Zia… Dragofin Lair, 5th Floor Meeting Room

---

“She’s had extreme trauma in every part of her being. See that region there?” Mina pointed as Miss Connie, and the other sisters nodded.

They spoke amongst themselves, engrossed in the images on their sophisticated devices. Zia stole a look at Greg as he sat close by and sent waves of comfort to her. Neither said much as the activity whirled about.

“Why is that so large?” One of the other sisters leaned in and stared at a blob of neon color. “It’s not supposed to be there and not like this.”

Zia didn’t have it in her to remember her name right now but wished she’d keep that kind of comment to herself or at least out of Zia’s hearing range.

Greg squeezed her hand as another fresh wave of wellbeing descended over her like a blanket.

“You comforted her again,” the woman said rather than ask of Greg.

He simply nodded.

“That’s good. We can mark that on your mating bond tracking. Looks like we’re starting to isolate specific anomalies. Hang in there you two. We’re determined to make sense of what’s going on.”

Zia was unable to respond, too wound up with all the attention, emotions, and uncertainty of what was going on inside of her. If the Triplets were having a hard time of it, would there be any hope she’d get free of this mysterious invader?

“Whoa! That one is vibrating.” Wren pointed to a lead or probe that protruded from her back, Zia couldn’t see or remember what it was.

Quinn shot a rebuke at their friend. “Wren, not helpful. Don’t you have to go to The Diner now?”

“Nope, I met Miss Connie over there hours ago and got my orders and retail done early. You forget I ran a large pastry side of the house for a restaurant. I can pump ‘em out when I need to. Got the staff selling with a sign that says when they run out, that’s it for the day.”

“Humph, well if you’re going to be here for this, please try not to startle Zia—will you?” This time her voice was soft.

Zia tried not to flinch as Quinn reached over and patted her leg in support. This side of Quinn was just as difficult to understand as her abrasive one. Zia refused to say anything to clarify if the woman realized it was her she was nice to.

To the research group, Quinn asked, “Would you mind telling us what all this is? That way, Blues Clues over there will stop with all the questions.”

“Hey! That’s mean, Quinny.”

“It’s not when you’re upsetting people. Think of how you’d feel if it were you and your baby going through this. Show some empathy. I can’t believe I’m the one having to remind you of that.”

Wren looked contrite and settled back into her seat to mope a bit.

They’d tried to explain one of the readouts they used that tracked heat signatures in a subtle energy range. There was a baseline that changed depending on the time of day, population density, season, and earth’s rotational angle.

Zia had partitioned her ability to feel to make it through the invasive event. To remain sociable, she plastered on a smile as an acceptable representation of the mood she needed to convey.

With how things were going she wouldn’t be surprised if they found some gross alien from another realm had chosen her as a host to get to this realm or some other craziness. This exam had devolved into the Twilight Zone of research and medicine. Nevertheless, she would be compliant and patient until these women could tell her something that made sense to her earthly brain and body and protected her baby.

“It’s as if Zia has been subjected to continued assaults on her spirit, soul, mind, and body at different times over her life. See there, there, and there.”

The Triplet named Mina pointed to graphs on her handheld device as Miss Connie, and the one named Lina looked at it. Having a spotlight shone so brightly on her was painful, like pulling off fingernails painful, but her gut said it needed to be done.

In a desperate attempt to calm down, Zia tried to interject a little levity. “I would agree with that without fully understanding what you mean,” Zia said.

“What do all these wires do?” Wren asked.

“These monitor her vitals. The green ones measure her transferred energy to any other realms. Some of the others, we’re using to catch anomalies that we couldn’t predict without them occurring on their own.”

“Oh,” Wren said, sounding as confused as Zia felt.

“Can you make it plain. I’m talking Silver Bullet checkboxes and step-by-step list plain?” Quinn asked. “I’ll even take connect-the-dot diagrams if you have them. This stuff is way up there on the learning curve.”

Mina smiled and said, “After you’re used to them, understanding portals, realms, and planes of existence become very easy to grasp.”

Quinn reached over and patted the woman on a hand, “For you sweet pea, for you. Now, pretend you don’t understand that stuff and give me that version.”

Mina smiled. “I love you, Quinn.”

“Ditto, now, draw the picture of what you’re talking about with Crayons, will you?”

“This is Lina, and I got you, lady. What we’re failing miserably at saying is that Zia has a rare ability. That ability appears to be very complex in its manifestation. So far, we’ve isolated four different expressions of that rarity with little more information than that we see and know they’re there.”

“If I have to ask y’all to get to the point one more time, I’m going to make the news,” Hildy said. “Define her rarity. Haven’t y’all noticed Zia hasn’t said a word in a while. The woman is freaked out.”

“Cool it, Hildy. You're channeling the Goddess Kali right now,” Lina said to Hildy.

Hildy hunched her shoulder and held up her hands. “Huh, I don’t know what that means.”

“Look it up.” Lina could hold her own with the mates of the Clan. Without as much of a staggered beat in breathing, she kept talking. “Didn’t I say that we had to give you the backstory for any of this to make sense? As for Zia, she's the model subject.” Lina looked at Zia and offered her a warm grin. “I want you and Greg to know that as soon as we have something concrete to tell you, we will. I promise that you’ll understand it all. If our bedside manner is lacking, please know that this is new territory. We’re treading slowly as not to miss something important. Thank you for being so good spirited about all the poking and prodding.”

Hildy wasn’t as easily soothed. “It’s been almost an hour, and all I hear is ooh’s and ahhs. Y’all better be glad I know you could gang up and do some damage or it would be on.”

“Bring it. We haven’t had a good workout in a while. Isn’t that right, sisters?” Lina said.

Hildy’s laugh was genuine. “Maybe after we get our girl fixed up. All in fun, though. You know I love y’all like my pretty step-sisters. It’ll be good to school you a little bit before you go back to campus.”

“It’s a deal. We don’t have any classes to teach today. This is one of our lab days anyway.”

“Okay, let’s get back to the star of the hour,” Miss Connie said, pointing to a subdued but freaked out Zia. “Hun looks like you have some questions.”

“I do. I haven’t figured out how to ask them or which ones to ask yet. Please, continue giving me the rundown as you get it. I’ll ask questions along the way. The only thing I want to know is if any of these expressions you see could interfere with the pregnancy.”

Miss Connie looked Zia in the eye as she answered. “It’s too soon to tell based on what we know right now. The girls are combing through their aunt’s materials as well. That woman, bless her historian’s soul, has a huge database of information. We’ve been working with her to digitize it. I’m hoping we’ve got access to material that addresses your situation. That’s all I can say right now. Don’t worry, hun, we’ll do everything we can to help you get answers.” Miss Connie looked at Greg. “How are you holding up, son?”

“I’m well as can be. Zia and I are in this together. I’ll support her in whatever capacity I can. Let me know how and when I can help, and I’ll be on it.”

“Spoken like the Gryphon I know.” Miss Connie went back to her own set of devices to read new information.

As part of the intimacy of the exam, Lucien, Matt, and Ajax had agreed to go out on the Terrace and do some drills while they did the initial part.

With only her mate as the single male in the room, Zia sat undressed to her waist, with only a bra to preserve her modesty.

Patches that attached sensors littered her upper body. The trio adjusted, added, and subtracted various wires to her person. After they’d assured her that nothing they did would hurt her or the baby, she’d sat and refrained from asking questions as they worked.

Wren, on the other hand, had no filter for the sheer volume of questions she lobbed at them.

“Why is that one bigger?” Wren asked and pointed to a wire attached to Zia’s stomach.

“That’s a simple fetal monitor. We want to track the baby’s reaction to what Zia does too.”

“Why? Isn’t the baby too new to give a good reading?”

“With a human baby, that would be the case,” Tina said, moving to adjust a patch on the back of Zia’s neck.

Crunch—BOOM! The sound of high impact echoed through the room.

“Goddammit!” Quinn yelled.

Zia watched as the woman shot out of her chair and stormed out to another room. Everyone stopped to listen. Soon, Quinn’s voice could be heard in the distance.

“How did you manage to hit the building?” A pause. “Dragon, I swear when you get around these two, you regress to a little kid. Matt, don’t think I don’t know that you encouraged him.” Another pause. “I don’t care. Fire play is one thing. Hurling massive fireballs in the building’s direction when all your mates and our guests are up here is unacceptable. If any of you want to be in the doghouse when we get done, keep doing what you’ve got going on. It’s a damn shame I have to tell grown men this, but here goes. Don’t play so rough and take that fighting over there. You’re scaring the shit out of the pregnant women. Wren won’t shut the hell up with how nervous she is and Zia’s mouth is frozen from speaking. Let them pregnant in peace!” Another pause. “I don’t want to hear it. You all know better. Ajax quit laughing. Look, be considerate. There’s some deep work going on in there. Stay on your toes for it we need you to be ready to jump sharp quickly. And… don’t make me come out here again.”

When the words stopped, everyone in the room went back to looking busy, including Zia who finally found some words to say.

“Help me to never go head-to-head with her in a word match.”

“She’s all bark,” Hildy whispered as Quinn reentered the room.

A swoosh-swoosh sound of Quinn’s pants rustled as the short woman came back into the room at a determined pace.

She sat back down in her chair. “Okay, what did I miss?”

Tina picked up with a smooth continuation. “Like I was saying, you’d be right about the vitals of a human fetus. This is a Gryphon baby, like yours, Wren. The gestation, labor, and delivery are similar, but your babies do double time in their growth while in utero. There’s the human part and the Gryphon part. And, before you ask, the human manifestation is the normal baseline. Your babies will be born human. As they grow and their beast side feels they can handle it, more of the manifestation of that side will emerge. That’s usually during puberty.”

“Like Boogie with his werewolf side?” Zia asked.

“Okay, not sure who that is,” Tina said, “but yeah I guess so. That would sound about right. That’s the physical side though. The intelligence and mental attributes of both natures are there from the start. Zia, based on how much activity your baby is throwing off, he’s going to be super protective.”

Tina placed another sticky disk on her skin on her arm over the scar and Zia wanted to come out of her skin.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.” Mina had been the one to direct her sister to place one there based on their readouts. “Please try to breathe through it. We need to measure the effect of the breach site as much as possible.”

“Breach site?” Greg asked.

“Yes, see this here,” Mina pointed to a readout on her tablet. “This is the activity from energy around that scar on Zia’s body. This side represents the activity on earth’s realm. This side represents the activity being generated from a realm we don’t recognize. It’s not from any of the material Lucien let us use to better plot portals and realms that intersect the earth.”

Greg leaned forward as Zia watched. More anxiety mounted as she sat and sifted through all the crap she’d experienced.

“Zia, try to rest your mind and body. They’re skewing our data.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” Zia mumbled. They didn’t realize that was easier said than done.

“I found where to start. See…,” Mina said.

Everyone watched as the woman opened up yet another handheld device from her laptop and attached a lead to her arm. None spoke as she fired up a screen that looked like the main one she’d been pouring over.

Mina waited until the screen rendered the sight she was banking on. “As I thought. I found it!”

“Found what? I just see a fuchsia colored blob,” Wren said, tiptoeing to see her screen from where she was.

Quinn gave Wren a look to sit down and shook her head when the other woman ignored her.

“That blob is my seductive energy signature. I coded it that way to isolate similar frequencies.” She placed the new device next to the others. “Look here. This is Zia’s seductive energy.” Mina snapped her finger, and Lina brought over a laptop that had another screen on it. “See here? Do you see the fuchsia spot there?”

The room nodded.

“That’s what I’ve been looking for.”

“If you don’t give more details I’m going to put a Siren’s Call on you. I can’t take all this cryptic talk.” Hildy stopped to breathe. The woman was on edge. Something about Zia’s exam had everyone in the room on edge. “Speak in layman’s terms about the significance of that blob.”

“Yes, of course,” Lina said.

Zia was starting to see the differences in the sisters. Lina appeared to be the most social and able to connect with others while Mina was the deep one and Tina could move between the two.

Lina said, “What Mina has found is another signature like Zia’s and ours.”

“Do we all carry that seductive frequency?” Wren asked—of course.

“No. That’s why this is such a find. As part of our calling, make up and ancestry, Succubi, Siren, and sorceresses carry the marker. As you can see, Zia does, and it’s very strong. As a Siren and Sorceress, she has a combined marker that makes it very strong.” Lina looked over at Quinn. “Quinn, have you had any strong adverse reactions to Zia?”

Without hesitation, Quinn answered. “Yes, but I just thought it was because she used to be so trifling.”

Zia looked down to refrain from giving Quinn the stank eye or saying something that would set them back.

“I apologize for saying it like that, Zia.” Quinn’s words were tender and sincere. “Why did I react to her like that, then?”

“Because as a Sibyl you and Wren operated on a different frequency of justice. Your strong calling as a Strategist viewed Zia’s energy as manipulative and untrue. And, before you ask, Wren holds the gift of balance. She regulates things to bring in harmony. She would react to Zia as a friend who is there to help. That’s partly why she’s asking questions. She senses that Zia has them and is almost a conduit to articulate them. It’s strengthened by their pregnancies too.”

“See, Quinn, you were mean. I’m a regulator. I was doing my job and calling to ask all these questions.”

“Yeah, yeah, but what about Hildy? She has that seduction energy as well?” Quinn’s curiosity piqued, and she wanted to get as much information as possible.

“Yes, she does. How do you think she’s able to use her Siren’s Call. Oh, and it won’t work on us, Hildy,” Lina said. “Come to think of it, won’t work on Zia either. Now, let me address this sucker here.” Lina pointed to the laptop screen that showed the other signature. “This is an unknown variable. Since this is a rare frequency and it is very strong, we suspect the source is well aware of Zia. It's probably behind some of the oddities she’s endured of recent.”

“That looks like a map.” Greg stared at the laptop. “Yes, that’s a map of Atlanta. It looks like downtown.”

“Yes, it is. That energy is active here… Mina, please zoom in to see if we can get an address.”

Everyone waited until Mina nodded. “Got it. It’s coming from this multi-use building in the downtown area. See the address?”

“That address looks familiar. Zia, give me your phone.” Greg continued to stare at the screen.

“It’s next to my top,” was all Zia was able to get out. Her body felt numb as if she was barely attached to the corporeal part.

He grabbed the phone and thrust it at her. Without having to say it, she knew to unlock the screen. They both looked down at the message her mother had sent earlier.

Greg spoke up. “This is the same building Zia’s parents have an appointment at today.”

The gasps in the room snapped Zia out of the daze she been in.

Zia looked at the time. “What? It’s already 12:53. My mother is always early for appointments. They’re on their way, if not already there.”

“Fuck.” Everyone paused in stunned silence as Wren looked as innocent as ever. “What? I’m helping to balance the energy, remember?”

Lina perked up. “We must stop them from going there. Whoever is here is very powerful—like dangerous powerful. I’ve locked onto the signature to get a reading. The initial levels are so potent, this has to be sorcery at work.”

“Oh my, hun, this must be that sorcerer’s doing. We must help your parents and therapist get out of there.” Miss Connie squinted at some of her equipment. “He might be waiting to grab them. I’m sure if he was interested in you, your parents must have something similar.”

“Not necessarily. It could be the luck of how their gene pools came together to produce Zia. She might have hit a genetic lottery of magical proportion.”

“Still, I don’t want my parents in harm’s way. I need to call them.”

Zia’s hands trembled as she pressed the redial and waited for her mother to pick up. Nothing. She tried again, this time allowing the phone to go to voicemail.

The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Zia that now she was the one begging her mother to call her.

“Please, can you get me out of these wires? I need to go find my parents and stop them.”

“No, we need to get our plan together. You and all us know this is a trap. Look at this from where we stand,” Quinn said. “This sorcerer is willing to work with Egolars and demons to capture you. Now, possibly kidnap your parents and therapist? You cannot run head first into danger like this. You have a baby to consider as well.”

Quinn’s words landed with a thud. She was right. Zia and Greg had a child to consider. Thinks were so much different than the other night when she was ignorant of the danger.

“You’re right.”

“Of course, I am.”

“What do you suggest?” Greg asked.

“You promise to listen to me this time?” Quinn countered.

“Yes, but how about we allow my mate to get dressed and get the others back in here so we can all come together on a plan.” To the Triplets, Greg asked, “can you help Zia get these off?”

Lina said, “Yes, but please just five more minutes. I know every minute counts, but Mina’s this close to another piece of the puzzle.”

Greg looked at Zia. He was putting the decision in her hands. “It’s your body.”

“It’s our baby and family. You said we do this together.”

“Then, if you can endure it, let them trace that lead. I don’t want anyone or thing able to control your body any longer remotely. That night was the worst of my life. If five more minutes help put a stop to that torture, I say we take it.”

Confirmation resounded in her gut at her mate’s counsel. “I agree. Mina, do your thing, but please, hurry.”

Mina continued to look at her screen tethered to it like a life-force. Lina smiled at them as Tina came to stand close to Zia.

“As soon as Mina gives the okay, we’ll take these off of you. Miss Connie, do you still need the medical data?”

“Yes, please. I’ve sensed that whenever Greg speaks or sends Zia neural communications, the babe tries to respond. The little one thinks Greg is trying to speak to him.” She looked at the couple. “Have you been able to establish your neural link yet?”

Zia sprang to answer. “No, and it’s frustrating. Every time we try, I get a headache and a high pitched sound. Could that be the baby interfering with the signal?”

Light blue eyes of great wisdom sparkled. “I think so, please. try it now and let me take a look.”

Greg grabbed Zia’s hand and squeezed. He looked at her with love and warmth as the start of a high-pitched sound began to bloom in her head.

“Zia, I want you to try something. Please, speak to your baby in your head and ask him to allow Greg to speak to you.”

Zia’s eyebrow cocked despite how desperate she was to succeed. “You want me to try to talk to my baby in my head?”

“Yes, hun. Give it a go,” and the woman turned back to look at her set of monitors.

“Here goes…”

Zia focused on the sound that had turned into static. She summoned up the love she already felt for their baby as she began to try to form mental words.

“Hello, my precious, this is your mommy. I hope you understand.” She waited. The noise increased.

“Keep going,” she heard Miss Connie say.

“Precious baby, please, I need you to settle down. Your dad is trying to speak with me. You might believe that he’s trying to talk with you. If you stop and let me hear him, I promise we’ll talk with you soon. I love you and hope you can hear me.”

She paused and waited. The sound was gone.

“Zia, it’s Greg. Can you hear me? Zia?” Zia wanted to let out a whoop! She could hear Greg’s voice in her head. “I’m requesting a neural link with you. To accept it, simply allow me permission with your will and speak to me.”

Faster than a blink, she allowed Greg to speak. “Hello, Greg, can you hear me back?”

“Yes, yes, I can. Thanks be to the Goddess, I can hear your beautiful voice.”

“What do I do now?”

“Since we have to hurry, don’t shut down the conversation between us. That will leave the neural link open. As we continue to use it, the bond will strengthen. For now, leave it open as insurance. We need to deal with finding your parents and figuring out what’s going on with this sorcery element.”

“Okay, that’s the plan.”

“Good, now we speak to the others like usual.”

“Oh, haha, yeah.” She focused on speaking audibly. “Miss Connie that worked!” Zia almost squealed.

“Don’t get too excited.” Mina’s voice cut the joy like a knife. “I hope I’m not right, but it looks like your baby is the only reason why you haven’t been turned into a human portal.”

“Mina, you have the finesse of a fart to a flame,” Hildy said, breaking the shock of the room.

“I didn’t mean to be abrasive. I just realized what we’ve been trying to make out. Please, allow Lina and Tina time to confer and then Lina will explain it to you all. Seems I’m not as good at it as she is today. That happens. We each have days where we’re better at some things than others. Today, I keep mucking up the communicating part.”

“Don’t be hard on yourself, hun. You’re part of a sacred trio. That comes with the territory.”

Zia would find out what that meant later. For now, she had to know if her baby was in danger. “Please, confer. Greg and I must know if our baby is in danger. There’s no way I’ll let some demon dealmaking sorcerer near our baby.”

“Thank you,” they said in unison.

She was starting to get used to the weird quirks of the trio. They whispered, pointed, shook heads, and stared until the huddle broke.

As promised, Lina turned and addressed the room.

“This is what we know so far. I’ll address each point. Please, hold your questions until we finish. While I do that, Tina will remove the sensors from your body, Zia. Once you’re dressed, Quinn would you bring the others in so they can hear about our findings. It affects the entire Dragofin Clan.”

Hildy’s patience had reached its end. “That’s fine, but can you condense it down to the five minutes we agreed on? Zia’s parents are in danger, and we need a plan and to get moving to get them.”