“I have everything laid out in the library,” I tell them, meaning the spell I was working on. “Using the Key of Solomon circle casting to create a boundary is gonna work. Not for long, but long enough for, well, I don’t know. Julian had mentioned creating a pocket dimension to put them in, but the Horsemen are too powerful to stay in one, unless we created four and kept them apart.”
“Don’t you need four human sacrifices to seal the dimensions?” Naomi asks. “I don’t think you’re going to get any volunteers.”
“True, but if we can use the same magic Evander extracted from the gemstones, we could in theory use the Horsemen’s own power to act as both the lock and key. Though that also runs the risk of them escaping, pulling us in, and then trapping us there forever.”
“Yeah, uh, I think we need a plan B.” Nicole picks up Freya, holding her like a baby. I give Freya a sour look, reminding her that she wouldn’t let me practice swaddling on her.
“Julian was working on it.” I push my hair back. “I still don’t know what it is.”
“Things didn’t go well with the locater spell?” Kristy asks softly.
“No. Wherever Lucifer is, he doesn’t want to be found. And I haven’t heard anything from my dad, which could mean a million different things.” We get into the library and sit around the coffee table. I pick up the gemstone fragment, and it glows bright blue. Then I pass it to Kristy, and it glows a soft yellow, not as bright as when I hold it since I’m not a full witch.
“Do you feel it pull on your powers?”
“Yeah. It’s like it’s sucking it right out of me.” She gives it to Nicole. “Do we have enough of them for all Four Horsemen at once? I did a tarot reading this morning and I, um, I interpreted my reading that the Horsemen are together again.”
“I think they are too.” I get a chill when the words leave my lips. “I don’t want to watch the news anymore.”
“Same,” Nicole says, giving the gemstone to her twin. “The thing that scares me the most is how no one knows what’s going on. Things like this happen every day, every year…ya know?”
“Right.” I pick up my mom’s spell book. I don’t need it for anything. I just want to hold it and run my finger over her name. “Oh, this is off topic, but Abby called today and said Nancy had a secret stash of my baby stuff. Abby is going to bring it over tomorrow.”
“Wow.” Kristy’s blue eyes widen. “I’m shocked she kept anything.”
“Me too. Abby told me that William has no idea. Nancy knows I’m having a girl and wanted to bring me a gift.”
“What’d you say?” Naomi asks.
“Hell fucking no. I don’t want anything from her, and I’m certainly not going to accept a gift so she can get some peace. She made her decision, I’ve moved on, and I don’t want her in my life at all.”
I can feel my friends’ eyes on me, questioning if I’ve really moved on. “I know I’m not the best at dealing, and I’m an ignore and it will go away kind of person, but for my sake and Juliet’s, I have. Remember those lawyers I told you about who wanted me to help them get a case against William? I turned them down. I want him to pay, but I’m not wasting my energy on it.”
“That’s very mature of you,” Kristy tells me, and I laugh.
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
“I’m not,” she says back with a laugh as well. “The Callie we know—and love—likes her vengeance. It’s nice, actually, knowing you’d raise hell for us if anyone even looked at us wrong.”
“It’s my best-worst trait.”
We focus on the spell again, and maybe half an hour later, I feel another contraction. This one isn’t as painful as the others, but it lasts longer.
“Whoa,” Nicole says, almost dropping her notebook. She’s the only one to notice I’m sitting back, grimace on my face. “Are you having another contraction?”
“Mh-hm,” I say as the pain intensifies. So much for being not as bad as the others. I squeeze my eyes closed, not breathing until it’s over. “Fuck, that is not fun,” I huff.
“I’m getting Lucas.” Kristy hurries out of the library.
“Stop looking at me like my water is going to break,” I say to the twins, and Naomi, who’s next to me on the couch, gets up and moves to the chair Kristy had been sitting in. I roll my eyes. “It doesn’t happen like that in real life. Just the movies.” I smooth my dress over my stomach. “Once the contractions are seven minutes apart, Maryellen will come over and assess me again. Then we can actually say I’m in labor. These contractions are too spread out.”