Page 42 of The Second Sight (Wanderlust Emporium Presents, Season One)

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

KASI

The battle still raged on around me. Blood and magic mingling on the concrete of the abandoned trainyard.

Screams and growls filled the night air as vampires and fairies fought side by side against the Bambara Brotherhood.

I pressed myself against the concrete barrier, wishing I had some way to help, some power I could call upon beyond the meager half-fae abilities I’d just discovered.

That’s when I felt it, new presence, powerful and familiar in a way that made my heart stutter. I looked up, and my world shifted yet again.

A flash of purple light streaked across the night sky, drawing everyone’s attention upward.

My breath caught in my throat as a figure descended toward the trainyard, magnificent wings unfurled like shimmering purple flames against the darkness.

I knew her instantly, even after six years. My mother. Theia.

Her face was exactly as I remembered it, but now she had fairy wings, beautiful, powerful wings that carried her down into the battle with grace. My mother was a yumboe fairy. And she had come for me.

“Mama?” I whispered, the word feeling foreign to my tongue after so long.

She didn’t look at me yet. Her focus was entirely on the battle below as she pulled a golden blade from a sheath on her back.

The weapon caught the moonlight and seemed to amplify it, glowing with inner power.

With a battle cry that sent chills down my spine, she dove into the fray, her wings creating gusts of wind that sent loose debris skittering across the concrete.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. The woman who had left a note and disappeared from my life was fighting with the ferocity of a warrior queen.

Her movements were graceful yet lethal as she cut through a Bambara hunter who tried to cast some kind of spell at her.

The man screamed as her blade sliced across his chest, with blood erupting from the wound before he collapsed.

Six years of hurt, of wondering why she’d abandoned me, and here she was risking her life in a battle. For me.

My mama cut through the night like an avenging angel.

Her skin glowed with an otherworldly light, and her golden eyes burned with a fury I’d never seen in the gentle woman who had raised me.

This wasn’t the quiet shopkeeper who had read tarot cards and mixed spiritual oils.

This was a yumboe warrior, ancient and powerful.

Her eyes found mine across the chaos, and for a heartbeat, time seemed to stop. Recognition, love, and sorrow passed across her features in a single moment before she turned her attention to the hunters below.

I stood frozen, watching my mother fight. Every movement was graceful as she fought with deadly purpose.

Across the yard, Romeca and Kyren finished a hunter together, their golden blades working in perfect synchronization.

Romeca’s yellow wings flared as she took flight again, scanning the battlefield.

When she spotted Theia, her face transformed with shock that quickly gave way to fierce joy.

She called out something in a language I didn’t understand, but the emotion behind it was clear. Family reunited.

I ducked as a silver blade whistled over my head, missing me by inches. The abandoned yard had transformed into a battlefield. Blood spattered the pebbled stones where bodies had fallen. I scrambled behind an overturned train car. I searched for Brooklyn among the chaos.

Seven had positioned me here, away from the heart of the battle, with strict instructions to stay hidden while they sprung their trap on Desmond.

But the fighting had spilled everywhere.

Hunters, vampires and fae locked in combat that moved too fast for me to follow.

I caught glimpses of Lily, her elegant form a blur as she took down a hunter twice her size.

Kyren fought nearby. His movements were delicate and deadly.

His golden blade flashed as it found its mark in a hunter’s chest.

“Stay down!” Seven shouted to me from across the yard, his voice carrying over the sounds of battle. Three hunters had converged on him, but they might as well have been children attacking a lion. One already lay motionless at his feet.

A scream pierced the air. It was Brooklyn’s voice. My head snapped up, searching frantically. I spotted her being dragged toward a black SUV by Tarus. Without thinking, I pushed away from my hiding spot and ran toward her. I wouldn’t let them take her again. Not after everything she’d been through.

I started moving, desperate to reach Brooklyn. The fighting swirled around me as I dodged between combatants. Seven appeared at my side.

“Kasi, get back!” he ordered with his ice-blue eyes scolding me.

“Brooklyn—” I began.

“Romeca has her,” he cut me off. “Look.”

I followed his gaze to see Romeca swooping down toward where Tarus had been dragging Brooklyn.

The fairy warrior collided with the hunter at full speed, sending him sprawling.

In the same motion, she scooped Brooklyn into her arms and took to the sky, my best friend clinging to her in terrified bewilderment.

Relief flooded through me. Brooklyn was safe. But before I could fully process this victory, movement caught my eye. A hulking hunter charged toward me, eyes wild with bloodlust. The spear in his hands gleamed wickedly in the moonlight, its point aimed directly at my heart.

Time slowed. I saw Seven turn, saw his expression change from purpose to horror.

He was too far, moving too slowly despite his supernatural speed.

The spear was already in motion, cutting through the air toward me.

I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even close my eyes against death rushing toward me.

A blur of purple flashed between us. Theia’s wings spread wide as she threw herself into the spear’s path, her body shielding mine completely. The sickening sound of metal piercing her flesh echoed in my ears as the spearhead erupted from her back, golden blood sprayed into the air.

“NO!” I screamed as my mama’s body jerked with the impact. Her wings folded as she collapsed to the ground, the spear still embedded in her chest.

Seven moved in a blur, reaching the hunter before he could ready another weapon. His hands closed around the man’s throat, twisting with savage strength. The snap of breaking bone punctuated my mother’s fall.

I dropped to my knees beside my mama, my hands hovering uselessly over the wound. Golden blood seeped from around the spear shaft, spreading across her chest in a growing stain. Her eyes found my face.

“Kasi,” she whispered, her voice weaker than I remembered. “My beautiful girl. Oh, sweetheart.”

“Mama, no, please,” I sobbed, cradling her head in my lap. “You can’t. We just found each other again.”

Across the train yard, Desmond’s voice rose above the din. “Fall back! RETREAT!”

I looked up to see the bastard and Tarus climbing into one of the black SUVs, abandoning their dead and wounded without a backward glance. The engine roared to life as they fled, tires squealing against the pavement.

Romeca landed nearby, gently setting Brooklyn down before rushing to Theia’s side.

Kyren appeared seconds later, his face twisted with grief as he knelt opposite me.

Brooklyn stood a few feet away, shocked and confused.

Seven positioned himself protectively near us all, watching for any remaining threat.

“Sister,” Romeca whispered, taking one of Theia’s hands. Golden tears tracked down her dark cheeks.

Theia coughed, more golden blood bubbling at her lips. “I had a vision,” she managed, each word clearly costing her dearly. “After years with no visions. I saw this battle... saw my daughter in danger.” Her eyes found mine again. “Sweetheart, I had to come save you.”

“Mama,” I cried, my tears falling onto her face. “Not like this.”

Her hand lifted weakly to my cheek. “Trust your dreams, sweetheart,” she whispered. “They will show you more truth than you realize. Our fae gift, it’s both a blessing and a burden.”

She turned her gaze to Romeca. “Sister, forgive me for staying away. I didn’t want to come back to the realm and bring you trouble. I thought... I could protect my people better... by disappearing.” Another painful cough racked her body. “Romeca, you are the yumboe queen.”

“No, Theia, I don’t want to be. I no longer want the job.” Romeca said.

“Kei’Mani.” Another cough bellowed from her throat.

“She’s fine. She’s with me. I have her.” Romeca cried.

“Watch over my daughters.”

“I swear it,” Romeca promised, her voice breaking.

Theia’s eyes moved to Kyren. “Nephew... so strong now. Your mother raised you well.” Her breathing grew more labored. “Tell Kei’Mani... I’m sorry I couldn’t be the mother... she deserved. Tell her I’ve loved her... every day we were apart, through every realm and beyond.”

“I will, Aunt Theia,” Kyren said, his deep voice thick with emotion.

She looked at me one last time, her fingers squeezing mine with surprising strength. “I never abandoned you, Kasi. Everything... was to keep you and Malcom, your dad, safe.” Her chest rose and fell in a stuttering rhythm. “I’m so proud... of the woman you’ve become.”

Then her eyes went still, fixed on some point beyond us all. The yellow glow faded from her eyes, and her hand went limp in mine. The spear’s shaft seemed to mock us with its presence, this mundane weapon that had taken a magical life.

I clutched my mother’s body to my chest, rocking back and forth as sobs tore through me. The tears streamed down my face. Six years of anger and hurt dissolved into pure grief. She had come back for me. She had died for me.

Romeca began singing softly in that same unknown language, a haunting melody that seemed to make the air vibrate around us. Kyren joined her, their voices twining together in what I somehow knew was a death song for a fallen fairy.

Seven knelt beside me, his cool hand on my shoulder offering silent support. Brooklyn approached cautiously, her face streaked with tears and dirt, and knelt at my other side. No one spoke. There were no words for this moment. This loss that cut across worlds and realms.

In the distance, sirens wailed, human authorities responding to what they would never understand. Around us, the battlefield grew still, leaving only the dead, and those who mourned them.

I held my mother as the fairy death song washed over us all, binding us together in grief and forever changing what I understood about family, about sacrifice, and about love.