by Helen Scott
“Understandable. I’m going to stay here and look into these abnormal hormone results, if you don’t mind? Leonard just noted that something was abnormal but didn’t bother to explain what, so now I have to dig through the test results and hope the Internet can help me with what they mean.”
“Fine by me,” Aster mumbled as she went back to staring out the window, trying to wrap her brain around the possibility of a life growing inside her. It made the dream Phobetor had given her that much more terrifying.
Cin appeared a few moments later and shoved a box into her hands. “Go pee on that.”
Questions still swam in her head, all without answer. This small plastic stick would at least provide one answer for sure.
“She doesn’t need to,” Robin said quietly.
“If we want to know if she’s pregnant, she does.” Cin put her hands on her hips.
Aster knew that her sister was ready to throw down based on her body language, and she really didn’t want two of the four women on the island to start fighting.
“You don’t understand.” The redhead sighed and closed the laptop. She pulled her glasses off and briefly wiped the lenses with the edge of her T-shirt, before putting them back on. “I can tell you.”
“No, you—”
“It’s part of my powers as a banshee.”
“I thought you only sensed impending death?” Aster butted in, needing to hear what her friend had to say, but terrified of it at the same time.
Robin nodded. “I do. My banshee scream is for the coming loss of life, but now that I’ve found my mate, my powers have expanded. If I sing, then it’s for the coming of new life.”
“Okay, but you’re not singing.”
“I did. Remember when we all had brunch a while back and my family was there? I walked in and started singing. What no one seemed to realize was that it was uncontrollable. My mom explained it to me and Hal. If I sing, then it’s because someone around me is either already pregnant or will become pregnant fairly soon.”
“How do you know it was me?” Aster said, standing and beginning to pace. “I mean, it’s not like I’m the only one having sex on this island.” She flushed as the statement came out.
“I know it’s you because I get a flash of images showing who it is. I saw you with your baby.” Her voice was soft as she spoke of Aster, before turning clinical. “The same thing happens when I scream. I can see who is about to die, and usually how, provided there is enough time.”
Aster stopped pacing. She stood, staring at Thad’s office wall. There were some beautiful photos that had been framed and hung to create a gallery of images. While she suspected they were meant to be calming, right now the images of the waves just reminded her of the churning in her head.
Suddenly it wasn’t just in her head.
“I’m going to puke,” she said, spinning around and running for the bathroom.
A while later, she came back out, having wiped the sweat from her forehead and made ample use of the mouthwash in the bathroom. This was not how she thought her life was going to go. She’d been on birth control up until she was taken, but she’d never restarted it when she came to the island. Could it be Dem’s baby? Her hand hovered over her stomach, remembering the vision Phobetor had sent her. Pain pierced her heart. She would never trap him with it if it was. When she came back into the room, Robin looked up from her laptop.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s not my place. I’ve tried warning people before, but it never works. You’re my first pregnancy, so I thought I should treat it like I did with the deaths. Sorry if I screwed up.”
“Can you tell me what you saw?”
“You were lying in bed, holding a baby all wrapped up in a big fluffy blanket.”
“Boy or girl?” The little girl from her vision danced inside her mind.
“Couldn’t tell. Sorry.” Robin’s eyes were shuttered, as though she was afraid of the repercussions of not telling Aster or knowing the answer to her questions.
Cin came back into the room, carrying a tray of crackers, juice, ginger ale, and water.
“I wasn’t sure what you’d want, so I brought a selection,” she said, gently kicking the door closed behind her.
Aster took the can of ginger ale and cracked it open, the hiss and click a familiar sound that calmed her. Sipping the fizzy liquid, she let the bubbles pop in her mouth for a moment before swallowing. Hopefully the ginger would ease her stomach so she could eat something.
“How are you feeling?”
“I have no idea. My head is swimming, and my body seems to be rebelling against me.” She sighed as she answered her sister’s question.
“That’s understandable.” Cin bit her lower lip, and Aster knew she wouldn’t like whatever her sister was about to say. “What if it’s Dem’s kid?”
“I was on birth control that weekend. It has to be something that Leonard implanted me with, right? Which also means I have no idea who the father is. Oh God! What if it’s Leonard’s? Or Randall’s?” Aster was shrieking by the end. She knew she should try and calm down, but she didn’t want to have a kid by either of those two, let alone if they used someone else’s sperm to fertilize the egg. Nausea rolled in her stomach, and she felt dizzy as her breath came in shallow gasps.
“Aster, you need to relax or you’re going to hyperventilate.”
Cin squatted in front of her. “Look at me. Breathe with me,” she said, taking slow deep breaths. Aster tried to mimic her, but just ended up feeling like she was suffocating.
Her breathing turned into audible gasping as she sucked in air at a fast pace.
Her sister turned. “Robin, can you get Hal?”
Moments later, as the tingling in her hands and feet became more noticeable and she was about to lose consciousness, Hal appeared.
He came over, and she looked at him with what she knew were probably wild eyes.
“Can you calm her down?” her sister asked in a clipped tone.
Hal nodded and took Cin’s place in front of her, taking her hands in his own. He was almost as tall as Dem, but where Dem was lean and muscular, Hal was broad. His wide shoulders filled her vision, and her hands disappeared in his own. A pulse of calming energy washed over her as she tried to focus on him. Her eyes felt like they were rolling around in her head, unable to stay fixed on anything.
Another big pulse of calming energy and this time, the world dimmed.
“She’s going to fall asleep. What the hell happened?”
Aster heard Hal say the words, but she couldn’t see him, couldn’t feel her hands in his anymore. She was weightless, and darkness claimed her, but this time, it was wonderfully empty.
Dem wandered around, waiting for his brother to come back. He’d showered after his flight and texted Thad that he could come over so they could talk about Phobetor. Thad had responded immediately that Dem should stay put and he’d be over soon. That was over an hour ago.
What the hell was going on over there? He desperately wanted to go over and demand answers, but he also knew that doing something like that could drive a wedge between him and Aster, which was not something he wanted, especially now that he understood how he felt about her. But was it a risk he was willing to take to make sure she was okay?
Indecision warred inside him. He knew at some point the desire to find out what had happened would outweigh the potential of Aster and Cin being mad at him, so he gave in early. Jumping into Thad’s living room, he was surprised to find his brother sitting on the couch, a worried expression on his face. Hal’s voice was muffled behind a closed door.
“I told you to stay put.” Thad glanced up at him.
“Yeah, well, you should have given me a little more to go on, then.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, so how can I tell you?”
“Where’s Aster?” The question burned inside his chest, like he needed to physically see her to make sure she was okay.
“Still in my office wit
h Cin, Robin, and Hal.”
“What the hell?”
“I wish I knew, Brother. Cin’s lips are sealed, and I haven’t seen Robin or Hal come out since they disappeared inside.” He shrugged.
“Then why don’t we figure out how to trap the god of nightmares? They obviously don’t want anything to do with us. At least, not yet.”
Thad nodded.
Dem ran a hand through his hair as he acknowledged something he hadn’t wanted to say aloud. “I just need to see her first. I need to be sure she’s okay.”
“You can try, but I doubt they’ll let you in.”
He stalked over to the closed door, knocking lightly. It cracked open, and Cin’s purple hair appeared before him. She turned and faced him, surprise showing on her face, and the door inched closed a little more.
“What do you want, big brother?” she asked as she held the door firmly closed.
“She okay? I need to see her,” he growled, trying to mask the desperation he felt.
“Now’s not a good time.”
“Cin, please.” He wanted to explain, but he didn’t want to betray Aster’s trust.
Her bright hazel eyes studied him. There was something that was worrying her; he could see it in her stare. She sighed. “She’s unconscious, so you can see her. Don’t wake her up. She needs the rest.”
He nodded, and she opened the door wide enough for him to come through. Robin and Hal looked up as he entered, their eyes watching him carefully. He didn’t pay any attention to them, though. He only had eyes for his beautiful woman.
Aster was lying on the couch, her body limp and her eyes closed. He watched her chest move, counting her breaths, relieved when he saw they were slow and steady. Her blonde hair was a halo around her head, and her lips were parted slightly. She was pale, and he noticed the tray of crackers and drinks on the table next to her.
“Is she okay?” he whispered to his brother, emotion making his voice raw.
“As far as I can tell, yeah. She’s just catching up on some rest.”
He knelt beside her and ran a knuckle down her cheek, his chest tight when she didn’t move at all.
“I put her in a deep sleep. She’ll be out of it for a few hours, at least, maybe more, depending on what her body needs.”
There were a few golden strands covering her face, and he brushed them away. He knew they were all watching him, but he didn’t give a damn. They could judge all they wanted. He loved Aster and wasn’t going to shy away from that now.
He bent slowly and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before standing and walking out.
Thad was waiting for him in the hallway with one raised eyebrow.
“How is she?”
“Asleep. Apparently, she needs rest.”
Thad nodded and pierced Dem with his ice-blue eyes. “You’re finally owning up to those feelings, huh?”
Dem shrugged. “Won’t matter if we can’t get Phobetor to leave her alone.”
They walked out onto the patio. The air that greeted them was cool, the promise of autumn brushing against his skin.
“So what’s the plan?” Dem grunted, feeling a tug in his gut like he needed to go back to Aster.
Thad looked at him and smiled, but there was no warmth to it, sending the familiar shiver of impending battle down his spine.
Chapter 22
Aster woke up feeling like she’d been hit by a bus. Her stomach ached, her head was fuzzy, and she felt like she weighed a million pounds.
“Sip this.” Cin’s voice was soft by her ear.
Looking at her sister, she opened her mouth and sipped at the drink she held. Ginger ale. It all came flooding back. She was pregnant, but she didn’t know when or how that had occurred. Her life was officially the weirdest thing ever. She never would have predicted any of this for herself. Being locked up in a loony bin because of her visions? Sure. Becoming some kind of weird TV psychic? Maybe. Pregnant and living on an island with sirens after being kidnapped by a secret cabal who was trying to rid the world of magic? Not so much.
She glanced around the room. No one else was there. Robin and her laptop were no longer in the chair opposite her, and Hal, who she only vaguely remembered being there, was gone too.
“Thanks,” she croaked.
Cin’s earthy eyes were shuttered, and there was a hint of pain in them. “Look, I love Robin, and I don’t doubt her abilities, but I think you should pee on the stick, anyway. Magic is great and all, but it doesn’t hurt to verify it with science when we can.”
Aster nodded as a strange numb sensation grew within her, like all this was happening to someone else, not her, and she was just an observer. Cin walked her over to the oversized bathroom that connected to the pool area. The one she’d thrown up in earlier, which made her stomach roll again.
Handing her the plastic stick, her sister said, “I’ll be waiting right here.” She propped herself up against the wall in the short hallway, a tight smile on her face.
They both knew that if the test was positive, then everything about their lives would change.
As she finished up and put the cap over the used end, she placed the test on the sink. After pulling up her pants and washing her hands, she turned to pick up the test once more. Her hands began to shake as she saw two perfect pink lines in the window. Maybe this test was different from the others and two lines meant not pregnant? She rolled her eyes at herself.
She opened the door. Cin must have been able to see it on her face, because she didn’t even look at the test. She just wrapped Aster in a big hug. The tears came then, since she knew for sure her life was going to change monumentally in a few short months.
Questions began pounding at her brain. How long had she been pregnant? Who was the father? Where was she going to live? How was she going to take care of a baby? What would Julie think? What would Chloe think? And then there was Dem. His image floated in her mind. She was sure she’d lost him forever now. It wasn’t like a man with the kind of past he had would want to jump into a relationship with a pregnant woman. He had barely moved on from Isabeau. Now if she pursued him, she was asking him not only to welcome her into his life but her child as well. A child she knew nothing about.
She needed a plan. That was the only thing that was going to keep her sane.
As Cin’s hug eased from almost crushing to a light pat on the back, they wandered back into the office.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Her sister’s voice was gravelly with emotion.
“We probably should. I need to figure some stuff out and go to the doctor.” She sighed. “I wish there was some magic that could tell me everything I needed to know. How am I going to explain this to a medical professional?” A flush rose on her cheeks at the thought. Would they make her file charges? What if her ancestry interfered with their tests?
Cin sat and stared at the table in front of them.
“I’m sorry.” Guilt welled up inside her at the thought of taking something away from Cin. They had never talked about it, but she knew, by the simple fact that they were sisters, that Cin wanted to get married first and probably wanted to have kids first. Even though there were only a couple years separating them, she’d always thought of herself as Aster’s older sister, meaning that she always tackled challenges first.
Her sister’s eyes cut to hers. “Don’t you dare.” Her voice was sharp as a whip. “None of this is your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for.”
She nodded and brushed her hair away from her face. Her eyes were puffy and dry from the tears, but she knew if she wasn’t careful that she would just start crying all over again.
“Do you mind if I tell Ellie? I want to see if she has any magic that might help.”
“Everyone’s going to find out eventually, so no, but I want to be the one who tells Dem.”
“Are you two . . . ?”
“Not anymore.” She glanced down at her stomach, almost expecting it to be the quintessential baby bump now that she knew what was
in there. “I can’t risk the vision that Phobetor showed me coming true. Anything that may have been between us, well, it’s over now. I won’t tie him to me, to a child he never asked for and who is a mystery to both of us.” She knew her mouth was drawn in a grim line across her face, but she would fight with everything she had against that vision.
“Be right back.”
Aster felt like most of this day—or was it days? She had no idea how long she’d been asleep—had been mainly comprised of being overwhelmed by her emotions or her sister jumping out to get other people. She stared out the window and hugged herself, her arms wrapping tightly around her petite frame while she fought like hell to stay in control and not crumple into a heap of worry and despair.
Ellie was in the magic shop moments after Cin had explained the situation to her. The other woman had jumped her there before heading back to care for Aster. The poor thing, she couldn’t even imagine what she was going through. Before she got started, she checked the messages. There was an unusual request for a summoning crystal. Ever since she’d come to the USA to close her granddad’s magic shop, she’d been learning more about magic than she ever even imagined existed.
When Alec helped her open up the new location, they decided to keep it a ‘By Appointment Only’ kind of business. Sure, they weren’t really making a profit anymore, but the brothers owned the building and had paid it off years ago, so there was barely any overhead. It also meant that anyone who contacted her was someone who knew that there were different creatures in the world, or at the very least, that magic existed. Her job was to provide them with what they needed, as long as it wasn’t dangerous.
A summoning crystal was definitely dangerous.
She’d only encountered one since she became involved in the magical world, and that had been one that her granddad had tucked away in his old store, Speak o’ the Devil. Ellie had kept the name because it made her smile, but had made it clear that they handled only the regular customers and special orders now. Most people seemed to understand. The whole ‘under new management’ thing seemed to squash any objections they might have had.
