She grasped my hand, still holding the cards. “Think of something troubling you, Elle. What do you need to know more information about?” Placing the deck between us, she moved my hand to the pile.
I cut the deck, keeping my fingers pressed to the cards, then channeled my energy, trying to visualize my question. Pulling the top card, I laid it facedown on the comforter.
“Spirits, please provide a clear answer,” my mother whispered and reached for the card to turn it over.
“The Three of Swords,” I said, feeling an ache in the back of my throat. My eyes stalled on the foreboding image of three swords slicing through a heart. The card meant betrayal, heartbreak—the kind that can leave an emotional scar. I crossed my arms in front of me as if the posture could ward off the card’s intent.
My mother went still, gaze flicking up to meet mine. “The Three of Swords is a bad omen. Have you had any strange feelings?” She grabbed my wrist and gasped. “A Graves Warning, perhaps?”
“Are you kidding, Mom? I’m literally being hunted by demons. I have one about every five seconds.”
But this card didn’t symbolize my death or physical injury. It was more internal; a loss of faith. My mind drifted to Zoe, remembering her lies and omissions. Could she really be a killer in disguise? And what about Caden? His secrets seemed to grow in number with each passing day. Could he be lying too?
“What do you think it means, honey?”
“I don’t know, Mom. But I’m scared to find out.”
Chapter 19
“You seem very distracted this morning, my dear.” Oscar looked up from reviewing photos at his desk. The early-morning sunshine pierced through his ghostly form, making him glow more than usual. “Is something the matter?”
I blinked, finding myself staring at a section of peeling wallpaper. Professor Roberts’ cell phone lay forgotten in front of me. I rubbed a hand over my bleary eyes and stretched my stiff muscles.
“Sorry, Oscar. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
A hammering sound coming from the first floor made me wince and long for a bottle of Advil. Caffeine wasn’t touching my headache, and Caden’s repair work was making it worse. If he kept banging on the wall, my head was going to explode.
“You don’t look well. I hope you’re not catching a cold.”
“No, I think it’s just stress.”
“Oh, good. In my day, a cold could kill you.”
“Yeah, well, stress isn’t exactly the key to a long life either,” I grumbled, reaching for my cardboard cup of coffee. I sucked down a big gulp of the lukewarm liquid and reached for the cell phone. There was no use wallowing in my ominous tarot reading. Racking my brain to figure out what was coming only led to sleepless nights and migraines.
One mystery at a time, please.
Swiping through to the home screen, I clicked on the settings icon and scrolled to the locations feature. A list of all Professor Roberts’ most recent GPS locations appeared. I scrolled slowly through the list, starting from the time she recorded her last video.
“This is so strange. According to her phone, Professor Roberts went from her house to the university then straight to the country club on the Friday of her murder. There’s nothing that shows her going anywhere unusual. Which means the book is likely in one of those three places.”
“Didn’t the historical society send someone to her house to retrieve the artifacts?”
“They did. Nothing was found, and considering the demon who attacked me was on the book’s trail, I’m positive he searched there as well. Caden and I searched her office, and unless it’s sitting in the lost and found, I don’t know how or why you’d hide an ancient book at the country club.”
Oscar drummed his fingers against the desk. “It’s possible she passed it off to someone who was going to hold it for her or help her get rid of it.”
“Sure, but I think most people would have turned the book in to the police or back to the historical society after her death. Why hold onto it? I haven’t found anything in her emails or messages to suggest she was conversing with someone about the book. She was afraid of it. She wouldn’t just give it to the mailman for safekeeping.”
“So where does that leave us?”
I downed the rest of my coffee and tossed the empty cup into the hearth. “Back at the beginning, I’m afraid. It’s either hidden and gone overlooked, or someone has it. Maybe they don’t know what to do or they’re afraid to come forward. In a way, it forces us to have two lists: one for her killer, and another for whoever might be holding the book. Unfortunately, the latter list has a lot of unknowns.”
I flipped the phone over in frustration and dropped my head into my hands. This was impossible. Even with new leads, it didn’t feel as if we were getting closer. And with each passing day, the danger around us grew. It was only a matter of time before they sent someone else after me.
If they can’t find the book, might as well take out the competition.
“Elle, why don’t you take a break? You look exhausted. I’ll keep going over these photos you printed, and we can reconvene later to come up with a plan.”
