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“Perhaps this wounded man has the answers you are looking for,” Adele continued. “But the bigger question is…will he be confined to your present, or will he be a part of your future as well? Shall we take a peek?” She flipped over one of the last two cards and let out a sad exhale.
The sound seized Bradley’s chest. “What does it mean?”
“More uncertainty.”
“What are you saying? It’s about me, right? You’re saying I’m not going to…or that we won’t…or that I won’t—?”
“She’s saying the future is uncertain,” Devra said, and her sensible voice grounded him. “A fact I don’t think we needed to pay a fortune teller twice her usual fee to remind us.”
“It means,” Adele said, “that the path you two are on right now may not be the path you should continue to take.”
“Then what path should we take?” Bradley asked. “That’s exactly why we’re here. To figure out what to do next.”
“I cannot say with absolute clarity. I only know you must use the clues of these cards to guide your decisions from here on out.” Adele, her eyes gleaming like glass, flipped over the final card. “Justice, a mascot of compassion and absolution. Note the two pillars, similar in structure to the High Priestess. It seems the answer to your riddle requires you to take accountability for your actions.” She pressed her long fingers into her temples. “I see an apology in your future. An important one. One that will be difficult to give, but if you do not…”
She trailed off, but Bradley continued to hear the ominous echo of her unspoken words. Until Devra snorted a laugh.
“Okay. So to summarize.” Devra counted on her fingers. “One, I had a vaguely troubled childhood. Two, I currently have a relationship whose continued status is unknown. And three, one day I will have to apologize for something? Is that about right?”
“If that is all you have heard me say, all you have taken away from the cards, then that is on you.”
“Couldn’t you give me something a little more specific?” Devra asked. “I’m being haunted here, and I could really use some action items, maybe a strategic outline. A real plan. Heck, even a possible next step would be fantastic.”
“The solution to what haunts you most will be discovered if you have the wisdom to listen, and to look up.” Adele lifted her palms to the air.
“Okay. Great. That’s just great. Thanks for all the help.”
Devra abruptly stood and stalked toward the exit.
“We really do appreciate your time, ma’am,” Bradley said, scrambling to his feet as well. “You’ve given us a lot to think about. Thank you. Truly.”
“Wait!” Adele held out a hand, her face brushed with emotion.
Bradley froze. “Yes? What is it?”
The woman slipped a rectangular device out from under the round table. “Will you be paying by debit or credit?”
Devra was pacing outside Adele Ariadne’s shop when Bradley caught up to her.
“Ready to go?” she asked. “We still have a few more hours left tonight. Maybe we can compile better search parameters for Squally to work through while we sleep.”
“Okay.” Bradley fell in step with Devra as they wound their way toward the mall exit. “We should also go over everything the fortune teller said in there.”
Devra stutter-stepped to a halt in front of an electronics store and gave him a quizzical look. “What is there to go over? It was meaningless, generalizable theatrics.”
“How can you possibly say that? From the second we walked in, she knew you were the one whose cards needed to be read, without us saying a word. And what she said about your mysterious energies…”
“A good guess. I bet you ninety percent of her clients are female. You said it yourself, you only got into this stuff because of your sisters. She played the statistical probabilities.”
“But she knew I was an addict. How could she possibly know that unless—?”
“Bradley. You told me yourself you saw her before. You were here, under the influence, asking for help. She obviously remembered you. And rather than acknowledge that fact outright, she used it to her advantage to try and manipulate our impressions of her. The one thing I’ll give the woman credit for: She knows how to do her job, even if that job is to con people out of their money.”
Bradley’s shoulders sagged. So much of what Adele Ariadne had said felt real to him. He…believed. The same way he believed this curse could be broken, he had believed that woman. His breathing grew shallow. If Adele hadn’t given them the clue they needed, how was he going to figure out what to do next?
Devra stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Hey, it’s okay. There’s nothing for you to feel sorry about. This was a good idea. It was. I wouldn’t have come here if I thought it wasn’t. The story about the mother and her son. The matching covens. It was worth a try.”
He rested his cheek against her head.
