Page 34

"Hold on," Aidon growled. The SUV lurched as shadows enveloped us.

They allowed us to slip through the battle like smoke.

My knuckles went white as we emerged on the coastal road.

The Lighthouse's beam cut through the darkness ahead. Not for the first time, I wished we could just teleport. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter any other problems as we pulled into the parking lot ten minutes later.

"This place feels wrong," Nina muttered as we approached the weathered structure. "The magical currents are all twisted up. Like someone took a knife to them."

"They probably did," Selene said grimly. "If this is where they fractured the First Song..." She let her observation trail off. We had already learned that was precisely what they’d done.

We were almost to the entrance when a familiar presence washed over us like spring rain. Persephone materialized in a swirl of flower petals. My stomach twisted into a knot when I noted her grave expression. The vines around her wrists writhed with agitation.

" I found the ritual site," she said without preamble. "The place where they originally bound the First Song." She gestured to the lighthouse looming above us. "It's directly beneath us. They built this structure to hide and protect it."

"That’s why we’re here," I muttered as a cramp seized low in my belly. It was sharper than the magical Braxton Hicks I'd been dealing with. This one meant business.

I kept my breathing steady, refusing to let my face show the spike of pain. Because of-freaking-course my body would decide now was the perfect time to mess with me. The triplets' magic pulsed in time with the contraction. I prayed they weren’t trying to send an SOS through my uterus.

"You good?" Aidon asked as his eyes flicked to me.

"Peachy," I lied through gritted teeth. We had bigger problems to deal with. Like the mass of dark energy swirling around the Lighthouse ahead of us. "Let's just get this shit show over with. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be easy."

"Easy is boring," Nana quipped as her grip on her walking stick tightened. "Though I wouldn't mind slightly less dramatic for once."

A magical blast shattered the night. It forced us to duck behind a low wall. The destroyer faction had arrived. Their desperate energy crackled through the air like lightning.

"You cannot stop this," a voice called out. It held the weight of centuries and the brittleness of fear. "The power must remain bound. The bloodlines must be controlled. If the First Song returns in its entirety..."

"Then what?" I challenged. Making a decision, I dropped the concealment and let my mark's tricolored light shine freely.

"Magic will flow as it should? Mothers can protect their children? Your precious control slips away? News flash, asshole. You’re going to lose.

You cannot control powers of this magnitude.

They will always find a way to return to their natural rhythm. "

"You understand nothing," the voice spat. "The Song was fractured for a reason. Its power was too vast, too pure. It answered only to need and love and truth. There was no room for authority, or hierarchy, or proper order."

"Sounds perfect to me," Nina shot back with all of her teenaged sass. "You're just afraid of losing your power over others. I can see the corruption in your magical signatures. There are centuries of twisting something natural into chains."

"The arrogance of youth," another voice sneered. "You think you can understand forces that existed before the gods themselves?"

"No," I answered as the babies' power surged through me. "But I understand what it means to protect what matters. To fight for those you love."

A blast rocked our position, prompting me to cast a protection shield. The stone wall behind us groaned under the impact. Cracks spread like spider webs through the ancient masonry. The thing wasn’t going to last long.

"They're getting stronger," Nina warned in a low voice. "They’re drawing power from... oh shit. Mom, they're tapping into death magic. Old death magic."

"Lovely," Nana growled as her walking stick blazed with defensive spells. "Let's see how they like this." She lifted on her knees and tossed a glass vial before ducking.

The blast that followed would have torn through our cover, but Melaina's golden energy surged outward without warning. It caught their magic mid-flight and twisted it like a pretzel. To my utter surprise, she sent it screaming back at them where it joined Nana’s incendiary potion.

Their agonized shrieks echoed across the grounds.

"That's my girl," I whispered. I rubbed my belly where she kicked triumphantly.

"She's already protecting her family," Aidon said softly. His pride was evident. Then his expression hardened as more magical signatures approached. "But we can't stay here. They're calling in reinforcements."

"Okay, that was impressive," Stella admitted as she peeked over the wall. "There are a lot more incoming."

"The entrance is there," Persephone pointed to a section of wall that hummed with ancient power. "The wards are complex, but..."

"But they're based on the same principles as my mark," I finished for her when she trailed off. I pressed my hand against the wall, letting the babies' combined power flow through me. "They couldn't completely hide what they did here. The truth wants to be known."

I sent a pulse of magic through the stone. Ancient symbols blazed to life, matching the ones we'd been seeing everywhere. It took several seconds, and Stella, Mom, Nina, and Nana adding their spells for us to get past the wards. Stone ground against stone as a hidden door swung open.

"That's probably not good for the foundation," Nana observed dryly while tossing another potion that made the destroyers take off in the opposite direction.

"Hurry," Aidon urged as he helped me through. "They'll be back with reinforcements."

"They already are," Nina reported. Her eyes went distant before she shook her head and refocused. "And they're pulling power from somewhere or something."

"Then we better not waste any time," Mom said. "Lead the way, Persephone."

The goddess inclined her head and strode boldly across the grounds.

The passage led down into darkness. Aidon's power pushed back the shadows and lit our way better than any torch.

It showed us where to step, which turns to take, and how to avoid the magical traps laid centuries ago.

Each twist in the path brought us closer to something that made my mark pulse stronger.

"Anyone else feel that?" Stella asked as we descended deeper. "It's like standing next to a magical nuclear reactor."

"This is the original binding site," Persephone confirmed. "The power here has been building for centuries, trying to break free."

We emerged into a vast chamber that took my breath away. The ceiling soared overhead. It got lost in shadows that even Aidon's power couldn't fully penetrate. Archives lined the walls in towering shelves that seemed to stretch forever. There were thousands upon thousands of records.

Persephone snapped her fingers and flicked a firefly toward the shelves. The goddess’s eyes widened as the magical bug flittered all around. “These document magical bloodlines, pregnancies, and prophecies throughout history,” she breathed. There was awe on her face.

"Holy mother of filing systems," Stella whispered. "How are we supposed to find anything in this?"

"Look at these dates," Mom said after she pulled a tome from the nearest shelf. "These records go back to ancient Babylon. Maybe earlier."

"The Keepers have been manipulating bloodlines for that long?" Nina asked, her voice tight with anger as she scanned the magical frequencies. "The amount of suffering they must have caused..."

I barely heard them. My attention was fixed on what stood at the chamber's center.

It made my mark blaze like a supernova. The babies went absolutely still for the first time in months.

It was a ritual circle. It was ancient, elaborate, and covered the floor.

The symbols carved into it sang with familiar energy.

This was where it happened. Where they broke something fundamental to magic, all to maintain their control.

"Mom," Nina breathed, her eyes wide as she studied the magical currents. "We need to protect the babies."

I felt it too. Their tricolored light pulsed in perfect harmony with the ritual circle.

Each baby's distinct power reached out and connected with something ancient and vast. My bubble of protection left my lips at the same time everyone else cast one.

None of us were going to allow the slightest tendril of this power to hurt my babies.

"The First Song was never meant to be controlled," Persephone said softly. "It was meant to flow freely, connecting all forms of magic in perfect balance."

"And now it remembers," I whispered. "Through the babies, it remembers what it was meant to be."

A blast of power announced the destroyers' arrival. They poured into the chamber like a dark tide. Their movements were frantic and uncoordinated. And fear rolled off them in waves.

"Stop them!" their leader screamed. "The Song cannot be restored!"

But it was already happening. My babies' combined power had been preparing for this moment all along.

Nyssa's shadows danced with Thaniel's time manipulation while Melaina's golden energy wove it all together.

The mark blazed brighter than ever as ancient magic responded to something it recognized in my children's power.

The First Song was remembering what it was meant to be.

And there wasn't a force in heaven or earth that could stop it now.

Everything held its breath as the power built.

The very air thrummed with potential as centuries of artificial barriers began to crack.

Through it all, I felt my babies' joy as they helped heal something that should never have been broken. Magic was about to change forever.