Page 8 of Twisted
The Tower.
Suddenly I can place exactly what the weird feeling is.It’s dread.Everything around me is about to crumble and fall.
CHAPTER4
Itap my fingers on the top of my tarot deck and let out a sigh.It’s nearing three AM and all is quiet in the compound I call home.The old brick building used to be a school, converted into a home large enough to house our entire family of hunters, including a few aunts, uncles, and cousins.There’s hardly a time when we’re all here together.Tonight, it’s just my immediate family plus Aunt Darcy and cousin Danielle.
Something is off and we could tell right as we got home.Darcy is Marco’s sister, and she pulled him to the side as soon as we all walked through the door.It was nearing ten PM and my siblings just wanted to crash in their own beds after being away for work.To be fair, it’s not unusual for Vivian, Marco, or the other elders to have hushed conversations without us.The Order is pretty strict on seniority rules, which is irritating.My kill-count is higher than most members twice my age.
But it was more than that, and I’m probably the only one in the house able to detect the subtle shift of energy.It made the uneasy feeling deep inside me bubble and wake with a start after only a few hours of sleep.
Pair that with the fact that I did another tarot reading and got the Tower cardagain…I don’t need to be a witch to know something is going to happen.And whatever it is, it’s not going to be good.
“Hey!”Leo whisper-yells.
“Hi,” I say back as I turn.
“Damn.I thought I got you.”
I laugh.“I could see your reflection.”
“In what?”Leo joins me at the kitchen table and I motion to the glass of water I have sitting in front of me.
His mouth opens, only to close, and then he shakes his head.“Again.Damn.”
“Not my fault you’re sloppy,” I tease.
“I’m distracted and can’t sleep.Seems like you can’t either.”He sets his phone down and lets out a sigh.
“Something feels…off,” I say and pick up my tarot cards.I’m not the best at divination, as it was discouraged by the Order as a “waste of time” since things can change in an instant.
“You’re telling me.”He taps the screen of his phone so it lights up, and I can see five notifications from his on-again, off-again situationship, Patrick.He’s also a hunter, but more of a freelance one, if you will, and has used the excuse of “not dating Order members” as a way to jerk Leo around.
“You need to block him,” I press.“He’s using you for validation and I beg you to let me curse him.Maybe then you’ll stop shrinking your plate so the breadcrumbs look like enough.”
Leo bites his bottom lip and shakes his head.“What kind of curse do you have in mind?”
I wrinkle my nose as I think.“Anytime he sees someone he’s even mildly attracted to, he can only speak with a really bad Irish accent.”
Leo laughs.“That’s creative, I’ll give you that.”His phone vibrates with yet another text.
“Do not answer.I swear, if you do, you’ll be the one cursed next.”
“I’m just going to see what he has to say.”
I snatch the phone off the table before Leo can pick it up.“It never ends there.You’ll meet, he’ll give you the run-around about wanting a relationship, and then he’ll ghost you for a week or two before coming back and feeding you the whole bullshit line about how he got scared, and it’s so risky to let someone get close in our line of work…blah, blah, freaking-blah.”
“I know you’re right,” he goes on.“But it doesn’t—”
He cuts off when one of our motion sensors beeps with an alert.We both turn, looking at the screen that’s mounted on the wall behind the table.The compound is armed to the max, with cameras and security measures that would prevent most normal humans from even walking past the front gate.
“Who is that?”I ask when we see a man in dark clothes briskly walking to the front door.Two men are behind him, looking like hired security.
“Someone from the Order?”Leo wonders out loud.“I’ll get Dad.”
“No need,” Marco says as he comes into the kitchen, turning on the lights.Vivian hurries behind him, followed by Aunt Darcy.All three look terrified.
“What’s going on?”Leo asks.
