"We'll have Hades make it lightning-proof," I promised, wondering if he could do such a thing. Magic and technology were just starting to play together, thanks to my very powerful friends. That didn’t mean Hades would be able to pull it off. I was still going to ask because replacing so many devices was costing us an arm and a leg.
Nyssa provided the grand finale to the chaos. My youngest had been quietly people-watching. Her shadows suddenly perked up like curious pets and stretched toward a mundie baby with obvious fascination. She'd probably sensed how different the normal kid was from her and her siblings. It was like comparing a house cat to a tiger.
The other mother glanced down and froze mid-step. Her face went pale as she watched dark tendrils creep toward her child. "What the hell?—"
"What is it?" I asked, looking around as if I couldn't see the obvious shadow problem while discreetly grabbing the obsidian pendant from the diaper bag. The device immediately started containing Nyssa's wayward shadows. It pulled them back where they belonged.
The woman chuckled nervously saying, “Oh, sorry. It’s nothing.” She cast another look down at her child, gripped her stroller tighter, and then hurried away without another word. She threw a nervous glance over her shoulder before getting lost in the crowd. I could practically see her mental gymnastics. She was worried that she was hallucinating from too many sleepless nights. Mundies almost always explained away the unexplainable. Self-preservation at its finest.
"Maybe we should've started smaller," Nina observed, adjusting Nyssa's sunshade. "Like a trip to the mailbox."
"We're fine," I insisted, probably with more confidence than the situation warranted. "Just need to find our rhythm."
Famous. Last. Words.
We'd fed all three and changed their diapers before we were able to really start shopping. I was examining winter squash, mentally planning butternut soup variations, when something brushed against my awareness. It almost felt like invisible fingers reaching toward the babies. I jerked my head up, scanning the crowd as I sent my magical senses out to locate my stalker. Whatever it was had already vanished the moment I tried to focus on it.
Still, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Someone was watching us. I could feel their attention like a weight pressing against my shoulders. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was predatory and patient. I’d been through enough to get good at identifying the sensation.
"Mom," Nina said quietly, her voice tight with controlled panic. "Something's wrong."
"I know..." My words trailed away when I spotted the figure near the honey stand. They were of average height and wearing a dark hood that hid their face entirely. All I could see were their hands. They were pale as bone with extra-long fingers ending in what looked like black nails or maybe small claws. And they weren't browsing the honey. They were watching us with the kind of focus a hawk reserves for field mice.
"Nina," I said softly. "Do not panic. Stay behind Melaina’s stroller and stay low. Pretend to be going through the bag beneath it."
"What's happening?"
"Someone's watching us." My magic began building beneath my skin as the hooded figure moved toward us. "I can’t get a read on them. Be ready to cast if shit goes sideways."
Their approach was unhurried but purposeful, weaving between shoppers with unnatural fluidity. It wasn't until they got closer that I felt the wrongness clinging to them like a second skin.
"They're going to approach us here?" I asked no one in particular.
The attack came as if in response to my question. A lance of reddish-orange energy materialized from the figure's hand, arrowing toward the strollers. The magic reeked of decay and malevolence. It carried violent intent and made my stomach lurch.
It never reached its target. I threw up a deflection spell just as Nina's protective dome snapped into place around all five of us. The reddish-orange energy hit my magic and ricocheted harmlessly into the pavement. Where it struck. it left a smoking crater that had people looking around and asking what happened.
Leaving them to postulate, I moved closer to Nina, who’s barrier shimmered around us like a soap bubble. It was pretty and completely invisible to mundane eyes. The backlash from the failed attack sent the hooded figure stumbling backward. For a split second, I got a clear look at what was under that hood. It had gray skin stretched too tight over sharp bones. And eyes like black holes that seemed to pull at my vision. Before I could tell Nina to stay with the babies, the figure was gone. They vanished between one heartbeat and the next.
The only evidence left behind was that smoking hole in the asphalt and the lingering smell of burnt plastic mixed with rotting flowers. Ten seconds. That's all it took. To the mundane shoppers around us, absolutely nothing had happened. Mostkept browsing and chatting, completely oblivious to the magical throwdown that had just transpired in their peaceful farmer's market. A few were wondering about the crater, but they had decided it was a pothole they hadn’t previously seen.
"What the hell was that?" Nina demanded, her voice shaking as she dropped the protective dome.
"Someone who made a very poor decision," I replied, my hands trembling as I checked the babies. All three were awake, alert, and watching me.
"Are you okay?" I whispered, running my fingers over each of them. Melaina reached up with one tiny hand, Thaniel made soft cooing sounds, and Nyssa's shadows pooled contentedly around her blanket. They seemed completely unbothered by the whole thing.
"We need to go home," I said, already turning the stroller I was pushing toward the parking area. "Right now."
The walk back to our car stretched like taffy. Every face in the crowd was potentially hostile. Every shadow was a possible threat. The babies stayed calm the entire time, as if magical assassination attempts were just another part of their daily routine.
It wasn't until we were locked inside the SUV with the protective wards that I let myself really process what had just happened. Someone had tracked us down in a public place and tried to hurt my children. The nightmare scenario I'd been dreading since the day they were born had just become reality.
"Mom," Nina said quietly as I started the engine with hands that refused to stop shaking. "What happens now?"
I looked in the rearview mirror at three pairs of innocent eyes. "Now we figure out who wants to hurt our family," I said, backing out of the parking space with maybe a little too much aggression. "And we make damn sure they never get anotherchance." The farmer's market adventure might be officially over, but the war for my children's safety was just getting started.
CHAPTER 2
