Chương 36: Necessary Sacrifices

The grandfather clock's steady ticking filled the living room, each second stretching longer than the last. Illianna paced near the window, her footsteps marking time alongside the clock's rhythm. Celestia sat perfectly still on the edge of the sofa, her hands clasped so tightly her knuckles had gone white. No one dared to speak. It was as if a spoken word would shatter the fragility of the conversation in the other room. It felt like hours since Sheera had taken little Thai with her to speak to Rowan.

All they could do was wait. It was out of their hands. Sheera and Rowan had to do what was best for them and their future as well as Thai's. Seraphina caught herself holding her breath at every small sound. Every creak of the old house settling caused her head to whip around toward the bedroom door. Someone shifting position or the steady rhythm of breathing was enough to set her nerves on edge. She was exhausted, not just physically but emotionally. Her nerves were frayed and raw.

Her hope diminished with every tick of the clock, making it harder to not rush to the bedroom door to listen. She had positioned herself closest to the hallway, hoping to catch a stray word or two, but all she could hear was the steady tick of that infernal grandfather clock. What am I going to do if they decide they can't take her? That under the current circumstances this was all just too much. Seraphina's thoughts spiraled. Her internal panic began to darken her thoughts. I can't take her to my house.

Is my house still there? How much damage was done by the goons with the lights? Celestia can't take her to hers either. Her parents would never allow it. Fairy central was out of the question; it had already been compromised. Regina, or whoever she truly was, had already… The creak of the bedroom door caused Seraphina to stand up, shattering her thoughts like a fragile vase hitting the floor. Suddenly, the sound of laughter and coos made its way to the otherwise silent living room.

Illianna and Celestia's heads both whipped in the direction of the noise as the trio eagerly awaited the young couple's return. Seraphina's heart jumped as Rowan entered the room, carrying Thai. He was smiling brightly at the infant, talking to her sweetly. Sheera was not far behind, but appeared far more somber. Her steps were slow and controlled. Her tear-filled eyes were lovingly cast upon the small bundle in her arms. There was no mistaking what she carried. A lump formed in the fairy's throat as she watched.

Illianna raced past Rowan to her daughter and placed a supportive arm around her.

"I guess it's time to say goodbye," Sheera whispered to her mother, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Would you like me to take her?" Illianna asked softly, motioning to the lifeless form in Sheera's arms.

"Not just yet," Sheera replied, making her way to the sofa and sitting down.

"Of course," Illianna said.

"Take all the time you need, sweetheart," she added, then cast Rowan a sympathetic glance.

"We decided that we would like Thai to be a part of our family," Rowan began, smiling at Thai.

"We know that there will be challenges, due to Thai's ah…" he broke off, looking for words.

"We'll just say uniqueness. After talking, we both feel the biggest hurdle to her safety will be to keep her existence secret."

"Auntie Phina," Sheera began, wiping the tears from her eyes. She clutched her daughter's remains even tighter.

"After a long talk, Rowan and I decided that keeping Thai safe was our number one priority." She paused, her voice hitching, "In order to do that, the people who are searching for her need to believe that she is…" She took in a sharp breath.

"Well, they need to believe that she is dead." Seeing his wife struggling to finish, Rowan cut in.

"We want you to take our daughter's remains and well…" his voice began to crack. He looked off in the distance, his gaze becoming tear-filled.

"We want you to take our daughter's remains and convince them that they are the prophecy child's," Sheera sniffled.

"If they think she is dead, then maybe they will stop looking for her. That way she can have a normal life.

"Maybe we all can have a normal life." Rowan corrected. Silence filled the room as the weight of their words settled over everyone. Illianna's arm tightened around her daughter's shoulders.

"Sheera, no…"

"Yes, Mom. We will have to forsake our biological daughter's mortal remains to protect our living daughter. There is no other way to keep who she is secret."

"But that means no burial. She will not be returned to Pan or Gaia," Illiana whispered.

"It goes against every belief."

"Mom, I know, but I am sure that under the circumstances, both Pan and Gaia would approve, because we are doing what is necessary to protect life," Sheera said, her voice filled with a sense of certainty that made the hairs on Seraphina's arms rise up. Seraphina moved closer to Sheera, kneeling beside her.

"Are you certain?" she asked gently.

"Once we do this..." She left the rest unsaid, watching as Sheera clutched her daughter's remains closer.

"We're sure," Rowan answered, his voice stronger than before, though Thai had dozed off against his shoulder.

"Every moment we wait puts Thai in more danger. We can't..." He swallowed hard.

"We can't bring our daughter back, but we can make sure her..." His voice cracked slightly.

"Her death helps protect her sister." The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Celestia," Seraphina called to the fairy as she sat sullen in the chair, a tear rolling down her cheek. She watched helplessly as Sheera cradled the dead infant in her arms.

"Yeah," Celestia replied, struggling to take her eyes off the heartbreaking scene.

"This is going to require you to…" She paused, taking a deep breath.

"Well, lie. You are going to have to take the remains back to where you found Thai and bring her back to headquarters."

"What?" Celestia said, outraged at the thought.

"How am I going to pass her off as the prophecy child?" She shot up from her seat and made her way closer to Sheera and looked down at the infant.

"How can I convince them that she died en-route to HQ, when it's obvious… painfully obvious… that she has been gone for hours? They have ways of determining these things!" She began excitedly.

"I can't tell them that I found her…" she broke off, looking at Sheera.

"I am so sorry for this," she said before returning her gaze to Seraphina.

"Dead, and I can't tell them she passed on the way." She huffed.

"How do you expect me to pull this off, Seraphina? There is simply no way." Sheera looked up at Seraphina with a cocked eyebrow.

"She's not wrong, Auntie Phina." Seraphina began pacing.

"So how do you propose we do this, Celestia?" Celestia ran her fingers through her hair, clearly frustrated.

"Look, if we're going to do this, it has to be believable. They're not just going to take my word for it." She glanced at Thai, sleeping peacefully in Rowan's arms.

"There's too much at stake to botch this."

"What if..." Illianna spoke up, her voice thoughtful despite her tears.

"What if it wasn't Celestia who found her?" Seraphina stopped pacing, turning to face Illianna.

"Go on."

"We need a different story entirely," Illianna continued, her arm still around Sheera.

"One that explains why the baby wasn't brought in immediately, why she..." She swallowed hard, looking at her granddaughter's remains.

"Why she didn't survive." Rowan shifted Thai gently as she stirred in her sleep.

"Whatever we do, we need to decide quickly. The longer we wait..."

"The more likely someone else finds out about Thai," Seraphina finished his thought, her mind racing through possibilities.

"Celestia's right. We need something airtight. Something that will stop them from looking any further."

"Okay, we already know that my house was raided, by whom we don't know. So someone out there knows about Thai, then there was that strange woman who cornered me in the ladies room. She asked me where the baby was," she said, pacing more furiously.

"What do you mean your house was raided, Auntie Phina?" Sheera asked, shocked.

"And what woman knows about Thai?"

"When I went back to headquarters, Simon had been looking for me so he sent Malina out on the hunt." She stopped and folded her arms.

"Malina pointed out I had something on my shoulder. It was spit up from Thai." She sighed, frustrated that she was wasting time explaining.

"This woman claimed to be from the Division of Oracles and Prophecy, Regina, something or other. She said she knew I had the baby and to just give it to her. I played the spit up off as it was from one of my grandchildren, but she wasn't buying it anymore than I bought into her being from the Division of Oracles and Prophecy."

"Then what happened?" Celestia asked, her eyebrows furrowing with concern.

"Well, Malina actually saved me from the entire situation and I hightailed it out of there and went to Simon. He was about as much help as udders on a bull, so I left and grabbed you and Thai from my house." She mused.

"It was while we were leaving that I saw the agents arrive. I'm just not sure who sent the agents or whose side they are working for."

"So let me get this straight," Celestia said, processing the information.

"We have unknown agents raiding your house, a mysterious woman claiming to be from the Division, which she clearly isn't, and she's already tracked you down once." She shook her head.

"This is worse than I thought."

"But maybe we can use it," Seraphina said, stopping her pacing suddenly.

"The raid, it's perfect. What if that becomes part of our story?"

"What do you mean?" Rowan asked, shifting Thai gently as she stirred.

"Think about it," Seraphina continued, her mind racing.

"We already have proof my house was raided, I'm sure they turned the place upside down. What if we tell them the truth?" Seraphina said, smiling suddenly.

"Well, a version that resembles the truth."

"What now?" Celestia's confusion was written clearly on her face.

"It's brilliant." Seraphina began animatedly explaining.

"We go to headquarters with the baby's remains. Then, tell them we wanted to ensure this special child's safety. After you found her, we took her to my house, I went back to HQ to report it and after the meeting in the bathroom, I knew that she was in danger, so I left to get you both. Once I got back to the house, I saw the agents and got scared for us, so we left and were hiding out until we could get the baby back safely. While in hiding the baby had a medical emergency and well she didn't make it."

"It's actually perfect," Rowan said softly, looking down at Thai.

"The timeline matches, and it explains why you didn't bring her in immediately." Sheera lifted her tear-stained face.

"But won't they ask why you didn't take her to a healer? Or why didn't you bring her straight to headquarters when she got sick?"

"That's actually part of what makes it work," Seraphina replied, her voice gentler now.

"We were in hiding, afraid to surface because we didn't know who to trust. After that woman at headquarters and the raid..." She paused, making sure everyone followed her logic.

"We couldn't risk exposing the baby's location. We couldn't possibly know what healers were potentially compromised."

"And by the time we realized how serious it was..." Celestia added slowly, understanding dawning on her face, "it was too late." She looked at the bundle in Sheera's arms.

"They'll want to examine her. Sheera, did your baby take a breath at all before she passed? We need to be able to prove that she was born alive, they will be able to tell if she was stillborn." Sheera wiped the tears from her eyes looking down at her daughter.

"Yes, our beautiful little girl took a breath, she lived for a few minutes. Her breaths were weak and shallow, but she did breathe." Silence fell over the room as the weight of Sheera's words settled around them. Even the grandfather clock's ticking seemed muted, as if respecting the gravity of the moment.

"Those few breaths," Celestia said softly, her professional demeanor cracking slightly, "they'll be enough to make the story believable." She cleared her throat, forcing herself back to the tactical discussion.

"But we need to be precise about timing. When exactly did you..." She hesitated, glancing at Sheera apologetically.

"Four hours ago," Rowan answered, his voice rough. Thai stirred against his shoulder, and he gently rubbed her back.

"We've been..." He looked down at the sleeping infant, then at his wife and their daughter's remains.

"We needed time to..."

"Of course you did," Seraphina interjected gently.

"And that works in our favor. The timing aligns perfectly with how long we've been in hiding since the raid."