The dogs were going crazy when we got out of the car but my dad reprimanded them when they growled at me. I stared at them in confusion. They knew me, but when I tried to pet them they took one sniff of my belly before turning aggressive again.
Dad restrained them in the end while I witnessed their sharp teeth snapping as drool hung down the sides of their crazed mouths. Their paws gouged the soil as he dragged them away by their collars. A flutter in my belly made me pause, but my Dad came back.
“Damn mutts must have smelled a fox or something,” he muttered.
“Leave everything in the car. It’s late. Tell Mum I will see her in the morning,” I said, looking at the house.
The lights were out, and all I needed was sleep.
“Sure, sweetie,” he said, patting my back awkwardly.
When I reached my bedroom, I didn’t sleep. I stayed up going through all my things. My novels, artwork and countless flower pressings. All the things I once loved. It wasn’t until I lay in bed, mentally and physically exhausted, that I allowed myself to think about Luke.
The sadness wouldn’t leave, and I stroked my belly, imagining the knocking and flutter was Luke still safe inside my womb. It was an impossible dream, but it helped soothe me enough to lose myself in sleep.
???
Waking up was an ordeal. It was like salt being scrubbed into an open wound with a metal scourer. There was no flutter in my womb. It lay empty and dormant. I didn't drink, smoke, and I followed all the doctor's instructions, yet I couldn't prevent myself from feeling guilty. I opened my eyes and almost screamed when I saw my Grandma sitting on a stool beside my bed.
“Grandma, what’s wrong?”
She was frowning at my belly, but it was more than that. There was fear in her faded green eyes. I was the spitting image of my Grandma, who teased my mum about it all the time. My Dad had the same eye colour as us, but thankfully, I didn't look like him.
“Has anything strange happened since the miscarriage?”
I opened my mouth to lie, but she cut me off.
“Anything at all. It could just be an internal feeling,” she said urgently, squeezing my arm, but her insistent nails dug into me.
I moved to my side, resting my elbow on the bed. No greeting and no warm hug from her, something was wrong.
“Yes, I had a strange feeling in my belly yesterday and—” I said, but paused because I would sound like a lunatic.
Her fingers loosened a touch.
“And?” she urged, narrowing her eyes on me.
“I heard a knocking sound from my belly.”
Her face paled, and she released my arm. She blinked a few times before she spoke.
“My father made a deal with the Fae—one hybrid child taken from each female born into our family. Before I had your father, I had a miscarriage, but it wasn't your grandpa’s child. It was the changeling of a Fae king. The kings take turns and use us for sport,” she said, pulling the covers down and lifting my T-shirt, baring my misshapen belly.
I gasped when she pulled out a knife. “Grandma.”
She lifted her arm over my belly and sliced open the flesh on her forearm. The warm blood dripped on my abdomen, but before it could run down the side, it vanished. My skin absorbed the blood.
“What is this? Fae? Kings and fairies? Why is your blood disappearing?” I rattled off the questions, but thought of all the various tales she used to read to me.
“You have a Fae child growing in your belly. It absorbed my blood because our bloodline is a hybrid mixture of human and Fae. Some of the myths have some accuracy. The Fae are not kind to humans, hybrid or not. I suspected, dear girl, but—” she said but abruptly stopped. Her eyes shone with tears, but she blinked them away to wrap up her arm with a cloth she had on her lap.
“They don’t just take turns, girl. They bet,” she said as I reached out to help bandage her arm. “Your King won the wager. He had the first claim. Keep all mirrors covered and don't look into water reflections. They could be watching.”
“Grandma—” I began to say, but thought of the blood vanishing from my skin. “Are you saying that I’m pregnant?”
When she nodded, she was staring at my stomach. “It could have happened at any time. They are devious bastards. Your parents don't know about any of this.”
I thought my Grandma had good genes because she looked younger than my mum, despite the grey hair. Then it hit me, a baby. I had a baby inside of me.
