Page 24

“What am I supposed to do with you?” Lindi murmured, as she gently prodded the side of her baby’s face.

The strange little being sightlessly swiped the air to grasp her forefinger and likely cuddle it, only to miss and start falling forward towards the edge of the table.

Lindi quickly steadied them with her palm and pushed them back up so they wouldn’t hurt themselves and then wrapped her hand around their back.

They laid down, curled into her palm, and nuzzled.

She sighed as she ran her thumb back and forth over the top of their head to give them comfort. Sitting at her family’s wooden and rustic dining table, she pouted as she pressed her chin to the top of her fist.

She really had no idea what to do with them.

It’d been days since she’d brought them into the world, and they weren’t as bloodthirsty as she thought them to be. Well, kind of. She’d already discovered something about the smell of her fear set them off.

After she’d cleaned up the bloodied mess in her room and rested in her parents’ bed for the night, Weldir had eventually sent them back to her via his mist. She was a little ashamed to admit that she’d been so nervous about them biting her that they immediately launched like a bird of prey with a squawk.

Then guilt assaulted her when they slammed against the wall because she’d turned incorporeal as a fear response.

But they didn’t seem to mind, nor were they hurt, and they quickly got back to their feet and scuttled around sightlessly. She winced every time they head-butted the wall or the bed’s leg, but they’d stopped being feral.

Then they started making this cute little whine and her heart, even in her Phantom form, had exploded in sympathy.

She turned physical, and they whimpered as they ran straight for her. It was only when they were at her knees, since she’d lowered to be closer to their level, that they’d started snarling. She turned intangible once more, they settled, and then they started searching for her again.

When they lay down right where her scent was the freshest, she backed up and turned physical again. They didn’t attack, and she realised it was her wariness setting them off.

Which made her wonder why they’d brutally bitten her multiple times when she gave birth. The only answer had been because of the blood, and she’d later nicked herself with a knife to test that theory.

She’d been right. They grew enraged, but they quickly settled when she removed the evidence of blood.

Since then, all her fear had faded, and she’d been careful not to injure herself. Due to these precautions, not once had they been a violent little thing.

“You’re actually rather sweet,” she murmured as the corners of her lips curled upwards slightly.

As if they wanted to answer in confirmation, they gripped her thumb and curled what they could of their small body around it like it was a doll.

Within seconds, they fell asleep. That’s all they did.

They sought her so they could lay any part of their heated body against her skin and take a nap.

They didn’t seem to want to eat, even when she offered them every vegetable she could find throughout the village.

They didn’t drink water. Actually, they’d squealed in protest at its coolness when they’d knocked the bowl over and it had emptied on top of them.

They just wanted her, and to sleep.

“Surely you eat,” she stated, her confidence on that matter waning over the past few days. “Perhaps I should try meat, since you go feral over blood.”

The issue regarding that was... all her family’s farm animals had been taken by the other villagers, so they didn’t cruelly starve, and she felt just downright awful about stealing what little people did have.

Lindi knew she should let go of her morals regarding this, considering she had a baby to feed.

Her breasts had never evolved to give them anything, but she couldn’t shake the nagging in the back of her mind.

Her child also never indicated they were actually hungry, and when she pressed her ear to their stomach, there was no grumbling. Just the sound of a teeny tiny heartbeat and a set of little lungs to go with it.

Over time, she’d begun to see them as delicate and incapable – a creature in need of a mother’s love – and she’d been warming up to it quickly. They needed her, they wanted her, and they were openly affectionate.

She wanted to give them everything she could in return.

Lindi turned her head to look outside the window overlooking the garden and then further to the farm. Beyond that, though, the half-built fence her father had started was a glaring eyesore on the beauty of her family home.

Worse still, with everything she knew now, it wouldn’t have mattered. After having encountered Demons, with how strong and violent they were, what her father had been building would never have been enough to keep what was truly out there at bay.

If they continued to grow in numbers and actually pass over the desert with ease... humans could see themselves being eradicated. This village would be decimated within a night.

What a horrible thought.

With unease licking at her stomach, she took her hand away from her child and they instantly woke up.

They sat up, and their body sagged as if they were gooey, despite how their head stayed upright.

With their butt firmly down, their legs bent and out in front of them, and the backs of their hands against the table, they turned their head to the sounds of her voice.

“There’s a stream nearby,” she told them. “The last person who lived here brought some nets, so maybe I can catch you some fish.” She rubbed the top of this strange creature’s oval head. “Would you like that, little one? Some fishy fish?”

They gave a happy chittering coo at her and spun to walk on all fours.

She smiled at herself, surprised that she had the urge to babble at them. Then again, all they could do was smell, feel, and hear her, so a part of her wanted to fill all the senses they did have. They seemed to like her voice, and a part of her found it soothing to talk to them.

“Alright, let’s go then,” she said, scooping them into her hands.

She went to the room that had once been hers and opened the clothing chest that she’d dug out when she first arrived here. The last occupant had discarded it in the corner under house- repairing materials and her efforts to unearth it while heavily pregnant had been a pain.

With her baby attached to the crook of her neck, she changed into a blue dress and cream apron she had stored in her plain wooden chest. Then she obtained a basket for collecting herbs and vegetables from the personal garden and placed the net inside it.

She tapped the toes of her boots against the porch to make sure her feet were sitting right inside them, then shielded her eyes against the sun when she looked up.

A cool breeze billowed around her, lifting her dress around her calves and making her shiver.

The trek to the stream wasn’t too far into the thick forest that bordered her home, about a forty-five-minute brisk walk, but it was completely out of view from others. Her home was the closest to it, and at the beginning of its rush, gifting her parents’ farm the best access to it.

The walk was easy, as it’d always been, and Lindi knew the way perfectly. Six years hadn’t changed what had been ingrained into her memory from her childhood.

Before long, she came upon the wide, relatively shallow riverbed.

It would only come to her hips at the deepest point, unless the area flooded.

Loose large rocks made a path from the water to the grass and shrubs that surrounded it.

Tall trees reached their branches across the river, shading it from both sides while leaving a sparkling centre of sunlight where it was deepest.

The air smelt dewy from the moss that clung to the bases of trees and rocks, and the sound of fast-moving water rushed in her ears as she placed the basket down on the grass.

Quick to untie the laces and remove her boots, she then placed her child on the ground next to her supplies. They immediately began to climb up the ruffled skirts of her dress, so she carefully unlatched them and placed them on the grass next to the riverbed.

After the third attempt, she puckered her lips in thought as they climbed their way to her hip. So clingy.

They always preferred to lie against her chest or the middle of her back, and she had a funny feeling it was due to her heartbeat. In some ways, she found it sweet that they sought that rhythmic sound.

This time, when she pulled them off, she knelt down next to them and put her hands out.

A shimmering black barrier formed, the particles so small it almost appeared like mist. It was flat like a disc, and she concentrated to see if she was able to change its shape.

With her fingertips dancing just near the edges, she pushed, and they began to fold.

A triumphant smile curled her lips. She’d never tried to change the shape of the barrier before and was pleased to find it was working. In some ways, she was still new to Weldir’s magic, and she amazed herself every time she managed to wield it well.

Within a few minutes, she sculpted a dome around her child. She made sure they were able to breathe and unable to escape, pleased that she was able to reach in at will just in case she needed to. She petted them reassuringly before jumping back to her feet.

They head-butted it, then let out a feeble honk of protest. To calm them, she removed her apron so they could lie upon her scent.

Then she rolled up her sleeves, tied the skirts of her dress up near her hips to bare her legs, and picked up the small net from her basket. When her toes touched the water as she stepped in, she gave a squeal.

“Oh gosh! That’s surprisingly cold!” Goosebumps spread up her legs as she walked further into the water until it was up to her knees. “You better be thankful for this, little one!”