"We might have a name," I told him. I quickly explained about Miranda and her disgraced exit from the research facility. "Can you cross-reference her with known associates? Any financial transactions or communications or anything that puts her in a questionable orbit?"
"I'll do my best and send you what I find." His fingers flew across his keyboard. "There's something else. I started tracking that same magical residue, and I found matches. I think they've been monitoring the other children as well."
"The other families that were attacked reported incidents that sound like their infants were scanned last night," Stella said, appearing in the nursery doorway with bags of takeout. "I talked to them before coming over here. They all reported babies who wouldn't sleep last night. Aside from having the feeling of being watched, nothing else happened."
She set the food on the floor and pulled out her phone. "I've got the mothers willing to share their experiences. They're on standby for a group video call whenever you're ready."
"Do it," I said immediately. "We need to figure out who had access to these babies before the attacks."
Within minutes, Stella had assembled a video conference call with multiple families. Ember and Kaia's faces appeared first. I'd met them both before. I knew the exhaustion and terror written across their features intimately. The other mothers I didn't recognize, but the haunted look in their eyes was universal.
"Thank you for doing this," I started as I took Melaina from Nina when she started to fuss. "I know it's not easy to talk about."
"Are you kidding?" Ember's fire-touched eyes blazed with the same protective fury I felt burning in my chest. "If this helps us protect our kids, I'll talk until I'm hoarse. What do you need to know?"
Clio positioned herself where everyone could see her. "We're trying to identify who had contact with your babies before the attacks. Specifically, did any of you have interactions with someone named Miranda Ashford? Or anyone from the Corvus Medical Group?"
Kaia's face went pale. "Miranda? Yes. She was there for the twins' wellness check about a week before..." She swallowed hard. "She said she was covering for our regular nurse."
"Same here," Ember confirmed in a tight voice. "She examined Ash. Spent almost an hour with him. She told us she was being extra thorough because of his unique heritage." Her hands clenched. "I thought she was being careful."
Another mother spoke up, her voice shaking. "I didn't see Miranda, but there was a woman from Corvus Medical who came to do a home visit. She said it was a new program for high-risk supernatural births. I never thought to question it."
My stomach turned to lead. "Did any of you notice anything during these visits? Anything that seemed off?"
"She used diagnostic spells I'd never seen before," the fourth mother said slowly, her expression darkening with realization. "She said they were cutting-edge detection methods. Hailey was fussy afterward, wouldn't settle for hours."
"Ash too," Ember added. "He cried for most of that night. I thought maybe he'd been traumatized by the shots."
"Those scans were used to identify them as targets for the Thessmark," Clio said quietly. "She mapped them. Whoever did this was collecting detailed information about each baby's magical signature."
"I let that doctor touch my baby," the third of the mothers whispered. "I thanked her for being so thorough."
"It's not your fault," Mom said firmly from where she stood with Thaniel. "These people are professionals who know exactly how to gain trust. That's what makes her dangerous."
Jean-Marc's voice cut through the conversation. "I found her. Miranda Ashford. The Blackthorn Institute in Boston formerly employed her. They fired her two years ago for conducting unauthorized tests on infant patients without parental consent. She disappeared after the Institute filed charges. There are reports of her resurfacing in—" He paused, his expression darkening. "Portland, Montreal, Phoenix, and Camden. All within the last six months." Every city where a family had been attacked.
"She's been hunting for them," I said, the words tasting like acid. "Identifying targets and handing that information over to the Thessmark."
"And we allowed her to test our kids," Ember said, her voice breaking.
"She used our trust against us," Aidon corrected, his hand warm on my shoulder. "That's what predators do. But now we know who she is and what she's been doing. That gives us an advantage."
Nana snorted from her position at the table. "Some advantage. We know the name of one scout. We still don't know where the Thessmark are hiding or how many of them there are."
"But we know their method," Stella countered, her expression sharp with determination. "They use medical access to identify and map targets. That means we can warn other families and shut down that avenue of approach.
"I'll draft an alert for the network," she continued, her fingers flying across her phone screen. "Every supernatural family with infants needs to know about Corvus Medical Group and the scanning technique."
Clio nodded. "I'll reach out to legitimate healers and medical practitioners. We can create a verification system to make it harder for infiltrators to gain access."
"Can’t we question this Miranda and ask her what she knows about the Thessmark?” Nina asked.
Aidon smiled at her. It was terrifying. “I’m looking forward to it. I don’t care if she knows anything. I’m going to grill her.”
The other parents shared his sentiment. We talked for a little longer and promised to deliver charms that would prevent further scanning. After the call ended, I sat in the rocking chair with Nyssa sleeping against my chest and Tarja curled in my lap. Her purr was a soothing rumble. Through the window, I could see Layla patrolling in wolf form. Her black fur gleamed in the sunlight. Murtagh and Tseki checked the tree line with methodical precision. Selene was with them and reinforcing the wards.
Nina was doing homework at the kitchen table, her textbooks spread out, but her attention constantly drifted to Thaniel in his bouncy seat beside her. Mythia prepared dinner, moving through the space with quiet efficiency. Mom played peekaboo with Melaina, drawing delighted giggles that made my heartache with how normal it seemed. Nana cleaned her shotgun at the island with Binx supervising.
