Into the Centaur World (COMPLETE)

Chapter 4

When she gave birth, my arms shook as I held the screaming newborn child. "It's a boy," I whispered.

Her arm shook as she reached over and rubbed his small fluff of hair. She was dreadfully pale.

"It's-it's okay, Ruby. He's safe. I-it's going to be okay," I whispered, my voice cracking.

She smiled. "Thank you, Crystal, for everything."

"Wha-what do you want to name him?"

She stared at him for a long moment, stroking his cheek. "Teddy. My husband's middle name is Teddy."

I nodded and bit my lip.

"Oh, Crystal," she whispered, placing a hand on my cheek.

I adjusted how I held Teddy and took her hand. "Please, stay with me."

She rested her head back. "I wish I could... Here." She removed her necklace, her only piece of jewelry, and placed it in my hand. "Put Teddy down for a moment."

"Um, okay," I whispered.

She took both of my hands in her. "My last gift to you, to help protect my son and yourself." She closed her eyes. Her hands began to glow a pale pinky purple.

I cried out as a sharp pain entered my hand and rode up my arm and then down my back. The glow from Ruby quickly transferred to me and I fell back when her grip loosened. I pushed myself and looked at my hands, the pinky purple quickly disappearing. I wanted to ask what she did but at one glance I knew she would never answer. I scooped up Teddy and held him close as tears ran down my cheeks. I sat there, sobbing for I don't know how long. I buried her under the tree.

*~*~*~*~*

At home, I took a seat on my couch, still clutching Teddy close and tears still streaming down my cheeks. I felt so confused and overwhelmed.

I sat there all night, rocking back forth, holding him close to my chest. I wished I could stop the tears, I wished I could sleep but every time I closed my eyes I saw Ruby.

It wasn't until the next morning where I was able to move toward the notebook she left for me.

The first entry was:

Dear Crystal,

It pains me to write this, knowing that even when I leave you, I will still add more problems to your life. I've known and you've known that my health has been deteriorating. A hospital may have been able to help me, but the pain is too great for me not to transform into my centaur form. If I didn't make it to tell you about it, look in the red notebook. If I did, I likely transferred my magic to you. I'm sorry that it hurt and will likely still cause you some pain for the next little bit. The magic is how we did some things, we need it like blood.

"Then why did you give it to me?" I whispered hand pressed to my forehead. "Wh-why couldn't you keep it? Maybe you could have made it."

And before you say anything, I wouldn't have made it, I could feel it. The necklace that I hope you have can transform into a spear. With my magic, you should be able to do that. As well as you should now be able to open our magic doors. We live on an island near Chile and use magical portals of sorts to travel to the human world.

You're likely wondering why I trusted my child, who is not human, with you. I believe you can relate to him. You see, dear Crystal, humans, sometimes because of magical creature ancestry, can develop powers, yes like in books, and movies. I believe I know you have some. You can heal.

I looked down at my hand before at the book. "What?"

Some of my cuts that shouldn't have healed yet were gone. Sometimes you would try to heal what was wrong with me without knowing and it would make you drowsy. It likely will. I think you can also see wounds without physically seeing them. I know that doesn't make sense but neither did some of your ability to assess what was wrong. And before you ask, no, I don't think you could have healed me. Like Phoenix tears, if it's fatal, there's a high chance you can't help. I can't say for sure but you tried without knowing a few times and it brought relief, but it never lasted. It was permanent. This will also be helpful if my child gets hurt while in his centaur form, or pegasus. My husband is a pegasus although usually among our people the child takes after the mother. Usually.

Please don't cry for me, Crystal, there was nothing that you could have done that would have lasted. I give you my eternal thanks. Wear the necklace, learn how to use it, fight with it and defend yourself. Keep the baby's legs tightly wrapped to help train him not to transform and please tell him that his mommy loves him.

My eternal thanks,

Ruby, Queen of Weknivsk

I closed the book and began to cry some more. There were a lot more letters in the book but I didn't have the heart to look at them.

I went back to Teddy before remembering he needed to be fed.

After warming up some milk, I sat there, feeding Teddy, thankful I had listened when Ruby insisted I get baby bottles.

I took slow deep breaths, trying not to cry again. The roof of my mouth was dry but my stomach felt like it would reject anything, including water.

By the next day, I was able to call the school to see if I could shift all my classes a semester, saying that a family emergency had come up. They didn't buy it at first, I didn't blame them, but I kept trying. It cost me more but I knew this wasn't the time to fling myself back into school.

My next issue was legally adopting little Teddy.