Jegguthiz continued. “I’m sick of living in the Darkness and need a change. I would quite enjoy guarding someone who cheats at poker. It’s amusing.”
“I don’t cheat,” Jennifer yelled from across the room. Her cackle after her denial was the dead giveaway that she was a liar, liar, pants on fire.
Jegguthiz turned to her, raising a brow. “I beg your pardon? You most certainly do cheat.”
“Fine,” Jennifer said with a grin. “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” She waggled her finger at the Demon. “But you’re one to talk. You count cards, big guy!”
“Your point?” he demanded.
“No point,” she told him. “Just an observation.”
Jegguthiz stared at Jennifer with a perplexed expression. “I do have a query for you, though.”
“Shoot, Jegguthiz,” she said.
“How were you cheating? It was clear that you were, but I couldn’t quite figure out how.”
Jennifer laughed and threw her hands in the air. “Funny thing,” she said, leaning forward with an astonished expression on her face as if she was about to share how to solve the mystery of life. “Since my juju kicked in, I can see.”
“See?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Not sure how to explain it. Lemme demonstrate.” She stood up and grabbed a deck of cards. She tossed it to Jegguthiz. “Pick one. Don’t show it to me and I’ll tell you what it is.”
He did.
“Ten of spades.”
“Correct,” he stated.
Jennifer whooped with delight. “More,” she told him. “Draw another card.”
And he did. Six times. She got the card right each time.
“The way I look at it,” she said, pumping her small fists in the air, “is that I could smash it in Vegas at the card tables and work a side-gig as a magician.”
I laughed. She was nuts, but the gift could turn out to be useful. “What else can you see?”
She wrinkled her nose and thought about it for a bit. “Welp, Heather is wearing a G-string. Yellow. My pappy’s magic starts in his stomach, then spreads like fireworks through his body. It’s itchy, but feels wonderful at the same time. Candy Vargo dreams of owning a ferret farm. June is more Immortal than any of us realizes. Daisy, you’re still fertile, so I’d suggest birthcontrol unless you wanna give Alana Catherine a little brother or sister in the near future. Should I go on?”
The mouths of everyone mentioned, including my own, were hanging wide open.
“What the actual fuck?” Candy Vargo choked out. “I ain’t told no one about the ferret farm.”
“My G-string is yellow,” Heather confirmed.
“My magic is itchy yet glorious,” Tim announced, clapping his hands in delight for his daughter’s gift. “Amazing!”
“I’m not going to die?” June whispered.
I couldn’t tell if she was elated or horrified.
“Juney,” Jennifer said. “I don’t rightly know. But I do know you’re gonna live a lot longer than a regular human life span.”
I didn’t bring up her vision for me. Having another baby wasn’t on the list right now. Birth control apparently was…
Alana Catherine smiled at Jennifer. “You would smash it in Vegas,” she told her. “But I think your gift is meant for far bigger things.”
“Like what?” Jennifer asked.
