Page 13 of Monsters of Mayhem

“What’s that?” I asked, feeling stupid for asking, but I didn’t want to assume I knew anything that was going on.

“It’s a spell,” she said. “I know everyone’s out looking for you, so I’ve done a warding spell to hide the Witch’s Den as much as possible. To keep it, how shall we say, unnoticed. Closed. This way when Tony Furlan and his crew move through the area looking for you, they won’t find me, or you for that matter.”

“Why are you willing to help me?” I asked.

“I don’t think anybody should be controlled,” Eunice explained.

“So, you agree with me I should be free to see my friends and go back to my own life?” I asked, “because I can’t get Ryder to agree with that. He just wants to keep me locked up inside the Victorian house.”

“Did you ever think it might be for your own good because he understands this world a little better than you do?” Eunice asked.

“Yes, that’s exactly what he says,” I sighed. “I can’t handle it. I need to go back to my life.”

“No, I didn’t say you needed to do that,” Eunice shrugged. “In fact, I think you’re kind of stubborn and stupid for trying to do that, but I’m a big, big believer in giving people enough rope to hang themselves.”

Bale gave a little wine at those words and buckled down on his front paws.

I glanced at him and then back at Eunice. “Do you think this is a bad idea?” I asked.

“I don’t think there’s anything good or bad,” Eunice said. “I just think there’s choices and results. By making this choice, you’re going to get a certain result. You don’t know what the result is going to be, but you want to make it all the same.”

“I know the result of being locked up in a tower,” I said. “If I’m locked up in a tower, nothing’s going to happen.”

“Oh, something always happens,” Eunice said.

My gaze went to the tarot cards on the wall. I was completely against the idea of tarot. I was a scientist. There was nothing sensible about taking cards and putting them down and having them dictate the future, but something was drawing me to them.

“Would you like a reading?” Eunice asked.

“No,” I said firmly. “Yes,” I said immediately after, just as firmly. “I mean.” I gave a big sigh. “Yes, I would like a reading, but it feels completely ridiculous to have one. I just feel like I need something in my life to help give me direction.”

“This is exactly when tarot works the best,” Eunice said. “Come have a seat, my child. Let’s do a reading for you and see what the cards have to say.”

From a box on the side of the table, Eunice pulled out a -worn deck of brown cards. She shuffled them a few times before placing the deck in front of me. “Think of your question,” she said, “and hold your hand over the deck. Then cut the deck in three and rebuild it however you like.”

I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but what could it hurt? I already was completely flabbergasted by the fact I was a banshee. There were witches and demigods. My ex-husband‘s best friend was a demon, but there were also demons trying to kill me.

How could I bundle all that up into a question? How could I distill it into a single point of focus that would help the tarot cards determine the outcome?

“I’m having a hard time focusing on a single question.” I explained to Eunice.

Eunice smiled. “Most people focus on love. They’ll ask how a relationship is meant to go.”

“I don’t need to ask that question,” I said, a stab in my heart at the thought of Ryder. “I know exactly how that went.”

Then I realized what I really wanted to know was what was the outcome of me being a banshee. How was I going to fit into the normal world anymore? How was I going to resume my work at the lab if I was a fae banshee? How was I going to reclaim my life?

The final question was crystal clear in my mind, so I held my hand on the cards and quickly cut the deck into three stacks. I put the middle stack on top, and from there Eunice drew three cards and laid them out in front of me.

“This is your past,” she said, turning over a card that had a tower on it. A woman was falling from the top of the tower. “This is your present.” She flipped another card, one with a chariot in full flight being led by one black horse and one white horse. “This is your future,” she said, turning over a card.

It showed a cloaked skeleton and the word “death” was written across the bottom of the card.

I stood up, bumping the table and causing the crystal ball to rock in its stand. “I don’t think this was a good idea.”

“The tower means there’s been a great change in your life,” Eunice said as if I hadn’t stood up and wasn’t moving toward the back of the wall of the store. “The chariot is making a decision. Do you see the black and white horses? You need to choose between one option or the other. Only when you choose will the chariot be able to move forward.”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to know more. “You don’t need to tell me what the last card is. I get it. It’s death,” I said. I swallowed hard. Eunice didn’t know what my question was, but it was asking if I could have my normal life back. The cards were clear. My normal life meant I was going to be dead.

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