Rise of the Wadjet Witch - By Juliet C. Obodo Page 0,17

grandmother’s engagement ring.”

The famous Herman diamond was in their midst. Jill’s boyfriend—er, fiancé—Wesley, was a Herman. They owned half of the island. Their properties spanned from bodegas to luxury condominiums.

“Wow, Jill, I’m so happy for you!”

It was about time. They’d been together forever; they were the happiest couple Memphis knew. They balanced each other perfectly.

“So, how did he propose? Were you surprised?”

Jill went on to describe how their usual night of bowling actually turned into a private dinner on the lanes and then a boat ride where he hid her ring in her champagne glass. Memphis had never seen Jill happier than she was at that moment. With the promotion and now her pending nuptials, her future was as bright as the sparkle from her rock. Memphis examined the diamond. It was a lovely princess cut; the edges were smooth, yet defined. It caught the light no matter where she moved her hand. So sparkly, it seemed to meld with the lights and dance. Memphis stared at the ring.

She could just picture Jill on her wedding day, in a beautiful Vera Wang dress, crying on the floor. Wait—Memphis was confused. It was as if she were watching a movie with the ring acting as a projector. Jill was wearing a wedding gown, but she wasn’t happy or blushing. Her green eyes were red rimmed and the tears spilled down her cheeks.

“Jill?” she called out to her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Silly,” Jill answered. The image disappeared and Memphis was faced with a confused expression rather than tears.

“Everything is perfect! Knock on wood.” She knocked on the table.

“Yes, of course it is!” Memphis nodded her head enthusiastically. “So, are we having drinks to celebrate?”

“Memphis, it’s not even noon.”

“Oh, c’mon, we’re celebrating! We have to toast to that.” The truth was, Memphis badly needed a drink. First the flying, now she was seeing things—terrible things.

She and Jill parted ways in front of the restaurant. They agreed to meet at Jill’s apartment to get dressed before the Halloween party—now doubling as an engagement party—she would throw the next weekend. Memphis didn’t tell Jill about her vision. It must have been hunger or envy that caused her to hallucinate a not-so-happy ending for her friend.

Now slightly buzzed, she made her way to the office. With the added liquid courage, she was ready to face Jonathan. He had called and left several messages since she caught him and Troy reenacting a scene from Brokeback Mountain.

Memphis sat down at her desk and turned on her computer. She looked through her snail mail as the computer started up. Jonathan hadn’t left her his referral letter; she felt slightly panicked. Hopefully he hadn’t changed his mind. Panic turned to anger; it was the least he could do for her. She grabbed her mouse. She would send him an e-mail.

She had few new messages in her inbox—mostly junk. She quickly went through the list and deleted them, and then she came to the horoscope e-mail from earlier that day. It was sent at 4:43 a.m., a strange time to be sending e-mails. She opened it, praying it wasn’t a virus.

Today you will hear good news from a close friend. At the same time, you will have to prevent them from hearing the bad and seeing what is true.

Memphis stared at her computer screen, then around her as if someone was about to sneak up on her. This was eerily accurate. She copied and pasted the e-mail address of the sender into her search engine. Who was this astrogirl88?

There were no results with the exact wording. There was a site called Astrogirl, but it was just a sexist comic book site featuring a cartoon blonde with huge breasts, her nipples barely covered by purple stars. She was a superhero who visited guys while they were asleep and, from the graphic stills, made their dreams come true. Yuck. Memphis closed the window. She clicked through the other search results, but none of the sites seemed to be sources of strange daily predictions.

She returned to her e-mail and composed one to Jonathan, requesting the status of her referral letter. She spent the rest of the day working on her dissertation.

Chapter 7

The next morning, Memphis arose when her alarm buzzed. She found her computer turned on again, with the screen showing her inbox. She had received another e-mail from astrogirl88 and a response from Jonathan. She ignored astrogirl88’s message and read Jonathan’s. It was actually a calendar invite to a breakfast meeting with him. He