"We've been tracking the connection signatures for six hours straight," Jean-Marc said, setting the contraption on our dresser. "They're not steady. Check this out."
The lights inside shifted and brightened. A moment later, three nasty purple threads pulsed in perfect sync. Watching it was like staring at a diseased heartbeat. It was hypnotic and nauseating at the same time.
"What's controlling the pattern?" Aidon asked, studying the display like a predator sizing up prey.
"Dawn and dusk," Nina announced proudly. "The connections get stronger during twilight when the magical barriers are thinner. During regular day and night, they're weaker but still there. It’s like background music you can't quite turn off."
I stared at the magical light show as I pieced things together. "That's when Lyra's power peaks. She's been siphoning energy during prime-time magical hours, so I don’t feel it as much. That bitch."
"Exactly," Jean-Marc confirmed. "But Nina caught something we all missed."
My daughter stepped forward, looking way too serious for a seventeen-year-old who should be worried about algebra homework instead of magical warfare. "They don't strengthen at the same rate. Nyssa’s shadow magic responds differently to dawn. It gets brighter just before sunrise. And Thaniel’s water magic goes nuts during storms. I noticed yesterday when it was raining."
Clio leaned in, her healer instincts perking up. "Environmental factors are screwing with the bonds' efficiency. That gives us tactical advantages we can use if we're smart about timing."
"How?" I asked, leaning forward despite the way it made the triplets press on my bladder.
"If we time our defensive moves during the connections' weak periods, we might be able to cut them," Jean-Marc suggested. "Or at least stop Lyra from using them to force labor when she's at full power."
A sudden jolt ripped through my belly like someone had tasered me from the inside. Thank the gods it wasn't a contraction. I had enough problems without my kids deciding to make an early appearance. Instead, it felt like someone had mainlined pure malice straight into my veins, flooding me with emotions that definitely weren't mine. Fury burned like swallowing bleach. Frustration so sharp it could slice diamonds followed. And underneath it all was a twisted sense of purpose.
"Phoebe?" Aidon's voice sounded like it was coming from underwater.
The foreign emotions crashed over me like a tidal wave of crazy, drowning out my own thoughts. Suddenly, I wasn't in our bedroom anymore. The familiar warmth vanished. It was replaced by cold stone and darkness. Reaching out, my fingers hit a familiar forearm. I was still in bed with Aidon.
Suddenly, I wasn't looking through my own eyes anymore. I was hijacking someone else's vision. I was standing in a circular chamber carved from black rock that looked like it had been decorated by someone with serious anger management issues. Strange symbols covered the walls, glowing the same nasty purple as the connections. They pulsed in rhythm with my heartbeat like the world's most disturbing drum solo.
My hands—except they weren't my hands—moved in complex patterns above a stone altar. They were weaving magic. The chamber was smaller than the dimensional hellhole we'd escaped from, and more menacing. You might say it was cozy in all the worst possible ways.
“The little birds think they can hide in their cozy nest,” I heard myself say, except it was Lyra's voice coming out of what felt like my mouth. She sounded like a preschool teacher about to put someone in permanent timeout. “But they forget. I can see through their eyes now. Feel through their magic. Every breath, every heartbeat, every flutter of my precious children.”
The way she said 'my children' made every protective instinct I possessed rear up and prepare for war. The vision exploded apart like a dropped mirror as Aidon shook my shoulders. His divine power sliced through the connection cleaner than a hot knife through butter. I gasped, rocketing back into my own body with all the elegance of a cannonball hitting concrete.
"What happened?" Aidon demanded, his hands framing my face as he searched for signs of magical damage.
"I saw through her," I whispered, my hands automatically covering my belly like I could build a fortress around the triplets with sheer willpower. "I have no idea how, but I was suddenly feeling what she did and seeing through her eyes. She's in some stone ritual chamber. She knows we're planning defenses. She's watching us somehow."
The room exploded into urgent chatter, everyone talking over each other like an angry mob at a town hall meeting. Clio immediately started another scan while the others discussed things. All I could focus on was the lingering taste of Lyra's emotions in my head. Her madness felt like poison seeping through my thoughts.
"We need to speed up our research," Aidon said grimly, his power wrapping around me like protective armor. "If the connections allow two-way communication?—"
"They don't," I interrupted, my voice shakier than I'd like. "Not yet, anyway. She was talking to herself, not me. But she knows something's changed. She can sense when the bonds gettested or blocked. We're about as hidden as a neon sign in Times Square."
"Then we have less time than we thought," Mom said from the doorway. I hadn't heard her come in, but she was carrying another stack of ancient books that looked like they'd survived several apocalypses. Dark circles under her eyes told the story of sleepless nights spent hunting for answers. "I found references to similar magic in the oldest grimoire. And it's not good news."
"Hit me," I said, bracing for impact.
"These parasitic connections typically get stronger over time until they become permanent," she said. Each word dropped like boulders into a still pond. "Once they reach full power, the one who established the bond can force the victim to manifest anywhere they choose. Distance becomes irrelevant."
I shook my head, wishing I hadn’t heard her right. "She could make me appear in her ritual chamber." Fear tightened my chest, making it hard to breathe.
"Not just you," Mom continued quietly. "She could force the birth to happen wherever she is. The babies would be born directly into her custody, with no one to protect them."
Pure dread filled the room. The thought of my children being born into Lyra's waiting hands made me want to blow something up. To throw her into the deepest pit in the Underworld, and then vomit.
"How long do we have to find a way to block her completely?" Aidon asked. This time, his voice carried the kind of quiet that preceded earthquakes.
"Based on the strength progression I'm seeing," Clio began. "Maybe a week. Less if something triggers accelerated bonding."
