AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, no,” Kuru waved her off. “We got business in de back.”
Eyes lingered on Rook for a minute longer before they, hesitatingly, moved to me. Then they slightly widened. “You.”
I blinked at her in surprise, uncertain and unsure what was going on.
She put down the candle she was boxing up. "I've been waiting for you."
"Now, Harmony," Kuru said, shaking a finger at her, though there was a small smile on her lips, "you know we don't need you on dis one. I'm goin' ta handle it."
“You sure?”
“Mmhmm.”
Harmony sighed in resignation, though her eyes were still on me, tracking every step down the long, hardwood flooring space, and towards a large and flowy white curtain.
"You heard me!" Kuru jut a finger upright indignantly but playfully, "don't come interruptin' us, neither, la. We don't be needin' you ta find some excuse ta put your nose in her business."
“Yes, ma’am.” Harmony gave me a chagrined smile, humming as she made her way to a shelf with a cardboard box in her hands. She began to refill a cubby with purple candles, her eyes sliding back to Rook just as we passed through the curtain.
“Sit child,” Kuru gestured towards a small and worn looking sofa.
“What’s this about?” I asked, pausing.
“You already know de answer, you’z just asking the wrong questions.” Her hand still stretched outward, she gave me a firm shake of her head. “Sit.”
I sat.
The couch was surprisingly comfortable, and I waited patiently as Rook helped her in a chair across from me. She pulled a deck of tarot cards from the pocket of her floral dress and placed them on the coffee table between us.
There was a sudden whoosh of tension inside me, twisting and turning in my gut, and I sat back, swallowing the knot in my throat. The weight of Rook’s hand on my knee was comforting.
“"Now, I need ta teach you sometin'.”
“Okay.”
“De universe has a rhythm.” Ignoring the cards, Kuru drew a plus sign on the table with her finger, tapping each square to emphasize her point, “Conception, birth, maturity, and death. De sun, it wake up in de mornin’, move across de sky. Den it set, and we have de night. And all creatures live to de beat of dis rhythm, includin' yous and me.”
She paused, checking to make sure I was following. I gave her a small nod, though I wasn’t sure how well she could see me.
“Change is good,” she continued. “Sometimes, change is de only thing we got in dis world. And de point where de lines cross between one stage to de other, is the most powerful point of dem all. Because dat is when our whole life changes. And honey, you at dis point now. Only you can decide what happens den. You understan’ me?”
“Yes,” I nodded, my heart in my throat.
She shuffled the cards, then asked me to slide out three cards, keeping them laying face down on the table.
"Dis is what's called a three card stack. Dey represent de past, de present, and de future." A bony finger protruded from her hand, pointing to each of the cards. Then hovered over the last card, not touching it.
"But de future is never permanent, ya? You get dat? Dere are many futures in dis world, and each and every decision we make changes every single second of our future. We do not control it, ya? But we influence it through our present. You understand dis, girl?"
“Okay.” I met her filmy eyes, taking in a deep breath.
She didn’t continue, letting the silence fill between us. There was a solemnness of her intense gaze on me, the air in the room was charged with an electric vibe, despite Rook's obvious disbelief in the reading. There was a soft breeze from the fan in the corner, and Harmony's humming drifted in from the other room.
She held my gaze, then finally nodded, continuing.
"Now child, we cannot escape our present until we look into de past.” She leaned forward, her voice strained with urgency. "De past holds all our secrets, girl.”
My heart pounded—did she somehow know my secret? The one I’d kept for so long? Mother killer. The nickname long forgotten blazed through my mind.
