Chapter Thirteen

Izora

At six days our egg stopped growing. When I stood up next to it in the nest, its apex reached my navel. Nycto and I spent a good amount of time polishing and fussing over it. He wanted it fingerprint free, and I wanted measurements of every step of the way. All the most recent photos on my phone were of Nycto and our egg. I didn't think this time would fade from my memory any time soon, but I wanted to show Ruby or Pepper all the photos of them inside the egg when they were older. I wanted them to know that their carrier and I loved them before we even knew who they were.

"Getting sappy again, huh?" Nycto teased me.

"Maybe you're not sappy enough," I laughed.

"I'm plenty sappy. At least I'm not fingerprint-y," he shook his head, but he was grinning.

"What can I say? I've lived a long time without having a kid and now that I'm more or less retired I'd like to focus on the one about to hatch."

"Eh, in two days or five days," Nycto shrugged.

He tried to play it cool, but his thoughts always circled around our soon to hatch baby.

"Are you hoping for a Ruby or a Pepper?" I asked.

"I'm hoping for a baby that can get itself out of the egg regardless of which name we choose for them," Nycto said.

"Fair enough," I nodded.

"You should get some rest and stop staying up so much to watch the egg. Believe me, when the baby comes out of there, you're going to miss these days of the endless possibility of naps and romps."

"I've been a doctor a long time, Nycto," I smiled at him. "I know how much work babies are."

"Then you should come cuddle with me and lose the pants," Nycto said, stretching out behind our red egg.

"Cuddle, huh?" I smirked.

"I'll call it what I want to."

A boom sounded through the cavern and out of habit, I hit the ground. Only this wasn't a warzone. It wasn't a gun or a bomb going off. Nycto crawled over to me, and we both looked up at the giant crack going down the center of our egg.

"I think nap time might already be over," I teased him.

"I'll get the water," he said and scurried out of the nest.

A second later another booming crack sounded on the other side of the egg. Nycto was back before the third made a hole just big enough to peer into. When I leaned forward to take a peek, Nycto pulled me back.

"That's how to get your eye poked out, Izora," he scolded me, but I leaned back in anyway.

"Iz!" He scolded again, but I didn't hear the words that followed.

I was too busy blinking to reassure myself that I wasn't seeing things and that in fact I saw the face of one baby and the back of another's head.

"Nycto! Shut up and look!" I said, yanking on his arm as the baby facing away from me headbutted the inside of the egg again.

Leaving my mate to use the egg's peephole, I circled around the nest just in time to catch our first baby before he faceplanted into the nest. A cry tore from his tiny mouth as soon as I touched him. Hatchlings fresh out of the nest had extra strength to break free of their egg that faded over the first few weeks of their lives.

"Baby?" Nycto asked.

"Stay there. We're coming! Nycto, there's a second baby!" I said, caught up inside my own thoughts as I looked over the screaming baby I held in my arms. He had all his digits and everything else he was supposed to. I pressed my ear against his chest, and his flailing arm whacked against my ear. I grunted, but that wasn't the first time a newly hatched dragon baby bonked me one.

Another crack echoed around the nesting room and a second cry followed. Nycto squeed. I winced. He never got high pitched over anything before now. I circled around clutching the first to my chest.

"Two in one egg!" Nycto said without looking up at me. "We have Ruby and Pepper!"

His scent exploded with love and glee as I leaned over to take a look at the baby boy he held clutched to his chest. A second later, we swapped little ones so I could look over the second twin. He was as healthy as the first. I sighed in relief, looking back and forth between the twins. This was what life was about – this moment of sheer joy and newness. This was why I left Earthside behind and never looked back.

"I get why she gave up her life and name now," Nycto whispered. "I'd do anything for them."

I nodded my agreement and blinked fast so I didn't cry. I didn't know who the nameless woman was who offered her help when I tripped on the mushies and fell into her afterlife, but I understood her too. We made these little people and we were responsible for seeing them into adulthood and beyond safely and intact.

"We really have to find out who she was or at least where her descendants are," I glanced at Nycto. "I want them to have a real chance to find what we have when they're older."

"We will. We'll figure it out. If two flights working together can't do it then maybe it was just a weird trip," Nycto laughed, kissing the baby's head.

"Which is who?" I asked.

"Let's name the one with the red star on his chest Ruby and the one that matches my star Pepper," he said.

"Ruby and Pepper," I grinned at him and leaned over to kiss his forehead.

"And Izora and Nycto," he laughed.

"And Waj. All of us together," I said as Waj scurried over the edge of the nest to see the babies.

A tail thumped against the trapdoor, and I laughed knowing my mother-in-law had arrived to meet her grandchildren.

Read on to find out if Tritus and the other dragons at the Star Room can discover the origins of the Other World Gateways all while he navigates meeting his alpha.