Wink Poppy Midnight - April Genevieve Tucholke Page 0,45

We sat down on the grass by the edge, Wink across from me. I could no longer hear the rustling of the corn. It was drowned out by the sound of water rushing over stones, and I was glad for it.

“Don’t show the Orphans this shortcut, okay, Midnight? Mim thinks they’ll drown. I only go here when they’re asleep.”

I nodded.

Wink slipped off her red sandals and put one foot in the river.

She had small feet. They practically fit in my palm.

She reached into her pocket and took out a candle. She set it on a nearby stone, took out a matchbook, lit the wick.

She reached in again and took out a pack of yellow tarot cards.

A coyote howled, high and eerie. It wasn’t too close, but it wasn’t that far away either.

Wink shuffled the cards. They were newer than her mother’s. Less worn on the corners.

I stared at her as she shuffled.

We have to talk about it.

We have to talk about the letter that Thomas showed me. We have to talk about the fact that Poppy’s missing.

We have to talk about the girl the Orphans saw in the woods.

“I’m not nearly as good as Mim or Leaf,” Wink said, and her words rushed fast, like they were racing against the river. “I’m much better with auras and ghosts. But Mim won’t read cards for me anymore. She read Bee Lee’s tarot once and the cards told her Bee would die young. Mim refused to read for us after that. She’ll only do our tea leaves and our palms—and even then she only reads for small things.”

Wink, red hair falling over her shoulders, laid the cards down in a cross-shaped pattern on the grass.

“Wink?”

“Yes?”

“Poppy’s missing.”

“I know. That’s why I’m trying to read the cards.”

“That must have been who Peach saw, in the woods, right?”

Wink didn’t look at me, didn’t say anything.

“What was she doing in the woods?”

Wink shrugged.

“I saw Thomas today, at her house. He showed me a letter, and he said we need to find her . . . that it was a clue to finding her.”

Wink looked up. “What did the letter say?”

“She talked about climbing Three Death Jack with Thomas, and being a Greek god, and she said something about jumping, and how Thomas should trust me. What do you make of that, Wink?”

Wink shifted and reached into the pocket of her acorn skirt again. She pulled out a black piece of paper and handed it to me.

I held it next to the candle flame and read.

“It’s another clue.” Wink’s head was down, staring at the cards again, nothing but red curls. “I saw Briggs in the woods today, digging. He’s looking for the gold marble, the one in the letter.” She paused. “Poppy mentioned you in both of the notes. That’s interesting.”

It was.

I let a minute or two pass. Rushing river, coyote howling, heart beating.

“What are the cards telling you? Do you know where she is?”

Wink didn’t answer.

The candle flickered.

I squinted in the dark and looked at the cards. I saw swords and a wheel. I saw a chalice and a hanged man. I saw a queen of hearts, upside down. I saw a tower.

Wink was quiet for a long time. Finally, finally, she looked up, looked right at me, and frowned. “The cards contradict one another.”

A breeze blew up off the river and the candle went out. Darkness.

“Mim is much better at this. I don’t have the gift, Midnight. I can’t tell where she is.” Wink held her finger on one of the cards. “She seems to be in two places at once.”

“Why don’t we go home and ask Mim to find Poppy? Maybe she’ll know what the cards mean.”

Wink shook her head. “I already tried that. Mim read Poppy’s cards and then wouldn’t tell me what they said. She does that sometimes.”

Wink reached into her pocket, got a match, and lit the candle again. Her pale face floated back into view. She picked up the cards, put them away, and then wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her small, cold feet into mine.

“Who did the Orphans see? Who do you think it was, Wink?”

She shrugged again, her shoulders moving against my chest. “Maybe it was Poppy. And maybe they’re lying. You never can tell, with Peach and the twins.”

I put my arm around Wink’s legs and kissed her skinny knees. Wink put her hands in my hair, her thumbs behind my ears. I kissed the skeleton key I found on a chain around