Reign of Night (Thorne Hill 7)

“Inks! Inks!”

I look at Lucas and shrug. “Hey, Penny, where’s Mommy?”

“Inks,” she says again, getting frustrated. There’s movement against the phone, and it sounds like she’s slapping the screen. “Inks!”

“Penny, what are you—ugh, again?” Abby groans. “Oh, gosh, Callie, I’m so sorry.” Penny starts crying, upset Abby took the phone away. “I just got home after seventeen hours at the hospital and just want to sleep so I gave her my phone. I’m that mom now, and I don’t even care. Phil was suppose do to be here, but he had to rush in and take care of a patient who ripped out his foley right after surgery.”

“I don’t know what that means, but I’m sorry. You sound exhausted.”

“I am.”

“Lucas and I are planning on going to Chicago tonight to buy a crib from some fancy-pants baby store Eliza insists we go to. Everything is handmade and way overpriced. I could come over beforehand and play with Penny so you could nap. I’ll consider it practice for when Elena gets here.”

“Oh my god, that would be amazing. When? Now? I’m joking. But I’m not.”

I laugh. “I can come if you want me to.”

“No, it’s okay. Unless you can do that teleporting thing Julian does. Phil should hopefully be home in an hour so he can take this monster. Until then, I’m locking her in my bedroom with the TV on since she keeps calling people when I give her my phone. I should have let Phil get her a tablet for Christmas,” she grumbles to herself. “I think I’m going to order one now, actually.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” I say, helping to ease her guilt. “And we’ll be town around sunset, but it’s no big deal to come an hour or so earlier and hang out with Penny if you want to nap.”

“Pray I’m fine by the evening. We have—” She cuts off.

“Abby? Still there?”

“Yeah,” she says, and Penny starts fussing again. “We have plans tonight and have to leave around five-ish. I already have a babysitter for the night, though I’d feel safer with you watching her.”

I do my best not to cringe, though I suppose it won’t matter since she can’t see me. I have powers and can keep us safe if someone tried to rob the house or something, but I also walk around with a target on my back twenty-four seven.

“I’ll happily watch her another time. You guys going out on a date night or something?”

“Or something. It’s…it’s Scott’s engagement party,” she rushes out, sounding relieved to have said it. “And I don’t want to go, trust me. It’s a pretentious party at the Metro Club that’s doubling as a political fundraiser. It’s the last place I want to go and—”

“It’s okay,” I tell her. “Go and load up on free food or something.”

“There’s an open bar.”

“Oh, how I wish I could drink.”

Abby laughs. “Thanks, Cal.”

“Of course. Oh, hey, what was Penny saying? Inks?”

“Oh, she means Binx. We’ve been working on trying to say his name. She loves that cat.”

“She’s pretty close! I can totally hear it now. And I’ll bring him next time we come to Chicago and see her. He loves the attention.”

“And she would love that.”

Penny starts crying again, and Abby says a rushed goodbye, sounded worn out and frustrated.

“That will be us someday soon,” Lucas says, and I smile, getting that weird, out-of-body experience again. Only days ago, we made the connection that the ritualistic killings both took place on a new moon, leaving us roughly three weeks to put a stop to it before another ritual takes place.

Tabatha put the word out, and the day before the new moon cycle hits, witches of the coven surrounding the hotspots are casting the same protective spell at the same time. Something like this hasn’t been done in decades, and I’m not exactly sure what the story that was told the coven members was, if they were even informed at all. Each coven’s council and High Priest or Priestess will perform the spell. There’s no need to make everyone panic…and there’s no need to lay out cookie crumbs of dark magic for those who are looking to leave their covens in search of greater power.

“It will,” I say, flopping back onto the bed and feeling Elena moving around. She stretches out her legs, and it almost hurts. Moving to my side, I shove a pillow behind me to try and get comfortable while preventing myself from rolling onto my back. I never really paid attention to how I slept before, and it surprised me how much I slept on either my back or my stomach. “The baby shower is next week. And then after that, I’ll be in the third trimester. Holy fuck.”

Lucas chuckles and brushes my hair back so he can kiss my neck. He readjusts the covers and lays down with me, rubbing my back until I fall asleep again. I sleep for a solid three hours before Freya jumps on me, waking me from a bad dream.