Page 48 of The Trouble With Spells
The bell over the door chimed as she exited, leaving us once again alone. Mondays were generally slower in the mornings, though October brought a flurry of tourists who would wander in and out throughout the day.
“She’s…something,” Michael observed, looking slightly shell-shocked by all that was Mrs. Hawthorne.
“She is,” I couldn’t keep the admiration for the older woman out of my voice. “I actually look forward to our weekly readings, though I never tell her that. I don’t want it to go to her head.”
He laughed, “Yeah, I get that. Was that true, what you told her about her pie?”
Sitting back down next to him at the small table, I nodded. “Yeah, probably.”
It was hard to explain to people, and my feelings or visions or whatever they were, combined with my card readings, didn’t always come true. People had the ability to change their futures at any given time, without even knowing they were doing it. Mrs. Hawthorne might decide to change her recipe for whatever reason at the last minute, and that could change the outcome of what I saw.
“And you saw that in the cards?” He seemed genuinely curious, which wasn’t usually how my dating life went. The few men I had dated had either been slightly weirded out by how my family made their living, or just a little too fascinated by it.
“Not exactly. So, I can read the cards, but honestly people can get a deck of tarot and a book and teach themselves how to read cards. Or even from the internet.”
“But you are a witch, so does that help you see things that someone like me–a non-witchy type person–wouldn’t see?”
“Non-witchy?” I teased.
He grinned, “Yeah, you know, us people who aren’t witches.”
“It probably does help, yeah. Born witches tend to be more intuitive of most things. I get…feelings from the cards, I guess you would say. It’s like I can feel the energy from the cards. It wraps around me and…speaks to me? That’s the best way I can describe it. And sometimes I willget flashes of things from a person’s life. Little glimpses of what might be.”
“Are you psychic?” Michael asked, and it was a valid question.
I shrugged. “I don’t know what I am, honestly. I’m not psychic in the way most people think of psychics. The only time it happens is when I read the cards, and no one knows why. But the things I see don’t always come to fruition. Humans change their destinies all the time, every single day, and don’t even know it. Honestly, reading the cards is the only witchy,” I used air quotes around the word, “thing I’m good at. You’ve seen my spell casting skills. Gran thinks it’s because my dad was human and I’m a male. But really, no one knows why some witches have certain skills and some don’t. We all have different strengths in our household.”
He leaned his chin on his hands, eyes bright with real interest. “Like?”
“Daphne can unravel spells, like I told you. Not all witches have the ability to do that. Sure, they can cast a spell, but Daphne can wave her hands over someone and pluck the essence of a spell away. For instance, if we wanted to stay bound together–not saying we do–she can see the two spells cast on you and only untie the one we would want gone. If that makes sense.”
He nodded, “Yeah, it does.”
“She’s also a great spell caster,” I continued, “Gran’s strengths are potions.”
His brow furrowed, “There’s a difference between a spell and a potion?”
Idly shuffling the deck, I placed them in front of him, indicating he should cut them. “Yeah. Spells, potions, hexes, curses. They aren’t the same.”
With ease, I laid the cards out in a Celtic cross formation, letting my eyes look over each card as I turned them over.
“And your mom?” Michael asked, his eyes watching the cards I laid out eagerly.
Glancing up from the cards, I smiled, “Mom is what is called a kitchen witch. She can cast spells and make potions, but she mainly does it in, well, the kitchen. Where Daphne can cast a spell just standing next to you, Mom uses herbs and recipes to concoct her spells and potions. Her power is from the actual cooking and baking and the emotions she puts into it. She’s a fantastic cook and baker because of it.”
“This is all…” he paused, searching for the word he wanted, “fascinating, actually. There’s just so much more to it than I ever gave thought to. I guess I just thought all witches were the same, if they were real.”
Turning my attention back to his cards, my brow knitted together as I studied them.
“There’s that pesky devil card,” Michael joked, though I could hear the concern in his tone. Most people acted the same way when I turned that card over, not understanding its true meaning.
“It actually means change, transformation, and even growth,” I told him, more concerned with a few of the other cards I had turned over. The devil card was never anything to be all that worried over. That wasn’t to say it couldn’t represent something bad, but in most cases, it truly didn’t. “Mrs. Hawthorne knows that. She just likes to blame it on her neighbor when it shows up in her readings. Frankly, I think the two of them are sweet on each other and don’t want to admit it.”
Michael pointed to the Fool’s card. “What’s that about?”
Giving him a sly look, I told him, “It means you are embracing fun and spontaneity, and a new romantic adventure is in your future.”
His lips twitched with amusement, “Are you just making shit up now?”
