Page 29

A sharp knock at the door made us all freeze. After Nina and Stella had returned with Rebecca, we'd been strategizing how to protect other magical mothers from the Keepers. This unexpected visitor set everyone on edge.

Nina moved to the window. Her expression shifted from alert to confused.

"Someone's here, but... something's off about their energy.

" She frowned and cocked her head to the side.

"It feels like they're a Keeper, but their energy isn’t quite right.

Like they're wearing a magical costume that doesn't quite fit. "

"What do you mean?" I struggled to sit up straighter. The babies protested the movement with a series of kicks to my bladder that nearly made me pee myself.

"The real Keepers have this ancient resonance to their magic," Nina explained, still studying the figure through the glass. "This person's energy is newer. And feels artificial. They're trying to mimic the pattern, but they don't have the depth."

Mom moved to stand beside her and was squinting through the glass. "I'm not picking up anything unusual."

"That's just it," Nina said excitedly. "They look completely normal to regular magical sight. Somehow, I can see through the glamour. Past the surface illusion to what's really there."

Aidon appeared beside Nina then and looked her over. "Your powers are evolving," he observed. "Adapting to help protect your family. The babies' magic is affecting all of us. Strengthening abilities some of us didn't even know we had."

"Or giving us new ones entirely," Selene added from her spot near the table covered in research. "The magical resonance in this house has been steadily increasing for weeks. It's like being in a supernatural pressure cooker."

Before anyone could respond, another sharp knock echoed through the house. After Nina's warning about the visitor's strange energy, I opened my magical senses wider, trying to understand what we were dealing with. The power that hit me nearly knocked me off my stool.

"Stop!" I shouted as Mom reached for the door. "The other person out there is divine." The energy was overwhelming. It was ancient and furious. It felt like staring into the heart of a thunderstorm. It seemed to be everywhere at once, pressing against our wards, searching for weaknesses.

"How did they get past our protective barriers?" Nana demanded as she thrust her hands on her hips. "No one who means us harm should be able to cross them."

The door exploded inward before I could answer, wood splintering around the lock as if it were paper.

A woman strode in. Her presence filled the room like storm clouds before a hurricane.

Her classical Greek features might have been beautiful if they weren't twisted with contempt.

Power radiated from her in waves that made the air thick and heavy, carrying the scent of summer wheat and thunderstorms.

"So," she sneered with her gaze fixing on my swollen belly where the mark pulsed defiantly, "these are the abominations that threaten to upset everything. I expected something more impressive than a swollen mortal carrying oversized sparks of power."

Aidon was between us instantly. His power rose to match hers.

The temperature dropped twenty degrees as energy gathered around him like a cloak.

"Hello, Aunt Demeter. Still bitter about Mother choosing to stay with Father?

Or is this about something else? Your desperate need to control everything around you, perhaps? "

"Such disrespect," a new voice tutted as one of the others stepped through the broken door. "Is this what becomes of divine princes when they mingle with mortals? No wonder the council is concerned."

"The council can kiss my pregnant ass," I snapped as I tried to move around Aidon.

Mom and Stella grabbed my arms, keeping me in place.

"Who are you people to decide what's an abomination?

Last I checked, Zeus turned himself into literally everything under the sun to seduce mortals, but my babies are somehow the problem? "

"And let's not forget all those half-divine children running around ancient Greece," Nana added tartly. "Funny how those weren't a problem before this prophecy came about. Prophecies are nothing but trouble if you ask me."

"This isn't about old grievances or past dalliances.

" Demeter's voice crackled with authority.

"These children of yours - this unholy union of divine and mortal magic - are an affront to natural law. That is why they threaten everything, even Olympus itself. The council has convened. The old powers must remain bound. If they don’t the very fabric of reality could unravel. "

"The only thing that's going to unravel," Aidon growled, "is anyone who threatens my family.

" The temperature dropped further as black electricity crackled around him.

This wasn't the usual darkness of his Underworld power.

This was something deeper and more primal.

It spoke of a father's love and determination to protect what was his.

"You've gone soft," Demeter spat. "Corrupted by mortal emotions. The Aidon I knew would never allow himself to be weakened by such... attachment."

"The Aidon you knew didn't understand what was truly worth fighting for.

" His power condensed into something almost solid.

It made both women with her step back nervously.

"Love hasn't weakened me, Demeter. It's shown me what real strength is.

I would tear Olympus apart myself before I let anyone harm them. "

I felt a sudden rush of connection to other mothers across town.

Rebecca's consciousness brushed mine first, her presence warm and supportive.

Others followed, their minds linking through the network Sarah's midwives had helped establish.

Their combined strength flowed into me, making the mark pulse with renewed power.

“We stand with you,” Rebecca's thoughts came clearly from the bedroom upstairs where she was resting. “ The Keepers tried to bind our magic, but the connection grows stronger every day. We can feel your babies' power helping us break free.”

“She's right,” another mother chimed in. I recognized her voice as the owner of a local bakery. “ My protective spells are twice as powerful when we work together.”

“Let them try to bind us again,” a third voice added fiercely. “ We know the truth now. We know our real strength.”

Demeter's eyes narrowed as she studied the web of energy linking us.

Divine power gathered around her like heat shimmer on a summer day.

"You've already begun it. The restoration.

The awakening." Her perfect features twisted with something close to fear.

"I cannot allow this to continue. The old barriers exist for a reason. Without them..."

"Without them, what?" Nina stepped forward as her power flared. She must have seen something in the goddess's aura because she gasped and her smile turned wicked. "You're afraid," she observed.

" The Council fears what your children herald .

" Tarja projected her comment to everyone.

" It's not just their power they fear. It's what your babies represent.

These little ones are proof that divine and mortal magic can blend and grow stronger together.

They're the first notes of a new song, one that bridges worlds that have been separate for far too long.

The gods aren't ready for that kind of change. "

"Foolish familiar. You understand nothing of balance. Or the forces that must be kept in check."

"Actually," Jean-Marc called out from the doorway to the kitchen, "we understand more than you think." He stepped into the room with a grim but determined expression. My heart leaped into my throat as I worried Demeter was going to strike him down.

Mom moved forward. I hadn’t even realized she’d walked away.

She was holding up an old text we'd found in Hattie's library.

Its leather binding was cracked with age, but the symbols embossed on its cover still glowed with power.

"The prophecy was never about remaking the world," she said firmly.

"It's about restoring balance. The separation between divine and mortal was artificial.

It was a construct created to maintain power structures that should have crumbled ages ago. "

"These texts," she continued, carefully opening the book to reveal pages covered in shimmering script, "speak of a time when divine and mortal magic flowed together naturally.

When mothers could protect their children without interference from gods or Keepers.

Precisely like Gaia intended. The First Song wasn't meant to be bound or controlled.

It was meant to flow freely so it could maintain the balance between all forms of magic. "

"Lies," one of the women spat. "Mortal propaganda meant to-"

"Meant to what?" Nina interrupted. "Tell the truth you've been trying to hide? I can see it in your aura. You're not even a real Keeper. You're just another puppet they've enlisted to maintain their control."

Pain suddenly ripped through me, doubling me over.

It was different from the previous false labor.

This was deeper. Clio rushed to my side, her healer's warmth flowing through me where her hands touched my shoulders.

Even her magic felt strained and uncertain.

The babies' power surged and overwhelmed the mark's protective barriers.

Energy exploded outward in a wave that made everyone stagger. An emptiness followed that.

The connection to the other mothers vanished like a cut thread. Aidon's power dissipated into ordinary darkness. Even Demeter's divine aura flickered and died. All magic in the house had simply... stopped.

"What's happening?" Mom's voice shook as she tried and failed to cast a simple light spell.