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“Mariang should have some of it,” Danny insisted again.
“I really can’t keep having this same conversation. She can have half of it once Finn gets here and explains himself.” I was propped up in the bed, pillows squished between my back and the headboard, under my knees and at my left side in case... I dunno, but Von was obsessed with bringing me pillows, so I just let him, and made myself a little fort. “I’m really okay, Von. I think I’ve got enough pillows.”
“If you’d simply tell us what’s got you so worked up, then we could help.”
“I don’t know what kind of help I’ll need yet. I need Finn here. What’s taking so long? I’ll need a shrink too, maybe. A good one who specializes in Vampires, Mermen and Shapeshifters.”
Von moved into the hallway and brought me a second blanket, tucking it in over the comforter he pulled up over my lap. “Finn will be here soon enough. He’s not available at a moment’s notice. And not to be that bloke, but on the day we get engaged? He’s the last person I want in this house. And more than likely, this is the last place he’ll want to be when he finds out.”
“I’m not talking about the engagement. I need to know where he got the box and the weed. He shouldn’t have it.”
“I don’t think you realize what a grand gift this is. I mean, I’d tell you to send it back to the lousy git, but if it’ll keep September healthy, I’ll take whatever luck he sends us.”
“For you and for Mariang,” Danny insisted, eyeing the box as if he wanted to steal it.
Boston sat in the chair at the desk in my light green, cream and gold room, elbows on his knees as he tried to shortcut his way to getting the information out of me. “So you had a premonition that Captain Finn would bring you a himila weed in this box? Is that why you’re upside-down about this?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not the premonitions type. I just need Finn here.” I placed my hand on Von’s to calm his nerves as he tucked a third blanket around my belly. “I’m sorry our special day is going like this. We should be all happy and kissing till our brains fall out.”
“I can make your brains fall out tonight after this mess is swept up. Just tell me what’s going on.”
I shook my head, sinking back against the pillows as I eyed the box warily. Danny moved past it when he went to check on Mariang, looking at the box with longing, but resisting the temptation to steal it. “Boston, could you give us a minute?” I asked quietly when something dark began to dawn on me.
“Sure, but I could come back at any time,” Boston said with a finger of threat pointed between us like a school monitor. “I don’t want any children conceived out of wedlock. Not on my watch.” Then he broke into a silly grin, clapping his hands at his stupid joke before he left us alone.
I picked up my phone again and scrolled to the page I’d bookmarked, displaying it to Von. “These are all the side effects for my medication. None of them say anything about hallucinations, right? I need you to check for me. I’ve read it too many times; the words are starting to run together.”
Von’s eyebrows pushed together in concern as he read, moving aside a pillow so he could sit down on the side of the bed next to me. “Nothing here, no. Oh, but some of these are dreadful. What’s going on? Are you starting to see things that aren’t here?”
“No,” I whispered. “I’m seeing things that are here, which might be even worse.”
“I don’t understand, love.”
I reached out for him and clutched his forearms in desperation. “If it turns out that I’m crazy, please don’t send me away. Don’t have me committed. Don’t let anyone lock me up.” Fear gripped me as I pictured myself in the white scrubs I’d seen Bev wearing when she’d gone to stay at the mental facility. I didn’t have tears, but I had urgency as I swallowed my pride and laid it all out on the table for my fiancé to examine and turn me away at will. “What’s happening can’t be happening. It’s not real, but it is. I touched the box. It’s real. I felt it.”
Von’s wary expression had a dose of fear to it as he examined my pleading face. “I don’t understand what you’re on about. Tell me what’s twisted you so badly that even I can’t understand you. I can always understand you. Slow it all down and run it by me again.”
“Kiss me,” I begged. “Kiss me and promise me you won’t have me committed. I’ll be so good for September. She needs her mama!”
“Of course I won’t have you committed. Why would you even say that? I’ve seen you when you were out of your mind over a stain on the rug. I’ve seen you at your worst and at your best. I’ll never leave you again. If they lock you up, I’ll come stay in the Loony Bin with you. Then we’ll both be mad together.” His words were sweet, and the kiss even sweeter. Von was tender as he cupped my face, bringing me forward so he could kiss me just enough to make the music swell, the colors blur, and my anxiety lessen.
“This?” I heard Finn utter from the doorway. “This is what you needed me to drop everything for? Rip my heart out, why don’t you!” He pounded his fist to his chest, anger and hurt fighting for top billing on his face.
“No! Finn, wait!” I tried to get up and go to him, but I was so swallowed by pillows and blankets, I couldn’t fight my way out of the ocean of linens.
Von held his hands up and helped situate me back against the headboard. “Obviously we didn’t know you were here. Have a seat. Apparently the little gift you got my girls has given October quite the scare. Care to share where you found the himila?”
“I don’t answer to you, kendi,” Finn scowled at Von, getting in the dig that reminded Von he’d once been a sex slave.
“Hey, knock it off. I need both of you to cool down. Finn, have a seat. I have questions for you.”
Finn remained in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. “I’m not sitting on the bed you share with your half-vamp.”
Danny came up behind Finn and shoved him forward so he stumbled into the room. “I believe the Omen asked you to come in. Her rank is above yours, so do as she says before I get all sorts of unpleasant.”
Finn drew his knife, and I knew I’d never get my questions answered if I couldn’t contain the bulls.
I managed to extract myself from the bed and moved over to the guys, knowing they’d be more careful if I was near, for fear of hurting the baby. “Everyone pick a corner and march! I mean it. No one fights around me. Are you crazy, Finn? Put that knife away.”
Finn glowered at Danny, but obeyed, shooting me a wounded expression as he moved to the corner furthest from the bed. When Von and Danny were in their corners, my shoulders relaxed as I stood in the center of the room. “Okay. That’s better. Finn, it’s good to see you. What can you tell me about the gift you brought?”
Finn ran his tongue over his teeth before speaking with the note of a sneer behind his words. “I brought you a himila weed. Ezra knows what to do with it. You dry the leaves and the root, brew it in hot water and drink the tea throughout your pregnancy. It’s supposed to keep both the baby and you healthy.”
I put my hand to my forehead. “What would happen if a pregnant woman ate the whole thing without brewing it first?”
Finn’s eyebrows raised that I wasn’t surprised at all by the purpose of the grand gift. “You wouldn’t need to eat it all like that unless you or your baby were in danger of dying without it. It would give you a boost for, I don’t know, a few weeks or something. But you’d need it again and again, if that were the case. The tea is best. Gives you the medicine in small increments to dose you with a constant boost of healing.” He sheathed his knife. “Is that what you did? You just ate it without Ezra guiding you through how to use it?”
Danny’s head whipped toward me, panicked that I hadn’t saved half for Mariang. “No!”
I held up my hand to calm his fears. “Of course not. I haven’t touched the weed. Where did you get it? Ezra seemed to think it was extinct.”
Ezra came into the bedroom from eavesdropping out in the hallway. “It is extinct. Where did you happen across it, Captain?”
Finn turned to Ezra, mildly embarrassed. “Technically, I didn’t. One of my men suggested making a quest to find it for you.”
“Was it on the top of Mount Malubha?” I asked in a quiet voice that shocked all four men in the room.
Finn answered slowly. “It was. How did you know that?”
I countered with a curt, “How did your man know that?”
Finn shrugged. “I don’t know. It happened to be on the first mountain he scaled. I figured he caught a lucky break or something. Thad’s one of my most trusted men. He helped me sneak Von out after Von killed Prince Julius. I’ve no reason to question how he found a miracle. I only know that he found it, so I could bring you the thing you needed.” He shot Von a superior look. “I knew you needed help no one was giving you, so I gave it to you.”
Von snarled, gearing up for a fight. “Oh, you gave it to her?”
Finn’s words came out dirty. “Gave her exactly what she needed, as many times as she needed it.”
Danny saw the loaded spring before I did, and leapt across the room to intercept Von before he tore into Finn. Danny wrestled Von back to his corner, pinning his shoulders there and slamming him against the wall to knock some sense into him. “Take a breath, mate. This won’t get you what you think it will.”
Once Von seemed to have cooled, Danny went back to his corner. “Cut to it, kid.”
I didn’t want to admit to my ridiculous fantasy life in front of Von, and surely not in front of Ezra, but there was no other way. It was either my pride or my sanity, and I knew what I’d fight for every time. “I have to tell you something weird, so be cool till I’m finished.” I took in a deep breath. I was unsure how to muscle through, so I dove in headfirst. “I sort of have this stupid dream that happens when I’m...” I couldn’t muster up the word ‘horny’ in front of Ezra, so I stuck with something more PG. “When I’m lonely. This guy named Philip comes to me. We go traveling, sit on the beach, make love and do couply kinds of things.” I shot Von an apologetic look. “It started before you, and when we’re together I don’t have those dreams, I swear.”
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t for Von to chuckle. “You’re afraid to admit that you have sex dreams about other people? I used to have them all the time about various celebrities. It’s nothing to worry about. Perfectly normal.”
“Philip’s not a celebrity. He’s not real. He’s a completely pretend person I made up in my mind. I didn’t think anything was weird until I got pregnant and he started saying the baby was his. I thought it was my brain trying to reason through you and me getting psychically pregnant, so I tried to shrug it off. But then Philip started bringing me these black leather boxes with the himila weed inside. I mean, what a weird gift, right? But he was dead set that I had to eat them. Every few weeks or so, he’d be back with that same leather box and a new shriveled weed. He said September needed them to stay alive. He wanted her to be a princess, and she’d need extra magic to keep her strong so she could rule.”
“Rule what?” Danny asked.
I was shocked that anyone was following along, much less taking me seriously. “Philip wants her to rule Terraway. I swear that’s not any part of what I want. You know me, guys. You know I don’t like it when people bow or treat me like I’m some big deal.” I looked around at the four men who all wore various shades of the same horrified expression, and in that moment, I realized they did know me. In this room, I had friends and family who didn’t call me Bait, and who stuck around even when my imaginary friends turned into megalomaniacs. “You do know me. That... That’s a big deal.” I tapped my heart. “Thanks for listening and not calling me crazy.”
Danny turned to Finn, his face resuming business mode. “This Thad character. I want that fellow here now.”
“Thad can’t come up unless I port him here. What’re you implying?”
I turned my chin slowly from side to side. “I don’t know. I have no answers when it comes to Terraway. All I know is that the box and the weed are from Philip, who’s not real. Philip’s the reason I knew about Mount Malubha and the himila weed before any of you told me.” I felt stupid for even saying that my imaginary friend was real. “That can’t be right. Thad must know something. He’s our best shot at answers. Can you bring him here?”
Finn nodded, not breaking eye contact with me. “Do you know who this Philip is? Is he a man from your world?”
“He’s from Terraway, and he wants to come Topside, but he can’t. So he’s not a king or an important official, or he’d be able to port here himself.”
“What does he look like?” Ezra asked, trying to play detective to get to the bottom of it.
My eyes closed as relief spread over me. “You really believe me? You don’t think I’m nuts?”
Danny’s arms were crossed as he leaned into his corner. “Oh, we know you’re batty, but we’re in too deep not to believe you. Von, if she describes the bloke, can you draw us a picture of him?”
Von nodded, running his hands through his hair. “I should be able to come up with something so we can track the tosser down. How is he dreamwalking with her if he’s never met her?” He looked pointedly at me. “Have you snogged anyone else? Beto, Finn, Mason, Bishop, me, and the list ends there? Now’s the time for nothing but the truth, love. I won’t get angry. Honest.”
I huffed, wishing I wasn’t subjected to such scrutiny. “Don’t say it like that. I didn’t kiss kiss Bishop, like romantically. But no, there’s no one else.” I looked into Von’s eyes so he could see I wasn’t lying. “I promise you, that’s everyone I’ve ever kissed. I only was with Philip in my dreams, and he’s fake! And you’re not even supposed to be able to dreamwalk unless you’ve had sex! But now that the box shows up with the weed and all that? I don’t understand. Philip can’t be dreamwalking with me. He’s not real! I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know when the math doesn’t add up.”
“Okay, love. I believe you. Let me get some paper and pencils. Talk me through it, and I’ll sketch him out.”
I buried my head in my hands. “This is the worst. This is what I get for being irresponsible in my own imagination.”
Finn relaxed his erect posture. “I’m sure there’s an explanation.”
“Maybe you’re psychic,” Danny suggested, earning a glare from me.
“Maybe you’re a...” A contraction hit me before I could insult Danny right good. I doubled over and grabbed my belly and the footboard, letting out a noise of distress I wished none of them had heard.
Danny and Finn ran to me, with Ezra shouting down the hallway for Von. “Easy, easy,” Danny cooed. Finn dropped my hand and stepped back in alarm, while Danny waited for the contraction to pass. My new brother let me squeeze his hand while he kept me mostly upright. He gave me a steady pull, his arm wrapped clear around my back and palming my belly. I punished his hand with my superwoman grip, letting Danny take the brunt of my sudden agony.
“I don’t want to do this! I don’t want to do this! Not here!” I wailed, scared and in too much pain.
“You will, and you’ll be brilliant. But not today. It’ll pass. Ezra, out you go!” Danny snapped. “Call Prince Langgam and get Ollie back here immediately.”
The pulling was too late and not enough. The contraction seemed to go on forever, crawling up my spine like a torturous spider I couldn’t escape from. “Ah!” All the books said the contractions would start out small and build toward the grand finale. Stupid lying books.
But Ezra didn’t go. He inched closer, swallowing hard has he watched me grit my teeth through a howl. He was panting like an animal, his expression darkening as he neared Danny and me. My kind, patient dad snorted through his nose as a long gob of drool escaped from the side of his parted lips.
Von bolted back into the room, tackling Ezra to the ground. Boston was right behind him, and Mariang shrieked from the doorway. “Dad, no!”
I closed my eyes in relief when my contraction passed. When I opened them again, Ezra was no longer in my bedroom. In his place was a legit full-on overlarge lion. He was as tall as the doorway, mane and all, shaking off shreds of the button-down white Oxford shirt Ezra had worn. The enormous lion roared, announcing that he was a wild animal, and to move away from his prey.
I’d never even thought to ask Ezra what his shapeshifting animal was. He was Matruculan, and aside from having a hunger for fresh baby, he could also shapeshift, just like Mason. Ezra was gentle, so I assumed he would become a house cat or something, not the king of the freaking jungle.