Cont’d:
She separated them into three piles, and closed her eyes. I felt the power come through her, into the cards, especially to the left-handed deck. “Pick a pile,” she said, eyes still closed. I wanted a real reading, not something that would make me happy. I chose the center pile and pulled it forward. She opened her eyes and looked at me, then at the pile I’d chosen.
Let’s see if you have the real ability, I thought, and put my hands on my knees, leaning forward.
She put aside the other two decks and took the first card off the top. I smiled. There was the card I was looking for when Dottie read my cards: The Magician.
“You have a lot of power,” she said. “You can do almost anything if you set your mind to it.”
“I already know that,” I replied, and looked at her. “C’mon, what else do you have?”
“You only have fifteen minutes.”
“You can talk faster.” I motioned. “The next card.”
She flipped it. This one didn’t surprise me. It was the seven of swords, reversed. She didn’t straighten it out, but read it as it fell. She read it the normal way everyone did: “What was stolen will be returned to you.”
“No, that’s wrong.”
“Do you want me to read these or not?”
“. You have one card left. Show me what you got.”
She drew the last card. It was the Knight of Swords. I knew exactly who that was, and considering how he was facing, and the position of the cards, it wasn’t surprising.
“You will receive a phone call so that what was stolen is returned to you.”
She was so, unbelievably wrong. I leaned back in my chair, tipped on two legs. “You don’t know how to read cards, do you? I’m sorry if the normal cards you draw didn’t show up, and you can’t hand me your pat script,” I snapped. “I’m sorry if The Lovers or The Tower or Death didn’t come up here, or maybe even the three of swords to give me shock value. Give me those and I’ll show you how it’s done.”
She gathered them up and held them away from me. “No, you’ll taint them.”
“At least you got that right. Get me another deck. You don’t know how to sense others, or to get the idea of what they want. You just hand them the usual, ‘You’ll meet a lover and he’ll be dark haired and blue eyed, and you’ll find him on the fifth of October, when the moon is in Gemini.’ Have I got it?”
She glared at me.
“Witch of Salem, my ass,” I growled, getting up. “That bullshit might work for tourists but it doesn’t work for me.”
“You think you can do better?”
“I know I can do better.”
“Fine. Come here after hours, and show me. We close at nine. Come here at five of and bring your deck.”
“Fine. I will. I’ll read you.” I felt the waves of power and anger come at me. If I wasn’t defended, wearing an amulet against curses, I probably would have gotten hit by a bus as soon as I walked out. What I did, though, was go to the wharf.
I walked out onto a pier as far as I could, and listened to the water lapping against a boat. That calmed me. I breathed the salt air and felt for the ley line. There, right at my side, it flowed into the city from the bay. I didn’t tap into it, but just felt around it, probing, sensing the power that was in it and where it came from. It was power, but not dark or light; it was protected in some places but free in others. I noted where the free spots were – and they were not in the Goode Witch Shoppe.
4.
I went to back to the Crafter’s barn and saw Quintin there. I debated whether to go in, but he looked up to see me. I had no choice.
“What’re you looking for?” he asked of me.
“I’m an aimless waif, keeping out of trouble.”
He grunted. Would I ever get an apology from him? Not from the King of Swords.
“Want anything before I go home?”
“You’re calling it home, now?”
“It is for now.”
“Right,” he said.
“I’m not like that jerk.”
“You seem to not be, but that’s how he was, too.”
“I’m helping Dottie.”
“How?”
“She said she was cursed.”
He looked down, “Yeah, she told me that too.”
“Well, if you’re so good, why didn’t you find out?”
“Don’t think I haven’t tried.” He looked up at me. “Don’t get involved with the Stewarts. They’re out for one thing.”
“Yeah, my money.” I leaned toward him. “As you can probably tell, I don’t have any of that, especially when I’m wearing Brian’s old clothes. Do you have any idea where he got this stuff? Where did he get the money?”
“He’s been stealing from her, and she was giving to him.”
“I won’t ask her for money. I have food, clothing and shelter – that’s all I need.”
“And protection from that Knight.”
“He’s coming to get me, you know.”
He shrugged. “What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t want Dottie in the way.”
“Oh, now you don’t want anyone in the way of your problems.”
Finally, I snapped. “You’re an asshole, you know that?”
“And you’re a selfish brat.”
“The hell with you.” I didn’t need this guy. I started to walk away.
“Earn your magic for once,” was the last thing he said to me.
5.
Dottie was able to get me to Wal-Mart so I was able to get some real clothes that actually fit. We also dumped off some of Brian’s more expensive clothes at a local consignment shop, where Dottie got a pretty good penny for them. Not what he paid, and certainly not what he stole, but she seemed to be happy with it and split the money with me because I gave her the idea.
I had dinner with Dottie and told her I was going to go to town. She warned me to be careful, and asked that I not come home too late. “I’ll be waiting up.” I kissed her cheek and told her I should be home by eleven. I saw Quintin’s car drive by as I was walking. I turned around and he did pull into her driveway.
With a small nod to myself, I continued into the common, and then to Wharf street. I was about ten minutes early, and I walked into the store. The place was empty, with two people on – Morrigan and an older man. He turned to look at me. “We’re closing in ten minutes.”
“This is the guy I told you about,” Morrigan said, coming out from behind the counter.
Now I got appraised. He looked me up and down, not only with regular sight, but I knew with magic sight. I stood straighter. This time I wore a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, and a thin jacket for the summer breeze. I felt more comfortable, knew I looked more presentable. I poked at the ley line in the store, and I know it flared, like someone had poked a fire with a stick. He looked around for a minute. So, you’re attuned to it, I thought. Good. There’s gonna be some fireworks tonight.
“A magician,” he said, and snorted. “Not a warlock?”
“Oh, please,” I said. “Such a fake word.”
“It is not, it’s a male witch.”
I gave him a look of, Are you kidding. “Is that what they teach the Outer Circle? Boy, are they misleading you.”
I felt a tug on my arm. Morrigan said, “Let’s go upstairs where it’s quieter.”
“Where there’s already consecrated space?” Even better. I wouldn’t have to poke so hard.
The man said nothing as I went upstairs with Morrigan. “Please be careful with him, he’s one of the Guardians.”
“Guardians of the Four Elements?” I asked, “I’ve dealt with the real ones.”
“You really have some nerve,” she said, sitting down.
I sat down across from her and pulled out my cards. I used the Robin Wood deck, because she wasn’t afraid of nudity. I set them to my left and then looked at Morrigan’s eyes, taking her measure.
Youngest of three girls, always felt neglected, fathered by a different man than the other two; has less power than the other two girls, so she thinks. Typical lack of self-esteem. Isn’t thrilled with Tyler but thinks she can do no better.
And she has a crush on me.
I turned from her and picked up the cards, starting to shuffle them. “Aren’t you going to have me—”
“Nope.”
“But—”
“Shh.” I concentrated on shuffling, and probing the ley line. It was very well protected, weak in spots, but generally attuned to someone or something. A bird, a dog, a spirit even. I approached the one attuned with the spirit.
Freedom, it wanted.
Let me in.
Freedom.
I saw the spell that was holding it there, and immediately the spell to break it came to me. Let me in, let me stay for a while, and I will set you free when I am done.
Promise by the waters.
I promise by the waters.
The spirit stepped aside and let me into the ley line. Once I was tapped in, I stopped shuffling. I’m sure, if she had any sense, she would have seen my aura flare up with the energy pouring in. Gods, what magic they did here, and what they poured into it to store here. No wonder they had twenty-one covens.
I flipped over the first card. The Star, Reversed, the picture of a woman on a beach, pouring water on the ground and water into a pool. “Your life, your inspiration, has left you. Doesn’t that sound passe?”
“I…I only have a half an hour to read these cards.”
“The cards are only step to a vision. Can you see?”
“I—”
I put the cards down and took her face in my hands, pouring the power into her. “Can you see?”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God, yes…”
She was hungry for power like I was. If she had power, she could surpass her sisters, maybe even her mother, and be the real Witch of Salem, which is what she wanted. Not all this touristy bull, but something else. A goddess on Earth.
Big dreams, eh? I should know.
I let her go, and she looked up at me, wide-eyed and gasping. “What—”
“That’s what it feels like, to be a magus,” I fibbed a little, but she didn’t need to know that. “To be a priestess.” I pointed to the card. “This is what you are, letting all the power and ability flow right out of you, undirected, unused by you.”
“Yes. Yes.”
I took the next card off the top and crossed it. It was the three of pentacles, a man working hard at chiseling a feather in some larger piece of work. “Look at all the work you do. Look at everything done by you, and no one notices. You’re being used.”
She nodded. “Yes, yes.”
I had her eating out of my hand now. I drew another card and placed it below the other two. Again, pentacles, this time the seven. This was a picture of a man, his face looking contented, as if he’d just finished something and is taking a rest. However, it was reversed. “Hell, you can’t even use your own energy for your own purposes.”
She put her hand to her mouth.
Flip, another card, to the right of the other two and beside them. This one was the eight of cups. I was familiar with this one, of a man walking away from eight layered cups. “You thought of running away.” I stopped. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because…they would have stopped me.”
I nodded sagely. Either they were a cult or they made her think she was in one. We’d find out. The next card was placed above the two, parallel to them. The five of wands, which was a picture of men fighting each other. “Oh, you want to fight for what you want, don’t you? But you can’t.” I pointed to the seven of pentacles. “All your energy is depleted.”
I flipped another card, placing it to the left of the two crossed ones. This was of a man holding onto a rod, looking out at a sunset over a bay, with boats coming in. “Three of rods. You sent something or someone out, and you’re waiting for their return or word of them. This is someone who had fought for you before, and left finally, not being able to take it anymore.”
Now I could see the tears. I was on a roll. Next card, a little below and to the left of the last one. The Empress, a pregnant woman sitting on a throne, but reversed. “What you want, and can’t be, is the mother, the one who takes care of it all. Oh, you’re too young. You don’t know what you’re doing. You haven’t got the ability, the strength, the power to do it. Why not? They’re taking it from you!”
The next card was the ten of rods, another card I knew. “You carry so much, just like this man is doing in the picture. Some people see it. But the people you want – the mother, YOUR mother – she doesn’t see it. She doesn’t see how you struggle. How you fight to keep your power, but you can’t, can you?”
A sob escaped her. Deacon Greene would be so proud of me.
The next card was the six of Swords, reversed. A man on a boat is going away from the viewer heading toward a light in a cave on a distant shore. A ghost, or what seems like a ghost, is ferrying him. This card often means suicide. I took a different tactic. “You want to shut off the power, stop them from having it. Maybe then they’ll leave you alone. And leave the people you love alone.”
I pulled the last card, laying it on top of the boat-card so she wouldn’t see it. “A King of Swords.” Damn, I thought. Not a good ending. She looked up at me, expectantly. “This is your father, the man who fought for you, and now he’s gone.”
She started to cry.
“He still loves you. But you are afraid of him.” I got up and went over to her, putting my arm about her shoulders. “Don’t be afraid of him. He loves you. He’d welcome you back and protect you.”
The Guardian heard her cry and came up the stairs. “What the—” he saw me sitting there, rocking back and forth with her, and I gave him a helpless look. He started to advance on me. “I think you’ve done enough damage for one night.”
I scrambled away from Morrigan, and she screamed “STOP!” She got up and ran blindly down the stairs. The man glared at me again. “Get your shit and get the hell out. NOW.”
I heard the door open and close downstairs. I got my cards, making sure I had them all, and tucked them back into the velvet bag. I was still connected to the ley line – which means I could have put this guy down for the count if I wanted to – but I didn’t want to start a fight.
Besides, I had a spirit I had to set free.
Words: 2616
The muse, she is spent.