Page 51 of Langiappe & Lost Legends

"She's still snarking," Kota said with a relieved laugh. "She's going to be okay."

The Lost Legends must have sensed something because reality suddenly buckled around us. The walls of the tunnel rippled like water, and something that definitely wasn't human screeched in the distance.

"They know we're here," Maeve warned. "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast. Also, that screaming? It’s bad. Very, very bad."

I looked at my sisters and saw the same determination burning in their eyes that I felt in my soul. "Time for phase two?"

"And definitely phase three," Lia added with a fierce grin. "I've got some potions just begging to meet these tunnel walls."

"Remember," Mom said. We all spun in a circle. We all wanted another glimpse of her, but she wasn’t there. "You're stronger together than apart. Trust in your bonds. And Lia? Try not to bring the whole cemetery down on top of you."

"No promises," Lia replied cheerfully.

With our ancestors, children, and mates anchoring us firmly in this reality, we gathered our power. The artifacts pulsed in time with our heartbeats. Above us, the guardian spirits' distraction reached a crescendo. Everything aligned perfectly for one crucial moment.

"Now!" I commanded.

Our combined power shot outward, riding the crystal's natural harmonics like a wave. Reality parted before us, revealing glimpses of countless possible worlds. Some were beautiful. Others were horrifying. All of them were fragments of what could have been. And there, caught between moments, we found our sister.

Dea was suspended in a web of corrupted energy. She was in her dragon form with our mother next to her. The sight made my healer's soul scream in protest. No mind was meant to endure that kind of strain. The Lost Legends appeared around her. Their forms rippled between states of matter like oil on water. They moved to stop us, but they'd made one critical mistake. They came from the belief that our connection to the crystal was about power. They didn't understand that it was about family. We would do anything to get Dea back.

We hit their defenses with everything we had. Five sisters, backed by the power of our mother and other ancestors. We were anchored by our loved ones, and all focused on a single purpose. Bringing our sister home. Under our attack, the corrupted energy holding Dea shattered like glass. Screams echoed around us as I reached across dimensional barriers and grabbed her hand. Dea snatched the Larmes du Bayou and pulled it to her chest. The Lost Legends tried to pull her and the artifact back. Thankfully, they couldn't match the combined strength of our family. Lia pulled me and Dani had ahold of Lia. Phi and Kota were both behind Dani, adding their strength to our chain. We all put everything we had into getting free.

After a surge of sister-power, the six of us fell backward. Reality snapped back into place, and I caught Dea as she collapsed. I immediately started pushing healing energy into her. The others crowded around. They added their own power to help stabilize her. Her aura was a mess of temporal distortions. Underneath it all was that steady core of Smith stubbornness.

"Mom helped," Dea managed weakly in a voice rough with emotion. "She... she kept me together when I started losing myself. Kept reminding me who I was. It was easier to block the chaos out when she showed me memories of us growing up. She even made me laugh with that story about the time Lia tried to teach me how to skateboard." She took a shuddering breath. "Also, speaking of Lia, who let her have that much caffeine? I could feel her bouncing through multiple dimensions."

Laughter bubbled up in my throat. It was half hysterical and half relief. Trust our mother to use childhood memories as spiritual anchors. "The Lost Legends?" Phi asked. I noticed how her hands trembled slightly. It wasn’t from caffeine, either. We'd come too close to losing another family member today.

"They’re still out there," Maeve confirmed grimly. "They're weaker now. Breaking their connection to your sister cost them the power they couldn't afford to lose. Also, I think your detection equipment is about to explode."

"It does that," Phi said dismissively. "I've got at least two minutes before actual detonation."

"Good," I said as I finished healing the worst of Dea's dimensional trauma. "Because I think it's time for phase three."

"See?" Lia smirked, already pulling out what looked suspiciously like military-grade explosives. "I told you we'd blow something up."

I shook my head at her eagerness. We needed to get Dea somewhere safe to recover. Then, we could plan how to end this fight once and for all. Something told me the final confrontationwas going to be epic. And probably involve property damage. I hoped not much of the latter because our trap was going to come into play and we’d spent too much money and too many hours restoring the plantation

"Home?" I suggested, supporting Dea as we started back through the tunnels.

"Home," my sisters agreed in unison.

"After we blow up their ritual site," Lia added hopefully.

"After we blow up their ritual site," I agreed because sometimes you had to pick your battles. And this one was definitely worth some property damage.

Behind us, reality slowly settled back into its proper shape, though I could still feel echoes of other possibilities lingering in the air. We'd won this round, but the real fight was still to come. At least now we were back at full strength. If there was one thing the Lost Legends were about to learn, it was that you don't mess with family. Especially not this family. Also, we really needed to start a property damage fund. Our insurance premiums were going to be astronomical after this.

CHAPTER 19

DAHLIA

"For the record," I announced as I cracked open my last emergency Monster, "this plan is insane. Even by our standards." I paused, considering. "No, wait. This makes the swamp gator incident look sane. At least then we could see what was trying to eat us."

We were gathered in our magical kitchen on the back forty at Willowberry. We were surrounded by enough magical artifacts to make Harry Potter look like an amateur street magician. Outside, the guardian circles were ready and glowing. They looked like ethereal Christmas lights on steroids.

My gaze wandered back to Dea. She was finally strong enough to stand without swaying. Though she still looked like she'd been hit by a supernatural bus and then backed over by a ghost train. Being kidnapped by lunatics was exhausting. I knew from first-hand experience. This ordeal was almost over with, though. We’d already set the trap. The Larmes du Bayou was in the center of the guardian circles outside waiting for us to lift the shield and spring our ambush. We’d run inside to gather last-minute supplies.

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