Page 14 of The Second Sight (Wanderlust Emporium Presents, Season One)

Chapter

Eleven

KASI

Iparked my car in the driveway and rushed into my apartment.

I fell asleep right away and was out for more hours than I expected.

I wished I would’ve taken a shower before my nap, but I was up now and headed straight into the bathroom to stand under the hot showerhead.

I decided to wash my hair in the shower and that made everything take even longer.

It was already past midnight, and I was going to be up for hours.

Taming my hair wouldn’t be that much of an inconvenience.

I did a mental breakdown of my future plans once I walked into my bedroom, lotion, wide-tooth comb, and the remote control to catch up on Love Island USA.

Steam followed me from my bathroom into my bedroom.

The scent of strawberries and cream body wash clung to my skin.

My damp hair left wet patches on my thin cotton pajamas as I strolled barefoot across the floor.

I was already rehearsing the lies I’d tell Brooklyn tomorrow about why I hadn’t talked to the mysterious man from the club.

I could just tell her he gave me stalker vibes. That part was true.

I grabbed my cocoa butter lotion off my dresser and turned to grab my remote control off the dresser. That’s when I saw him, a shadow sitting calmly on the edge of my bed as if he belonged there.

I froze, one hand clutching the cotton t-shirt I’d been using to dry my hair, the other instinctively moving to cover my heart as if I could physically slow its sudden frantic beating. Seven’s tracked my movements with his piercing eyes.

“You stood me up,” he said, his voice was low and melodic, just the way I remembered it from my dream. His tone wasn’t accusatory. It was more like he was just stating a fact. “I waited for an hour.”

“How did you find me?” I whispered. My apartment was over the garage that was still connected to my daddy’s house. The last thing I wanted to do was alert him. I’d lost one parent I couldn’t risk losing another one.

“Does it matter?”

“How did you get in here?” I asked. I needed to know where the breach was located.

He smiled. The expression transformed his predatory features into something almost boyish. “Locks are merely suggestions to someone of my age and skill level.”

My bedroom suddenly felt impossibly small.

The distance between us was shrinking with each shallow breath I took.

I should have been terrified. There was a vampire in my bedroom, cutting off my escape route but strangely, a part of me had been expecting this.

Maybe even waiting for it if my dreams mirrored my real life. And my dreams did mirror my real life.

“I’m sorry,” I said, surprising myself with the apology. “I got scared. I decided it was better to just... forget that any of it happened.”

Seven tilted his head, studying me with those dreamy eyes. “You wanted to forget me when all I can do is of think of you.”

Why did he seem genuinely hurt. “I, I, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Kasi, you can’t un-see what those glasses showed you.”

He was right. Despite my best intentions, I hadn’t been able to unsee him chomping on the neck of that lady. I hadn’t been able to convince myself that last night was just alcohol and imagination. I’d seen a vampire feed. I’d been told I wasn’t entirely human. Some bells couldn’t be unrung.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “My dad is here and he’s innocent.”

“So, you’re saying that you’re not innocent.” He smarted.

“No, no, I’m very innocent.”

Seven chuckled. “Your father went to bed at ten. He’s fast asleep and snoring with his television on playing old episodes of Sanford and Son.”

“You’ve been watching me, watching my house?” I asked only thinking about my father’s safety.

“I’ve been watching you since the millisecond I laid eyes on you.” He admitted.

“Why? I haven’t told anyone who you are or what I saw you do.”

“We need to talk, and I think you know that.”

I remained rooted in place. The damp t-shirt I used as a towel was now twisted between my fingers. “About what?”

“About what you are. About your mother.” His voice relaxed on the last word. “May I see a picture of her?”

The request caught me off guard. “My mother? Why?”

“Please, Kasi, you know why.” There was no urgency beneath his controlled exterior. “It’s important.”

Against my better judgment, I moved cautiously across the room, keeping as much distance between us as possible until I reached my dresser.

I pulled open the top drawer, pushing aside folded shirts until my fingers found the picture frame I kept hidden there.

Hidden just because I didn’t want to see her face.

I hesitated, with the frame clutched in my hand.

This was the last photo taken of my mother before she disappeared.

Dad didn’t know I had it. I’d found it in her cell phone after she was gone.

It was a simple snapshot of her sitting in the backyard.

Her flawless face was turned toward the sun, her expression peaceful.

As if she had already decided to leave us.

Seven watched me, his patience seemingly infinite. I crossed to the bed slowly, extending the frame toward him while keeping myself just out of reach.

He took it gently. For a long moment, he simply stared at my mother’s face, his expression shifting through emotions I couldn’t read. His thumb traced the outline of her face through the glass cover, a gesture so intimate it made my chest ache.

“Theia,” he said, the name sounding like a song in his mouth. “I thought so.”

“You knew my mother?” My voice cracked on the question.

Seven looked up at me, his eyes reflecting memories. “Not personally. But I know what she is. What you are.” He held the photo up beside my face, comparing. “You have her eyes. Golden-brown with flecks of amber. Yumboe eyes.”

“Yumboe?” The unfamiliar word seemed strange on my tongue.

“You’re half Fae.” Seven stood and his body filled my bedroom.

“Fae?” I knew what Fae was, but what was he really saying to me.

“All Fae isn’t created equal. You’re Yumboe.”

“What does that mean?”

“Yumboes are a kind of fairy from Goree Island, off the coast of Senegal. Powerful beings, especially the women.” He set the frame on my nightstand, next to the Emporium glasses. “Your mother is a full-blooded Yumboe. Which makes you half.”

I nearly laughed, the absurdity of it all finally pushing me past fear and into hysterical disbelief. “A fairy? My mother is a fairy? That’s ridic—”

“Why do you have dreams that come true,” he interrupted. “You could see me feeding through those glasses when no human should have been able to.”

My body tensed defensively, hands curling into fists at my sides. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know you’ve dreamed about your mother since she left.

Not ordinary dreams. You have visions where she’s probably trying to tell you something.

Fairies have a psychic connection with one another.

” Seven’s voice remained gentle, but each syllable hit me hard.

“Let’s move past the stage of denial. You’re special and you know that. You’ve always known that.”

My resistance faltered. How could he know these things? I’d never told anyone about the dreams, but Brooklyn.

“Seeing things before they happen or after they happen doesn’t make me a fairy,” I countered. “There are humans with the same abilities. What you said doesn’t make me a fairy.”

“Half-fairy,” Seven corrected, his eyes never leaving mine. “It’s the only thing that explains everything about you. Kasi, it’s everything you’ve been afraid to tell others. It’s everything that’s made you feel different your entire life.”

I sunk onto the edge of the bed, not trusting my legs to support me anymore. The proximity should have frightened me, but instead, I felt a strange calm settling over me. It was as if some part of me had always known this truth.

“Why did she leave us?” I asked, the question that had haunted me for six years. “Why did she leave me and my dad?

Seven took the seat on the on the bedspread beside me. “That,” he said softly, “is what we need to find out.”

“We?” I asked.

“Yumboe fairies are indigenous to West Africa,” Seven explained, his voice taking on a teacher’s cadence.

He’d shifted on the bed, angling his body toward mine.

He was so close our shoulders were nearly touching.

“They’re known for their connection to nature, their pre and post cognitive abilities, and their protectiveness toward family.

Your mother would have been exceptionally powerful, even among her kind.

She’s an older fairy. The older the more abilities they possess. ”

I glanced at the photograph on my nightstand, at my mother’s face. The idea that my mama who made pancakes shaped like animals and sang rap songs like they were gospel could be some powerful supernatural being seemed absurd. And yet...

“Kasi, I would never lie to you.” His confession came out of nowhere.

“If don’t think you’re lying, but if what you’re saying is true,” I said slowly, “then why didn’t she tell me? Why pretend to be normal?”

Seven’s lips curved slightly. “The supernatural world isn’t exactly forthcoming about its existence. Most of us prefer to remain hidden. Your mother was likely protecting you.”

“Protecting me from what?”

“From those who hunt her kind. From the responsibilities that come with your gifts.”

I tucked my damp hair behind my ears, trying to process his words. “You said I should have... abilities.”

“You already do,” he replied. “Though they’re likely undeveloped without proper training.

Precognition, seeing events before they happen.

Or maybe postcognition, seeing events from the past. Empathic sensitivity, feeling others’ emotions as your own.

Aura perception, seeing the energy that surrounds humans and supernatural beings.

Some fairies can manipulate the elements. ”