Tease

by Mary E. Twomey

  Von breathed through his nose like a bull, not bothering to conceal his lust or his frustration that we’d been interrupted. I looked down and found to my surprise that I was fully clothed, thank goodness. I reached out an unsteady hand and took the phone from Danny, who glowered at me.

  “Hello?”

  “October?”

  The voice that greeted me wasn’t Ezra, but one that made my heart tug in my chest. I sat up straight and made to stand from the bed, but Danny gently shoved me back, reminding me that bedrest was a nonnegotiable. Emotion was thick in my voice when I finally answered. “Mason?”

  I could hear his smile that was affection mixed with indulgence. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m at the mansion with Ezra. He needed some help guarding the place, so I stepped in.”

  “Oh, I wish I had the superhuman ability to climb through the phone so I could hug you right now. I need to make sure you’re okay, and see if your smile crinkles the corners of your eyes, the way it should.” I paused to rub my belly. “As it is, my most impressive superhuman ability is to get randomly knocked up by psychic sperm, which really isn’t all that helpful in this situation.”

  Mason barked out a laugh, which sounded good on him. “Oh, hani. How I’ve missed you. Only and exactly you.”

  “How long have you been back? I’ve missed you, too,” I admitted, not caring that I had an audience. “Are you alright? Are you hurt? How was Sombi?”

  Mason’s gentle low chuckle warmed my heart so much that my hand migrated to my chest to stem the swell. “I’m just fine. I’m relieved now. I’m glad you’re not upset with me about how I had to leave. I really didn’t mean to bite you.”

  I waved my hand in the air. “Oh, I don’t care about that. I just care that you’re alright. I hated leaving, thinking you might be hurt or scared with no one there to help you. I’m so sorry I had to leave when life got confusing for you.”

  “You’re the only person I know who’d apologize for me attacking you. I’ve been sick about the whole thing. Are you alright? How’s your leg?”

  “My leg?” My nose scrunched until I remembered the slice of Mason’s wolfy teeth in my calf and winced. “It barely hurt at all. You’re such a puppy.”

  “Now I know you’re lying. I really hurt you. I’m so sorry, hani.”

  “It’s all fine. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “I’m okay, and I have questions for you.”

  I straightened in the bed, trying to ignore the three sets of eyes that were on me. “Hit me.”

  “I’ve got Thad locked in Ezra’s cell, and he’s finally started talking.”

  “Please tell me you’re not hurting him.”

  Mason hesitated, and when he finally spoke, his voice came out light and innocent. “Of course not. I’ve been using good conversation and honest reasoning with him. Nothing gets criminals talking faster.”

  “Ugh. Don’t give me the specifics. And please stop torturing people. Total lack of imagination and a giant step down for all of humanity.”

  “Do I need to remind you again that no part of me is human?”

  “No. You just need to pacify me with some response that tells me anything I said got through to you.”

  “Sure, hani. I’m reformed already. All it took was a two-minute phone conversation.”

  “I remember missing you. I forget why now.”

  “Because you love me,” Mason stated with certainty, and I adored him for the bold declaration. Then he cleared his throat. “Thad’s been saying there are factions of Ekeks who now know that Sama’s possibly reproduced with you. It seems like his spies are trying hard to get help to you to make sure the baby lives.”

  “Um, am I bonkers, or does that sound like good news?”

  “Yes to both questions. But the drawback is that most of the Ekeks and Manas are like us, and they hate Sama. So if word leaks out from his loyalists that he’s gotten you pregnant, then they might try to intervene.”

  “Intervene?”

  Mason swallowed. “Stay inside with the Vandershots. Stay away from windows.”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  “I want you to remain Topside, alright? No matter what, Sama and hopefully most of his spies can’t get up here. It’s the one thing keeping Ezra moderately sane, so stick with the Vandershots and stay Topside no matter what. Understood?”

  “It’s like you’re telling me to eat ice cream for dinner. I’ve got no problem staying out of Terraway.”

  “And take it easy. This whole thing about you always going into labor? I don’t like it. Stay with Von until your due date. I mean it. Don’t let a stupid fight break up a good thing.”

  I smiled, wondering when it was that we became the kind of friends who knew how to fight for what was best for each other. “I love you, you know.” I waved off Von’s dramatic sigh.

  I could hear the grin in Mason’s voice. “I know. And I love you enough to tell you to stay with Von no matter what.”

  “Thanks, Mason.”

  “And to stay out of Terraway.”

  “No problem. I already said that’d be fine.” I shrugged, rubbing my belly. Von got his libido under control and situated himself next to me on the bed, leaning back against the headboard so he could pull for me and September. I rested my shoulder to his chest contentedly.

  “That’s good. I told Danny to keep you out of Terraway, too. Because you’re going to want to go back after I tell you the next thing, but you can’t. Promise me.”

  “I super promise.”

  “Like, an actual promise, October.”

  I stiffened. “What’s wrong? Where’s Ezra?”

  “Ezra’s here. We got some information out of Thad on how to wake your sister up from her coma.” Mason paused for my reaction, but I had no words. I was completely motionless, so tensed with nerves, Von’s hand stilled in my hair. He pressed his cheek to mine to listen in. Mason continued. “We have to go to the Baluki forest to pick some sigla flowers. That might bring her back. Might, October. Might. I don’t want you to go flying off the handle about this. I’ve never heard of the root being used for this kind of thing, so it’s a very long, long, long shot.”

  “Who’s getting the flowers? I should go with them. What do the flowers look like?”

  Mason blew out a loud gust of exasperation. “Hand the phone to Von.”

  “I’m serious, Mason. I should go.”

  “You’re the one person who can’t go. The only place the sigla flowers grow is in a remote province of Hayop.”

  “So? That’s good. Then we go to Hayop. No big deal. You’ve always wanted to show me your home country.”

  Mason paused, and I wished for anything other than the next words that tumbled out of his mouth. “You can’t go to the Baluki forest. It’s where Sama served his apprenticeship.”

  “So?”

  “My people won’t even venture near it. The forest is riddled with curses and dark magic left over from all the experimenting Sama and the other apprentice did. It’s where they made the elixir to turn themselves immortal. Plus, Hayop is the last place a pregnant woman should be. It’s a land filled with Matruculans. You’d be a walking pot roast. You wouldn’t last five minutes.”

  My heart sank. “Crap. I guess that makes sense. Okay, I promise I’ll stay Topside. Probably shouldn’t let September near any freaky curses or baby-eating folk.”

  “Look at you, thinking like a mother. Tell September her Uncle Mason will find a way to bring her Aunt Allie home.”

  “Be careful, Mason.”

  “Oh, hani, I’m only ever careful with you.”

  Twelve.

  Everything was Chaos

  One week out from my due date, and Allie still remained in the hospital where Ollie had moved her. She was twenty miles away from me, but there might as well have been an ocean between us, since she couldn’t get to me, and everyone had a cow whenever I got out of bed for any reason at all.

  Von was stuck to our bed like glue, proving to me
and September that he wasn’t going anywhere. He never once complained about how boring bedrest was, and went out of his way to make the experience a fun one for the three of us.

  “Just once more. I promise I’ll get it right this time.”

  “You’ve got terrible aim with these things.” I laughed at him, my belly shaking the cereal bowl I’d precariously perched atop my baby bump as I lay back in the bed.

  “They’re not weighted properly.”

  “They’re cotton balls! They’re not weighted at all.” When he threw the next cotton ball at the bowl on my belly and missed, the white fluff bounced off my nose and rolled onto the pillow. “Face it. You suck at cotton ball pong.”

  “Now, now. I’m just warming up. No need to get snippy.”

  “Can’t we go outside for just a little bit? I’m starting to miss the feel of real air. Danny won’t even let us unlock the window to get in anything fresh.”

  “Fancy letting me paint your belly again?” he offered. “I was thinking a giant castle with September waving from a window in the top tower.”

  I rolled my shirt up to reveal the globe he’d painted on my belly that morning. Instead of the continents, he’d done representations of the countries of Terraway, so I could see them all laid out from a bird’s eye view. “But I like this. You did such a good job. Makes me feel like a work of art.”

  “But darling, you are.”

  I was expecting Boston to come home with the pizzas they were pretty much mainlining by this point. I was expecting his cheery, “Who loves Boston?” which would accompany Graham and Von shouting out that they loved him most, and therefore should have all the pizza. Then Danny would gank the box off the top without participating in the game.

  I was not expecting a crash, nor Mariang’s scream of distress, followed by the sounds of man grunts and shouting. I bolted upright, and Von grabbed the knife he had atop my dresser. It had gone unused for days. We’d been safe with no upset for days. Blissful days.

  Von pressed his finger to his lips to tell me to keep quiet. He motioned for me to get in the closet, giving me a hard pull before he moved to the bedroom door and cracked it open. I heard the ominous wak-wak whirring sound that sent chills up my spine.

  Manas.

  Serena had marked me with a bat-shaped scar, and I felt the sting anew, even after knowing she was dead. She was gone because Sama had killed her. I’d thought my imagination was just telling me what I wanted to hear, but now I knew that Sama had been protecting his child.

  Von’s child.

  I tiptoed out of the closet and slid the large balisong blade Finn gave me out of the nightstand drawer. I tried not to breathe as I shut myself back inside the closet. I breathed through the claustrophobia, trying to push out the awful things that crept in on my psyche when cramped in a small, dark space.

  Now couldn’t be the time for a freak-out. I’d have a good meltdown when I had a Puller with me and no monsters. I closed my eyes and dreamed of a life with no monsters as I heard the chaos banging around in my house just feet away from where I stood. I held my breath and prayed for a break in the drama.

  I heard something that sounded like the lamp Allie had picked out crash with purpose from the living room. I cringed as I wondered which of the brothers had weaponized the appliance. The Manas screamed, but the wak-wak sound of her wings only multiplied. Then there were three. Then there were four.

  Then I lost count.

  My heart exploded in time with my bedroom window, shattering glass all over my room, and flinging who knows what sort of staining outside elements all over my white carpet. I clawed at my hands and tried to conjure up Ollie’s old mantra that never failed to ring true: Life is messy, and that’s okay.

  I ripped the skin open on the backs of my hands as Von stabbed and lunged, fighting the Manas who were clearly on a mission. “We don’t want to harm the Omens. It’s just the baby we want!” Their leader’s words were delivered in a “there’s nothing to see here” kind of way. The casual nature of her telling Von she’d come for mine and Mariang’s babies made me grip September tight, my upper lip curling in a snarl.

  “Over my dead body!” Von roared, and something breakable smashed. Yet another lamp bit the dust. I cracked the closet door so I could see through the folding vertical slat.

  Lamps are replaceable. This whole house is replaceable. People are not.

  The head Manas screamed, but soon another set of wings joined the fray, coming in through my window and ripping out a chunk of Von’s hair from his head. She had a purple corset with pockets that zipped shut on her half a body that was detached from her hips and legs. She had orangy red hair and a mixture of fear and a sneer on her face. She pocketed the stolen black hair she’d ripped out of Von’s head, like she was holding onto a souvenir or something of value. “We’re not here for you, Reaper!” she shouted at Von, who punched her. Then she flew back out the window, leaving her sisters in arms to fight, while she escaped with her treasure.

  “Susa, get back here!” the lead woman called after her friend who ditched her so quickly.

  Von sneered at the woman who appeared to be in charge, her long nose and ears making her stand out slightly. “If you came for my daughter, you’ve come for me.” Von’s perfect lips curved into a snarl that made me rally.

  “We won’t hurt your Omen if we don’t have to. We just want Sama’s baby. He can’t have an heir. He can’t have an offspring!”

  “He doesn’t, you crazy witch! The baby’s mine! She’s mine! September and October, both mine!”

  There was some sort of scuffle, and I stayed motionless inside the closet, for once obeying instructions. I wanted to fight. Oh, how I wanted to end anyone who thought it was a good idea to threaten September in my presence. But I knew that I was very pregnant and on bedrest. I couldn’t fight like I knew my non-pregnant body could, and even that might not be enough.

  Von’s howl of pain lit me from the inside with panic, but I remained in the closet, a ghost on the edge of the fight. When I heard Mariang’s scream of distress, I bit my lip and dug my fingers into my biceps. I crossed my arms over my chest, the pain anchoring me to the spot.

  Relief coursed through me when I heard one of them say to her batty troops, “That’s not her. She’s Ezra’s rightful daughter. We want the new Omen, not Mariang. Leave her and her baby be.”

  Mariang’s screams turned into scared sobs while Danny, Boston and Graham roared and crashed like rhinos through my house, ripping at random and slicing at will.

  My home and my life had been in order before Terraway, and now everything was chaos.

  I did what they asked me and stayed put, going against every instinct to never be the victim, to fight for the people you loved and for the life you wanted. I put my trust in my friends, my sister and my fiancé.

  I kept my scream inside my lips when the closet door was flung open by a filthy Manas. She had matted black hair that looked like it hadn’t been brushed or washed in months. “I found her!” she called to the rest of the house, yanking me out with force I was too clumsy to resist with any sort of clarity. Finn’s jagged balisong blade was clutched in my steady hand, and before the disheveled but determined Manas could do what she wanted to September, I sliced her across her throat. My knife cut true, as it had when I’d fought off the army of zombies with Finn. Though Finn was in his own world now, I felt him with me, slicing and gutting the half-women who’d left their legs elsewhere, so their torsos could fly around and wreak havoc on my house and my life.

  The Manas who’d yanked me from the closet flapped haphazardly and then collapsed. I knew it wouldn’t be over until we salted or burned them, but going out of the bedroom would only flood me with more Manas I might not be able to overtake. Flashes of them lifting Bishop and me and flying us beyond where Von could find us terrified me to my very core.

  I stepped over the dormant body of the Manas I’d temporarily killed and ran to Von. He had three determined Manas on him and four i
n that limbo of temporary death at his feet. He fought valiantly with knives and his teeth, biting and slashing with purpose and desire. Bloodlust was plain in his wide eyes, so I stabbed one of the Manas in the back and dragged the blade sideways so he could have some breathing room and some lunch.

  “Get back!” Von warned, but the Manas turned from attacking him to raising their razor-like claws at me.

  I didn’t hesitate, but flashed my knife across the torso of the one on the right. This only seemed to piss off the others. My body wasn’t as flexible as it had been nine months ago, and didn’t take to being slammed on the bed when several of them ganged up on me. My back twinged, and I felt the beginnings of a contraction coming on, of all things. The mark on my arm started to burn, hopefully communicating to Kabayo to get the crap up here and clean house.

  The half-women didn’t look angry or like they wanted to kill me. Instead they shushed me as the bedroom door burst open, and more Manas flew in to fight Von. “Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt the baby!”

  “I’m coming, October!” Von shouted. “Hold on!” I heard an “oof!” and felt fear like none other as I thrashed unsuccessfully on the bed, pinned down by four, five and then six flapping Manas.

  “Stop! The baby’s not Sama’s! She’s Von’s!” I cried, fighting for both our lives.

  The one in charge looked down on me and pulled a pouch out of her jacket pocket as she hovered next to my head, her bat wings flapping to keep her aloft. “Yeah? Well, I can’t take that chance.”

  Danny burst into the bedroom, his crazed eyes locking in on mine before he jumped into the air and grabbed the nearest Manas. He flung her clear across the room like a Frisbee, knocking her out. Von was working his way through the swarm that was on him, and Boston did his best to attack the nearest thing that kept us apart.

  There was so much going on. I braced myself against the fistful of light brown ground up spices that was shoved into my mouth. I didn’t know what it was, so I tried to spit out the mouthful that tasted like mulch at the Manas who held me down.