I swear.
Sitting down at my table, I pulled a small notepad from my drawer along with a pen. I began to sketch a diagram that would help interpret the pendulum’s movement. But instead of just the typical yes/no answers, I also added a square with a number on each side and a compass in the middle.
Closing my eyes, I held my pendulum over the paper for a moment as I thought about the question I wanted to ask.
“Are we in danger?”
I breathed deeply and cleared my mind, allowing myself to be open to the universe. In a matter of moments, I opened my eyes to see my pendulum swinging decidedly in the direction of my YES sign.
“Lovely,” I muttered.
“Will someone else die?”
Closing my eyes, I tried to clear my mind again but gasped this time when I got a flash of Rafe streaking across a moonlit beach and Miss Elva bellowing to the moon. When my eyes popped open, I saw the crystal skull circling the number two, signaling that there would be another death. The morbidity of the skull and the vision of another death on the beach sent a shiver through me as I tried to hone in on more details of my vision.
“Find out anything?”
Rafe popped in the room and the vision slipped from my mind. I glared at him and he floated backwards, his hands raised defensively.
“Women in my day knew not to talk back to their men,” Rafe said.
“Good thing you’re not my man then,” I retorted, closing my notebook and pushing away from my table.
“I don’t see any man claiming you,” Rafe pointed out.
“Rafe! Get out!” I all but shouted. I was annoyed with Rafe, scared from my vision – and frustrated by the grain of truth in Rafe’s words.
Even though Cash had been consistent with his communication, I had to admit that I missed him. And that I was worried our budding relationship wouldn’t be able to manage distance like this when we were just starting out.Shaking my head, I shoved those thoughts aside. I had bigger things to worry about.
“Luna,” I called.
Luna stepped into my room, her eyebrows raised in question.
“There’s going to be another death.”
Chapter Fifteen
I somehow managedto make it through my client readings that day, though my anxiety was beginning to kick up a notch. I was starting to think going to the Pagan festival would be an exercise in poor judgment.
“How’d it go today?” Luna asked, having closed down her side of the shop already. She leaned against my wall, a white suede purse thrown over her shoulder.
“A lot of people trying to contact their dead pets. The universe is teaching me a lesson,” I grumbled. A month or so ago, I had quickly answered a client’s question about her deceased show cat, and had put her at ease that her beloved Bitsy was doing well in the afterlife. Though it had been a teensy white lie, at the time, I’d felt no moral issues with it. It seemed as though the word had spread and now I was trying to pick up energy traces of deceased pets on the regular. Again, universe, I hear you, loud and clear.
“I’m sure the novelty of that will pass and you’ll get back to reading regular clients again soon,” Luna soothed.
“I certainly hope so,” I said as I tidied my table andthen reached for my purse. I met Luna’s eyes as I crossed the room. “Are you sure we should go to this festival?”
“I think we need to get a better read on Horace. I honestly don’t think this is going to be like any Pagan festival I’ve ever been to. Which worries me…I’m not sure what kind of rituals he will be invoking.”
“Sweet, more rituals. Super excited about that,” I said as I pushed through my door and held it open for Luna.
Luna smiled at me, her expression as peaceful as could be.
“You get used to it. Sure, the word ‘ritual’ can be a little scary, especially after our experience last night, but not all rituals are bad. If you wanted to get down to the nitty gritty of it, Christians use ritual when they have you drink the ‘blood’ of Christ during communion. So, you know, it all depends on the setting and the intention,” Luna explained as she walked to her car.
“That makes sense. But Horace creeps me out,” I pointed out as I hopped on my bike. “Hey, where’s Rafe?”
“I told him there was a nude beach on the other side of town,” Luna shot me a grin before she got behind the wheel of her car.
