“Most women are by dis time. Look at de other two. One has a headache. De other has a nasty look 'bout her. Dey hasn’t been cruel, but dey is far from happy on dealing wid so many babies. Ye look tired but content. I be right, don’ I?”
I nodded.
“Dee's babies mommas will be here soon, we be done in no time chile.”
I smiled.
Not even an hour later three of those mothers came and left with their babies. That left only twelve.
Before I knew it, we were down to the five orphans and the other two ladies were back.
They were feeding those five and preparing them for bed. I was ready for bed myself.
Aries was at the door when I walked out. He wrapped an arm around me, supporting some of my weight, which I was grateful for. I had been up going on ten hours and was ready to eat and go to bed. If Kali were here, I’d have to still feed her and lay her down. At that moment, I was glad I had roommates.
Nanna made leftovers and added in whatever Michael and Raven brought in. When Aries brought me a bowl of stew I didn’t care if it had anchovies. It was good, even though I barely tasted it. I showered hoping I didn’t smell like baby spit up anymore, obviously not because Aries wouldn’t leave my side. By the time we got downstairs, I had to ask.
“Do I still smell like babies?”
“No, why?”
“I can still smell them. Not all of it is a bad smell, but with everything that comes out of those little things it tends to not smell great. I didn’t know more comes out than what goes in.”
Aries laughed and pulled me into his arms. He kissed me and then pulled us down towards the pillows and under the blankets, just holding me.
“I missed you today,” he whispered.
“I missed you too, I felt anxious with you so far away. I think, though, we are getting better at the distance thing.”
“I wondered. We’re more or less in the same building though, so it wasn’t so bad. Had I gone to the docks like I started to I think it might have gotten nasty.”
“If you have to be at the docks let me know. I can come with you if necessary.”
“How did you like working in the nursery?”
“I’m stiff from sitting most of the day, but otherwise it was okay,” I told him honestly.
“Well, I think tomorrow they might need you, but after that, we should have more women and teenage girls. Another boatload will be here in the morning. We got enough of the hotel done that there should be room. This load is Lykan families. So if I can, I’ll send the nursery some help. You might be there half a day. We need to sit down with the guys and see where else we need people. Thorn has people in charge of this, and we need to see who needs more help. We also need someone to make quick decisions and make sure things are getting done that needs done. I will have Thorn get all the info he can together and someone to help you, if you’re willing to do this.”
“If it’s where I am needed. This is what I’m here for.”
“There’ll be a lot of walking. You’ll have to sit some of the time to go over plans and help them take stock. But it seems we need more shipments of fresh food soon.”
“Sure, I’ll be almost back to normal tomorrow. I need the exercise.”
Aries kissed my head.
“Just take it easy, please. I don’t want to see you hurt like this again.”
I mmm-hmm'd him and dozed off. I had assumed Aries left me at night to go help where he could, and was right. I woke up around three in the morning and found him gone. I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I woke the next time he was beside me again.
“Where do you go at night?”
“You woke up?” he asked, cuddling up to me.
“Yeah, I was just curious.”
“I try to be here as much as I can, but I don’t have to sleep. I can see really well in the dark, so Thorn, Switch, and I work on the hotel as much as possible. I get two rooms done by myself in a night. They get more, but they work from sundown to sun up.”
He wanted to stay with me but knew how much he was needed elsewhere.
I kissed him and wrapped a leg over his waist. He tensed up figuring where I was headed with this. My hands tried to move his shirt up. He held my hands firm but gently.
“Angel...”
“No, we can’t avoid this forever. Every day I get stronger. I’m more durable than most men.”
He sighed.
“Don’t you want me?”
“More than you know. I could hurt you again, though, but don’t ever think I don’t want you.”
I tried again.
“You’re not giving up are you?” he asked. I could sense the hesitation, and worry.
“Nope, not without a fight, and I will win!” I said smugly. I was nearly purring which helped my cause.
“Arrggghh, my witch, you will undo me,” he groaned but pulled me up to him.
“That’s the plan...”
“We will, but you are doing all the work. I’m your prisoner.”
“Done!” I whispered. I stripped us in mere seconds, lit the candles with only a thought, and straddled him. I realized then it was not even dawn yet.
He controlled my movements, guiding me through it until I caught on. It was the most amazing thing. It was like emotional fireworks, spectacular. His emotions mirrored mine, basically doubling what I felt, which was almost enough to send me into an uncontrollable power surge again. I kept the rhythm steady, and just as the sun came up we had our third orgasm.
I collapsed on top of him. He was breathing wildly, emotions off the charts. He wrapped his arms around me.
“I love you. I never thought I'd find anyone, especially someone who made me feel this way. I kind of thought I’d spend the rest of my life celibate, always hoping, but empty and lonely. You kind of saved my life.”
“No, Kali did,” I told him.
“She brought us together love, but she didn’t make you, you. Perfect.”
I kissed him and rolled off.
It was shower time. I needed to get dressed and go to the nursery. I picked a pair of black jeans, and a long sleeve t-shirt.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
When I came out my daily potion was on a table, and Aries was gone. I drank it down, put socks and shoes on, and went upstairs.
“See you soon Angel,” Aries called on his way out the door.
I ate toast and followed Nanna out the door to the nursery.
“It’s good to see ye back to yer old self. Dere are two more babies today, so we got a lot of work.”
I nodded, and after a minute or so, we reached the nursery. Two women left to find out if they were needed again, as I knew they were. Like yesterday, there were hungry, dirty babies to contend with. I fed a few, changed a few, and read more books. Two needed baths, which I was nominated for. It was interesting, to say the least. I got the experience I needed for Kali, with Nanna's patience, and many squirming infants, toddlers, and small children. By the time Kali was born, I would be a baby expert.
My day went by quickly just from having to keep up, when one was full another needed fed. When one was changed, another was wet or dirty. One went down for a nap; two more woke up. So by the time Aries showed up; I was, to put it bluntly, quite experienced and filthy.
“I brought three pairs of hands, only one has a baby. Nanna I need to steal Angel for a bit.”
She nodded and kept feeding the baby she was holding.
I had to change due to frequent spit ups, a few little boys hosings, and an excited toddlers version of raspberries with a mouthful of cereal.
Thirty minutes and another shower later I stood among six men. They were surrounding a tiny laptop.
“We have made a program for you that shows what is going on and where, how many people are on the island at this moment, how many homes are built, and shipments that have come in. On this folder here, is when the crops were planted, when they need picked and so forth. Everything has been catalogued basically. All yo
u have to do is add more info as needed, and keep people up to date. I can send this program to your laptop.
“These men will inform you daily of where things are. If we make a mistake, there may not be enough food to last, or enough beds. It also lists the names of every person, including children, with their age, birth date, current job, and where they sleep. At the moment, there are over three hundred people here. Fifty or so will depart by the time the buildings are complete. From what Frank has estimated, and all of us, we expect a little over four hundred on the island in nine months, possibly as many as five hundred. We’ll be nearly at capacity then. We’ve arranged the buildings and food for five hundred and fifty or so.”
“This is good to hear,” I told Switch, looking around at the others.
“As it stands there are more than enough apartments and huts for families, so no one is separated. Single people or even some couples may have to have dorms. Staff members such as us either share huts or hotel rooms. We have made a list of who stays where as well, so that single people don’t get an apartment to themselves.
“Another job for you is to find the most logical place for the ones who arrive on the boat. Another one should be here in the morning. At dusk each afternoon you are to meet with these men in the meeting hall. It’s the entrance of the church. They will update you on anything new as well as see who needs a job and put them to work.”
“Okay. I need from six am to noon for training. From then to whenever I’m free,” I told him.
“That works for me. Now I have devised Internet through some dishes on top of the church, so if something comes up I will email you rather than find you. So never leave your laptop. Aries will get texts. The band each has one, as well as Frank. He can now email you via texting.
“So I won’t be passing along messages. We need at least ten more huts up in twenty-four hours and ten rooms in the hotel to keep up. Raven also has that contact list of who is where and what job. She and Michael share a cell, so if you need to contact her she’s in your contact list. These cell phones are the best money can buy, but have to be durable, so we were limited on certain options,” Switch informed me.
I nodded. He’d taken confusion and made it into order. We were being thrown back to the dark ages, but we would still have our current technology like electricity, cell phones, laptops, and washers. We wouldn’t have room for dryers, but we had plenty of clotheslines. It would get harder in some ways, and easier in others. The hardest job would come in about nine months. Not only would I have a baby, the world would end, but all hell was going to break loose.
I had to be some foretold hero in less than a year. My job would be to keep these people alive, and make sure nothing evil this way comes. Then before we ran out of room on the island I’d have to go out into the world and make it safe for the new race of humans. I’d have to watch those I loved die and be replaced with someone else. Raven would grow old and leave me.
In some ways it just wasn’t fair.
I needed to work out some frustration so I cut our meeting short and went to find Sen.
He was training kids from ages five to twenty some self-defense. He’d already set up a place and recruited most of the children. I walked over to him, and he introduced me to them.
I waved.
“Could you help me out for a bit? I want to separate the group. I will take the beginners, and you take the advanced class. Billy here can show you what we have been working on, and you can go from there.”
I agreed only out of knowing I had to put what was right before being shy.
I watched Billy go through the moves, and by his third rep, I had their set down. I walked through the group making suggestions to the slower ones. When they all seemed to have it, based on their ages or levels, I introduced my workout. It was what they had been doing already, but combined stretches, dancing, and the self-defense moves into a session, nothing to girly for the guys of course. I had to change it slightly to accommodate a few, but by four, they had it. I asked them to practice and sent them jogging on their way home. Why walk when you can jog, right?
Sen was just finishing up with his but held aside one little girl. He met me just out of her hearing range.
She reminded me of someone. Tears formed in my eyes as I remembered. Me.
“She is special, like you are. Her name is Sephina. She is an orphan on this island. I thought maybe you could take her under your wing. Her parents disappeared when she was a newborn, and she has no living relatives. She has never spoken, and never seemed very interested in anything the nuns said. She taught herself to read somehow and will do whatever is asked of her, except speak. She is remarkable in her moves. She gets anything you show her the first time. I also think she’s like you., talented. I noticed she could heal things. The nuns have her helping out the garden. If it’s rotten, it’s not after she holds it.”
I looked at her and smiled. Her eyes were huge like she was scared. I waved her over, and waited until she stood next to me.
“Hi, I’m Angel. Master Sen told me your name is Sephina.”
She nodded after casting Sen a glance.
“Would you like to come with me?”
She looked towards the church undecided.
“I know Sister Kara. She won’t mind.”
She nodded at me.
“When’s the last time she ate?”
“This morning I believe. The nuns were limited on food supplies, so they only eat twice a day.”
“She is skin and bones, Sen,” I whispered. I realized I had stopped referring to him as my master not so long ago.
“Yes, I agree. I figured you two could learn a lot from each other.”
I nodded and then held my hand out. I needed to go find Aries. After I fed her and grabbed my laptop from home.
She took it as Sen told me he’d find Aries to see what he could do to help.
I led her to my hut to find Nanna already there cooking. She made a bowl of stew for Sephina without missing a beat.
“Sephina, this is a dear friend of mine. You can call her Nanna if you wish. I need to run downstairs, but I’ll be right back.”
She accepted it and ate quietly.
Nanna followed me to the stairs.
“She reminds me of someone...” Nanna pondered.
“Yeah, me, she could be my twin.”
“Is dis why you have taken to her den?”
“I guess so, more or less. Can you sense her power?” I whispered.
“If ye can den ye know I have, as well. She be very strong wid de magic.”
“We’ll have to train her then.”
Nanna smiled and went back to her cooking.
I went downstairs and grabbed my laptop.
When I came back up, Sephina handed me a bowl with stew in it. Nanna smiled at me like she could hear some joke that I couldn’t. I ate quickly and checked for emails. I replied to the two I had and closed it.
“Now dat we have more help I’ll stay here at de hut and cook, clean and do de clothes.
Will we have Sephina aroun' often?”
“If she wishes to be, yes,” I said putting the laptop in my bag and taking her hand.
She let me lead her outside. The sun was just setting so I knew Switch would be up soon. He could only be at the church during the day. Until things were ready, he would sleep in the basement of the church. He was only getting six hours of sleep, but like the others did not actually have to have it, it just made dealing with the sun easier.
We walked over to a shady spot near the hotel to wait for Aries.
“Sephina...” I waited for her to look at me.
When she did, I continued.
“When I was a child I was a lot like you. I was an orphan same as you. I had lost both parents early. I never knew my father. When I was around the other kids, they picked on me in many ways. I could see, understand, and do things they couldn’t. That upset them, scared them.
“So they called me names, got me in trouble and hur
t me. When I was your age, I got smart and trained in self-defense and other things. I had no one to explain the other things I could do, though, like magic. I wanted so badly for someone to tell me these things, to help me figure it all out, tell me I wasn’t weird. When I did magic I was so tired. I know you can do magic too, like me. I can help you if want me to. I can show you amazing things. I can teach you ways to defend yourself without hurting anyone. Would you like me to? Would you like to be my friend?”
Sephina thought about it for a minute, looked at me, and nodded as a smile erupted on her face.
“Who is this pretty girl?”
Aries had walked up and must not have heard our conversation.
“Sephina here is a friend of mine. We have a lot in common. She is in the self-defense class.”
Aries introduced himself and chatted with her as we made our way back to the hut.
I listened as he told her things about himself. Sephina didn’t answer, but I could tell she was paying close attention.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The days went by quickly. Kali rarely spoke to me as things settled into a pattern.
My coven from my old home came one by one. As did others that I had setup a place for. The buildings were nearly done, and the island was close to full. The workers had heard rumors about the end of the world, but as there was little room for all of them and their families we had to deny them. I went back to the hut alone and cried. I felt like shit for lying and sending them to their doom. But what could I do? If I allowed too many to stay then some would die anyways from starvation, and the whole point was to save what I could. I hated being the bad person, for being the one to choose.
Spending time with Sephina and training kept me busy. My days started at dawn and didn’t end until midnight. I had begun helping the builders with little stuff and doing odd jobs. I got maybe five hours of sleep each night and never felt tired.
By day, I taught several people magic, those that had the power.
Raven stayed so busy I had to go help her out from time to time. Michael didn’t exactly ignore me, but there was definitely tension between us. I could see Raven made him content, but he still wished it were I. There were some issues between him and Aries that I was sure would never go away. I had tried, but Michael blamed me for not choosing him. Raven had given up thinking Michael would ever truly love her.