CHAPTER 6
Ash
Ellis follows me through the front door. She’s been silent on the walk all the way home, her phone out in front of her, such that a couple of times, I had to double back to make sure she wasn’t going to get hit by a car or a falling piano or something. Not that the latter is likely, but one never knows.
I let us back into the house through the front door, and it’s a good thing because it’s getting busy out there, though I don’t know if NOLA is ever quiet. The weather tends to be quite lovely all year round, especially in comparison to other places, but as we’re entering summer, things are seriously picking up. Including the temperature.
I realize, as a blast of AC hits me, I’ve soaked right through my t-shirt. To be fair, it might have happened during the card reading, before the sun ever started working its blistering magic on me.
I glance at Ellis, but she has her phone up in front of her face. She’s using her left hand to hold it while scrolling with her right. My stomach plunges when I note the ring on her finger. It stares me down, as frightening as any mystical being suddenly come to life has a right to be.
“It says here,” Ellis starts, scrolling her phone eagerly. “It says the Major Arcana…all those big, important cards you got in your reading, have companion cards. When a card’s companion card comes up, you’re supposed to pay attention to it. The Wheel of Fortune’s companion card is the Magician, and they came up back to back, both right side up.” She lowers her phone. “When that happens, you’re supposed to take some real notice because it means the issue is a big one.”
“I don’t need cards to tell me that,” I huff. “Obviously, the issue is dang-blasted monumental.”
Ellis rams her phone into her pocket, and her brows knit furiously. “Why didn’t you let her finish the reading?”
“Because the whole thing is just a setup. It’s so fake that I couldn’t handle it.”
“Really?” Her face oozes skepticism, but not about the reading. “Why do you say it’s fake?”
“Because we were there together, and she pulled The Lovers card. Come on. How absolutely rigged can it get?”
“The cards are figurative! They’re open to interpretation. I looked it up while we were walking, and The Lovers isn’t always about romantic crap. It’s mainly about choices or internal struggle.”
“I still say it’s rigged.”
Ellis walks over to the couch. I have the inside set up entirely with antique furniture. It’s not very comfortable, but it was expensive. Also, it’s tasteful, and it seems to fit the house just fine—well, the exterior, at any rate. The interior, on the other hand, is a strange mashup of modern and antique. I should have gone that direction with the furniture, but the new stuff just didn’t speak to me.
“I want a change of clothes,” she demands, crossing her arms. “If you’re going to hold me prisoner, you need to provide for me. That means food, water, and clothing.”
I shake my head and get out my phone. “That’s just perfect. I’m going to call my brother and cousins. Lee is just about your size.”
Her mouth drops, and her eyes flash in outrage. “Lee? You’re going to dress me in some dude’s clothing?”
“Lee. Short for Leandra.”
“How should I know?” Ellis pulls out her phone again and shifts so her feet are propped up on a coffee table that is approximately a hundred years old and should never, ever have feet on it. I choke back a protest, not wanting to sound like a prude.
“I thought you knew everything about my family.”
She ignores my sweetly biting tone and starts working on her phone again. Then, when I have my back angled just slightly away, my phone going to my ear, I see her flip me the bird. I whirl, but her hand disappears as quickly as it came. Did I just imagine it?
As the phone starts ringing, Ellis jumps up. “I’m going up to my room. I want to write some things down about the reading. You might not believe in it, but I think it might help. I need some time to process. So, uh, just let me know when to come back down. Unless you plan to have this meeting the way a speaker incites a mob to violence, and in this case, the mob consists of your brother and cousins, and the violence is cutting off my finger, then please, by all means, let me know so I can jump right out the window before you can catch me.”
I can tell she’s not going anywhere, and she’s also seriously worried about her finger getting detached from her body. I hold the phone away from my face as it rings. “Don’t worry. If I were to cut something, I’d go for your middle finger first. Yeah, I saw that.”