Cal can’t hide his feeling of triumph. The cards are lit! The things he can do with them…
Luna goes to work. Her expert hands move swiftly and surely, mixing the ingredients. The Lion and Bridget are brooding behind her. Dylan urges her on. After a very quiet and tense hour, the potion is done. Luna pours it into a small bottle and hands it to Cal. He can feel the power from the potion. This woman is a skilled worker for sure. Immediately, they’re sucked back into the cards. Within seconds, they’re gone. The potion supplies are gone, and it’s like it never happened, except for the potion in his hand. He throws his head back and laughs and laughs. This is so amazing!
FAIRY
Ceri is getting really tired of this situation. For days now, she’s been dragging her aunt along, who keeps managing to plant seeds of doubt in her, and after endless circles, she’s reached a snapping point—time to take her destiny back into her own hands again. It’s not like her to be so passive. At the moment, they’re travelling through some sort of forest. The trees have been speaking to her for some time, they seem to like her, and they make a path for her. Maybe this is a good spot to see what her aunt wants from her. After much consideration, it’s the only logical conclusion. Lucy wants some form of leverage. Why wait? There is nothing to be afraid of. Her aunt can’t use magic. Without further delay, she turns around and snaps her fingers, and Lucy’s gag falls away. Once they’ve stopped, the trees seem to crowd around her.
‘Well, Auntie, why don’t you tell me what you want?’ Ceri decided to go for the direct approach. Lucy looks at her, a small smile forming on her face. Always unnerving as it makes her look more like Tara. ‘Blunt, I like it.’
Ceri manages to say nothing and wait.
‘I will tell you who your real father is if you let me go and take this collar off.’
‘Wow, that’s a lot for very little as I don’t believe you anyway.’
Now it’s Lucy’s chance to wait. She’s very aware that Ceri doubts herself.
‘I’m not going to set you free. You’re my ticket out of here.’
‘Suit yourself.’ Patience is Lucy’s best option.
Ceri spins around, and like a sea, the trees open up revealing a yellow brick road leading out of the forest, and Ceri recognizes, far away, the glimmering peaks of Mab’s summer palace. She laughs. ‘Come on!’ This journey is finally over, as she starts to stride toward the horizon. Lucy has no choice but to follow.
NEW ORLEANS
Bridget lets the water cascade around her. She tries to get the feeling back of the last time she had an out-of-body experience. After the chaos of coming back, the million questions, and concerns, she had finally managed to slip away. Not before she asked Wes to keep Tara busy for another half hour. They’ve been lucky, but the Deck is in Lucy’s reach, and there’s no doubt that once she resurfaces, that young man will hand her the Deck. If Lucy pulls Bridget’s card…The consequences would be unimaginable. The only one who might have any suggestions is Seamus. There’s no time to waste. This whirlwind of thoughts is not helping at all. She takes a deep breath in, and out, and in, and out. Slowly quieting her mind and trying to feel the magic flowing through her veins. Once the pulse of magic circles through her, she rides the wave and opens herself up. It’s working! For a moment, she feels euphoric, but quickly focuses back on her goal. Before long, she’s in Tara’s room in front of Seamus’ portrait.
‘Bridget! You’re back.’ He smiles, clearly relieved.
‘Grandpa, we don’t have much time.’ She glances behind her at the door. ‘We’re in big trouble.’
‘I understand the Deck is stolen. Were you called already?’
‘Yes. That’s the problem. I don’t know if Tara told you, but she hid the Dagger of Consciousness in my card. The man who has the Deck now is Lucy’s grandson, so you can imagine it’s only a matter of time before she will own it.’
Judging by the shock on Seamus’ face, he was probably not in on this information.
‘I need you to tell me everything you know about the Deck. How does it work? What magic you used, everything! And you have to hurry. I’m sure Tara will be coming up soon.’
In the kitchen, things are winding down. Bert and the kids are watching television in the living room, and it’s just Maeve, Wes, and Tara.
‘I’m tired.’ Tara pushes her chair back.
‘Stay for a bit. We can use your insights, and besides, Maeve has dinner almost ready,’ Wes tries to persuade her. Maeve is curious. It didn’t escape her that her sister had sneaked off. What are these two up to?
‘Yes, Gran. I’m almost done. You need to eat.’
‘Okay.’ Tara sits back down again.
Maeve gets a quiche out of the oven and puts it on the table.
Back in Tara’s room, Bridget tries to help Seamus remember as much as he can about the cards, ‘You’ve painted so many magical paintings. There must be something you found out over the years?’
Seamus’ eyes start to twinkle. ‘I can move between some paintings, maybe you can move between the cards?!’
‘How do I do that without the cards? Don’t I need to be a card person first?’
‘Yes. Probably…’
‘Maybe next time I get called through the cards…’
‘You won’t have time. You will need to experiment; you don’t even know how to do it.’
‘What am I going to do?!’ Bridget starts to sound desperate. Footsteps on the stairs. Bridget freezes. They pass their door. She lets out a long breath. Very weird but even her astral self seems to have the need to breathe.
‘Don’t you have a painter boyfriend?’ wonders Seamus.
‘Yes. He’s been using your atelier.’ This startles Seamus a bit.
‘Has he been using my paint?’ He sounds alarmed.
‘I think so…Grandpa, please, we need to focus.’ Again, Bridget glances at the door.
‘Okay, a problem for later. In my desk, there is one spare card that is already enchanted. Anyway, it’s ready to be painted as a card. I made a spare just in case. Let him paint a card with you on it.’
‘You think that will work?’
‘Once it’s done, come and see me, and I can help you to “finalize” it.’
Bridget raises an eyebrow.
‘Think very carefully what you put on the card. Make it something that would fit the sequence.’ urges Seamus. ‘Make it something that would make sense after the World card.’
The door handle rattles. Without thinking, Bridget folds within herself. Tara opens the door and steps in while Bridget evaporates from the room. For a moment, Tara is sure she felt something. But Seamus watches her eagerly; he must be so desperate for news about the cards. Tara shakes off the strange feeling and looks sadly at Seamus.
Bridget gasps for air in the shower. It’s like she’s been underwater for a very long time. She’s completely shriveled up. Quickly, she turns off the tap and gets dressed. The smell of quiche reaches her. For a moment, she deliberates if she wants to include Maeve. They will need some extra input for an extra card. She’s rusty with the Tarot. Her stomach growls. That settles it. Time to go eat and bring Wes and Maeve up to date.
UTAH
Mara has immersed herself in Lucy’s extensive magical library in the hope of finding a way to track Lucy into another realm. She had spent the whole night on the Astral Plane without any results, so logically she must be in Fairy. As that’s very extensive and just wandering around will take too long, she needs to find a way to track through dimensions. There must be something somewhere. No word from her brother. No surprise there. She must be on her twentieth coffee and has no idea when the last time was she actually ate anything. It’s hard to stay focused. So much information, and she would love to delve deeper into several spells she came across. Tentatively, she has been making notes on the side. If she gets another chance, she will check them out.
NEW ORLEANS
Maeve had checked with Luna; she’s safe back with Tom, and they
’re making good progress on their way home. While Maeve updates Bridget and Tara, they find themselves cornered by Gwen in the hallway. She’s worried about the Dagger.
‘What if Lucy draws Bridget?’ Gwen wonders.
‘There’s not much we can do about it.’ replies Bridget. ‘Yes, it freaks me out too. But we don’t have the cards, so there’s no way for us to activate them and try to get the Dagger out unnoticed. We can only hope she draws one of the other cards. Twenty-one other possibilities out of twenty-two. The odds are in our favor.’ Bridget gently touches Maeve’s hand in the hope she understands not to mention their plan.
‘Let’s hope the Goddess is on our side. And your card was already drawn, so…’ adds Tara, resigned. ‘It’s no use getting worked up about it.’
‘Wow, Tara. That’s rich coming from you! You’ve thrown your family into chaos. Exposed your children and grandchildren to danger and you tell me not to get worked up about it?!’ Gwen is turning purple. ‘I have to! Everybody stays way too calm for my taste.’ She motions to the others.
Bridget can’t blame her, she’s absolutely right. Her grandmother has been beyond careless. To her surprise, her mild-mannered sister, Gran’s biggest supporter, decides to tip the balance to the other side again by saying, ‘She’s right.’
‘How many times must I say I’m sorry?’ responds Tara, exasperated.
‘Sorry doesn’t really cover this. There are times when saying sorry is just too easy. We need you to show us you’re sorry. Maybe you two can search for tracking spells we haven’t tried yet.’ With that, Maeve turns around and walks upstairs. Tara is shocked. Even Gwen is speechless. Bridget takes this opportunity to follow Maeve upstairs.
Wes had found the spare card for the Tarot Deck. He’s anxious to get started; it will finally make him part of the family. Even though everyone seems to be pretty fond of him, he feels he’s an outsider. Maeve shows up first followed closely by Bridget.
‘Well done, Maeve.’ says Bridget the moment she walks in.
‘I’m not proud of myself. Gran is an old woman.’
‘That doesn’t give her the right to get away with everything. Aunt Freya was right.’
‘That’s why we’re here. Did you find it, Wes?’ Maeve turns toward him.
‘Did you decide what I need to paint on it?’
Maeve and Bridget exchange a glance. They’ve spent the biggest part of the day in the Madigan’s study, looking at companion books for tarot decks that have an extra card or extra cards. Bouncing ideas back and forth until at last they came to an agreement. Bridget motions to Maeve that she can do the honor of explaining.
‘Card twenty-two will be Unity. We feel that it’s something that could be natural after the World card and also that’s something our family needs desperately.’
‘So where do I start? What needs to be on it?’
‘Well, Bridget needs to be on it as she will need to try to travel to her card to get the Dagger.’
‘One person doesn’t really depict unity…’ muses Wes.
‘No. That’s why we thought Maeve should also be on it.’ replies Bridget. ‘As we’re twins, we depict unity, we thought.’ She looks at Maeve for confirmation, who shrugs. This part had been painful for them both, as there are still so many unspoken things between them. However, Wes doesn’t seem to pick up on that and is already sketching on his pad.
‘We thought the rest would be up to you.’ Maeve adds. ‘I think the cards express a lot from Seamus, and the influence of the artist must be important. Further, we thought of an infinity symbol and some representation of all the elements, Water, Air, Fire, and Earth.’
‘Right.’ Wes stops and ushers the girls out of the room. ‘Leave it with me.’ he says while he gives Bridget’s cheek a quick kiss and closes the door.
When Bridget wakes up, the bed is still empty next to her. Well, there are lots of dogs but no Wes. He must have worked through the night. Quickly, she slips into her sweats and pads over to the atelier. She hesitates, just walk in or knock? When she listens, she hears Wes walking up and down and mumbling to himself. Slowly she turns the doorknob.
‘Not yet! Give me one more hour!’ And she senses his weight against the door. Now she’s even more curious than before!
While she enters the kitchen, Maeve is busy at the stove as always. Gosh, her sister is so predictable and boring. That’s absolutely not how she remembers her. Yes, she had always been more sensitive and emotional, but never boring. Playful and mischievous, a little like Seamus. Maeve would come up with the craziest experiments and seemed to enjoy putting people off balance, whereas now, she always seems to tip the scale toward peace and harmony. It’s not like her.
‘He didn’t let you in either.’
‘No. I’m dying of curiosity. Aren’t you?!’ Bridget gets rewarded with a true smile. It warms her heart. ‘What happened to you?’ She asks in her mind. Immediately, she feels Maeve’s shield slam shut. How stupid, she’s a witch, Maeve must have heard her, those few seconds reminiscent of the old twin bond flowing away. Without another word, Bridget grabs something to eat and browses her cellphone.
The seconds slowly tick away, and it takes forever for the hour to pass. On the dot, both Maeve and Bridget rush upstairs. This time, they knock. Wes opens the door with flair and waves them in. The girls take a couple of steps to the easel and study the new card.
On the card Bridget, Maeve, and Wes are intertwined. It’s hard to say whose legs are whose. Wes is in the middle. On the left is Bridget clothed in a resemblance of the clothes she wears in her other card. On his right is Maeve, her hair flowing as if she’s underwater, the only thing they could remember of her card. The trio looks happy merging together in Unity. Bridget and Maeve don’t look at each other and do their utmost to shield their true emotions from the other. Bridget is shocked, she knows that Wes likes Maeve, but this is unnerving. Maybe his affection for her is deeper than she anticipated.
‘Do you like it?’ showing his insecurity.
Maeve recovers first. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘You painted yourself as well…’ It’s hard to hide how Bridget feels about that.
Wes is a bit embarrassed, ‘Yes. I… This is what came out.’
‘You did a great job. We asked you to use your instinct and passion. Doesn’t that represent your art? It has power because it shows heart.’ Maeve couldn’t have said it better. That is exactly why it freaks Bridget out. Not ready to show how much this touches her, she decides to say nothing. The card represents Unity and that’s what they wanted. It has multiple people on it, it should do the job. It was the only card left, what choice do they have?
Wes looks like he’s crying inside. He must have picked up vibes of her insecurity about all this. Bridget hates herself for not being able to comfort him right now. Of course, Maeve has no trouble with it, but she can sense the anxious feelings coming from Bridget, even though they shield like crazy. The card had shaken her too. It represents the world in an ideal way. She’s aware she has a connection with Wes, yet she has no intention of upsetting the relationship between him and her sister. This, however, has put their vulnerabilities right out in the open. Even though she aches inside to step in, they all just stand there, not touching, a stark contrast to the card.
The card bulges and flexes, it reacts to the strong emotions in the room.
‘I thought you needed to activate it or something.’ Maeve looks at Bridget.
All three of them start to look thin and transparent and within several seconds they’re intertwined as their card selves. Oohhhh! This is disturbing on so many levels! Before they can untwine, they revert back to before.
‘This is insane!’ Wes can’t hide his excitement.
Maeve feels her body. ‘Is this how it always feels?’
‘Yes. Pretty…intense.’ Bridget calls on her training as a police officer and tries to distance herself a bit. This is too much like a therapy session. Time to get moving.
‘I d
idn’t expect it to work yet. Once Tara is up, you two have to keep her downstairs, and I will take the card to Seamus. Although it doesn’t look like it needs activating.’ She adds dryly.
UTAH
Mara is busy in Lucy’s workroom getting all the ingredients together to bring her grandmother back from Fairy. She has found a spell to track her and a second, very complicated spell to open a door into Fairy on demand. It will require a lot of energy, but she’s counting on the ley lines to help her amplify the powers. This will be the most challenging thing she has ever done. Two difficult spells at the same time, anything to get her grandmother back.
Once she has gathered the supplies, she takes a moment to stand in the middle of the spell room and tries to connect to the ebb and flow of the ley lines beneath her feet. The spell’s incantations are reciting in her head. After several minutes of quiet, she thinks she’s ready.
Swiftly and with confidence, she walks the protective circle and starts the process. Once the circle is up, it’s easier to concentrate on what lies beneath. The distractions of other energies are now cut off. First, she rubs some ointment of Wormwood, Witch Hazel, and Borage on her forehead. The fragrance of the herbs envelops her. Intent and focused, she lights four candles on the altar. A blue one to open blocked communication. A purple one for hidden knowledge. A silver one for female energy, telepathy, and intuition. Finally, a pink one for affection. Next, she ingests some Belladonna to widen her vision. Now she has to wait till it starts working. Thirty minutes later, a little stiff and disoriented, she snaps out of her meditation and moves on with the spell. To connect to Lucy, she needs a personal item that would be significant to both. Mara chose her first wand, made of Witch Hazel, which was Lucy’s gift to her when her powers started to blossom. A witch’s first wand is essential and can give her strength through the rest of her life. She places the wand in the center of the altar and with her athame, the witch’s ritual knife, she pierces her finger and lets a drop of blood fall on the wand, while she recites the first spell. ‘Ditans guttura sanguis, sanguinis poculum. Et quod unum reliquum fuit.’
The Magical Tarot Deck Page 7