Page 418

Bayla leaned against Emely's seat so she could rest her chin on it. Her different-colored eyes shimmered. “You mean because of the prophecy?”

The prophecy… Another problem I had completely suppressed.

“Didn't it say just one child?” Larissa remarked. “What if it's just a boy and the doctor was wrong about the second child?”

That would be the best thing that could happen to me. But I had seen the images that were now in my coat pocket.

“God,” I sniffed quietly. “I don't even believe in that godless nonsense.”

Bayla squeezed my hand. “Neither do we, just so you know.”

I nodded, even though I just wanted to cry. There was too much in my chest that wanted to come out.

“Please don't tell anyone about this, okay?” I asked the three of them. “If anyone asks, I'm having a girl.”

Emely looked at me silently. Larissa nodded quickly.

“We won't say anything, because according to the others, I'm a Senseque and the three of us shouldn't even be near you,” Bayla assured me.

Again, I nodded slowly, wiped more tears from my face, and turned on the town radio, which was playing quiet indie music from the local student band Fogs I knew from Midnights.

Way down We Go

KALEO

We sat there for a while, not talking but listening to the music coming from the radio – a new song I didn't even know, but which calmed me further – while Larissa stroked my shoulders, Bay my hands, and Emely my knees.

My head rested against the window, and I looked up at the roof.

A strange feeling, one I had never experienced before, washed over my body. It was as if, with every passing second, all the grief inside me was diminishing, as if the weight on my chest was becoming lighter for no reason. It was as if something inside me was fighting against all the destructive emotions, taking them away from me.

Finally, Larissa removed her hand from my back.

“Now what?” she asked, smiling slightly. “You shouldn't just wallow in self-pity.” Her smile intensified. “You're having two beautiful babies. We should celebrate that.”

Bayla looked up at Larissa with the same expression as Emely. But her eyes were glassy and... reddened.

Had she been crying?

It was as if an irregular purple flicker pulsed through her irises and her hand twitched slightly around mine.

“Larissa, do you really think that's appropriate?” asked Emely, who had noticed more of my outburst than the others.

I carefully withdrew my hand from Bayla's and she sat up, leaning back in her seat and wiping new tears from her eyes, unnoticed by the other two, before our eyes met. The flicker disappeared from her eyes, and she forced a smile.

“Julie is obviously not in a celebratory mood.”

I tore my confused gaze away from Bayla, too distraught to comment on her eyes, sighed exhaustedly, and forced myself to smile at Emely, but failed.

“Leave her alone. She's right. Maybe it will distract me.”

I didn't want to think about anything anymore, I wanted to bury my head in Erik's chest, but since that wasn't possible, I had to find something else that would either give me strength or completely take my mind off things.

Out of nowhere, all the heaviness returned, literally crushing me, and I blamed it on the hormones, feeling my chest tighten, and the lump in my throat grow bigger again.

“And what do you suggest?” Emely asked, raising an eyebrow.

Larissa's grin widened. “We should throw a baby shower, with all the trimmings.”