If I look in the mirror, will I recognize who stares back at me? If I shed this mortal skin and study the bones that keep me solid and the blood that fills my veins, will it truly be mine?
I’m stuck in a spiral. I’m trapped between being terrified of what could be happening to me while I’m unaware and the new reality I’m being thrust into.
I wasn’t made to be uncertain; I was born from my mother’s womb with a thick power in my hands, ready to be wielded. For the world to obey my every command.
And if not the world, then maybe just a few of its inhabitants. A lover, a family, a little kingdom of my own making.
Who am I now? What am I made of if not absolute, complete control?
“We’re here,” Jullian suddenly speaks, and my head snaps up.
We’re in a regular neighborhood, but the house on the corner has a glowing sign outside that tells the public that whoever is inside does tarot readings, palm readings, and psychic readings.
“You’ve brought me to a psychic?” I deadpan, turning to give my current company a blank stare.
“Trust us,” Atlas says, opening his door and climbing out.
Julian and I follow suit, and as we walk up the designated pathway and walk into the business, I feel my palms begin to sweat.
“Julian,” a woman calls out from where she’s sitting behind a desk on our left, tapping away at her laptop even as she looks at us.
“Madam Lu, how are you?” Julian greets.
“It’s been a while. Have you taken my advice and stopped messing with the unknown?” The woman gives him a pointedstare, one that tells me these two are very familiar with each other.
“Yes, I have. This is Atlas, my boyfriend. He’s the one I… the one I saw you about before.” Julian motions Atlas forward, and my brother flushes, giving her a small smile.
“Hello, ma’am.”
“Why, aren’t you a pretty little thing?” she coos. “I can see why Julian was so willing to dirty his hands for you.”
“Madam Lu,” Julian cuts in. “This is Atlas’s brother, Atticus, and I think he may have gotten himself in some trouble.”
“Trouble?” Madam Lu questions, and her eyes fall to me, assessing and curious.
“I guess,” I mumble.
“He used theBlack Book,” Julian explains.
Madam Lu nearly gasps, her eyes widening as she looks me over again and again.
“We were hoping you could take a look at him,” Julian adds.
“I’m not a doctor, so I can’tfixanything,” Madam Lu tells us. “But what I can do is tell you if something has attached itself to him or cursed him.”
“Lead the way,” Atlas encourages nervously.
We follow the woman down a dim hallway, all the way to the back left room.
There’s a low table that has pillows around it as makeshift chairs, a crystal ball, and a deck of cards in the center. A lot of hippie décor surrounds the walls.
The smell of something earthy and sweet fills the air.
“Sit, please,” Madam Lu instructs, and everyone waits formeto take a place first, with Julian and Atlas sitting on either side of me and Madam Lu across from us.
“What did you talk to?” the woman asks me, and for a second, I’m startled.
“How did you… What?”
