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Chapter 2: The Child

- Three months later –

Molly cried, though she didn't know they were tears of joy or sadness. Or both, perhaps. I have to tell Eddie. I've got to tell him. And I've got to tell my sister. Shit, I have to tell Amy. She will freak out, Molly thought, and pressed her face against her dirty pillow.

Suddenly, someone knocked on her door, and Molly sighed. Oh, no, she thought. She hurriedly tried to wipe the tears off her face with some paper and went to answer the door.

It was Eddie who stood there. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him; in fact, she'd really missed him the last two weeks while he'd been on a secret mission for the Styx. But Molly didn't want to talk about what the doctor just had told her. She didn't even understand it completely herself, so she had no idea how she was going to tell Eddie.

"Aren't you going to say hi?" he said thoughtfully and looked down at her.

"Err… Of course. Hi! I was just shocked to see you. Weren't you going to come home tomorrow?"

"Yes, but there was a change of plans." Eddie stepped in to her house and hugged her tight. And she hugged him even tighter. "Have you been crying?" Eddie asked when she finally let go of him. Molly thought for a second, and decided to be honest with him. There was no reason to lie, or things would just get even worse, so she nodded.

"Why?" he asked with black piercing eyes. They were so dark. You couldn't even distinguish the iris from the pupil. At least, not in the poorly lit hallway of Molly's house. Molly couldn't help it. This was too much. She started crying again and between her sobs she whispered something.

"What?" said Eddie.

Molly took a deep, shuddering breath, and said, "I'm pregnant."

"What?" Eddie said again, this time not because he didn't hear her. "Have you been with anyone else these last few months?" Molly's heart broke when she heard how hopeful he sounded. He would be happy if she answered yes. But she'd decided not to lie.

"No", she whispered, shaking her head.

"Oh, Molly", he murmured and hugged her tight again. "Have you been to the doctor?"

"Yes."

"But he didn't know the child was…"

"No", Molly said, sparing him the words. Because a human and a Styx having children together was highly forbidden, and very shameful. Almost every time a human/Styx child was born, the parents threw them into the canalization. And if they didn't, the Styx would kill both the child and its entire family.

"We won't throw her, will we?" Molly whispered, shivering.

"Of course not." Eddie said. "If they hurt you, or anyone you love, I promise I will kill them all."

The weeks passed incredibly fast, and soon Molly couldn't hide her growing stomach to her friends and family anymore. She revealed only to her sister the real father's identity. To everybody else, Molly said the father was a traveler, and that she didn't even know his real name. Well, that was actually true, in a way. Eddie was a traveler, and Molly didn't know his real name either. Eddie was short for Edward. And that was only what he was called when he went Topsoil.

"How is it?" Molly had asked him once. "Up there, I mean. On the outside."

Eddie had sighed happily at the thought. "It's wonderful. The ceiling is blue, but you can't see where it begins. And there are trees. And the people live in huge cities, with huge buildings. There's grass on the floor, and flowers, too. And there aren't any Styx." Molly didn't understand what trees, flowers or grass were, but she didn't really care. All she could think about was his last comment.

"No Styx?" she'd repeated, surprised.

"Nope." Eddie had said and smiled at her. After that, Molly always dreamt about going up there sometime. But no one had ever made it before. A few people had tried, but the Styx always caught them and killed them. Probably even tortured them. And Molly didn't want to die, especially since she had a child to take care of.

She would fight for him or her, and she wouldn't ever let the Styx get to them. Neither would Eddie, Molly knew for certain.