Page 27

The others nodded, and I could feel the tension in the room shift from uncertainty to focused determination. We couldn't afford to ignore any potential lead, but we couldn't walk blindly into danger either. Not with so much at stake.

"No way," Clio protested, moving to block my attempt to stand. "You need to rest, Phoebe. Those magical labor pains earlier weren't a joke. And with everything we've just learned..."

"I'm going," I said firmly. The babies kicked in agreement or possibly protest. It was hard to tell sometimes. "If there are answers I need to know. It’s just about me. There are other mothers. We can't just hide and hope for the best."

"At least take another dose of the concealment potion," Mom insisted, already pulling out a vial. "We don't need every magical sensor the Keepers have lighting up when you walk in there."

I grimaced at the swirling liquid but downed it in one gulp. The bitter taste coated my tongue as the magic took hold and wrapped around me like a second skin. "Better?" Mom asked, studying my aura with narrowed eyes.

"Much," Clio confirmed before I could answer. "Her magical signature's practically invisible now."

“I’m going to use the restroom before we go,” I told Aidon. Nodding, he placed a kiss to my lips before I waddled off to relieve the pressure in my bladder.

By the time I was finished, Aidon brought the car around. Mom pressed a small bag of calming herbs into my pocket ‘just in case.’ Even Nina got into the protective spirit. She cast a subtle comfort spell on the car's backseat before Stella helped me down the front steps.

The drive to Madame Rosewood's was tense.

Even with Aidon behind the wheel, carefully avoiding every pothole and bump, I couldn't help wincing as another wave of magical labor pains rolled through me.

The babies were unusually active. Their movements triggered surges of power that were causing false contractions.

Every few minutes, one of them would kick or shift, sending little pulses of energy through me that made me catch my breath.

I had to stop this shit or they were going to turn around and take me home.

"Try to stay calm," Aidon murmured as we pulled up outside the shop. "Your energy affects theirs."

"Easier said than done," I muttered. "Especially when the local magical antique shop is doing its best impression of a rave."

Aidon pulled into a spot at the far end of the parking lot, away from the few other cars.

The shop's windows pulsed with an ethereal blue light that seemed to reach for us even at this distance.

Aidon and Stella flanked me as I eased out of the car.

Both of them pretended they weren't hovering while actually hovering.

Another wave of magical labor pains hit just as I straightened up, making me grab the car door for support.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Stella started, but I waved her off.

We started across the lot, but Aidon held up his hand, stopping us. "Wait." His eyes scanned the building, tension clear in his shoulders. "Remember what we discussed before leaving. This could be a Keeper stronghold. We need to be on guard."

"Let’s cast a protective spell before we go in," Stella suggested as she moved closer to me.

I nodded in agreement and we paused to cast a spell that covered all of us before we continued. The gravel crunched under our feet as we proceeded more cautiously, the shop's glow intensifying with each step. Aidon positioned himself slightly ahead of our group.

The door opened at our approach. Its bell chimed with an odd resonance. Inside, the antiques seemed to vibrate with barely contained power. And the air felt thick with old magic, like walking through honey that sparked with electricity.

"Welcome, welcome," a voice called from the shadows. A woman emerged. Her appearance was striking and otherworldly. There was something almost urgent about her. Yet, her ageless eyes held a hint of fear. "We've been expecting you."

"Have you now?" I asked. One hand moved to rest protectively on my belly as the babies stirred restlessly.

"The old powers stir," she said, moving closer.

Her movements were odd, like she was walking through water.

"We feel it. The return of what was lost. The awakening of what was bound.

" Her gaze fixed on my concealed mark. She couldn't have felt it.

It was masked completely from detection.

It must be because I was pregnant. "They fear it, you know.

The ones who would control such power. They fear what it means. "

"I don't understand. Explain?" Aidon demanded as his dark power crackled around him.

"The return of protective maternal magic.

The power that let mothers shield their children from those who would harm them.

Magic that could not be corrupted or controlled.

" She gestured to the glowing artifacts around us.

"These remember. They sing with echoes of what was.

Each piece holds a fragment of the old ways, waiting to be awakened. "

A delicate music box near my elbow began to play on its own. The melody was beautiful and familiar, though I knew I'd never heard it before. The babies shifted in response. The mark pulsed beneath its concealment.

The woman's expression suddenly hardened. "We must stop them," she hissed, her ethereal facade cracking. "Before they ruin everything we've worked for!" She lunged toward me with inhuman speed, but Aidon was faster.

His obsidian blade materialized in a burst of shadow, the edge pressing against her throat before she could take another step. "Everyone forgets about a father's protective magic," he said, his voice deadly quiet. "That was your mistake."

Mom and Stella pulled me back at the same time Aidon roared, "Get Phoebe out! Now!"

Without another word, we backed toward the door.

I was not about to risk myself and my babies to fight this creature.

Not when Aidon had things under control.

The last thing I saw before Mom pulled me through the doorway was the woman's face transforming into something ancient and terrible, and Aidon's sword beginning to glow with answering power.

Outside, my phone rang, making me jump. Clio's name flashed on the screen, but I could barely focus on it. My heart was pounding, and I couldn't stop staring at the shop's entrance, waiting for Aidon to emerge.

"He'll be okay," Mom said, squeezing my shoulder, but I could hear the worry in her voice. "Aidon knows what he's doing."

The phone kept ringing in my hand as another wave of magical labor pains hit. This time, they were stronger and more urgent. I swear the babies could sense their father was in danger.

"Answer and put it on speaker," Stella suggested.

"Phoebe?" Clio's voice was excited. "I'm on a conference call with healers from all over New England. There's someone you need to meet."

I blinked and shook my head. I was about to tell her we would talk later when Aidon exited the store.

My entire body relaxed, and the pains stopped.

A new voice joined the call then. I registered that it was warm and confident but nothing more as I allowed Aidon to wrap his arm around me and lead me to the car.

"You might want to go over that again, Sarah," Mom suggested. "Phoebe didn't hear a thing you just said."

Sarah laughed warmly. "Of course. Pregnancy brain, plus magical surges?

I'm surprised any of our mothers can focus at all these days.

As I was saying, I'm Sarah Montgomery, director of the New Moon Birth Center in Portland.

We're part of a network that's been serving magical families for generations.

We've got midwives trained not just in normal birth practices, but in the old ways of protecting magical mothers and their babies. And we’ve seen a surge in problems recently.

Mothers are reporting disturbances at an alarming rate. "

"How many mothers?" I asked as I thought of all the mothers out there facing these changes alone. "How many pregnancies are being affected?"

"More every day," Sarah replied. "The old power is returning, whether they want it to or not.

Some mothers are getting their protective magic back while others are getting weaker.

But we're here to help. To protect. To teach.

The Keepers aren't the only ones who've preserved ancient knowledge.

We've kept our own records and have our own prophecies.

And we've been waiting for this moment."

"This moment?" I echoed as Aidon drove home.

"The return of the First Song," Sarah explained. "The reawakening of powers that were meant to protect, not control. Your children are carrying the key to unlocking what was bound away eons ago."

I stared out the window at the passing streetlights, one hand resting on my stomach where the twins moved restlessly.

Everyone wanted something from my babies.

The Keepers wanted to suppress their power, Sarah's group wanted to use it to restore the old magic, and who knew what other factions were out there, waiting to claim them for their own purposes?

They were not vessels for ancient powers or keys to unlocking the past. I didn't care about restoring maternal magic if it meant sacrificing my babies to powers beyond their control.

I would find a way to protect them, even if it meant standing against both sides.

Some prices were too high to pay, even for the return of what was lost.