Chapter 6 – Emergency Call
Ariel
“Baby?” Mom’s voice asks, all shaky and tense. “Oh, sugar –“
“Mom, what’s wrong?” I ask, looking directly at Jackson, who crosses the room in a few short strides, clearly sensing my distress. Why – why is she calling me, sounding all scared?
“Ariel, I just had the worst dream –“
“Mom!” I snap, my shoulders starting to shake with both fear and relief. “You’re calling me on the emergency phone because you had a bad dream!?”
“No, baby, listen to me,” mom says, her voice tense and full of dread. “It wasn’t a normal dream. It was…like the dream state? But not. And Juniper was there.”
My eyes fly wide and I lower the phone from my ear, pressing the speaker button so Jackson and Jesse can hear too.
“Juniper needs you to go get her, baby,” mom says, fear lining her words. “To the Underworld. Right now. You have to go.”
Jackson and Jesse just stare at me, shocked and afraid.
“What’s happening?” The three of us turn towards Midnight, who stands from her place on the couch. Daphne looks at us all, wide-eyed. “Did someone say Underworld?”
“Please, Ariel, I’m scared for her – it was a horrible dream –“
“Okay, mom,” I say, my voice shaking. “Midnight’s here. She’ll take us right now. Um. Are there any other details you can tell us? Of what we’re walking into?”
“No,” mom says, sounding mournful. “It was very vague – I can’t –“
“We’re coming to you now,” dad says, his voice getting louder as the seconds pass like he’s taken the phone from mom. “I’ll call up the train –“
“No, you should not do that!” Midnight says, trotting over and raising her voice to be heard. I hesitate for a second and then hold out the phone towards her so that dad can hear what she has to say. Midnight leans forward and shouts at the phone. “I’ll go get here in like, ten seconds. It’s probably nothing. Don’t get on a train and come for nothing if it’s fine.”
Dad sighs and goes silent. We all stay very still, waiting.
“Can you really go that fast, Midnight?”
“Oh yeah sure no problem I’m very powerful and I’m swift,” she says, managing to be at once loud and breezy, raising her hands to play with her hair.
“All right,” dad snaps. “You call us. If I don’t hear from you in ten minutes I’m getting on a train.”
“We will, dad. I love you.” My parents say brief goodbyes and I hang up the phone, emotion running through me.
“Weapons?” Jesse asks, tense, looking up at Jackson.
“On it,” he says. My eyes widen as he strides off to the kitchen pantry, of all places.
“We keep our weapons in the pantry!?”
“You’d know this!” he calls over his shoulder. “If you ever went in here!”
For a second I stand straighter, offended, but then I shrug it off both because he’s right and because I’ve got other things to worry about.
“Okay, everyone hold hands,” Midnight says, reaching out for Jesse. He takes her hand eagerly and they both turn to Daphne.
“Wait, what?” she says, all breathy and shocked.
“Are you coming?” Jesse asks, holding out his hand.
“Yeah,” Midnight says, a little devious, grinning at her. “What, are you like, scared?”
“Yes I’m scared!” Daphne nearly shouts, leaning forward and staring at them both like they’re insane. “You get a call about a magical dream regarding danger in the Underworld and then have the gall to tease me for being scared!? You should all be scared!”
I nod, agreeing with her, fear roiling in me as Jackson comes striding out of the pantry, his arms absolutely loaded with weapons. He starts to hand them out to Jesse, who begins to strap them to himself, but I stride forward and grab one of the guns, pulling it out of Jackson’s hands.
He snarls at me, not liking that one bit.
“Won’t work down there,” I say, rolling my eyes at him and tossing the gun on the counter. “That one has an electronic ignition system. No electrics – they just don’t function in that world.”
“What?” Jesse asks, going a bit still.
“Ya.” Midnight says, reaching for the stack of knives that Jackson lays out on the counter. “Gimme gimme!” He rolls his eyes and hands her one very small knife.
“Wait, that can’t be right,” Jesse says, frowning at Mids. “Juniper gave you all sorts of electronics – she gave you a TV –“
“She did?” I ask, my face screwing up with confusion.
“Ya, a magical TV,” Mids says, rolling her eyes at Jesse, a clear imitation of the expression Jackson turned on her a second ago. “It didn’t even have a plug.”
Jesse just waves a hand at her, dismissing her saucy attitude. He and Jackson continue to load their bodies with weapons very quickly – almost as if they’ve practiced it. I wonder again what they get up to in warrior class.
But I’m quickly distracted from the question of Underworld energy sources when I see all of the weapons run low, none left for me. “Wait a second…”
Jackson pauses, raising his eyes from his hip holster to me. “What’s wrong?”
“Where are my guns?”
Jackson goes still, staring at me like he doesn’t understand the question.
“Ariel, you’re not coming,” Jesse says, at once sympathetic and frustrated.
I spin to him, aghast. “What!?”
“You’re pregnant,” he says, leaning forward to stare at me like maybe I very suddenly got very dumb.
“So?” Midnight asks, turning to me and looking me up and down. “Does that make you worse at stabbing?” She raises her little knife, looking curiously down its edge as if she’s trying to figure out if pregnancy hormones could dull it.
“No, it doesn’t make you worse at stabbing!” I bite out. I spin again to Jacks. “You’re – are you seriously making me stay behind!?”
“Yes I’m making you stay behind,” he growls, stepping forward and wrapping his hands around my upper arms, glaring down in my face. “Are you – are you serious, Ariel!?”
“It’s my sister!”
“You’re pregnant with my daughters!”
“My daughters too!” I growl, my throat getting tight as I realize that this is a losing battle. Jackson – he’s staring down at me with that adamant expression I so rarely see. The one that means he’s holding his ground. I suck in a breath that hitches in my throat, suddenly panicked, not wanting my mate to go without me – to help my sister – but what if he gets hurt too – what if they both die –
“It’s dangerous, Ariel,” Jesse calls, crossing his arms over his chest.
“But you wanted me to go!?” Daphne shouts, panic starting to overtake her too.
“You stop that,” Jackson murmurs, his focus only on me, tense and angry but feeling all of my fear. He pulls me a little closer, staring down into my face. “We have to go, Ariel – but we’re going to be fine, we’re trained for this. You stay here – you take care of Marigold –“
“Daphne can take care of Marigold!”
He sighs and shakes his head at me. “Absolutely not, Ariel. I…I…Please, love.” His voice cracks on the word as he pulls me closer, moving one of his hands to my cheek, staring down into my eyes. “Please – we have to go get Juniper – and you can’t come – I’ll be worried for you the whole time, and if I have to choose between saving Juniper and saving you I’m going to pick y-“
I cry out at the thought, my eyes pressing shut, my resolve breaking. Jackson feels it down the bond and pulls me close for a moment, pressing a hard kiss to my mouth, and then – too soon – he steps away, reaching for Jesse’s free hand.
I look towards the three of them, tears filling my eyes as Daphne stands and comes to my side, linking her arm with mine and pulling me a little so I lean against her. Together we look at the group as Marigold slips the knife into her belt loop and then wraps her hand around the talisman hanging around her neck.
“Ready?” she asks.
“We’ll be back,” Jesse says, holding my gaze. “As fast as we can. We’ll be back.”
Jackson keeps his gaze steady on my face even as Jesse moves his eyes to Daphne’s.
And then, all of a sudden, they’re gone.
I groan, unable to hold back my fear and worry. My mate gone into danger without me – and me unable to do anything about it –
I press my hand to my stomach, reaching for my bonds with my twin girls, wanting to assure myself of their safety even as…well. Even as I’m angry, unable to help it, that it’s because of them that I can’t go. But I master my emotions, holding that anger back, sending only love and warmth and comfort down the two shiny bonds.
“It’s okay,” Daphne whispers, pulling me into a hug and holding me tight. “They’ll be fine. I promise they’ll be fine.”
“But how do you know?” I moan, giving in to my fear just for a moment.
“Because they have Midnight,” Daphne says, forcing cheer she isn’t feeling into her voice for my sake. “And they gave her a knife! What could be scarier than that?”
I still for a second before bursting into a shaky little laugh, wrapping my arms around Daphne and hugging her back.
“Daddy?”
We both still at the sound of Marigold’s little girl voice and then turn to my bedroom door, which Jackson never shut.
Marigold looks around with her big blue eyes, a blanket clutched in one hand and dragging behind her, a little stuffed tiger clutched in the other. “Dad?” Her little sleepy voice lisps over the word.
I take a deep breath and force my Princess smile to my lips as I crouch, holding my arms out to her. “He had to step out for a second, Goldie. Come to mommy instead.”
But her little girl shoulders slump, her face falling in grief. “No! Daddy!” She leans against the door frame and bursts into devastated tears.
“Oh heavens,” Daphne sighs, looking down at me.
“Yeah,” I say, standing straight, trying not to let my sadness show. “She…has a favorite.”
Together we move to my sobbing little girl, intent on cheering her up and getting her back to bed. And honestly, I have to admit that I’m grateful for the distraction.