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I started to stand, but Verla was already out of her chair. “I’ll come to you.”
I sat back down, and Verla leaned down to give me a hug. “That was so thoughtful,” I told her.
She shrugged like it was no big deal. “The babies need somewhere to sleep.”
Chloe practically bounced in her chair. “Open my present next.”
The race to finish our puzzles seemed forgotten as our attention turned to the gifts. Chloe handed us a gift bag, and Lucas and I each pulled out several pieces of tissue paper. Inside was a pair of adorable black onesies that read Son of a Witch with a cute cartoon of a witch hat on it.
We got all kinds of wonderful gifts to prepare us for when the babies arrived—toys, bottles, a breast pump, clothes, blankets, and tons of diapers. Grant gifted me a container of homemade chocolate chip cookies to satisfy my cravings. Professor Warren got us matching carriers that strapped to our fronts like a backpack to carry the babies around in.
Mandy left the room to grab her present, and she came back carrying a box that was almost as tall as she was. She could barely get her arms around it. Lucas quickly got out of her chair to help her, and we opened the gift to find a huge box with a rocking horse inside. It was so big and bulky it was almost ridiculous.
“Wow!” I exclaimed. “I don’t even know where we’re going to put this.”
Mandy smiled brightly. “I know it will be a while before the babies are big enough to ride it, but I saw it and couldn’t resist!”
“Thank you, everyone,” I said after we’d opened all the presents. “It seems we have everything we were going to need when the babies arrive.”
Talia stood. “There’s one more gift I’d like to give you. I know that looking into the future isn’t always precise and that things can change, but I want to give you a chance to ask me anything, and I’ll see if the Seer Wand can answer your question.”
I eyed her curiously. “You’ve already been looking at the babies’ future, haven’t you?”
Talia nodded. “I wanted my gift to you to be some sort of advice for their futures, but the visions I’ve received are confusing. Every time I look into the twins’ future, I see them using different types of Cast magic. At first, I thought it was because they’re going to be separate Casts, but I’ve seen them casting magic from all five.”
Lucas and I exchanged a glance.
“It’s like I’m seeing multiple futures,” Talia added.
“Maybe because their magic’s not determined until their Evoking Ceremonies,” I theorized.
“I’m not sure,” Talia said. “I thought touching your belly might help me get clearer visions.”
“Let’s look deeper,” Lucas agreed. “If Talia can figure out what Casts they’ll be, then maybe we can prepare them better for it.”
I took his hand. “Is that the question we want to ask—which Casts will they be?”
“I think it’s an innocent enough question, but it also helps us prepare them for their future,” Lucas said.
“All right,” I told Talia. “That’s our question, then. What does the Wand say about the twins’ Casts?”
Talia conjured the Seer Wand, then knelt beside me and placed her hand on my belly. Long, quiet moments passed as everyone watched on. Her eyelids fluttered like normal, until an intense vision took over. The blood drained from her face, and her features went stark white. My heart lurched, but Lucas caught her before she could fall over.
“Talia!” Lucas shook her until her eyelids fluttered open.
“What did you see?” I asked breathlessly. “Whatever it was looked intense.”
Lucas helped Talia into the chair beside me.
Color began to return to Talia’s cheeks. “Yeah, it was. It was the most vivid vision I’ve seen of them. I saw your son Marcus.”
My hand immediately went over my belly. It was instinctual now. Hearing my son’s name out loud felt entirely new. I was still getting used to the idea that we were going to have babies, but giving them names made it very real, even more so than feeling them kick inside of me. Lucas and I had been discussing names for months, and we’d only decided on names last week. We hadn’t told anyone yet.
“You know the names we picked out,” I said.
Talia’s shoulders fell. “Shoot. I ruined the surprise again, didn’t I?”
“It’s okay,” Lucas insisted. “I guess we can tell everyone now.”
