Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,26
the hair on the back of Jenna’s neck to quiver.
The woman closed her sightless eyes and fanned the cards in front of her in an array of suns and moons and animals.
Jenna found herself holding her breath as the woman read the cards with her fingertips. She slid them around the table, discarding some and arranging the others in the pattern of a cross.
When she had the oracle cards where she wanted them, she traced the shapes of each one with her fingers. When she finished stroking the final card, she swept them up and stacked them with their discarded mates.
“Well? What did you see?”
The woman’s eyes flew open and Jenna flinched at the pale opaque film that seemed to float over both orbs. The seer grabbed Jenna’s hand in a clawlike grip.
“You live a life of danger.”
Jenna stiffened and she felt Cade move in behind her and slip a hand on her shoulder.
“Someone covets what you have.”
Jenna reached out, curling her fingers around Gavin’s wrist.
“This person poses the greatest threat to your happiness. Defeat this person, and you shall walk in sunshine.”
Jenna’s heart hammered in her chest and she hunched forward, staring into the old woman’s eyes. “What else? What else did you see?”
“Where is this person? Where can we find him?” Cade’s hand tightened on her shoulder.
The young man, Patrick, stepped out from the shadows again and held up his hands. “Reading the oracle deck tires my grandmother. She can’t tell you any more.”
Despite the chill in the air, a warm flush crept up Jenna’s neck. Her voice had risen and she’d been almost nose-to-nose with the woman. She slumped back in her seat as Gavin patted her leg and Cade ran a hand over her hair.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at your grandmother.”
Patrick collected the cards from the oracle deck and stacked them next to his grandmother’s elbow, resting on the table. She appeared to be asleep.
“She doesn’t take offense when her readings upset people, but you need to be careful. She picked you out of the crowd.”
Squeezing Jenna’s shoulder again, Cade asked, “What does that mean?”
The man shrugged. “She felt your aura. She wanted to warn you. She does this to earn a few bucks, but she’s never wrong.”
With trembling hands, Jenna dug into her bag. “Money. How much do I owe you?”
Patrick waved it off. “She wanted to read the oracle deck for you.”
“I insist.” Jenna peeled a twenty from her roll of cash. “Is this enough?”
“That’s fine, but the highest form of payment for my grandmother is that you heed her words. That’s why she singled you out.”
Jenna shoved back from the table and the dozing woman. “Believe me, I’m heeding.”
Moments later, Jenna tucked Gavin into his new used car seat and slammed the back door.
Cade pinned her to the side of the car, one hand on each shoulder. “That fortune-telling mumbo jumbo is nothing we didn’t already know. Don’t let it upset you.”
“But she could feel the danger coming off me. She couldn’t even see me and she felt it.”
“Maybe she is for real, but that doesn’t change a thing. We know Zendaris is after Gavin. We know you’re both in danger.”
Cade spoke the truth. What did it matter that some Native American shaman had confirmed what she already knew? Danger swirled around her. Any shaman worth her salt should be able to sense that a mile away.
She blew out a breath and sagged against the car. “You’re right. Hearing it spoken aloud like that and by a stranger gave me the heebie-jeebies.”
“I get that.” Then he leaned in and kissed her on the mouth, short and oh-so-sweet. “We can get to the Prospero outpost by nightfall if we get moving. Lunch on the road.”
Cade circled the car to the driver’s side, and Jenna had to peel herself from the car door. That man’s touch still worked magic. The old woman could just as well have been warning her about Cade. He posed a grave danger and had the ability to take something precious away from her. Her heart.
* * *
CADE SLID INTO THE driver’s seat wishing he’d kissed her longer and harder. She needed it after that soothsayer had spooked her.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m going to go ahead and let the outpost know we’re on our way.”
“You have the phone number for some outpost in the middle of nowhere?”
He slid the phone open and tapped out a message on the tiny keyboard. “We use a