remake the world order with herself at the top," Stella concluded.

"We need to warn Aidon and Hades," I said urgently. "If what Stella saw is connected to the disturbances in the Underworld, they could be walking into something much bigger than we anticipated."

"I've already sent word," Persephone assured me. "But communication is difficult. The magical disruptions Lyra has triggered are affecting all realms, not just the mortal world."

A sudden thought struck me. "It’s the shifting ley lines Mythia discovered."

"It is," Persephone confirmed. "They're part of a widespread pattern of magical destabilization. Lyra is weakening the boundaries between worlds to release her army."

This was about so much more than my babies. However, they remained my paramount concern. "What can we do?" I asked finally. "I'm stuck in this bed, the babies are still weeks from full term, and Lyra's apparently assembling an army of primordial monsters."

Persephone's expression softened slightly. "First, we must ensure you and the children remain safe. The ritual cannot proceed without you."

"And second," Stella added, her voice regaining its usual pep, "we need to turn Lyra's surveillance against her."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Stella gestured to the monitoring symbols still pulsing on my ceiling. "She's been watching us, learning our weaknesses. But what if we start feeding her false information? Make her think the babies are developing differently than they are, or that our defenses are positioned where they aren't?"

A slow smile spread across my face—the first genuine one in days. "A disinformation campaign."

"Precisely," Stella nodded. "Nina's new abilities can help us identify exactly what information the monitoring symbols are collecting. Then we can manipulate it."

"It won't stop her plans entirely," Persephone cautioned, "but it might buy us precious time."

Time was exactly what we needed. Time for the babies to develop fully. Time for Aidon and Hades to track Lyra to her primary base. Time to strengthen our defenses against whatever assault she was planning.

Before I could respond, the bedroom door opened yet again. Aidon strode in with his confident swagger. His presence warmed me despite his shocking appearance. His clothing was torn, and he had a deep gash across one cheek. His eyes burned with a combination of fury and fear I'd never seen before.

"Aidon!" I gasped, instinctively reaching for him.

He crossed to me in three long strides, taking my outstretched hand. He was ice-cold as his shadows writhed around him in agitated patterns. "You're safe," he breathed, as if reassuring himself.

"Of course I am," I assured him, alarmed by his state. "What happened?"

"We found one of Lyra's sanctuaries," he reported grimly. "It was... not what we expected."

"The shadow beings?" Stella asked. "The Forgotten Ones?"

Aidon's gaze snapped to her. "You saw them too?"

She nodded, quickly explaining her own encounter. As she spoke, I noticed Aidon's shadows behaving strangely and extending toward me. One moment they thickened defensively around us, the next they thinned almost to transparency.

"Your powers," I murmured, touching his arm. His shadows had never come out like this before. "They're unstable."

He looked away, jaw tight with frustration. "I can't seem to control them properly. Not since we discovered what Lyra plans to do with the triplets."

"It's the conflict within you," Persephone said, her voice carrying the wisdom of millennia. "The discord between your protective nature as a father and your desire to hunt her down. When such fundamental aspects of divinity clash, the power itself becomes chaotic."

"I should be able to master this," he growled. His shadows deepened with his self-recrimination.

In response, a different kind of darkness stirred within me. Nyssa shifted position, and suddenly the shadows around Aidon steadied. "Nyssa's helping you," I whispered in wonder. "She’s stabilizing your shadows."

Aidon's eyes widened as his energy reached out. I felt their connection form. Father and daughter. Their similar powers recognized and supported each other. The chaotic fluctuations in his shadows calmed, settling into more controlled movements.

"Remarkable," Persephone breathed, watching the interaction with pride. "Even unborn, she understands the nature of your shared gift."

The moment was broken by another ripple of movement inside me. A subtle distortion in the air around us accompanied this one. Pages of the book on my nightstand fluttered, and time seemed to slow around them. "Thaniel," I identified with a smile.

"He's been doing that more frequently," Aidon noted, a hint of a smile finally breaking through his grim expression. "Especially around anything related to Jean-Marc's research. I think he's trying to help find solutions."

As if to complete the trio, Melaina made her presence known by filling me with golden warmth and kicking my kidney. I gasped from the sudden pain and chuckled. “Melaina wants to make sure she isn’t forgotten,” I said to Aidon’s concerned expression.

I looked over to see Nina standing in the doorway. "I felt Melaina calling," she explained, entering the room. "She amplifies my magic when she's active. I can see everything more clearly. Including this."

She pointed to the monitoring symbols on the ceiling. "These aren't just passive recorders. They're interactive. Lyra can see through them in real-time if we let down the shield around Mom and the babies."

"Which means she might be watching us right now," I realized.

"Let her watch," Aidon said as he wrapped an arm around Nina’s shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. "Let her see exactly what she's up against. Our children are already powerful enough to influence the magic around them. She will never be able to control them."

"We need to coordinate all our information," I said, wanting to make sure we never had to find out.

"Stella's observations of Lyra's allies, Persephone's reports from the Underworld, Nina's tracking of magical signatures, and whatever Aidon and Hades discovered at the sanctuary.

There could be something in there that will give us the clue we need. "

Aidon nodded, his composure regained now that the kids had given him their version of a hug from the womb. "My father is securing the sanctuary we found. It contained artifacts and texts that might reveal more about the ritual. And potentially how to counter it."

"And I'll work with Nina to manipulate the monitoring symbols," Stella offered. "We need to start feeding Lyra false information about the babies' development and our defensive preparations."

"I must return to the Underworld," Persephone said. "The disturbances require my attention. And Hades will need to return to ensure the more violent prisoners remain contained. But I'll be back as soon as possible with whatever information we can gather from the anciently bound. "

Lyra might have ancient allies and forbidden rituals at her disposal, but she had overlooked one crucial factor in her calculations.

The bonds between our family members were strengthened now by the unique connections forming with the triplets.

Each child was already finding their place in our magical ecosystem.

They weren't just passive vessels of power waiting to be born.

They were already unique beings and integral to our family.