Peri smiled sweetly. “Amore. You need a portal to transport from anywhere within the same plane to somewhere locked, like Atlantis, or somewhere over a greater distance, like half a world away. Jumping allows you to transport with magic, but with limited range. We were on a long weekend break and Archie once tried and managed to jump us to Paris from Russia. Now that was retch-worthy. Non è buono.”
With the sickness subsiding Natalia peered around, blinking. They were at the new rooftop bar. She hadn’t been here since her birthday. She could picture Noah drinking and storm clouds hovering in the sky. Her birthday had been a day she’d never forget, the day everything had changed.
“There he is!” Peri announced enthusiastically, and then marched off.
Natalia struggled to keep up. Eventually, Peri stopped, at the back of the roof and Natalia was thankful. Her gaze settled on Gold who was seated casually with one leg over the other, sunglasses shielding his eyes, and a glass of something brown in his hand. He didn’t acknowledge the girls, not until Peri touched the table with her trident.
He put the glass down. “Are you trying to frighten me?”
Peri withdrew the weapon. “I booked an appointment.”
Gold lowered his glasses, then pushed them back up. “So you did. And are you sure you still want it?”
“Sì.”
“Are you sure you want the Fairy to come?”
“Sì,” Per repeated.
“That Fairy has a name,” Natalia bit at the same time.
Gold smiled, showing off his extending fangs to Natalia; it was easy to forget he was a Vampire. “You ooze confidence, and it’s only growing,” he said. “By the way, I am glad to hear of you being accepted.” He raised his glass in a toast and swallowed down the contents in one.
Natalia wanted to question how Gold knew, but he stood unexpectedly, folding his glasses and swapping them for his monocle. No one on the roof turned their heads. Natalia was still unclear on what Gold could do, or what magic he’d stolen – she was sure the magic on his calling card hadn’t been his alone, there had to be a Witch’s influence – so maybe the public didn’t turn to see them here because Gold didn’t want them to look.
For the second time in five minutes, Natalia’s heart was pulled from her body.
This time, she landed without seeing her life. Nausea engulfed her, and though Gold hadn’t warned them the jump was coming, it had been smoother than the last.
A glass full of shimmering silver appeared under her nose. The smell of salt and mint wafted over her senses, as did the fizzing sounds.
Natalia searched for who’d brought it, but saw no one. Eyes widening, she glanced out the window at the scene beyond; skyscrapers and glass-buildings filled the far horizon, and people rushed about below, their bodies no bigger than small dots.
“Where are we?” she asked, gazing in awe.
“New York,” Gold answered.
Natalia’s head whipped round to find him but the room stole her attention.
Nearly every wall seemed to be a window that overlooked the city. Bright light was bursting through the glass and reflecting off the crystal chandelier sending colour dancing about the room. Rainbows spread over the black furniture of the otherwise sparse living room occupied by nothing more than a sofa, armchair, a black fireplace, and an oversized TV on the only solid wall.
“You should drink that.” Natalia squeaked in surprise as Gold swanned past her. Walking backwards to be in line with her, his fangs on full display, he added, “It helps recover from the magical jumps.”
Natalia took a sip, finding an unfamiliar tang on her tongue, just as Peri came into the room from somewhere else in the building. When had she snuck off? Where had she gone too? Natalia felt bad for not having noticed.
Peri had changed into a white shirt that was far too large to be hers, a nervous smile etched onto her face as she came to stand beside Natalia.
“Are you ok?” Natalia whispered.
“I will be.”
Again Natalia sipped her drink and gave her friend a sideways glance. “What’s going on? Is everything ok?”
Gold waved his hands. “Peri, dear?” he called.
Despite not knowing her long, Peri was trusting Natalia with whatever this was, and so she pressed a “good luck” kiss to Peri’s cheek. Peri’s eyes lit up and she sank away, holding her shoulders notably higher.
Natalia did nothing but watch as Gold instructed Peri to lie on the sofa. Natalia couldn’t contain the small gasp that escaped her when he unbuttoned the middle of Peri’s shirt to expose her stomach.
The Vampire turned to her at the sound, noting her unease, and offered a gentle smile. “She’ll be fine,” he promised.
The door that Peri had appeared through opened again. Before Natalia could object, a woman emerged and approached Peri.
The woman rolled out a tired red rug and knelt on it, putting her body sideways to Natalia and Gold. She wore a deep purple, old fashioned dress that somehow suited her petite frame.
Natalia didn’t trust this woman. Honestly, didn’t she trust Gold. She didn’t really know them. So she kept her eyes vigilant, waiting for something to go wrong while keeping her fingers crossed that nothing would.
The woman raised her arms and shuffled until she hid Peri from view. Unhappy, Natalia shifted, moving to Gold’s other side and watched the woman run her hands above Peri’s body, refraining from physically touching. A concentrating scowl centred the woman’s face as she lowered her hands over Peri’s exposed lower stomach. It was then she pulled out a long, glowing white Crystal, circling it above the flesh. She then waved it above Peri’s head before slipping it back into her dress pocket.
“Who is she?” Natalia asked, still not willing to take an eyes off Peri.
“Evangeline is an old and dear friend,” Gold told her, his voice levelling with a notion of humour to it. He was enjoying this, Natalia realised. “She’s someone who can work the Crystals better than anyone else I know.”
“You trust her?”
“I would not have asked her here if I didn’t.”
Evangeline, as Gold had named her, pulled herself onto her heels and stood. She helped Peri stand and led her to Natalia and Gold. Evangeline and Peri could pass for being the same age, yet Natalia somehow knew they weren’t. Evangeline was like a girl out of time; the age behind her eyes, in her careful stare, gave it away.
For the work with the Crystals, she must’ve been a Vampire, but there was something more about her. An essence about her that was different.
Evangeline touched her own necklace when they stopped. “You have seen what the Crystal said,” she spoke directly to Peri.
Natalia’s looked at everyone in turn. “What’s going on?” she asked. Was something wrong? Was Peri dying?
Peri touched Natalia’s hand and looked her in the eye. “I’m pregnant.”
◆◆◆
“Drink, my dear girl?” Gold offered, moving to his bar.
With the two young Creatures sent on their way, he poured himself a drop of whiskey. The first taste hit him like a bullet and he grimaced, but it wouldn’t be enough to make him stop. Whiskey had always been his favourite, and this Van-Hook whiskey from 1869 was everything.
He gazed at the bottle, smiling, remembering the fire at the distillery that’d come months later, the one he’d had absolutely nothing to do with.
“No, thank you,” Evangeline answered.
Gold turned to the ever young Evangeline. “Is something wrong?”
Many years ago they’d met in London, when trains filled the air with smoke and the world was not yet digital. Even now Evangeline looked no older than she had back then. She had collected some fashions over the years and cycled through them all; the purple dress she wore today was one of the oldest, with its long sleeves and slightly low neckline.
“It’s my death day,” she said as if that answered everything.
To Gold, it did.
April fifth, for Ev
angeline, was the same as his December second. Those days held emotions for them both. Every year that Gold felt like he’d overcome it, he found himself looking at his marks and fangs in the mirror while his undead heart – he was convinced – thumped, but only once. While it now held less powerful emotion, there was still part of him attached to that day, a part of his soul embedded in that time. And for Evangeline, her day was newer than his, despite still being over one hundred years past now.
“A drink may help?”
He raised a full bottle of freshly procured AB negative. Blood-lust was a constant thing for them now, and it had been for a hundred years, but on their death day that too seemed heightened.
She shook her head, smiling sadly. “No,” she insisted. “I must be going soon.”
“Must you?” She didn’t reply so Gold refilled his drink and sipped it. “There was something in your eyes. When you were examining the girl.”
“She is young.”
“That wasn’t it.”
“You know me well.” Gold would’ve been disappointed if he didn’t since they had a century of friendship behind them. He’d been with Evangeline through part of her story, though he didn’t know some of its complications, and it was not really his to know. But through these years, they had remained close. Evangeline put her hand on Gold’s, their momentary coldness combining. “The baby.”
“What about it?”
“You know what it’s last name will be.”
Suddenly Gold understood. How had he not realised before? “Young Eva—”
“I have not heard that name for generations.” Evangeline touched the ends of her hair, as she always did when nervous or sad.
“Generations makes you sound old.”
She smiled. “I am.”
“Blood and family never stop being ours.” His face and drink turned sour. “I think they will need our help.”
“Because of the baby?”
Gold shook his head. “No.”
She gave him the sturdiest look. “Was it the other girl?”
“I can’t put my finger on it,” he said, “But there is something in the air, and something in her heart.”
◆◆◆
The landing was smooth enough but that wasn’t what upset Peri’s stomach.
Natalia turned on her the second she could. “You’re pregnant?” she whispered.
Not even Peri’s abilities could help her decode what Natalia was feeling, let alone understand her own emotions. Peri touched her stump and then her stomach gingerly. Tears welled up in her eyes but they weren’t sad.
“I think,” Peri said slowly, “I’ve known for a while.”
Since Atlantis she’d had an inkling; it wasn’t a secret, yet she’d told no one at the time, only because she’d wanted to be sure. Gold had sensed it though, and had she was grateful for his help.
“What did the Crystal say?” Natalia asked, blinking fast. “Or show you? How does it even work? Couldn’t you have used a normal test?”
“It said I’m four months gone. Human tests don’t work on Creatures, they’re inaccurate. We have to use pregnancy Crystals or have a blood test. Plus, periods for Mermaids are irregular, so I couldn’t even tell that way.”
“Then how?”
“The orange juice.”
“Orange juice?” Natalia looked at her quizzically.
“I remember madre saying that she was attached to oranges when she was pregnant. That and I didn’t feel right. Not that pregnancy isn’t right but…” she trailed off for a moment. “I mean, I felt sick.”
“Don’t you think you need to tell Archie?”
“Tell Archie what?” Came a deeper voice.
The girl’s eyes grew in each other’s sights. Neither of them had heard the door close and neither of them had heard Jasper and Archie come in. Peri’s heart wanted to disappear behind scales and under water. Natalia gave her a knowing look and grabbed Jasper’s arm without a word, dragging him away immediately.
Archie came closer and took her face into his hands. “Darling? Tesoro? What have you got to tell me?”
◆◆◆
“Darling?” Archie prompted.
He noticed how Peri’s hand remained on her stomach, almost protectively, and how her eyes were downcast, but when he called to her again, she raised her sharp gaze. Her eyes shone with tears. He went to wrap her into a hug and she stopped him, putting her stump to his chest.
“Archie—”
“Yes?” he cut in, both nervous and eager to find out what this was.
“I’m pregnant.”
Archie’s heart stopped as he waited. When he wasn’t torn maliciously away from the here and now, he felt tears along his lashes and cheeks. This couldn’t be a dream, could it?
“You’re…” he trailed off, unsure of what to say. He wanted to be sure, sure that this wasn’t a falsehood.
“I really am.”
Archie let go of her face and dropped his hands to her stomach. He went to touch her but hesitated. Peri smiled, and guided his hand to her. The overwhelming pulse that ran through him was like lightning. His girlfriend, the most beautiful Mermaid who could swim and sing him to his end, was carrying his child.
This was no dream.
“How do you know?” he asked next.
“Gold.”
Archie met her eyes. He usually wasn’t angry, and he wasn’t now, but annoyance rose. “Gold?”
Peri’s tears began to spill. “With everything happening, between Natalia needing us and the most recent Monster attacks, I didn’t want to add to your pile.”
“So you added to yours alone? So while your pile is five miles high, mine is only four?”
“It’s not like that!”
“Isn’t it?”
“No!”
“It looks that way to me. We’re supposed to be a team. Our piles are meant to be equal.”
“I wanted to be sure first! I was worried about working up to nothing.”
He moved his hands back to her face, holding her like she was a diamond. To him, she was the utmost precious one. “It still should’ve been shared. I’m part of this too!” Archie sighed heavily, his annoyance easily melting. “How did you even get to Gold?”
Peri swallowed. “He gave me a calling card laced with magic back in Atlantis. He’d noticed me drinking orange juice.” She waved a hand like she wouldn’t explain that part now. “That’s why I stayed behind today. I called Natalia so she could come with me. I wasn’t sure and I didn’t want to make you worry or get your hopes up for something that might not have been real.” She looked down again. “Or for you to decide you didn’t want this.”
“Darling.” His voice was strained. He tucked a finger under her chin, making her look at him. “I know you had Natalia, and I’m glad you had someone, but it should’ve been me. Whatever would’ve happened, whatever you had wanted to do, it would’ve been your choice, but I still should’ve been at your side.”
“I want this baby,” she said strongly.
“I want it too, Peri, and I want to be a part of all this. Our baby. Our future.”
Peri’s smile pierced his heart and he wanted to thank her for it. “Really?”
“I love you, Peri Sofia. With all that I am, I love you.”
He encircled her body within his arms. Their lips met in a burning frenzy, with energy that spoke the language both of them knew but neither could speak aloud. Peri’s tears washed over him, mixing with his. This was love; the most powerful emotion that only hearts alone could understand.
As their lips parted, Archie still held her to him. “I want this so much. Every part of it,” he whispered though it wasn’t a secret. Doubt, however, surfaced again. “But this is real? This isn’t a dream?”
Peri shook her head, sniffing. “No dream.”
“You really are pregnant?”
“About four months.”
Archie’s breathing hitched. “Four months?”
“I’m due in Septemb
er.” She wiped her face and replaced her sour frown with a smile so bright. “That’s what the Crystal showed me.”
“Is that all it showed you?”
She nodded. “No gender. No Creature.”
“Our own little fish.”
“It might be,” she laughed. “But it might be a little Witch. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“September,” Archie said in disbelief. “Who else knows?”
“Currently? Just Natalia.”
“Your parents—”
Peri cut in. “We’re going to hang off that one.” He didn’t push that; Peri knew what she was doing, so if she didn’t trust her parents, then that was that.
Archie’s hands slid over his girlfriend’s body, his fingers feeling her edges and sharp parts and her curves. She sighed in content and leaned into his touch. When his hands came to rest around her stomach, he was sure he felt movement.
“Little fish,” he mused, receiving what he thought was another push.
“Our,” Peri touched his face, “little fish.”
Archie grinned and kissed Peri again. In just a matter of months, two would become three, and Archie’s heart swelled to twice its size. This was always inevitable – at least, he thought so, right from those first moments – just a matter of when.
“I love you too, with all that I am and will be,” she whispered against his lips quietly, it meant to be heard by only him.
This was euphoria, and his love for Peri and their child was going to be eternal.
◆◆◆
Jasper didn’t mind Natalia dragging him down into the training area. But he was curious as to why. So he asked. “What’s going on?”
“Family stuff,” she brushed off.
Jasper raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Let me get this straight. There’s family stuff going on and you know about it but I don’t, despite me being part of said family and not you?”
Natalia whirled on him. “It was none of my business to know.”
“But you do know.”
“I owed favours and paid one back. But this…”
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