Chapter 7 #2
In the blink of an eye, I’m thrust into a vision where I see Joelle sitting in an airport.
A screen beside the gate lists the destination as New Orleans.
This must have been only a couple days ago.
I peer over Joelle’s shoulder at her phone screen, where she scrolls through her email.
A subject line catches my eye: Tulane University New Student Orientation.
“This card represents your present,” I say. “You’re visiting New Orleans for the first time.”
She nods. “I am.”
“And you’re going to be attending Tulane.” This time, she doesn’t answer. Her eyes widen as I suppress a proud smirk.
“Yeah, I’m here early for summer classes. How did you—”
“The Fool always takes chances.” I tap my finger on the table in front of the card. “So, you’ve got to do the same. Change is scary, but this opportunity has the potential to be the most rewarding experience of your entire life.” I lean forward. “Embrace it.”
The words shock even me. Here I am telling Joelle to embrace a journey I haven’t been able to face myself. I shove the thought away. I’m working, so I don’t have the time to spiral right now.
Joelle opens and closes her mouth several times before scrubbing her hands down her face and sighing. My words have taken her off guard, too. “What about the last one?” she finally asks.
As soon as my fingers touch the card, a vision overtakes me—one that’s much stronger than the previous two.
The room disappears as I find myself standing in a dark clearing beneath a full moon.
Joelle stands across from me, her expression twisted into a grimace.
A shimmer of light draws my gaze down to a knife in her hand.
Before I can react, she thrusts the blade into my chest, straight into my beating heart.
I lurch to my feet, tipping over the chair in the process. My chest heaves with ragged breaths as the vision fades away and the room swims back into view. Joelle is on her feet, staring at me from across the table. Her brow is knit in concern. “Mikaela? Are you okay?”
My eyes lock onto the card in front of me. In the illustration, a skeleton in a suit of armor rides a white horse. The Death card.
As terrifying as it may seem, it usually symbolizes an ending and a new beginning, not an actual death. I’ve drawn this card countless times before and I’ve never had a vision like that. The vision of Joelle’s—and seemingly my—future has shaken me to my core.
I can barely still my trembling hands as I return to my seat. My heartbeat thuds in my ears, nearly washing out the sound of her voice.
“I—I’m fine,” I stammer, racking my brain for an explanation that won’t give away what just happened. “Wow,” I choke out, trying to force a light tone. “I rarely have readings that hit me this intensely. You have a lot ahead of you.”
Joelle’s confused expression doesn’t waver. “Mikaela, are you all right? Should I go get your brother?” She turns toward the door, but I wave her concerns away.
“No! I’m fine. Sometimes I get so overcome with emotion during these readings that I can barely sit still,” I say.
“Okay.” Joelle stares at me expectantly.
“So,” I begin, weaving a lie on the fly. “The Death card can be a tricky one for me. It has so many meanings that sometimes it’s difficult to figure out the true meaning for a particular person, especially when I don’t know them very well.”
“Be honest with me,” Joelle interjects. “Am I going to die? Or someone I know?”
“No, it very rarely symbolizes an actual death. Most of the time it refers to the end of a chapter in your life.”
Of course, the one time that the card does symbolize an actual death, I have to be the one who’s meant to die.
I lace my fingers together beneath the table to keep her from seeing them shake. I’ve never had a vision so visceral. My brain is disintegrating in real time.
“You’re moving to a new city all by yourself.” I force myself to smile as my temples begin to throb. “Everything you’ve worked so hard to accomplish is all about to come true. You’re about to be happier than you’ve ever thought possible.”
Joelle tugs on her bracelet, absentmindedly fiddling with the charms. “Oh, I guess that makes sense.” She bites her lip. “But are you sure? It didn’t seem like you saw a happy future in the cards. Actually, it looked like the opposite.”
I stand and cross the room to the bookshelf so I can turn my back on her. I’m not sure that I have the mental energy to concoct a better explanation. My world is collapsing around me, and this isn’t a situation that I could ever prepare for, no matter how strong my intuition may be.
“The cards don’t always have all the answers,” I choke out. “If they did, I’d be way richer than I am.”
There’s a brief pause before I hear the sound of her chair scooting across the carpet. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thank you so much for this, Mikaela.”
I whirl around as I sense Joelle’s presence. She’s standing right behind me, closer than I expected.
I swallow past the lump in my throat. She’s taller than me, so I tilt my chin up to meet her eyes.
The scent of her perfume goes straight to my head, muting all my senses as alarms blare inside my brain.
My attraction to her competes with the memory of that grisly vision. It’s enough to make the room spin.
“You don’t know how much I appreciate this.” She reaches past me to brush her hand along the spine of a book before backing away toward the door. She hooks a thumb over her shoulder. “I pay at the register, right?”
I nod. My throat squeezes, cutting off all words.
“I’ll see you around.” And with that, she’s gone.
I slump against the bookshelf as my vision narrows in on the cards still laid out on the table. After sucking in a deep breath, I walk over and touch the last card. The same vision reappears as strong as before.
Usually, when someone pulls a Death card, my visions are of a major change in that person’s life, like the start of a new relationship or a new job.
This time is different. Wildly different.
Joelle is going to kill me beneath a full moon, and I don’t know why she would want to hurt me or how I’m going to stop her.
As I sink into my chair, Orion appears at the door. “Hey, sis, that girl filled out a job application after she paid for her reading. I scanned it and sent it to Gramps.”
“What? Why would you do that?” The floor drops out from underneath me as my stomach performs an entire gymnastics routine. I’m going to be sick. “W-why would she want a job here?”
Orion frowns, caught off guard by my reaction. “I dunno, but you know we can always use the help,” he says. “Did you know she’s going to Tulane in the fall?”
Any sanity I had left fractures into a million pieces. I rest my head on the table and exhale all the air from my lungs.
“We need to close the shop early,” I moan. “I have to talk to Gramps.”