Page 83 of A Brother's Secret

“What’s up?” I asked.

“M’ lady, you have a quest…” he said and took a flourishing bow. He held the envelope, which was an odd size, out tome.

I frowned and took it from him. It was white, and the flap was on one of the shorter ends on the back side. I stared at the fancy wax seal, red wax, dusted with gold powder and it almost broke my heart that I was going to have to break it. It was a beautiful large cabbage rose. My middlename…

“What is this?” I asked.

Revelator just winked at me, turned around and walked away whistling. Ashton’s golden eyes were wide and so there was no help there, while all of a sudden Trigger and Disney were way absorbed in theirwork.

“Ooookay,” I said to no one in particular. I went back to my station and shut out my light. I smoothed the snowy-white, expensive-feeling paper of the envelope between my fingers and sighing, cracked theseal.

It held a single tarot card, not one of mine, but The Fool none the less. Across him, in Kyle’s black printing, it said ‘follow me…’ and nothing else. I turned it over, and on the back, there was an address in silver marker, which showed up much better against the card’s dark background.

“What the hell?” I muttered.

I had full use of his 4Runner now, and he’d bought me a cell phone on his plan. It was nice having the little computer with me. One, I knew he could keep an eye on me and that he did… I was learning just how technologically savvy he’d become and it was holy shit impressive. Two, after having been away for seventeen years, I was finding it hard to remember certain streets and how to get around, especially considering back then it had been all on foot or by virtue of a bicycle. The rules of the road hadn’t exactly applied, and there were streets now that I could have sworn weren’t one-way back then. Not to mention the high yellow curbs in the middle of the road weren’t always there, I mean, werethey?

I got into the 4Runner in the lot behind the shop and carefully plugged the address on the back of The Fool into the maps feature. I pressed the screen to have it start my route, and followed the directions carefully.

Twenty minutes later I was on a familiar stretch of highway, perking up a bit when the GPS declared that indeed, my destination was ahead on the left, through the iron gates of the MC’s compound. I drove up into the lot and parked, and went to the front door, hauling it open and going inside.

“About time you figured it out,” Dragon said around the cigarette in his mouth. He sat alone, in the barroom, a bottle of tequila on the table with a glass. An ashtray perched next to it. He folded the paper he’d been squinting at and set it aside. He pulled another of the mysterious envelopes from the inside pocket of his cut and held it up. I watched the envelope rise and fall as he set it on the table and slid it across to rest in front of the empty seat in front ofhim.

I went to it, and pulled out the chair, taking the seat. My ass wasn’t quite covered by the short, plaid skirt I had on. I kept my knees together, my knee-high Doc Marten’s flat on the cement floor. I wore a black girl’s tee shirt over the skirt, a retro sort of punk look that was more to beat the August heat and humidity.

We stared at each other for a long time and he huffed a bit of a laugh, “Ha, well openit!”

I slid the envelope off the table and cracked the seal, withdrawing the card. The Hanged Man. I swallowed hard. The Hanged Man was one of the most important cards in the major arcana. Where The Fool signified the beginning of a journey, The Hanged Man represented feeling overwhelmed by circumstances. I couldn’t argue the sentiment. I knew, by the silver sharpie in the corner, that it was meant to be taken as being in the upright position which meant the need for a time-out. I swallowed hard and my eyes flicked to Dragon’s.

“A time-out… am I in some sort of trouble?”

He chuckled and shook his head, “That ain’t all it means, isit?”

“No, it also means a change of perspective is warranted.”

He arched his eyebrows and said, “Ahhh, does itnow?”

“Is that why I’m here? For a change of perspective?”

He smiled at me and it was probably the kindest I had ever seen him. It caught me off guard. “You sure it’s about you?” he asked me and I was getting a little tired of each of us answering our questions with more questions.

“No.”

“You know, I’ve lost count of how many late nights it’s been just me and Data, alone in this room together.”

“Yeah?”

He cocked his head and considered me. “Yeah, and in all that time, he not once mentionedyou…”

“I don’t know what that means…”

“Means out of all things, he kept you a secret. I didn’t know why until you showed up. Now I’m thinkin’ that I understand it a little better.”

“Care to enlighten me, then?”

“I have a feeling,” he ashed his cigarette in the tray and put it back in his mouth, “that it was because he knew, wherever you were, that you might not appreciate it much him talking aboutyou.”

I thought it over, running it through my mind, over and over, finally leveling him with a look and asking, “Is this the part where you tell me that I don’t have to be so closed off and secretive? That this is a safe place, and I can just be me here, without fear of reprisal?”

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