Relentless (13 page)

24. SOLSTICE SURPRISE

BY THE TIME LEESA AND RAVE
headed outside, the sun had melted the frost from the lawn, returning the yard to its barren, light brown color. The air remained bitingly cold, though, carried against the exposed skin of Leesa’s face and hands by a stiff northerly breeze. Instead of using a warming spell to ward off the chill, she simply hopped up into Rave’s arms. No warming spell was needed when he cradled her against his chest like this—and it was much more fun, besides.

Leesa had considered skipping magic practice today because of the unpredictable effects of the solstice, but she hated to miss even one day of working to improve her skills. In the end she had decided to go ahead with her practice, but not to try anything too new or too dangerous, and to pay careful attention to any sudden changes in the way she felt. She was determined to be doubly attentive to the baby in her womb, though she had to admit she was intrigued to see if their son might conjure up anything as spectacular as his display during breakfast.

Rave carried her across their yard and raced into the woods behind their house. As always, the trees slipped by at an incredible pace, but Rave’s gait was so gentle that if Leesa closed her eyes she would have scarcely known they were moving, save for the wind rushing against her face. How he managed to avoid every tree and every branch while moving at such incredible speed was something she still found difficult to believe, despite how many times she had ridden in his arms. 

Two miles fell behind them in what seemed like no more than a minute or two. When Rave put her down in a small clearing after so brief a ride, Leesa wished they were going farther, but they had decided to stick close to home today. They were near the reservoir again, far enough into the woods to guarantee their privacy, which was all that really mattered.

She stood cuddled against Rave’s side with her arm around his waist, using his heat to keep her warm while she surveyed their surroundings and decided what magic she wanted to use first to warm up with. Her eyes fell upon a broken branch about five feet long lying on the dead leaves near the center of the clearing.

She dropped her arm from Rave’s back and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Okay, sweetheart. Time to move back. I’m ready to get started.”

As soon as Rave stepped away, the cold air enveloped her in its frigid grip, so she quickly cast a warming spell. The chill immediately vanished from her body. Maintaining the spell while she performed other magic would not be as challenging as some other combinations, but it would still be good practice.

Rave took up a position about twenty feet away, remaining on his feet and leaning against the thick trunk of a tall oak tree. He always appeared alert and ready, even in repose, but today Leesa thought he seemed even more so. She knew he was ready to spring into motion at an instant’s notice, whether to rush to her aid or to evade a sudden magic strike, courtesy of the solstice and the child in her belly. She hoped that neither would be necessary.

Turning back to the fallen branch she had chosen, she focused her mind on the limb.

“
Blitha morun sumuss
,” she chanted.

The branch began to grow slowly longer and thicker—not just the main part of the limb, but all the smaller twigs that branched off from it as well. The slow, steady growth reminded Leesa of time-lapse nature films she had seen, which gave her another idea. She didn’t know if it would work, but she saw no reason not to try.

“
Blitha egras sumuss
,” she said as she visualized green buds sprouting from the ends of the smaller branches. Technically, the limb was no longer alive and so perhaps not subject to the plant growth spell, but it had been alive once, and she knew what oak buds looked like.

She was delighted when tiny green bumps appeared in a number of places. It was working!

She continued to visualize the branch growing bigger and buds sprouting into leaves. Now it was truly similar to a time-lapse film, like watching a small tree grow and bloom. Only this tree was not rooted in the soil.

Leesa didn’t stop until the limb was nearly twice its original size and covered in green leaves. It now looked like a branch that had snapped off from a tree in mid-summer, not at the beginning of winter.

“Impressive,” Rave said from his spot at the edge of the clearing. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Neither did I,” Leesa admitted. “The idea just came to me while I was watching the bare wood grow.” She was about to explain about how the time-lapse analogy had triggered the idea, but realized the notion would be meaningless to Rave.

Flushed with her success, Leesa decided to try something a little bit different from her standard spells. She called forth a yellow illumination orb, which was second nature to her by now, then willed it to begin rotating above her outstretched palm, using the visual she had gotten from her son’s magic earlier this morning. She had never thought to try anything like this before—and wasn’t really sure it had any practical use—but she figured it never hurt to add a new trick to her repertoire. In the world of magic, she was learning, you never knew what might come in handy some day.

It took a few moments of focused concentration, but eventually the glowing globe began to slowly spin in a clockwise direction. She pictured it rotating faster, and it promptly sped up, though she couldn’t make it spin as fast as her son’s had spun. Still, she was pleased with her efforts and decided to keep experimenting.

She shifted her visualization and tried to make the orb spin in the opposite direction. Since she had never seen a sphere rotate counterclockwise, this proved more difficult, but after ten or fifteen seconds of intense concentration she succeeded in reversing the globe’s direction.

“Bravo,” Rave called out, clapping his hands and smiling. “What other tricks do you have up your sleeve, master wizard?”

“How about this, mister volkaane?” Leesa floated the spinning sphere across the clearing until it was suspended a foot or so in front of Rave’s face.

Rave reached out and pointed his index finger at the orb, keeping his fingertip just outside the edge of the glowing area. He sent a thin stream of blue fire into the globe. As the blue spread through the sphere, the color of the illumination changed from bright yellow to a pale green—a green not too dissimilar from the one they had seen earlier this morning. Leesa smiled at the image of their separate and very different magics blending into the color of their unborn son’s.

“I like it,” she said as Rave lowered his hand. “I like it a lot.”

The sphere remained green even without Rave shooting his fire into it. The magic was already mixed and in place. Leesa was pretty sure if she touched the orb, it would feel much warmer than usual now.

She floated the globe back over in front of her. The new hue had given her another idea to try. She pictured the bright green center her son’s sphere had formed earlier, trying to use the visual to generate the same intensely glowing center in her own globe.

Her efforts proved counterproductive, however. Not only did the interior of the orb fail to brighten at all, but it also suddenly stopped spinning. She was left with a motionless glowing green sphere floating in front of her face, something she could have created without any fire from Rave. Disappointed, she let the orb wink out.

Rave walked over to her. “What happened? I could tell from the look on your face you were trying to do something.”

“I was trying to increase the brightness in the center, like we saw this morning. I think putting so much focus on that distracted me from the spinning part. Once that stopped, I decided to let the whole thing end.” Leesa smiled. “I’m not giving up, though. I’ll just start again from scratch, without any of your fire this time.” Her smile widened. “No offense, but I think I might have better luck using only my own power, at least until I start to get the hang of it.”

Rave returned her smile. “No offense taken, sweetheart. I’ll keep my fire to myself this time.”

Leesa called up a second yellow globe identical to the first. With much less effort this time, she set the sphere to spinning rapidly. She watched it rotate for nearly a minute, using the visual to strengthen the spell until she thought it was safe to divide her concentration once again.

She pictured the core of the spinning sphere growing brighter.

Nothing happened.

Leesa’s brow furrowed with determination as she concentrated harder, willing the light to brighten.

Still nothing.

At least the globe was still spinning, she thought to herself. That was progress, at least. She redoubled her efforts.

Suddenly, a green bolt shot from her stomach, striking her illumination globe directly in the center. The core of the sphere immediately bloomed into a bright yellowish green that lit up the entire clearing. The glow quickly grew too intense to look at directly, so Leesa averted her eyes. Rave did likewise.

Concerned about the effects of such powerful magic—not the least of which was how far away the thing might be visible—Leesa ended her spell. At least, she tried to end it. Even without her active support, the sphere hung on for another ten or fifteen seconds before it finally disappeared.

Rave turned his head from the vanished globe toward Leesa. “I’m guessing that was pretty unexpected, huh?”

Leesa nodded. “Totally.”

Rave placed his hand gently on Leesa’s stomach. “You don’t think our son is smart enough already to know what you were trying to do, and then to help you do it, do you?”

Leesa laid her hand atop Rave’s. “No, I don’t—even though he has two amazing parents. I think our friend Mr. Solstice was probably involved. I’m pretty sure I felt something DRAWING the magic out of me, rather than it being sent out on its own.”

“In that case, I think maybe we should call it a day,” Rave suggested.

“I agree. Who knows what might occur next.” Leesa rose up onto her toes and kissed Rave on the lips. “Let’s go home and make a different kind of magic.” She grinned. “Maybe the solstice will enhance that, too.”

Rave scooped Leesa up into his arms. “I like the way you think.”

A moment later, they were racing through the trees.

The days following the solstice produced no more mischief. Leesa was both relieved and disappointed—glad that nothing dangerous happened, but missing the surprise of experiencing something new and unexpected. Thoughts and concerns about the solstice were soon replaced by something else. Christmas was just a day away!

Growing up, Christmas had never been that big a deal to Leesa. With her father gone and her mother the way she was, there had been little celebration of the holiday beyond what Bradley could manage to conjure up for her. Somehow, he always made sure she received a present or two, and as he got older he managed to bring home a small tree every year, which the two of them would festoon with homemade decorations.

Now, however, Christmas was high on Leesa’s list. Last year had been her first real Christmas, enhanced by the recent rescue of Bradley and by her mom’s freedom from the effects of the
grafhym
bite. This year promised to be even more special, because her mom and Bradley were both fully recovered from their ordeals. The family would be gathering at Aunt Janet and Uncle Roger’s house, and Leesa couldn’t wait.

She went to bed with visions of sugar plums—and pot roast and pie—dancing in her head. She couldn’t wait to wake up and begin the celebration.

Biology—and magic—had other plans in store, however.

25. WHAT’S IN A NAME?

LEESA AWOKE TO BROAD DAYLIGHT.
She was stunned—how could she have slept in so late on Christmas morning, of all days? Rave was sitting on the edge of their sleeping mat, watching her. A hint of annoyance at him for not awakening her earlier flashed through her, but the smile on his face and the loving look in his eyes chased it away.

“Good morning, darling,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel great.” Leesa stretched her arms up into the air above her head and yawned. “But how could you let me sleep so late?”

Rave’s smile widened. “I didn’t really have much choice.”

“What do you mean you didn’t have much choice?” Leesa started to roll onto her side so that she was facing Rave, but she got stuck halfway there. For a moment she didn’t understand what had happened, but then she looked down at her stomach.

She couldn’t believe what her eyes were telling her. Her belly was plump and swollen now, big enough to make rolling over difficult. She was totally shocked—she had gone to bed barely showing she was expecting, and now woke up to find she looked four or five months pregnant. Balin’s warning about volkaane pregnancies being very different came back to her.

Placing one hand on her stomach, she forced herself over onto her side. It wasn’t easy, but she managed to flop over. Moving this new body of hers was going to take some getting used to.

“Just how long have I been sleeping?”

Rave laid his hand alongside Leesa’s on her stomach. “If I said ‘Happy New Year, sweetheart,’ would that give you clue?”

For a moment, Leesa didn’t understand what Rave was saying, but then her eyes grew wide.

“You’re kidding! Really? New Year’s? I slept through the whole week?”

Rave removed his hand from Leesa’s belly and stroked her hair instead. “Yep. Just like a volkaane woman. Balin and I warned you it might happen.”

“Yeah, you did. I guess I never quite believed it. Who sleeps for a week, for chrissakes?”

Rave cocked his head to the side. “Cali’s here.”

Rave’s abrupt change of subject momentarily confused Leesa, until she heard a knock at the front door.

“How did you know?” she asked.

“I recognized her step,” Rave replied, standing up. He reached a hand down toward Leesa. “Let me help you up.” He smiled. “You look like you might need it.”

Leesa took his hand and let Rave pull her up to her feet. She was definitely going to have to get used to her new shape. And maybe even start thinking about getting a bed before she got too fat to get up off the floor.

“I’ll go let Cali in,” Rave said. “You may want to run a brush through your hair.”

As Rave left the bedroom, Leesa ran her hands through her hair and found it to be a tangled mess. She wasn’t surprised, if she’d been sleeping on it for a week. She hurried to the bathroom, where she washed her face and then worked a brush carefully through her hair, getting out at least a few of the more major tangles. She was going to need a shower to take care of the rest, so she gathered her locks into a ponytail and headed out to the living room.

She found Cali perched on one of the cushioned chairs, waiting for her. Rave had turned around one of the wooden chairs by the table and was sitting on it. Thoughtful as always, he had saved the other cushioned chair for her.

“Holy crap!” Cali exclaimed as Leesa entered the room. “You’re big as a freakin’ house.”

Leesa settled herself gingerly onto the chair. “Thanks for mentioning that.”

Cali grinned. “Hey, what are best friends for? Besides, you’re not actually that big yet—just a whole lot bigger than the last time I saw you.”

“I sure feel a whole lot bigger. It’s Rave’s fault.”

“Of course it’s his fault. He’s the one who knocked you up.”

Leesa shook her head slowly, but she wasn’t really bothered. Cali was just being Cali.

“You make it sound so romantic.” She rested her hand on her stomach. “But that’s not what I meant. This is a volkaane thing—rapid growth spurts.”

“I know,” Cali said, nodding. “Rave told me.”

Leesa looked at Rave and then back to Cali. “Huh? You were here? When?”

“The day after Christmas. When you didn’t return my calls or my texts, I started to get worried.” She shot a quick glance at Rave and frowned. “Since I couldn’t call your husband to ask what was going on, I phoned your mom instead. She told me you were in the middle of an extra long nap.”

“Oh, shit. I bet Mom was worried sick.”

Rave got up and stood behind Leesa. He began gently massaging her neck and shoulders. Leesa sighed as his warm fingers worked their magic on her tight muscles.

“I told your mom and Bradley on Christmas,” Rave explained. “Once you didn’t wake up, I was pretty sure what was going on. I knew they’d be worried when we didn’t show up at your aunt and uncle’s for Christmas dinner, so I went over to their apartment and explained what was happening. I told them they could tell your aunt and uncle, too. I figured they would need to know about my nature eventually, so why not now?”

Leesa reached up and squeezed one of Rave’s hands. “Thank you, darling. It sounds like you handled everything perfectly.”

“Bradley and your mom have been here twice, checking up on you. You should probably call them and let them know you’re awake and fine.”

“And big as a house, don’t forget,” Cali added, grinning.

Leesa glared at Cali for a second before breaking into a smile. “I can’t argue that, I guess. I’ll call them in a bit. Right now, I’m famished.” She got up and padded into the kitchen, which was separated from the living room by only a low tile counter. “You want a PB&J?” she asked Cali.

“Sure. I could eat.”

Leesa grabbed what she needed from the cabinets and the fridge and began making two sandwiches on the counter. She found it a bit awkward at first, with her swollen belly preventing her from getting as close to the counter as she was used to, but she gradually got the hang of working with her arms part way extended.

“I guess we can start telling people I’m due sometime in April,” Leesa said to Rave as she spread strawberry jelly onto the two pieces of bread she hadn’t covered with peanut butter. “I think my sleeping for a week is a pretty good indication our little guy is coming in six months rather than nine. As big as I suddenly am, he darn well better not wait any longer than six months.”

“I think six months is probably a pretty safe bet,” Rave agreed.

“Anyone who doesn’t know about volkaanes and does the math is going to think we got married just because I was pregnant.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Cali said. “Anyone who has seen you and Rave together will know how disgustingly in love you two are.”

Leesa slapped two halves of a sandwich together. “Thank you for that, Cali…I think.”

She put the second sandwich together and brought the two plates around to the table. Cali got up from her chair to join her.

“You know, with this kid getting as big as he is,” Leesa said as she sat down, “we should probably start thinking about a name for him.” She looked at Rave. “You have any suggestions?”

“I do!” Cali said quickly before Rave could respond. “I’ve got the perfect name. I was hoping I’d be around when you started talking about it.”

Leesa wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to hear Cali’s suggestion. This was Cali, after all. The name was certain to be a wild one—but it couldn’t hurt to hear it.

“Okay, go ahead. Lay it on us.”

“You could call him Domino, after Dominic,” Cali said, grinning.

Leesa rolled her eyes. She wouldn’t mind naming their son after Dominic, but no way were they going to call him Domino.

“Can you be serious for once.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist the joke. I do have a serious suggestion, though.”

“Let’s here it, then.”

“You could name him Calin—after me and Balin. I’ll tell people it’s Cali with an ‘N’ on the end, and he can tell people it’s Balin with a ‘C’ at the beginning.” Cali smiled proudly. “Pretty cool, huh? It even sounds volkaane.”

Leesa looked at Rave. “You know, that’s not half bad. What do you think, Rave?”

“I like it, I guess. Like Cali says, it does sound volkaane. And Balin will be pleased, I know.”

Leesa ran the name through her head a couple of times, trying it on for size. She turned to Cali.

“I like it, too,” she said, “but not quite enough. You’ve given me an idea, though.” She looked back at Rave. “How about Ralin? After you and Balin.”

Rave shrugged. “That works for me, too.”

Leesa wasn’t surprised at Rave’s apparent lack of any major enthusiasm. Since volkaanes had no families, names were not that big a deal to them. Rave had a family now, though.

“Ralin’s not bad either,” Cali admitted grudgingly. She grinned. “I guess if you’re not going to name the little guy after me, you may as well name him after his pops.”

Leesa laughed, happy that Cali was being a good sport.

“I guess that’s settled, then. Ralin it is.” Leesa looked down and put her hand on her stomach again. “Hello, Ralin. Nice to meet you. You ready for some lunch?”