Page 17 of Postpartum Spells & Infant Hells

Clio shook her head as she set the beads near the living room cribs. “Your power is too loud for this kind of work,” she corrected, meeting his stare without blinking. “If Ava’s protections are built to flee divine force, anchoring the shield to you may turn a cautious call into a slammed door.”

Stella’s pen moved across the notebook with a flourish. “Aidon is magically loud,” she narrated, shooting him a sunny smile when he cut her a look. “That is not criticism. It’s branding. We need to get you a shirt that says Loud and Proud.”

“You’re lucky Phoebe loves you,” Aidon growled. “Alright, what can I do to protect Phoebe?”

“What you’re doing right now,” Clio responded.

Mom joined Clio near the cribs. “The shield will hold better if Phoebe is touching something all three babies have loved,” she explained, glancing toward the basket of toys beside the couch.

Stella snapped her fingers and dove into the toy basket with a level of delight that did not fit the terror in the room, which was precisely why I loved her. “Sunshine chew toy,” she announced, holding up the yellow teether all three babies had slobbered on during the last week. “It has been adored, gnawed, thrown at Aidon’s head, and briefly worn by Thaniel as a bracelet.”

Aidon’s mouth twitched. “Thaniel’s aim was impressive,” he admitted, shifting Nyssa higher against his chest.

“My son weaponized a teether before he could sit unsupported,” I replied, taking the toy from Stella and closing my fingers around it. “Brings a tear to my eyes.”

Clio cast a protection spell over the babies. I felt it through my bond to them. Aidon moved to the rocking chair, keeping Nyssa in his arms. He was taking the need to be out of range for this seriously.

Turning back to the kitchen, I went to the island. The brass key burned warm in my pocket the moment the teether touched Mythia’s paper. The numbers shifted in the air above the page like heat rising from pavement. Selene inhaled sharply, and Mythia pressed one hand to her mouth. Stella’s grin faded into alert fascination while Nana stopped rocking.

“Well, that seems significant,” Stella whispered, then lifted her pen again with exaggerated caution. “I’m writing that the haunted note likes baby slobber.”

“Don’t call it haunted. She’s not dead,” I warned, reaching for my phone with my free hand. “I already hate this enough.”

“I'm staying back here out of range, but if anything comes through that line toward you or the babies, I won’t ask permission before ending it,” Aidon promised. He felt like a held blade, a locked door, and a storm ordered to wait at the shoreline.

“I would be disappointed if you didn’t,” I admitted.

Stella bounced beside me, then stilled when I shot her a look. “I’m calm on the inside,” she assured me, clutching her notebook to her chest. “The outside is simply enthusiastic about this new adventure.”

Nana lifted her chin toward the phone. “Call the woman, Phoebe,” she instructed. “If she tries to get mystical and vague, put her on speaker so I can irritate the truth out of her.”

With a chuckle, I dialed the sequence exactly as Mythia had written it, including the pauses. “You need to add your magic to the phone,” Mythia threw out.

Nodding, I did so. The power made my phone screen flicker. A symbol appeared only after the brass key warmed against my hand. Once done, I put the call on speaker phone so everyone could hear. The line didn’t ring. Instead, pressure filled my ear. For one breath, the kitchen smelled of flowers and rainwater standing on stone.

“You’re early. I told August nine am,” a woman barked through the line. Her voice was worn smooth by distance and survival. “That means you’re desperate. And reckless. Perhaps you’re not the Pleiades at all.”

“I am the Pleiades. My name is Phoebe. You must be Ava. And I am desperate and reckless where my children are concerned,” I admitted, gripping the island as the shield beads brightened near the babies. “If you are Ava Beauchêne, then you already know why waiting until nine stopped being reasonable.”

The silence on the other end sharpened. “You have your best friend, Stella, beside you,” Ava observed, making Stella’s eyes go wide. “Good. She will notice the lie in the room before you do, because your focus is all over the place.”

Stella recovered instantly and leaned toward the phone with a smile sharp enough to cut thread. “That is flattering and invasive, which means I have complicated feelings about you already. Since we’re skipping introductions, please explain why someone tested Melaina in a waiting room like she was a lock they wanted picked.”

“He did not want Melaina,” Ava corrected. The calm in her voice made the back of my neck prickle. “He wanted proof one sibling would answer when another was threatened. Your son gave them that proof.”

Aidon’s shadows slammed into the baseboards hard enough to rattle the windows. Nyssa woke with a soft sound, making him dial it back even while his rage turned the air thin. “They used my daughter to measure my son?” His words were out before he could stop them, making my heart stop. Would she hang up now? We hadn’t learned anything.

“Yes,” Ava confirmed, making me release the breath I was holding. “The next attempt will not be subtle. It will be an open invitation.”

“Who’s sending the invitation?” I demanded, staring at the phone as if it would make her give me a name. “Give me something I can fight.”

“Telling you that over the line can give them a path,” Ava warned, paper rustling faintly on her end.

Stella’s pen moved again, faster now. “That sounds terrifying. What else gives them paths?” she pressed, her brightness honed into command. “We’re very motivated students. One of us is even armed in a rocking chair.”

Nana leaned toward the phone with an approving nod. “That cheerful girl is my favorite menace today,” she declared, adjusting Thaniel when he blinked and wrinkled his face as if he were going to start crying.

“Reflection, repetition, old songs, blood-warmed thresholds, and any powerful child who answers before they understand what called,” Ava listed as if she were reading from a list. Half of what she said made no sense to me. I didn’t understand how they created a path for the echo children.