Chapter Six
1389 Words
Chapter Six
“Hayden! Hayden, come here!” Eliza yelled from the top of the stairs.
“What is it? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Hayden quickly tried to catch his breath.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just need help with this color palette for the nursery. I have no idea whether I should mix the orange and gray with yellow or if I should do blue. Or maybe purple.” Eliza turned and walked away as if she’d forgotten that she had even called Hayden upstairs. He shook his head and laughed before following Eliza into the nursery.
Eliza was sitting in the glider, staring at the walls. She had a sad look on her face. “Am I getting ahead of myself here?”
“What do you mean?” Hayden took a seat on the foot stool in front of her and took her hands in his.
“I mean, I’m only six months pregnant and I’m obsessing over the colors we are going to use in the nursery. What if the prophecy that Naomi and Melissa found actually is about us and this overlord is coming after us? What if he succeeds in what he wants and...” Eliza trailed off and swallowed back the tears that were threatening to spill over.
“We have every member of the pack on this. No one has heard or seen anything that would mean Deimos is coming. And I don’t think it is too early to get the nursery ready.” He pulled Eliza into his arms. “Everything will be fine. Alyssa is sending her midwife to help us out and she will be able to tell you what is going on with those dreams you are having.”
“That’s just the thing, Hayden.” Eliza shot up from the glider and started pacing the room. “We met with Alyssa two months ago. Shouldn’t the midwife have been here already? Brienne said that I should be having monthly check ups with the OB/GYN to make sure everything is okay with the baby. I haven’t had a single check-up yet. The way I actually know that there is a baby in there is that it is moving constantly, I’m craving all kinds of raw meat and I have to pee... ALL THE TIME!” She sighed and looked at Hayden. “These dreams aren’t just dreams anymore. It’s like I am reliving the entire day over again except that instead of seeing my day through my eyes I am seeing it through someone else’s. This isn’t normal.” Eliza slid down the wall and sat on the floor.
“The midwife will come, and I know that she will have answers. Even if she tells us our worst fears, in that these dreams of yours are not normal and that someone is coming after you, we will still have answers. But until we get those answers, there isn’t anything we can do. Either way, we need to prepare the nursery for our baby. And like I already said, we have the whole pack looking around. We’re going to be okay.” Hayden stood up and held out his hands. “Let’s go do something. We can go for a walk.”
“Can we go get some ice cream?” Eliza pouted and looked up at Hayden.
“Do you want pickles with your ice cream?” He smiled at her teasingly. Eliza laughed and took his hands to steady herself as she rose from the floor.
“Actually pickles don’t sound so bad.” Eliza shrugged and they walked downstairs hand in hand.
They were just about to walk out the door when Eliza remembered that her cell phone was still upstairs. She quickly went up to get it.
“I’ll meet you outside,” Hayden called after her and opened the door. An old woman stood there staring back at him.
“Oh! Hello,” Hayden said in surprise as he held the door open and gave the woman a puzzled look.
“Hello, dear. My name is Fiella Kennan.” The woman smiled a sweet smile. When she saw that Hayden still had a puzzled look on his face, she cleared her throat. “Alyssa sent me. She said that you were in need of a midwife? Is this still true?”
Hayden shook himself from his confusion and smiled politely.
“Yes, of course, come on in. I’m Hayden.” He moved aside so Fiella could enter their home. “Eliza!” Hayden shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “We have company.”
Were we expecting company today? Once she reached the bottom of the stairs and took Hayden’s outstretched hand, she found herself face to face with a very old woman. Eliza looked the woman up and down.
“Hello,” Eliza said politely.
The woman nodded her greeting, gently smiled and took Eliza’s hand. “I’m Fiella. I am very sorry it has taken me so long to come. I was preoccupied with another mother. She finally had the child about a week ago. I came as soon as I could.”
Eliza invited Fiella into the living room and offered her some tea.
“Come sit beside me,” Fiella said. “I will see if I can reach the child. Have you seen a pack midwife yet?”
Eliza stood there, unable to move. “Uh no, I haven’t. What do you mean ‘reach the child’?”
“Don’t worry, dear. I’m only going to touch your belly. You won’t feel a thing.” The woman smiled and gave a small tug on Eliza’s arm, forcing her to sit. “How far along are you, my dear?” The woman placed her hands very gently on Eliza’s belly.
“Six months now,” Eliza answered carefully, scared to move.
“Hmmm, I see.” The woman gently moved her hands around Eliza’s mid-section and then suddenly she stopped. Her eyes flew open, and she dropped her hands and jumped back.
“What? What is it?” Hayden rushed to Eliza’s side.
“Deimos,” she mumbled under her breath and looked into Eliza’s eyes. “Deimos is surrounding your child. I can’t fully reach it.” She folded her hands and closed her eyes like she was praying.
“What do you mean?” Hayden sat down beside Eliza on the arm of the couch.
The woman sat quietly for a moment and then opened her eyes. She looked a lot calmer, less worried. It was comforting in a way.
“Deimos has a lot of different powers that has taken years to perfect. One of his powers is being able to attach himself to a person or an object.” She tilted her head to the side. “He has attached himself to you and your baby. You have Peacekeepers, yes?” Hayden and Eliza nodded in unison. “Have they sensed anything amiss as of late?”
“No. Nothing,” Eliza answered.
The woman nodded. “I see. Have you been experiencing any dreams or lapses in time?” She paused for a moment then continued, “The only thing I can think of is that this child is special. I don’t know how, but there has to be a reason that Deimos has attached himself to you and the baby. You see, child, when a woman is pregnant with a werewolf’s child, she can’t exactly go to the hospital for regular prenatal check-ups. That is what the elders of the tribe are for. As a she-wolf gets older, she gains special skills to monitor pregnancies. This is to make sure that both the mother and the child are healthy. Sort of like a midwife. I should be able to see the child, monitor brainwaves, the heartbeat, feel what the baby is feeling.”
Eliza now only had one question that she needed answered just to keep her sanity. “Is Deimos causing these dreams?”
The woman gave a small smile and reached for her hand. “So you have been having the dreams? I would like you to tell me about them so that I can try to figure out why Deimos is so intrigued by you. Have you had any lapses in time as well? Or only the dreams? Also if it isn’t an intrusion and if it is permissible to your pack elders, I would like to stay here in your home with your family to monitor you and the baby?”
Eliza looked to Hayden. “I would really like that, and I’m sure Hayden can ask the elders. There was only one lapse in time. Other than that, it has only been the dreams.”
Hayden smiled and nodded.
“Thank you very much. I will see what sort of remedies I can come up with to try and make the dreams subside. If I cannot find you the answers, then I will still do my best to make sure you and your baby are healthy.”
- Writer
