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Sadie pulled in front of Crow Moon and chugged her water bottle before tossing it and the apple core into the trash outside. The shop had just opened five minutes ago, and by the looks of the empty parking lot, not many customers, if any, would be inside.
The bell dinged and a citrusy scent filled the shop as light smoke curled out from the hanging incense holders when she walked inside. Sadie was the only one in the front area, and she skimmed her fingers across a few red and black book spines. Beside the desk, the rottweiler sat on the other side of the gate again, panting.
Sadie went to him and reached to pet his head, but the dog flinched from her touch, backing away as though afraid of her. She frowned—animals had never been afraid of her.
Kalina slipped out from behind the long black curtains, carrying a box of rattling jars. Her black and white striped skirt swished around her as her jeweled bracelets clanked against one another.
“You’re back.” Kalina smiled, resting the box on the countertop. She then glanced at her dog. “Don’t mind him. He can be a big baby.”
Something told Sadie it was more than that, though.
“Did you return for a tarot reading, or are you needing help with more items?” Kalina asked, taking out a few jars filled with herbs. “Spell jars.” She winked, motioning her head at them.
“The tarot card reading. I know I didn’t book an appointment, so I’m not sure if you have any openings. Sorry for the short notice.”
“You’re in luck,” Kalina drawled, taking out a few more jars containing small stones. “I don’t have any clients booked until this afternoon.”
“It’s my lucky day, then.” Sadie forced a smile, even though a nervous feeling prickled inside her chest.
Kalina pushed her dark hair over her shoulder and glanced at the curtains behind her while shouting, “Jolie, put your phone down and come watch the counter. I have a client.”
A few seconds later, a girl, appearing to be a younger version of Kalina, strolled out to the front, fiddling with her phone. She wore a dress of all black, lined in felt buttons down the front of it, a silver hoop through her septum, and both ears dotted with jeweled studs.
“What did I say?” Kalina frowned, plucking the phone from the girl’s hands, then slipped it beneath the counter. “Not out here, Jolie. Only when you have nothing to do in the back. Finish unloading the box and put the spell jars up in alphabetical order, not just anywhere you please, like last time.”
“Fine.” Jolie huffed while collecting a few of the jars in her hands.
Kalina motioned Sadie forward and led her toward the back of the shop. “Don’t mind my daughter’s attitude. Jolie helps around here when she isn’t at the community college.”
“She looks exactly like you,” Sadie said, scanning a few of the new additions to the taxidermy section. A boned mermaid with a blooming flower for her skull had her itching to have it.
“Tell her that, and she’ll get pissed.” Kalina laughed, guiding Sadie through a couple more areas with various crystals and stones. But Sadie’s attention was drawn to the framed bug collection like the ones she owned.
At the back of the room, between two glass curio cabinets, holding jeweled goblets, hung deep purple curtains. Kalina pushed them aside for Sadie to pass through.
The dimly lit room revealed a windowless space straight out of a film set. A round table draped in crimson velvet lingered beneath a ceiling painted like the night sky, and two antique high-backed chairs faced one another. Glass orbs of every color shone against black shelves, herbs and crystals, and countless candles of all shapes and sizes. On one side of the room sat a dresser filled with narrow drawers and deep purple stone knobs. And in the far back corner stood a classic Zoltar fortune-telling machine.
“I always loved those,” Sadie said, knowing it must’ve cost a fortune.
“It’s for when someone doesn’t want a true reading.” Kalina arched a brow. “But sometimes we need a little Zoltar in our lives.”
“I’m afraid of what Zoltar would say to me at the moment.” Sadie grinned, pulling out a velvet chair at the reading table and lowering herself onto the plush cushion. “How long have you been doing this?”
Kalina smiled in return, gathering a few white candles from one of the shelves. “I’ve always had an intuition about things. Sometimes I can see auras when I do palm readings. I’m letting you in on a secret because you’re one of Coral’s friends. I’m not always right, but I’m more right than not.” She lit the candles, then placed them along the table’s edges, atop brass stands, filling the closed space with the scents of citrus, ginger, and pepper. “Choose the deck that speaks to you.” Taking three stacks of cards from a wicker box, she set them in front of Sadie before sitting across from her.
Sadie looked at the different decks, not knowing which one to choose. Angels and rainbows? Knights and swords? But the third stack, small and unassuming, hidden in the shadows of the candlelight, drew her gaze the most. If there was a deck created for her, that was the one. Forest animals decorated the tattered and worn box, their forms half skeletal, half whole, weeds and flowers twining around the edges. She pointed at the deck.
“Have you ever had a tarot reading before?” Kalina asked, pulling the cards from the box and resting them in front of her.
Sadie shook her head. “I’ve only had my palm read when my grandfather took me and my sister to a carnival once.” She wasn’t sure if she believed in tarot readings, but if it was real, what if the answer she uncovered was wicked like River had said?
“How was it?”
“I was told all my dreams would come true.” Sadie peered down at one of the unlit candles. But now, maybe it’s my nightmares that are coming true.
“Let’s see what we can find out today, shall we? Inhale deeply and focus your mind and heart on your question,” Kalina said, her oddly hypnotic voice startling Sadie as the woman closed her eyes. “Then shuffle the cards. Any way you like. When you feel it is time, choose three and place them here, here, and here.” She indicated the center of the table.
Admiring the art across the back of the deck, Sadie inhaled slowly, then exhaled just the same. Her curiosity to see the drawings on the other sides grew as she spread the cards into a messy pile, thinking of River all the while, his arms around her, his skin warming beneath her touch. Finally, she chose three cards at random, placing them at the center of the table against the soft velvet.
