Sera stops in her tracks, then shoves Bautista to the side as she steps back, a stream of acid sailing past where they stood. We all turn and a man in a gray jumpsuit and venom-green eyes gives Sera and Bautista a creepy-ass wave with his scaled hand. Bautista wastes no time blasting golden fire his way, but the basilisk specter moves as smoothly as Stanton has.
“Take her and go!” Bautista says.
He tosses the journal to Sera before launching another attack, unaware if he’ll ever see her again. Sera drops the journal, and as she scoops it up and runs away, an index card is left behind. Emil pointlessly shouts her name as he pointlessly tries to pick it up.
“Those are the ingredients!” Emil says.
“Memorize them!” I shout as Sera pulls me with her down the hall.
This is the moment in history that explains why two more decades of specters were allowed to grow, causing more strife between those with powers and those without. A warrior’s carelessness sparked by a mother’s determination to protect her daughter. All the deaths, from Mama and Papa to Finola to Konrad to Atlas—would they still be alive if this power-binding potion had made its way into the world? Would Luna have given up the fight if her efforts were so easily countered?
It’s like I’ve been thinking all along—I’m touched by Death.
I just didn’t realize it’s been this way since the beginning.
Sera has nearly reached the end of the hallway when I see my parents pop out of one of the rooms, wands at the ready. I’m stunned and it’s like I’ve forgotten how to breathe as I marvel at them. I never thought it would be possible to see my parents again, let alone at a time where they’re a couple years older than I am. Mama is so beautiful; I wish I resembled her more. Her dark hair isn’t long like I’ve known it, but cut to her shoulders with a golden wreath wrapped around her head that brings out the green flecks in her brown eyes. Papa is as handsome as all the photos made him out to be, and it’s not surprising to me that he was the player in the group. His thick eyebrows are one day away from a unibrow, and I almost want to laugh given how serious Papa got about waxing later in his life. They’re both wearing dated power-proof vests, our Spell Walker insignia sprayed on in silver graffiti.
“Blood Casters have broken in,” Sera says.
“Look out the window; we’re surrounded by acolytes,” Mama says.
This surprises Sera, her fear building. “I don’t have a lot of time, but Bautista and I need you both to take care of Maribelle.”
“We’re staying and fighting,” Papa says.
“No, you have to go! I had a vision, and I need my daughter out of here!”
Mama holds Papa’s wrist, which I’ve always seen her do to get him to listen. “We’ll fly Maribelle somewhere safe. Anywhere in particular we should meet you?”
Sera is rocking baby Maribelle back and forth while brushing the full head of hair I was born with. She tearfully looks up at Mama and Papa and even though I can’t sense their emotions I trust they know what’s coming as clear as a vision. “This is my and Bautista’s last fight. I’ve seen our corpses in the very near future, and the only way you can help us is by taking care of our daughter.”
Papa is shaking his head. “Sera, you’re not going anywhere. Maybe you’re reading the vision wrong. Don’t play into it.”
Mama is crying, and whenever she cried in life, it was always hard for me to watch. This time I won’t turn away. “I know it’s hard, Lestor, but her visions have never been wrong. The last time we didn’t trust her power, it only broke our hearts even more. . . .” She places one hand on her stomach and rubs Papa’s arm, soothing him as he fights back his own tears.
I’m confused until I realize that Mama must’ve had a miscarriage—a loss that Sera would’ve foreseen. I don’t know how painful that must’ve been for them, and if they ever planned on telling me, but I want to hug Mama and Papa so much.
The desperation and devastation is building within Sera. “I wish more than anything to have seen our girls grow up together. . . . I’m heartbroken I won’t even get to see my little sunflower blossom. But you two can. I need you to raise Maribelle as your own. Do not let anyone, especially the Blood Casters, know that she’s mine. I can’t have my mother using her the way she’s used me my entire life.”
Mama nods immediately, so ready to welcome me as her daughter, and Papa is still in shock. “We’ll love her as we already have,” she says. “It will never feel like a charade, but what do we do if her powers take after Bautista? There is no fire in our bloodlines.”
“Then bind them,” Sera says as she hands Papa the journal. “Bautista tested my potion on Price, and it worked. When she’s older and safe, you decide what she knows or doesn’t. But her life is more important to me than the truth. Understood?”
“Yes,” Mama says.
“Lestor?”
“You and Bautista saved our lives. We’ll do anything for you,” Papa says.
Sera stares into her daughter’s eyes. “Be strong and be loved, Maribelle Córdova de León. Your father and I have constellations of love for you.” She kisses baby Maribelle’s forehead and squeezes her against her chest before passing her over to Mama.
There’s something about this handoff that makes me feel like I’m watching myself being born.
“Be well,” Sera whispers to everyone.
Papa opens the window and he’s the first to fly out. Mama makes sure the blanket is secured around the baby before pausing to give Sera one last look. Then Mama smoothly flies outside, and Sera and I watch them soaring into the distance.
This is the first time my family took to the skies together. And the last time my birth mother ever saw me.