Chapter
Fourteen
“Death?”
Daphne stood in the middle of the woods in a sky-blue cotton dress that flowed to her knees, spaghetti straps hooked over her shoulders, and stared down at the tarot card in her hand. “I gotDeath?”
April laughed and tapped the card’s image—roses blooming around a skull. “It’s a good card.”
Daphne scoffed, her stomach tightening. “It’sDeath.”
“Which means imminent doom and peril?” Sasha asked as she plucked her own card from the table at the entrance to Moon Lovers Trail, where the solstice bonfire was taking place. Every guest who came to the party got to pick a tarot card, all Major Arcana, according to April, whatever that meant.
“Which means transformation,” April said. “Change and revolution.” She wore soft flowing pants and a loose cropped top. The outfit was a set—black silk with creamy yellow stars, moons, and galaxies swirling over the material. The top was off the shoulder and sported a deep V-neck that showed off the flowering tree on her right upper arm and the barren tree on her left, both of which curled down toward her collarbones.
Daphne shook her head, then forced her gaze to Sasha. “What did you get?”
“The Tower,” Sasha said, frowning at the card. “Sounds innocuous, but people are falling out of a building on fire, so I’m thinking bad.”
“Imminent doom and peril,” April said, chuckling. “Everything’s falling apart.”
“Oh, this is yours, then,” Sasha said, offering the card to April, who laughed and flipped her off.
Daphne laughed too, her eyes following April as she picked a card of her own. Since Ramona had shown up earlier in the day, April seemed happier. She and Ramona had arrived a little late to their afternoon art class, but April had been smiling, and that was something Daphne hadn’t seen much since they’d met. She had a beautiful smile. Subtle and secretive and sort of sly, but also—
Daphne squeezed her eyes closed, and when she opened them, she made sure she wasn’t staring at April’s mouth, intoxicating smile notwithstanding, and instead focused on the lovely night. The moon was bright and full, spreading silver over the trees and the forest floor. Ahead, Mia had set up lanterns along the trail that wandered deeper into the woods, the amber glow leading guests to the bonfire. Daphne could hear laughter and music. It all felt somewhat magical, as though she might find anything in those woods.
“The Hanged One,” April said, staring down at her card. Daphne peered closer at the image, which featured a person wrapped in ropes and hanging upside down.
“Kinky,” Sasha said, and Daphne laughed.
“It means I’m in limbo. Dangling in the unknown,” April said, then scoffed. “Figures.”
“Dangling in the unknown can be exciting,” Sasha said.
April just glowered at her card before tucking it into her pants’waistband. “Yes, we all know you’re footloose and fancy-free and live in a renovated Airstream trailer.”
“Oh, god, I wish,” Sasha said. “Those things are amazing. But I’ve got a 2015 Subaru Outback—”
“Of course you do,” April said.
“—and I don’t think ole Gertie could handle pulling an Airstream.”
“Gertie?” Daphne asked.
“My car,” Sasha said as the three of them started along the path and toward the bonfire. “For Gertrude Stein.”
“The OG butch,” April said.
“Exactly,” Sasha said, grinning. “She said ‘One must dare to be happy.’ I read that in high school and never forgot it.”
“I love that,” Daphne said as the trees opened into a large clearing. A huge fire roared in the center, a triangle of flames licking into the night sky. Log benches surrounded the blaze, where people sat and drank spiked apple cider. To the side of the fire, underneath a huge oak tree, a small trio performed folky music. Mia sat at a nearby table covered in flowers.
“Come make your flower crowns,” she called as she handed a bunch of daisies to Ms.Caldwell, a woman in her seventies and one of Daphne and April’s students who had a penchant for turning every subject of her drawings into something slightly risqué. Apples became boobs, birds somehow turned into thighs or butts.
“Yes, do,” Ms.Caldwell called, her short silver hair spiked up with gel. “I’m hoping these daisies will catch a fairy’s eye and they’ll drag me off into the woods for a magical orgy.”
Mia sighed loudly, pressing her fingertips to her forehead.
