Viloula frowned. "De tower. It mean great destruction ... a battle wit' de dark side of yourself. You must make a great change. Hmmm ..."
"Lovely."
"Now, de little finger."
Lainie felt an unexpected twinge of nerves. Irritated by it, she touched the card with her pinky and flipped it over. A chill passed through her at the sight of the card. Death.
Viloula hissed quietly.
Lainie lurched back from the table and smacked the cards away. They piled together; a few fluttered to the floor. "I don't want to do this anymore. I want to read books." She gestured to the hundreds of books stacked along the wall.
Viloula looked up at her. "I learned somet'ing from dat."
"Yeah? What?"
She gave Lainie a knowing look. "Dere is a great darkness inside of you. You must face it to learn your lesson."
"Unfortunately I'll die in the process. Thanks a bunch."
"Sit down, Alaina." When she complied, Viloula went on. "Dat card can mean many t'ings beside death?change, loss, good-bye."
Lainie forced a smile, though she didn't feel like it. "Well, that's a relief. So where do we go from here?"
Viloula seemed to hesitate. Her gaze darted to a small
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glass jar in the windowsill. "Dere are other t'ings we can try. Runes, palm reading .. ."
"Well, let's get started. Kelly will be home soon."
Viloula pulled her gaze away from the little bottle and frowned at Lainie. "What makes you t'ink time passes in the same way here as it does in the future?"
Lainie felt a cold rush of fear. She'd never thought otherwise, never allowed herself to think that maybe Kelly was already home, maybe all this was already over. "Oh, God, Vi ... I just assumed ..."
"When did you leave?"
"I left on August twelfth."
Viloula glanced at the yellowed calendar nailed to the wall behind her stove. "It is de fourteenth of August now."
Lainie let out her breath in a relieved sigh. "Thank God."
"You've got time on your side."
Lainie laughed. It was a harsh, bitter sound. "Hardly."
Silence fell between them, thick and strained for a minute, then Lainie forced a smile. "Come on, Vi," she said softly, "let's get to work. My soul mate could decide to shoot me any minute."
Killian sat back in his chair, trying to concentrate on the cards in his hand. He saw them in a blur of red; Queen, ten, seven, four, and three of hearts.
"You in or out, Kill?" Hambone Davis asked in a thick, alcohol-slurred voice.
It was the best hand Killian had all evening and he couldn't care enough to answer. All he could think about was the woman, Lainie, and the way she'd made him feel.
"Killian? For Chrissakes?"
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