Page 37 of Wicching Hour (The Sea Wicche Chronicles #3)

THIRTY-SEVEN

Everyone Is a Little Distracted

I ’m pretty sure my heart stopped. What!

His brown furrowed. This is what comes of mating. I thought you knew. Your mate and great-uncle seem to know.

What? I thought back over the last couple of days: looks between the two of them, grabbing things from me, keeping me from climbing on things… How did they know if I didn’t?

Dad patted my knee. I don’t know about the wicche, but a gestating woman’s scent changes. It’s quite subtle at first, but if he’s paying attention—and he seems to be—he’d notice. Dad placed his hand on my lower abdomen and closed his eyes again. She’s a tiny ball of cells right now. I believe she’s going to be a she, but it’s far too early to know. Rest assured. She seems to be coming along on her journey quite nicely.

Your immediate concern is not her, he continued. It’s this gunman and the sorcerer. What are you doing about those threats?

I tried my best to put babies and motherhood and terror out of my mind to concentrate on the immediate danger. We’re having a planning session tonight. I’m hoping we’ll go out afterward to hunt for her.

He nodded slowly, thinking. I need you to do something for me.

I waited.

I’m going to teach you how to project an image of yourself. When you go to confront that sorcerer and her demon, I want you in the ocean where I can see to your protection.

But I’ll need to use my magic to overpower her.

Whereas I need you not to die. He put his hands on either side of my head. There was a flash of white in my head and then he was pulling his hands away. I would have rather you built up the ability to do that on your own, but time is an issue. I won’t lose my daughter and granddaughter tonight. The queen will need to understand.

The strange, scattered feeling I’d been struggling with was gone. My thoughts felt laser focused.

Form a picture of yourself in your head. Down to the smallest detail, it is a mirror image of you.

I did.

Now, picture yourself standing on your deck. You know it like the back of your hand. Picture yourself there. Do you see it?

Closing my eyes, I pictured myself in these clothes, standing on my deck. I nodded.

What do you see?

The tentacles and railing, the beautiful weathered gray wood.

No, he said, his hand covering my closed eyes. Don’t imagine what you might see. Open your eyes up on the deck and tell me what you see.

What do you mean? I can’t. I’m down here. An image of myself can’t see.

Magic, daughter. You are made of magic. Do you think I’m sitting here with you right now? No. My physical form is in the ocean north of Ireland, but you can feel my hand over your eyes. You can hear my words in your mind. You felt my magic clear your thoughts, pushing out those demonic voices. Remember, we impose our will over the natural world and our will is magical. Now, on the deck, open your eyes and tell me what you see.

I saw the people I expected standing around, but I knew I wasn’t really seeing them. I was imagining what I’d see if I could. I reached up and pulled down his hand to look at him. I don’t know how.

Of course you do. I just explained it. Project part of yourself above the water onto your deck.

As that instruction felt lacking, I thought about it. Now that my head was clear, it didn’t seem so impossible. I’d done something similar before. I’d connected with Declan so I could watch the Alpha challenge and help him not die when Logan cheated.

I felt a twinge of guilt, as I still hadn’t told Declan I’d helped after promising I wouldn’t. Shit. I had to tell him now, didn’t I? Never mind. Not thinking about that. Just thinking about projecting part of my consciousness forty feet away.

Hands clasped together, I pushed my magic up and out of the water. I felt myself bobbing on the surface and heard a voice saying, “How is this not freaking you out? She could be drowning.”

“Arwyn’s fine,” I heard Declan say. “She doesn’t drown.”

Wilbur swan up beside me and tried to nudge my shoulder, but his snout went through me. Right. Okay. I’m here, treading water in the ocean. I can see and hear. My body is real and solid. Seals shouldn’t be able to pass through it.

When Wilbur tried again, his snout booped me instead. Okay, magic. Could I cast a spell in this state? Holding my hand under water, I directed a funnel of seawater to shoot straight up. It did. I’d thought if it worked at all, it might go a few inches. Instead, it shot ten feet in the air.

Declan, no doubt noticing the jet of water, leaned over the rail. He saw me and grinned. “Look who’s back. We were getting nervous.”

“You weren’t,” I said.

His head tilted to the side. “What did you say?”

It was like those horrible nightmares where you can’t scream. I cleared my throat, thought about vocal cords and breath and then said again, “You weren’t worried about me.”

“I’m always worried,” he said, “but I’ve seen you do this trick before.”

I laughed. “You haven’t seen this trick before.”

His brow furrowed. “Are you okay?”

I considered the latest revelations and the fact that he knew before I did. Is that why he invited me to live with him? My heart sank.

He turned around said something to someone and then next thing I knew, he was diving off the deck. When he surfaced and tried to pull me into his arms, I panicked, lost concentration, and was back in my body on the ocean floor.

I heard my name shouted.

You should go , Dad said. He’s afraid something’s happened to you. Use your earrings tonight. Let me know what’s going on. And practice so you don’t drop your shadow when you’re distracted or frightened.

I will. Thanks, Dad. I kicked off and swam up, surfacing beside Declan.

Eyes wild, he grabbed onto me. “You disappeared.”

“I did. I’ll explain later.” Wrapping my arms around his neck, I whispered in his ear. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” he whispered back, working harder to stay afloat than I had to.

“Dad said I was pregnant and that you knew.” Was this the most important thing to be discussing right now? Actually, yes. It was. I’d deal with the sorcerer and the stalker and whatever else got thrown at me. A baby, though, was life-altering and forever.

Could I do this on my own? Yes. I wasn’t struggling. I wasn’t a teen being preyed upon by a family member or an older neighbor. I was a successful adult who owned my own business. I made good money and worked from home. Did I want Declan in his child’s life? Also yes, but I didn’t want it to come from a place of guilt and sacrifice.

He pulled back to look in my eyes, his large hand cradling my midsection. “Are you sure?”

I saw wonder and joy in his expression, and a tight, scared knot in my chest began to ease. “Dad says so, but I’ll do a test. He says she’s just a little ball of cells right now, but he believes she’ll be a girl.”

His gaze went glassy with sudden tears. “One of those guest rooms will need to be a nursery.” He hugged me tight. “And I need to start designing a crib.”

“Dad said you and Bracken knew.”

He leaned back to look at me again and shook his head. “No. I wondered but was afraid to get too happy about it. You weren’t acting like yourself. Your scent has changed, subtly so, but that could have been new hair stuff or soap. When you said you thought Cal had found a way in to mess with you, my heart cracked a little.

“We’ve never discussed children,” he continued. “I had no idea if you even wanted them, given everything you’ve gone through in life. What if we have another little seer?”

I laughed, suddenly ready to burst. “Well, at least she’ll have a mom who knows what’s happening and how to navigate. I can teach her all the things I had to figure out on my own.”

He kissed me and I gave into the moment of joy. We’d be plotting and planning soon enough. We needed this now.

Wilbur nudged me again. I broke from Declan on a laugh. “Okay. We’re going.” He booped my stomach and I petted his head. I had a feeling the ocean would be quite protective of me for the next nine months. Wait.

“How long are wolves pregnant?”

Declan’s brow creased. “Natural wolves are pregnant for roughly two and a half months. Why?”

“Hmm, wicches are the typical human nine. I have no idea what the fae term is. I need to ask my mom if her pregnancy with me was normal.” Wilbur bumped me again. “Okay. Okay. Later. Sorcerer and stalker now.”

We swam to the rope. Declan took my arms, moved me to his back, and linked my arms around his neck. “Hold on.” He climbed it quickly and we were back on the deck.

Jake and Tyler, who had probably heard our whole conversation, even with the whispering and the sound of the waves, were on either end of the deck, looking out toward the road. Bracken sat beside Hernández.

“There,” he said. “She’s right as rain. No need to worry. Little Arwyn has always been safe in or near the ocean.”

Hernández’s naturally tanned skin was looking a little green. “I was watching the water and I kept unconsciously holding my breath, waiting for you to surface.” She shook her head. “I didn’t realize I had a drowning phobia.”

“I’m sorry but I really am fine,” I assured her, sitting on her other side. “I don’t think I can drown. My father even took away the headache I used to get when I went long periods without breathing.” I looked past her at Bracken, who seemed fascinated by this new information. “Dad said he didn’t know I was having that problem, that the headaches were because of my wicche blood.”

Bracken nodded. “Perfectly understandable that he’d resent and blame us. We kept him from his child and children are hard to come by among the fae.”

I gave him a suspicious look at that. Dad had said that Bracken knew too. My great-uncle just smiled serenely and leaned back against the bench.

I held out my hand. “Okay. What have you got for me?”

Declan told Hernández and Bracken to move to another bench, that they were too close and might interfere in my reading. He was such a good assistant.

“It’s a paper coffee cup,” Hernández said. “It was used this morning.”

I nodded and she dropped it into my hand.