Page 69 of The Second Sight
Kei’Mani’s expression softened. She crossed the room to stand in front of me. “When Theia placed us in the fairy realm, I was very young, and you had not even been born yet.”
“Wait, yeah, you’re older than me?”
She nodded. “Much older, over one hundred years in the earth realm. I was born on Goree Island. It was a beautiful place until the Bambara found us.”
“What happened?” I whispered.
“Mother had no choice. She took me, Romeca, Kyren and other yumboe to the fairy realm while the Brotherhood burned our land and murdered are people. She said she would return after she got more of our people to safety.”
“More people?”
“She was looking for our aunt Sheila, her twin sister. Shelia was pregnant.” Kei’Mani’s hands twisted at her sides. “And the others yumboes were still hiding and running from the Brotherhood. I thought she would return.”
I tried to process this information. My mother had a twin sister. I had another aunt, possibly another cousin.
“Did any other yumboe make it to the fairy realm?” I asked.
Kei’Mani’s eyes filled with tears. “No. Mother never came back. Romeca raised me, trained me to fight, to survive. For years, we believed mother and the others had been captured and killed by the Bambara Brotherhood. We thought they were all dead.”
The pain in her voice mirrored the ache I’d carried for six years. “She wasn’t dead,” I said quietly. “But she did leave me. Six years ago, when I was fifteen, she packed her things and left a note.”
Kei’Mani’s eyes widened. “Six years,” she repeated. “I’m sure she came to America to get far away from the Brotherhood. They took over Goree Island and there was no way she could return to the portal of our fairy realm with the Bambara occupying the island. It took a very long time for us to slip out of the realm undetected. I miss her so much. I miss brushing her long purple hair. She taught me how to fly, how to fight to the death, how to fish, how to bend fire. She was our Queen after grand-fae died. Where is she?”
“I don’t know.” I said.
I had no answers. The mother who raised me and the mother Kei’Mani described seemed like two different people. The quiet woman who worked at a candle shop and align with the powerful fairy who fought hunters and saved her people.
“We’ll find her,” I said, reaching for Kei’Mani’s hand. “After I get my friend back, we’ll find our mother.”
Her fingers twined with mine, warm and strong. “Do you think Aunt Sheila could still be alive too?” she asked softly.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But a week ago, I didn’t know fairies or vampires existed. Anything seems possible now.”
Kei’Mani squeezed my hand. “You should go. The vampire is waiting, and your friend needs you.”
I stood. “Will you be okay here?”
“I’ll be fine,” she assured me. “I’ve been trained to hide, to fight, to survive. I’ll keep watch over your father until you return.”
I stepped closer and, pulled her into a hug. For a moment she seemed startled, then her arms wrapped around me, returning the embrace.
A strange warmth flowed between us where our skin touched. When we pulled apart, I saw that her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
“Be careful, sister,” she whispered. “The Bambara are more dangerous than you know.”
“I will,” I promised. “And Kei’Mani? Thank you.”
I grabbed a sweatshirt from my closet and headed for the door. At the threshold, I looked back at my half-sister standing guard by my window. She was another piece of my newly discovered heritage. Another connection to a world I was only beginning to understand.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
SEVEN
Iguided the Porsche through the night streets of Chicago with practiced precision. Kasi’s presence beside me stirred both ancient instincts and new emotions. The weight of tonight’s events forged an even tighter bond between us. There was Brooklyn’s abduction and appearance of Kasi’s fae relatives.
The threat of the Bambara Brotherhood was growing stronger by the hour. I hated that gang of shaman bastards. They stood for nothing. They were just a gang that preyed on any supernatural beings they felt they could control.
