Why can’t I hear you, Daisy? Where are you?Deep in my soul, a flicker of fear catches flame. I’ve always wondered if I can’t hear Daisy because her soul ended up in—
NO.
I splash more water on my face. It brings my thoughts back to now.
Maybe if I join this Bureau, it will do some good. Right some wrongs. MaybethenDaisy will forgive me, commune with me. I’ve longed to talk to her. I’ve even thought that maybe,maybe, tapping into the Dark Legion would allow me to see her. The temptation is so strong.
Another splash. Pax knows I’m gifted. I’ve kept my skills hidden; the readings I give are a joke. Entertainment only. How could he possibly know?
Another splash, a memory: Daisy laughing.You’re the best, Stella. How do you know what to tell those people? You are gifted. Keep doing it!She jangled a bag full of coins, and her laughter tinkled in harmony.
This is a memory, I think, and not her voice, because I hear it dusty, coated with years, and not crackled, splintered apart by the realms of alive and dead.
I turn off the water. Spirit, ever the jokester, turns it back on. Off. On. I sigh. They laugh.
I flick off the lamp on the entry table. Spirit flicks it back on. Off. On.
“Cut it out, Spirit. I’m not going to do it, okay? I’m not joining Julia’s Bureau.”
The lamp flicks off.
I sigh and push out of the ladies’ room. I weave back toward our table, but halfway to our booth, I realize:
Pax is gone.
I glance around Zangheri’s, but there’s no sign of him. The rest of his aspic quivers on his plate.
First, he sneaks into one of my readings without pay, and now this?
The group of women who were seated next to us lean their heads together. Their eyes scrape over me. I can fully read the lips of one of them, pink and pouty, saying,What was HE doing with HER?
Our waiter, Frank, approaches. “About the bill, miss…”
That ass.
THE KNIGHT OF WANDS
A MINOR ARCANA CARD, 12TH IN THE SUIT OF WANDS
A knight is shown as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand. He passes pyramids on a wildly galloping horse.
Upright: energy, passion, action, adventure, impulsiveness
Reversed: haste, delays, frustration, impatience
It is no surprise that we flip this card here, is it, Dear Friend? For Pax Princip is an impatient man.
Fingers drumming on Zangheri’s white linen tablecloths, knee bouncing on white marble floor. When will she return from the powder room? The table jangles quietly with his jittery gestures. He needs Stella Bohdan—Rose?—to join Julia’s Bureau. He’s collecting my sister along with others. Maybe if he assembles this team, maybe if this crew connects enough of the living and dead together in harmony, maybethenhe can rid himself of the bitter taste of revenge that permeates his every thought.
Maybe then he can redeem his soul. Maybe then he’d rid himself of his heaviest burden: He did not protect his baby sister when she needed him most.
Where is Stella? His fingers seem to tap in code.
I cannot get a read on his true intentions. He is the wild card, unpredictable. Chaotic.
And then—
“Oh, shit.”
