Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth #6) - Lisa Edmonds Page 0,40
part of the pack, but that still felt weird to say. “They came back happy and she went right to sleep. I should have let Sean take her for a run before. I was just scared to let her out of my sight, I guess.”
“I can’t blame you for that, but you did the right thing to trust them.” Carly patted my hand. “So, how can I help with your journey? And don’t worry—I know what you’re doing is confidential. I won’t tell a soul.”
I sighed. “I’d love some party favors, but we have to leave almost immediately. I thought I’d check to see if you had anything on hand.”
She smiled. “I have a few things. I saw this journey on your horizon a week or so ago, so I’ve made some goodies I thought you could use. I have Return to Sender amulets, a couple of Reveal spells, and some odds and ends. I’ve got them in my office. You can take them with you when you leave.”
“Thank you. How should I pay for the spells? A gift for your coven? For you? A souvenir or two, if I can make that work?” Though from what Adam said about the Broken World, I’d be lucky to get back through the mirror with Malcolm and my hide mostly intact.
Carly surprised me by handing over two small silver vials with stoppers. Naturally, she’d somehow known to have them on hand. “Souvenirs would be lovely, actually. Some rainwater and moss, please—or spring water, if there’s no rain.”
I tucked the vials in my bag. “It’s a deal. Any advice about the trip?”
From the pocket of her apron, she brought out a deck of tarot cards wrapped in purple silk. “I had a feeling you might want some guidance. It’s difficult, but not impossible, for me to see into other places. I’m willing to try.”
As she unwrapped the cards and spread the silk out on the table, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, clearing my mind of distractions and tuning out the noise in the coffee shop.
With my eyes closed, I picked up the stack of cards and shuffled them. I thought about the trip through the mirror, the world that awaited us on the other side, and my goals for the trip: find Mariela and the scroll, bring both back as soon as possible, make sure the Furies stayed where they belonged, and keep both Malcolm and myself safe. My fingers slid over the smooth texture and edges of the cards as I shuffled. I visualized the backs of the cards, which showed bright green vines with small white budding flowers. Like the two other tarot decks I’d seen that belonged to Carly, these seemed hand-drawn, and smelled of parchment-scented magic.
One of the cards fell out as I shuffled. “Oops,” I said, and reached to pick it up.
“No—leave it,” Carly said. She turned the card over and placed it face-up and horizontal just above the center of the silk. The card was the Hermit. I set the stack of cards on the silk between us.
She placed the second card, a six of swords, face up on top of the Hermit to form a cross. Below it, she placed the third card, a seven of swords, face up and vertical. She folded her hands on the table and studied the cards.
“You will have a guide and a protector,” she told us finally. “You must listen to their advice and accept their help.”
“She’s not super good at that,” Malcolm pointed out. I scowled. He raised his hands. “What, you’re going to tell me I’m wrong?”
“A guide and a protector sound useful,” I said, glaring at him.
“So I can remind you of this conversation once we’re there and you tell your protector to take a long walk off a short pier?”
“Shut up.”
“Children,” Carly interjected. She tapped the six of swords. Her brow furrowed. “I’m not sure if this is directly related to your journey or not. Did the angel Tura give you a message to deliver to someone?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “She asked me to take a message to someone I’m supposedly going to meet over there, because she can’t travel through the mirror and deliver it herself. I’m supposed to find ‘a knight with no court or kingdom,’ whatever that means. And then I’ll have to give that person a big ol’ smooch to deliver the message, which is apparently in the language of angels and stored in my body somehow.”