by Bonnie Lamer
Putting my hands on my hips, I growl, “Would you like me to give them back their ability to wail until our ears bleed, or are you just taking your crabbiness out on me?” I will take her ensuing silence as a confirmation of the latter.
Isla turns to Kallen. “Call Kegan and Adriel back. They can be added to the roster. Alita may not be able to exorcise them, but her eyes will be enough help.”
I’m not comfortable with this. “Do you really think that’s good for her right now?” Alita is five months pregnant. Repeatedly being scared by vengeful spirits doesn’t seem like it would be good for the baby.
“She is pregnant, not feeble,” Isla says dryly.
I barely restrain from rolling my eyes. “I don’t think she’s feeble. I’m worried about the vengeful spirits scaring her repeatedly.”
Isla presses her lips together in consideration. Finally, she says, “I believe she is made of sterner stuff than that. We will address it if it becomes an issue.”
“Why am I concerned about vengeful spirits?” Alita asks as she and Kegan come through the terrace door. Perfect timing. They were already on their way home.
At the same time, Kegan says, “Jackass, we were already here.” His words are meant for Kallen who is smirking. I eye my husband suspiciously. I suspect he saw them through the terrace door and sent Kegan a mental message anyway. Will they ever stop harassing each other? Probably not. To Isla, Kegan says, “I will stand guard, but Alita is not going to be anywhere near this place. She can stay with her parents.”
Narrowing her eyes at her overprotective husband, Alita says dryly, “I would at least like to know what is going on before you send me packing.” She is losing patience with her beloved husband. He has been tripping over himself to keep her from doing anything since learning she is pregnant. Kegan has a serious case of the worries if she lifts things, eat things that could give her heartburn, stands up for too long, sits down for too long, doesn’t sleep long enough, is near anything that could possibly upset her and the list goes on. It’s sweet, but I can see how it would get annoying. As Isla said, Alita is pregnant, not feeble.
Once again, the story is shared. I’m getting so used to repeating it, there is barely any inflection in my voice anymore. When I am finished, I say, “So, I was concerned about the spirits scaring you.”
With an annoyed glance at Kegan, Alita says, “I could use a bit of excitement to keep me sane.”
“You being scared constantly cannot be good for the baby,” Kegan insists, echoing my sentiments from a few minutes ago. Looking back at my words, I probably overreacted like he is doing right now.
Hands on her hips, the usually docile Alita snarls, “Who says I will be scared?”
“They are vengeful spirits. Their whole point of existing is to be scary!” Kegan’s voice begins to rise on the last words.
Taking a step closer to him, Alita jabs him in the chest with her index finger. “You. Are. Driving. Me. Crazy!” The rest of us are stunned into silence. Alita is never upset. Especially not with Kegan. In fact, she is the only one who never gets upset with Kegan. But, her being upset is not what stuns us into silence. It is the fact that Kegan goes flying backwards from a burst of magic with the last jab of her finger. He is now sprawled on the floor across the room, his mouth making a perfect O.
Kallen is the first one to break the silence. He starts laughing. I have to put a hand over my mouth so I don’t join him. I elbow my gorgeous husband in the ribs hoping to make him stop or I won’t be able to hold out. It’s pointless, though. Garren and even Dagda let out their own guffaws.
Dagda walks over and extends a hand to help Kegan up. “That is some powerful child percolating in there,” he says with a snicker.
Something I didn’t know until Alita’s pregnancy is that the magic of a Fairy baby circulates through the mother during pregnancy. Alita’s own magic is weak due to her blood being so diluted by her Cowan ancestry. Since Kegan also has Cowan blood, it was feared that the baby would not have much magic, if any. Those were needless fears. Isla’s strong bloodline runs through Kegan and the baby and it has held true. The baby seems to be favoring his father instead of his mother magic-wise. So, every once in a while, Alita will let loose a burst of magic she is not used to having. Nor can she control it. It comes with the ups and downs of her hormone fueled emotions. Kegan is generally on the receiving end of it, though it’s not usually out of anger. Usually frustration. Which often has to do with his unwillingness to have her upset by anything or for her to do anything, but not always. Earlier today, he bent to pick up something she stumbled over on the beach due to some temporary pregnancy clumsiness. Frustrated by her protruding belly and changing center of gravity, Alita sent a burst of magic at the offending rock just as Kegan’s head was in range. He ended up with a bloody nose and a black eye. Alita burst into tears and apologized to him the entire time I was healing him. The other day, Kegan put her in an orange dress, a color which he was supposed to know she hated. Annoyed, Alita borrowed some of the baby’s magic to attempt to change it to a color she did like and ended up transferring the offending orange color to Kegan’s face. Not knowing how to reverse the magic, Kegan had to walk around with his skin that color until he could convince his bemused cousin to reverse the magic. He didn’t trust me to do it and Kallen was the only other person home at the time. Can’t say that I blame him about not wanting me to do it, I probably would have made it worse. So, really, if anyone should be concerned about how they are going to survive the pregnancy sane and in one piece, it should be Kegan, not Alita.
Getting to his feet, Kegan is more pride than irritation, though, in regards to his child’s magical prowess. “He sure is.”
“She is,” Alita counters icily. They don’t actually know the sex of the baby. There are spells which could tell them, but they have decided not to find out until the baby is born. That does not keep them from claiming to know and bickering about it, though. Suddenly, Alita’s expression changes. Eyes going wide, she forgets about her annoyance with her husband. She is getting her first look at a vengeful spirit.
“Where the hell are these things coming from?” Dagda demands as he wraps the thing in magic. “They cannot be from the village. There would have been reports of this many spirits. Not to mention, any Fairy in their right mind would have simply exorcised them.” Proving his point, he goes on to say the exorcism spell. He gives Mom and Dad a quick glance to be certain they are okay when he is finished.
I hadn’t really thought about that, but he’s right. There is no way all of these vengeful spirits are Fairies. They must come from somewhere that is void of magical beings. Especially the really old ones. “Could some of them come from the land of Giants?” I ask. That is the only area in the Fairy realm that does not have magical beings inhabiting it. And some of the Giants are jackasses. I could see a vengeful spirit or two lingering down there. Only one or two, though. Definitely not all we have seen in the last hour. If they had this many, I assume they would have contacted Dagda for help getting rid of them.
“Perhaps,” Dagda says. “I will have Sindri contact them.” Sindri, his long suffering assistant.
Wrapping a protective arm around his wife’s shoulders, Kegan asks, “Are you okay?” Alita’s ‘stop treating me like a child or I am going to show you just how much magic this baby inside me has’ look makes him drop his arm back to his side and step away from her.
“There must be some sort of portal,” Kallen says thoughtfully. “Assuming they cannot simply traverse the fabric of the realms, as they never have before, they must have found some sort of portal.” Unless they simply never wanted to traverse the fabric of the realms before. Then again, if I was a spirit about to be exorcised, I would certainly try anything to prevent it. Including jumping realms.
Dagda and Isla both nod in agreement. “I will have the palace guards begin a search of the area,” Dagda says.
“It is likely close to the house,” Isla agrees.
�
�Okay,” I begin, “then maybe my idea of a vengeful spirit grapevine isn’t so crazy. They must be communicating with each other. How else would they know where to go and why they want to go in the first place?”
“There does seem to be some sort of communication occurring,” Isla acknowledges almost unwillingly. Glad I could drag it out of her.
“I will begin a list of items to be researched by the scribe,” Dagda announces. He holds out his hand and after a second, he frowns deeply at it. I felt him pull magic. I assumed he was creating a piece of paper and a pencil to make his list. So did he, I believe. Pulling more magic, he tries again. His hand remains empty.
My attention is caught by my newest Familiar. Nose suddenly in the air, Felix takes off at a run for the terrace. He flies through the door and I hear him growling. In frustration. Trotting back into the house after a moment muttering under his breath, he rejoins Taz who is looking at him like he’s crazy. “Jumpy?” Taz asks his cohort. Felix’s response is unintelligible. I am certain it was on purpose. I do not believe he has good words waiting to leap from his tongue at the moment. What is wrong with him tonight? Maybe he had horrible experiences with vengeful spirits in his universe and he’s spooked. Considering how evil his Xandra was, I wouldn’t be surprised if she kept them as pets.
Also noticing Felix’s strange behavior, Kallen whispers in my ear, “Is he okay?”
I shrug. “I don’t know,” I respond honestly. I am getting worried, though.
Clearing his throat, Dagda gives up on creating a pad and pencil. “As it appears we have more questions than answers, I will return to the palace to have the scribe begin her research. Starting with the possibility that vanquishing these vengeful spirits may somehow hamper a Fairy’s ability to perform magic afterward.”
“I knew there was something fishy about my magic being weaker. I’m not that old,” Tabitha muses happily to herself.
“Tana and I will return in the morning to take a shift protecting Adriel, Jim and Julienne.” Tana is going to love that assignment. Mom’s current expression will be mirrored on the Fairy’s face when they arrive in the morning. With a glance to Mom and Dad, Dagda adds, “We will leave Zac in the capable hands of his tutor and the palace guards.”
Dad nods. “That will be fine.”
When Dagda leaves, I look around the room. “Who wants the first shift?”
“Garren and I will take the first shift,” Isla says. “I want more time to study the situation up close.” Garren’s only response is a resigned sigh. Once Isla has her teeth in something, there is no changing her mind whether he wants to do it or not. Any thoughts he had of going to bed are dashed. “If we need assistance, we will call. I suggest you get as much sleep as possible.” These last words are meant for Kallen and me.
It still amazes me how freely our sex life is referenced. For that was clearly a message to sleep and nothing else. I open my mouth to let loose a snarky retort, but Kallen gently takes my arm and steers me from the room. “Let it be,” he mumbles. “She is worried.”
“Me too, but I’m not telling her and Garren not to have sex,” I grumble loudly. If Isla hears me, she doesn’t say anything.
“At least you are having sex,” a soft voice murmurs behind us in the hall.
I stop and turn wide eyes to Alita. She never talks about sex. She is way too shy to talk about it even with me and Adriel, let alone with Kallen present. I think I like her pregnancy hormones if they bring her out of her shell more. “You guys aren’t having sex?”
Kegan, who is at his wife’s elbow, turns a shade of red that only those who have reached the very depths of humiliation can turn. “I do not want to hurt the baby,” he says defensively.
Kallen snorts. “Even I know you can have sex during a pregnancy.”
On the verge of tears now, Alita whines, “I believe it has more to do with him thinking I am fat and unattractive.” Okay, maybe I don’t like her pregnancy hormones.
Completely taken aback, Kegan stares at his slim figured wife with a small basketball in the middle. Alita has always been waifish and pregnancy has not changed that. I personally think she looks adorable and could even stand to gain a few pounds. From the way Kegan is shocked by her words, I suspect he does, as well. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he tells Alita, “You are more beautiful now than the day I married you and I didn’t believe that was possible.” He pulls her close. “I am such an idiot.”
“A fact which never changes,” Kallen adds unhelpfully and I swat his arm.
“They are having a moment,” I say out of the corner of my mouth.
Stepping back from her husband, Alita says stiffly, “I am being silly and you do not need to appease me. I just hope you find me attractive again someday.”
“Will you be that crazy when you are pregnant?” Kallen whispers close to my ear.
I shrug. “Probably,” I whisper back.
Bursting into tears, Alita turns and runs up the stairs. “Alita!” Kegan calls after her and takes the stairs two at a time to catch up to her.
I shake my head. “Please tell me you won’t be as big of an idiot as your cousin is when I am pregnant. In the way distant future. I mean way, way distant future.”
Sighing, Kallen says, “I wish I could assure you of that, but as much as I love to tease my cousin, I fear I will someday share his current state of idiocy.”
3 Chapter
In our room, I flop down on our bed. Kegan and Alita apparently made up by the time we reached the top of the stairs because they were making out in front of their bedroom door. I am beginning to suspect that pregnancy gives a woman a serious case of ADD because Alita’s moods never seem to last long. “I bet they have sex tonight,” I muse. Not that it’s any of my business. Nor do I want to really think about it.
“If my cousin has half a brain,” Kallen agrees. He has removed his shirt and my eyes are tracking him as he walks toward the bed. His rock hard abs and muscular arms never fail to send heat shooting through me. How in the hell did I get so lucky? His chiseled features, his gorgeous smile and passionate green eyes, his muscular body, they are all just window dressing for the part of him I really love, though. His soul. Not that I mind the window dressing at all. But it is nothing without the Fairy underneath who is wickedly intelligent, makes me laugh, drives me crazy with lust and passion and is a match to my soul in every way. I can no longer imagine a life in which we never found each other. A part of me is even grateful to Dagda for going off the deep end for a while. If he hadn’t, Kallen wouldn’t have been sent to protect me and I never would have found my perfect husband. I hold my arms out to him. He doesn’t hesitate to come to me. When our lips meet, I am lost to all other thought processes. My mind only registers the tingling of my lips as our passion ignites. “I love you,” I murmur.
“Not nearly as much as I love you,” he teases.
“And I love neither of you,” Taz grouses from the floor. “Next time, close the door.”
I may be the color Kegan was downstairs. Glancing over Kallen’s shoulder, I see that we did indeed leave the door wide open. At least it was just Taz and Felix who discovered us about to have sex with the door open. With a loud, annoyed groan, Kallen rolls to his side and sends a burst of magic to slam the door closed. He nearly clips Felix’s tail in the process.
Sitting up, I observe my second Familiar. Even after getting his tail nearly snapped off, which I am not certain he even noticed, he is in a dazed state sniffing at the air. “Felix, what is going on with you tonight? You’re acting weird.”
Backing away guiltily, he says, “Nothing. Nothing is wrong.”
“Save it. There is something bothering you. What is it?”
“You are being stranger than normal,” Taz agrees. “Spill.”
Kallen hates these one sided conversations. “What is going on?” I hate that he is always left out but I don’t think there’s a spell to make him permanently understand my Familiars. The only one who could make it happen for a
short period of time was a Seraphim.
“I don’t know yet,” I tell him. Turning back to Felix, I say, “You might as well tell me because I will be relentless in my pursuit of information.”
The Tasmanian devil slumps to a sitting position. “You will believe me insane.”
“Probably,” Taz says unhelpfully.
“Taz, shut up,” I order. He must be as curious as I am because I only get the tiniest amount of grumbling from him.
Felix opens and closes his mouth several times before finally speaking. “There were creatures in my universe. Different creatures than appear to inhabit this one.”
Frowning, I ask, “What creatures.”
Shaking his head, Felix stalls again. “Truly, I am just imagining things.”
“Spill your guts before I find a way to steal every damn piece of bacon ever offered to you,” Taz growls.
Felix must be growing to love bacon as much as Taz because his threat does the trick. He begins to explain. “There were Pixies in my universe.”
“Pixies?” I repeat. I glance at Kallen who shakes his head.
“No such thing,” he assures me.
“There were in my universe,” Felix insists. “Some of the realms there seemed to be more advanced than the ones here. One of them was the Pixie realm.”
“Okay,” I say dubiously. “That would still mean there is a Pixie realm here somewhere but no one seems to know about it.” Then again, there is a dinosaur realm where Raziel used to take comfort from time to time. He liked their simple brains and lack of questions. I don’t know if anyone knew about that one before I ended up there with Raziel.
Reading my mind, Kallen says reluctantly, “It is possible there are unexplored realms. If there are no passageways, or at least, none that have been discovered leading to them.”
Narrowing my eyes, I say, “Then why are you all so quick to throw around the words ‘no such thing’ when I mention a type of being?”
“Because, my love, the possibility of no one discovering such passageways is too slim of a possibility to bother with generally. There have been millennia to find them,” he answers smoothly.
