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One week out from my due date, and Allie still remained in the hospital where Ollie had moved her. She was twenty miles away from me, but there might as well have been an ocean between us, since she couldn’t get to me, and everyone had a cow whenever I got out of bed for any reason at all.
Von was stuck to our bed like glue, proving to me and September that he wasn’t going anywhere. He never once complained about how boring bedrest was, and went out of his way to make the experience a fun one for the three of us.
“Just once more. I promise I’ll get it right this time.”
“You’ve got terrible aim with these things.” I laughed at him, my belly shaking the cereal bowl I’d precariously perched atop my baby bump as I lay back in the bed.
“They’re not weighted properly.”
“They’re cotton balls! They’re not weighted at all.” When he threw the next cotton ball at the bowl on my belly and missed, the white fluff bounced off my nose and rolled onto the pillow. “Face it. You suck at cotton ball pong.”
“Now, now. I’m just warming up. No need to get snippy.”
“Can’t we go outside for just a little bit? I’m starting to miss the feel of real air. Danny won’t even let us unlock the window to get in anything fresh.”
“Fancy letting me paint your belly again?” he offered. “I was thinking a giant castle with September waving from a window in the top tower.”
I rolled my shirt up to reveal the globe he’d painted on my belly that morning. Instead of the continents, he’d done representations of the countries of Terraway, so I could see them all laid out from a bird’s eye view. “But I like this. You did such a good job. Makes me feel like a work of art.”
“But darling, you are.”
I was expecting Boston to come home with the pizzas they were pretty much mainlining by this point. I was expecting his cheery, “Who loves Boston?” which would accompany Graham and Von shouting out that they loved him most, and therefore should have all the pizza. Then Danny would gank the box off the top without participating in the game.
I was not expecting a crash, nor Mariang’s scream of distress, followed by the sounds of man grunts and shouting. I bolted upright, and Von grabbed the knife he had atop my dresser. It had gone unused for days. We’d been safe with no upset for days. Blissful days.
Von pressed his finger to his lips to tell me to keep quiet. He motioned for me to get in the closet, giving me a hard pull before he moved to the bedroom door and cracked it open. I heard the ominous wak-wak whirring sound that sent chills up my spine.
Manas.
Serena had marked me with a bat-shaped scar, and I felt the sting anew, even after knowing she was dead. She was gone because Sama had killed her. I’d thought my imagination was just telling me what I wanted to hear, but now I knew that Sama had been protecting his child.
Von’s child.
I tiptoed out of the closet and slid the large balisong blade Finn gave me out of the nightstand drawer. I tried not to breathe as I shut myself back inside the closet. I breathed through the claustrophobia, trying to push out the awful things that crept in on my psyche when cramped in a small, dark space.
Now couldn’t be the time for a freak-out. I’d have a good meltdown when I had a Puller with me and no monsters. I closed my eyes and dreamed of a life with no monsters as I heard the chaos banging around in my house just feet away from where I stood. I held my breath and prayed for a break in the drama.
I heard something that sounded like the lamp Allie had picked out crash with purpose from the living room. I cringed as I wondered which of the brothers had weaponized the appliance. The Manas screamed, but the wak-wak sound of her wings only multiplied. Then there were three. Then there were four.
Then I lost count.
My heart exploded in time with my bedroom window, shattering glass all over my room, and flinging who knows what sort of staining outside elements all over my white carpet. I clawed at my hands and tried to conjure up Ollie’s old mantra that never failed to ring true: Life is messy, and that’s okay.
I ripped the skin open on the backs of my hands as Von stabbed and lunged, fighting the Manas who were clearly on a mission. “We don’t want to harm the Omens. It’s just the baby we want!” Their leader’s words were delivered in a “there’s nothing to see here” kind of way. The casual nature of her telling Von she’d come for mine and Mariang’s babies made me grip September tight, my upper lip curling in a snarl.
“Over my dead body!” Von roared, and something breakable smashed. Yet another lamp bit the dust. I cracked the closet door so I could see through the folding vertical slat.
Lamps are replaceable. This whole house is replaceable. People are not.
The head Manas screamed, but soon another set of wings joined the fray, coming in through my window and ripping out a chunk of Von’s hair from his head. She had a purple corset with pockets that zipped shut on her half a body that was detached from her hips and legs. She had orangy red hair and a mixture of fear and a sneer on her face. She pocketed the stolen black hair she’d ripped out of Von’s head, like she was holding onto a souvenir or something of value. “We’re not here for you, Reaper!” she shouted at Von, who punched her. Then she flew back out the window, leaving her sisters in arms to fight, while she escaped with her treasure.
“Susa, get back here!” the lead woman called after her friend who ditched her so quickly.
Von sneered at the woman who appeared to be in charge, her long nose and ears making her stand out slightly. “If you came for my daughter, you’ve come for me.” Von’s perfect lips curved into a snarl that made me rally.
“We won’t hurt your Omen if we don’t have to. We just want Sama’s baby. He can’t have an heir. He can’t have an offspring!”
“He doesn’t, you crazy witch! The baby’s mine! She’s mine! September and October, both mine!”
There was some sort of scuffle, and I stayed motionless inside the closet, for once obeying instructions. I wanted to fight. Oh, how I wanted to end anyone who thought it was a good idea to threaten September in my presence. But I knew that I was very pregnant and on bedrest. I couldn’t fight like I knew my non-pregnant body could, and even that might not be enough.
Von’s howl of pain lit me from the inside with panic, but I remained in the closet, a ghost on the edge of the fight. When I heard Mariang’s scream of distress, I bit my lip and dug my fingers into my biceps. I crossed my arms over my chest, the pain anchoring me to the spot.
Relief coursed through me when I heard one of them say to her batty troops, “That’s not her. She’s Ezra’s rightful daughter. We want the new Omen, not Mariang. Leave her and her baby be.”
Mariang’s screams turned into scared sobs while Danny, Boston and Graham roared and crashed like rhinos through my house, ripping at random and slicing at will.
My home and my life had been in order before Terraway, and now everything was chaos.
I did what they asked me and stayed put, going against every instinct to never be the victim, to fight for the people you loved and for the life you wanted. I put my trust in my friends, my sister and my fiancé.
I kept my scream inside my lips when the closet door was flung open by a filthy Manas. She had matted black hair that looked like it hadn’t been brushed or washed in months. “I found her!” she called to the rest of the house, yanking me out with force I was too clumsy to resist with any sort of clarity. Finn’s jagged balisong blade was clutched in my steady hand, and before the disheveled but determined Manas could do what she wanted to September, I sliced her across her throat. My knife cut true, as it had when I’d fought off the army of zombies with Finn. Though Finn was in his own world now, I felt him with me, slicing and gutting the half-women who’d left their legs elsewhere, so their torsos could fly around and wreak havoc on my house and my life.
The Manas who’d yanked me from the closet flapped haphazardly and then collapsed. I knew it wouldn’t be over until we salted or burned them, but going out of the bedroom would only flood me with more Manas I might not be able to overtake. Flashes of them lifting Bishop and me and flying us beyond where Von could find us terrified me to my very core.
I stepped over the dormant body of the Manas I’d temporarily killed and ran to Von. He had three determined Manas on him and four in that limbo of temporary death at his feet. He fought valiantly with knives and his teeth, biting and slashing with purpose and desire. Bloodlust was plain in his wide eyes, so I stabbed one of the Manas in the back and dragged the blade sideways so he could have some breathing room and some lunch.
“Get back!” Von warned, but the Manas turned from attacking him to raising their razor-like claws at me.
I didn’t hesitate, but flashed my knife across the torso of the one on the right. This only seemed to piss off the others. My body wasn’t as flexible as it had been nine months ago, and didn’t take to being slammed on the bed when several of them ganged up on me. My back twinged, and I felt the beginnings of a contraction coming on, of all things. The mark on my arm started to burn, hopefully communicating to Kabayo to get the crap up here and clean house.
The half-women didn’t look angry or like they wanted to kill me. Instead they shushed me as the bedroom door burst open, and more Manas flew in to fight Von. “Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt the baby!”
“I’m coming, October!” Von shouted. “Hold on!” I heard an “oof!” and felt fear like none other as I thrashed unsuccessfully on the bed, pinned down by four, five and then six flapping Manas.
“Stop! The baby’s not Sama’s! She’s Von’s!” I cried, fighting for both our lives.
The one in charge looked down on me and pulled a pouch out of her jacket pocket as she hovered next to my head, her bat wings flapping to keep her aloft. “Yeah? Well, I can’t take that chance.”
Danny burst into the bedroom, his crazed eyes locking in on mine before he jumped into the air and grabbed the nearest Manas. He flung her clear across the room like a Frisbee, knocking her out. Von was working his way through the swarm that was on him, and Boston did his best to attack the nearest thing that kept us apart.
There was so much going on. I braced myself against the fistful of light brown ground up spices that was shoved into my mouth. I didn’t know what it was, so I tried to spit out the mouthful that tasted like mulch at the Manas who held me down.
“Almost there, sisters!” the one near my head shouted. She crammed the spices back inside and held my mouth shut while she pinched my nose. She lowered her head so I could only see her black eyes and pale skin. Her long nose twitched as she cut off my air. “Just swallow, and it’ll all be over. We’ll leave right now and never bother you again. We don’t want to hurt you or your Puller. We know you need to reap. It’s only the baby we want. You and I both know this child can’t live.” Her determination was calm, trumping my terror as the seconds that I went without air ticked by.
“No!” Danny and Von both cried in unison, slicing and punching to get to me. Each time they killed one Manas, two more took her place.
A contraction hit me, making me suck in, the herbs tickling my throat and causing an involuntary swallow as I tried to work out a scream. I choked, my eyes watering as she held her hand over my mouth and maintained her pinch on my nose long after the first swallow. “A little more,” she urged like a gentle mother figure.
I was determined not to cooperate as the contraction rippled through me. My body rebelled, seeking air when there was none. It was searching out relief, when I knew by now there never would be any.
The woman had the gall to kiss my forehead as I thrashed on the bed. When she pulled herself up, she let out a shrill whistle. “It’s done!”
With that, the Manas left their fights mid-swing and flew out of the house as if they were fleeing a fire. Leathery bat wings flapped with purpose as they flooded out of my home through whatever entrance they could find or make for themselves.