Temple of Indra's Lies (Time-Traveling Bibliophile Book 3)

by Rachael Stapleton

  “Let’s go back to the corner of Wicklow and William and take another picture of the storefront with the gas lamps—the one with the ink spot on the wooden floor and the brass knocker,” Cullen said, picking up the camera.

  I nodded. “I can already picture that one at Christmas time: garland and lights in the windows, a large red bow on the door and the tangy scent of pine mixing with the smell of paperbacks.”

  Leslie shifted in her seat. “You guys go without me. I’m meeting Sam for dinner and a movie.”

  “I thought we were going dress shopping,” I chided.

  My bachelorette party was tomorrow night and I needed something that fit.

  Leslie smiled, but then her gaze shifted over my shoulder. “Speak of the devil, I think I see him,” she said and waved. “I don’t think he saw me. He’s going into that store.”

  “Oh, come now, Les. You can’t ditch me already, we have an hour left,” I was no more a fan of Sam than I’d been in India, although he wasn’t turning out to be such a bad guy. I just didn’t like sharing my best friend, according to Cullen.

  Leslie bit into her chocolate croissant, hurrying to finish it now that she had somewhere to go. Small flakes of pastry fell to her white and blue polka dot blouse. She took another bite and dusted the crumbs away. “We’ve been looking all day and we’ve already been over our business plans. There isn’t much else to do besides pull the trigger,” she asserted.

  I nodded and looked at the time on my phone.

  “I thought you weren’t meeting him until dinnertime.”

  “I wasn’t. He had a meeting with his editor today but he must have finished up early.”

  “Well, he can wait.”

  Leslie ignored me and gazed up the street. So that’s where her priorities lay. Oh, listen to me; I was turning into some sort of bridezilla.

  Cullen sipped the last of his tea and squeezed the empty paper cup. “If you ladies make a decision this week I can have the attorneys look over the lease. You could take possession after the wedding. Start decorating and stocking the shelves or whatever it is you shopkeepers do. That is, if you can agree on a location.”

  I looked at Leslie. I knew she was picturing the place with the gas lamps just as I was. “The Ink Spot is our first choice,” I said. “We love the gas lamps but it’s kind of expensive. Let’s decide after this weekend. The only decision I want to make today is what to wear to my bachelorette party. “

  Leslie grinned. “We are gonna have so much fun.” She turned to Cullen. “Do you know what you and the boys are doing?”

  Cullen shook his head. “Not a clue. I’m meetin’ Sam at Kitty O’Shea’s and then Bert and the lads after that, but I’ve left the seedy details to them.”

  Seedy details. I snorted. “Just come home in one piece.” I looked at Leslie. “Speaking of home, when are you heading back to Toronto to pack up your stuff? If I’m coming with you then I need to book a ticket.” I also wanted to remind her of her need to get an abortion, but at roughly 12 weeks she still had time. I didn’t want to push too hard, but I also didn’t want a piece of Liam in this world. Not when everything was finally good again.

  Leslie shook her head. “Sam says I can stay with him at his apartment. We’ll worry about clearing my place out after the wedding. I’m all paid up and I have a friend sub-letting until the end of the year, anyway. Perhaps we should start shopping for houses if I am staying here.”

  “Really?” Cullen said. “I’m sure there are plenty of places around here or were ye wantin’ to be in the country near us.”

  “I’m just kidding. I can’t afford to buy a house right now. I wish,” Leslie said wistfully.

  “I think that bookshop had an apartment over top. Maybe it will become available.” I said, “You never know.”

  “Or maybe Sam will propose and then I won’t have to worry at all.”

  “Oh lord,” I said, and laughed. “You’ve known him for a little over a month. If you get married before me, I’ll disown you.”

  “You can’t disown me. We’re not really related.”

  Ouch. That hurt. I’d always considered Leslie family.

  Leslie got to her feet just as Cullen’s phone rang.

  “Business. I have to take this. I’ll just be a minute.”

  Leslie waved goodbye to him and turned back to me.

  “Well I’m off. Is Sam still in that shop with the balloons? I’m gonna go see if I can catch up to him.”

  “Wait. I’ll walk with you. Cullen could be on the phone for hours, at this point.” Business calls were unpredictable. “I wonder why there are all the balloons.”

  “Looks like a grand opening.”

  “For what kind of store? Let’s hope it’s good—they could be our neighbors if we lease the shop across the road.”

  “It’s too small. I think we should go for the Ink Spot. It has the gas lamps and those big old windows and its right across from the Storybook café. That place makes the best bagels.”

  “You are the only person I know who rents a storefront based on the bagels across the lane.”

  “What? It’s really quite practical. A girl has got to eat and this way I don’t have to venture far when I’m working. You should be happy that I’m thinking about our time management like that.”

  I chuckled. “I like the old-world character—like it was painted from the mind of Sherlock Holmes, himself. Gigi’s antique clock and dark velvet drapes would fit right in. Come to think of it, it reminds me of a bookstore I visited once in London.”

  “When were you in London and why wasn’t I invited?”

  “You know when,” I said, giving her the look. “1920.”

  I’d time traveled on the day of my engagement to Cullen—thanks to the ring with the Purple Delhi Sapphire —back to a past life and into the body of an ancestor. As my Great Aunt Zafira, I’d gotten lost in the famous London fog and wound up in an old bookshop.

  We continued down the street and I shifted my gaze to the woman dealing tarot cards at the purple table with the crystal ball. Her body jiggled almost as much as the elaborate coins that hung around her neck.

  Leslie let out a squeak. “Hey, doesn’t that look like Madam Brun outside the store?”

  “It is Madam Brun,” I said, picking up the pace. “Her name is right there on the grand-opening sign. I wonder what she’s doing in town.”

  “Maybe she’s opened a shop here in Dublin.”

  “That would be a huge coincidence. Perfect timing though, we can ask her what to do about your baby.”

  Leslie paused and scowled. “I know what to do with my baby.”

  Chapter Forty

  Fatal Fortune

  I studied Leslie’s resolute expression. Had she changed her mind and decided to keep it? What if she’d told Sam and he’d done something noble…and stupid—like offering to father it.

  I gritted my teeth but finally asked, “And that would be?”

  Leslie ignored me, much like she’d been ignoring her pregnancy. Instead she looked back at Madam Brun. “Didn’t you freak out last time we saw her because she asked you about your spell book?”

  “Yes, but I saw her after that. She’s the one who warned me about Liam. I guess I never really told you, because that was the day my place got broken into and then I went back into the past,” I said, thinking of the time I’d woken in the Black Forest circa 1857, surrounded by a group of gypsy bandits. “Anyway, she’s not after the book.”

  “Well, she looks busy. We could always wander down Grafton Street on Saturday. They have all those buskers and I think there’s a festival this weekend. I bet they have a resident clairvoyant, or maybe a good-looking shaman.”

  “You’re pregnant!”

  “Yeah, but he wouldn’t have to know that, and if he did then we’d know he was legit.”

  “Well, hallelujah that you still think of other men, I was beginning to think Sam had cast a love spell on you.”

  I let out a laugh and Lesli
e cringed.

  “You okay?” It wasn’t that bad a joke, was it?

  “I must have eaten that croissant too fast. I have to use the little girl’s room,” she murmured.

  “You just want to go inside and look for Sam!” I accused.

  “I do not. I really do have a cramp,” She said, and straightened.

  As we reached Madam’s table, the beautiful sunny sky seemed to have clouded over; it had become cooler as well. I recognized charms against the evil eye, along with bundles of rosemary. She spotted me, and widened her dramatically lined eyes, and then she motioned for me to wait. Her bracelets jingled and her head, almost completely covered by a bright scarf, bobbed and weaved as she carried on with the brunette in the chair across from her, pointing to the tarot cards she was laying out before her.

  I waited patiently while Leslie went inside the store to use the washroom. Finally the brunette left with an armful of candles clutched to her chest.

  “Sophia,” Madam Brun said.

  “Madam Brun.”

  She chuckled. “Call me Sandra. Madam Brun is for the general public only.” She winked. “Sometimes they need a little help believing in the powers that be.”

  “Absolutely,” I said warmly, just as Leslie emerged. “Sandra, this is Leslie; you met her once, very briefly.”

  Leslie held out a hand to her. “Nice to see you again.”

  Sandra arched a brow slightly, studying Leslie. “You’re the one who blocked me from going after Sophia the first time she wandered into my store.”

  Leslie’s eyes darted nervously. I shook my head at her and grinned. “That’s because she’s a loyal and protective friend.”

  “Qualities to be cherished and admired,” Sandra agreed, grabbing and shaking Leslie’s outstretched hand.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “Is this yours? Are you opening up a psychic cupcake shop in Dublin?”

  Madam laughed as if I’d just said the funniest thing in the world.

  “No, but what a novel little idea, if only I could bake. I love to travel and I’m just helping out a friend. She’s the one opening the shop and she wanted something fun to bring in the crowds. I’m offering free tarot readings for all customers this weekend. This is just the warm-up. I’d introduce you but she just left with her man. Lunch break, if you know what I mean.” She said, with a wink.

  I smiled knowingly.

  “You’ve come to see me about the babe, then? I knew you would,” Sandra said, turning and walking inside the store. “Follow me.”

  I offered a slight smile of encouragement to Leslie. “Go ahead. I’ll wait here.”

  “What do you mean you’ll wait here?” Sandra blurted out.

  “You don’t need me,” I said, looking quickly from Leslie to Sandra.

  Sandra frowned, closed her eyes and tilted her head to the right as if listening intently to something. She opened her eyes. “All right, follow me, Leslie.”

  “But I want Sophia to come, too,” Leslie said, turning back to me.

  “Oh, you two! Make up your minds already. Just come along, Sophia. The shop is empty so if you just want to take a seat over there against that wall, that should be close enough to protect your friend from the likes of the big, bad psychic,” she said, drawing out the words big and bad in a mocking tone. “Can I have something of yours?”

  Leslie glanced nervously at me but slipped the large mood ring from her finger and handed it over.

  Sandra squeezed the ring in her hands and closed her eyes.

  “The first thing I see around you is green—a muddy green. I don’t feel like you’re an insecure person but I do get a sense of mistrust, like you think of yourself as a victim or as being victimized.”

  She stopped speaking and placed her hand over her abdomen. “And I’m drawn right here. Are you having any problems with your girl stuff?”

  Leslie didn’t respond and Sandra let out a sigh.

  “Because I’m getting some cramping.” Sandra opened her eyes. “All right. Let’s see what’s in the cards. Shuffle these.”

  Leslie did as she was told.

  “The Tower,” Sandra whispered.

  “What does that mean?” Leslie asked, drawing my attention to the table, where a card lay with people plummeting from a burning tower. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”

  Sandra shook her head. “Not necessarily. Has anything happened recently that might have you questioning your beliefs or perceptions?”

  “You could say that,” Leslie murmured. Though she spoke lightly, I picked up on her sarcasm.

  “What are you doing?” Sandra asked, pulling my attention back to the table where Leslie had picked up and was now staring intently at one of the cards. I stood and walked over. The card displayed a woman in a blue robe with a white cross on her chest seated between two pillars holding a scroll. Her headdress curved out from her head and carried a large sphere in its center. At her feet was a golden crescent moon, balanced as if she was stepping on it to keep it in place and behind her was a decorative tapestry illustrated with patterns of fruit bursting out of its skin in between palm trees.

  “Who is that?” I asked.

  “The High Priestess,” Leslie answered before Sandra Brun got the chance.

  Sandra eyed Leslie. “You know it?”

  “No. I don’t know why it looks so familiar, but it does.”

  Sandra nodded. “The High Priestess represents wisdom, knowledge, intuition and education. She is the guardian of secrets so when she shows up in a reading, like now, it can mean a secret is to be revealed.”

  Leslie ignored her, continuing to study the card, and Sandra pointed to the next one. “The Empress.”

  It was a picture of a full-figured woman with blond hair and a peaceful aura. She was surrounded by a beautiful, lush forest with a stream running through it.

  “Notice the patterned robe of pomegranates—symbolic of fertility. And she is seated upon flowing red velvet with the symbol of Venus emblazoned upon it.”

  I threw Leslie a glance and looked Sandra in the face. “Sandra, let’s stop beating around the bush. You know Leslie is pregnant. I’m sorry that we haven’t been more forthcoming, but the man who impregnated her is bad. He’s, well, he’s Liam, the one who died trying to kidnap me. She wants to know what to do. Is there a chance this baby will be evil like Liam? Should she have an abortion?”

  Sandra looked at Leslie pointedly. “No.”

  “No,” I said, feeling like I’d just been punched. “But…”

  She then gestured to the Tower card. “This baby was never meant to be.” She stared intently into Leslie’s eyes. “I’m not surprising you, am I, Leslie? I could feel from the moment you sat down that you suspected this baby was lost.”

  Leslie sighed. “I had a feeling.” She chewed on her lip as if she wanted to keep the words from coming out. “I was cramping and spotting last night.”

  “Uh-huh,” Sandra said knowingly.

  “Really?” I asked, completely blindsided. I turned to Sandra. “Are you positive? People do spot.”

  “Yes. She’s begun to miscarry. I can tell by the colour of her aura. You could take her to the hospital and they’ll give her something to help it along but she’ll be just fine on her own, too. There won’t be any complications here.” Sandra scooped up the cards, patting them back into a neat pile.

  “Thank you.” Leslie rose and looked at me with an expression of utter relief.

  I smiled back weakly.

  “I’m just going to use the washroom again before we leave.”

  She winced in pain.

  “Are you cramping now?” I asked.

  “Not much. I’m fine.”

  “Your turn,” Sandra said, no sooner than Leslie had left the room.

  “No, I don’t need a reading. I should probably go check on her.”

  “She’s fine. It will all be over by tonight. Trust me.” Sandra tapped the cards three times and then held them out. “Now humor me and shu
ffle.”

  I did as she asked and handed them back.

  She laid them before me.

  My eyes only had time to focus on the Ace of Cups before she flipped them all over.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “It’s just as I suspected,” Sandra said gravely, making me nervous, though I wasn’t quite sure why I should be.

  She tilted her ear again as if listening to something and then she took my palm and studied it in her own.

  “What is it, Sandra?”

  She traced a finger down a line in my hand. “Your lifeline splits off not once but two more times since I last saw you,”

  I took a deep breath. Once made sense, given my recent trip into the 16th century, but why two more lines? “You’re right. I did go back again but are you sure there’s a fourth split? I’m getting older. It could just be a new wrinkle—things change.”

  “We do get older and maybe it only signifies change but I see something that troubles…” She trailed off. When she opened her mouth to talk again, a family walked in and Cullen was right behind them.

  “There ye are, Aeval.” Cullen said.

  “We’ll talk later. I should see to the customers,” Sandra said, gathering and stuffing her tarot cards into her pocket. “Welcome to the Cupcake Shoppe. How can I help you today?”

  My eyes fell upon Leslie, who had emerged from the bathroom looking perfectly put-together. She’d applied lipstick, her cheeks were rosy and she had a spring in her step. “I’m heading to Sam’s place. I spoke to him on the phone. We just missed him.”

  I stared at her in complete surprise.

  “Don’t you think you should rest for a bit? Cullen and I can give you a ride home.”

  “No, I’m fine. Sam has turned around and he’s on his way back to get me right now.”

  She pushed the front door open and headed back outside. I waved at Madam and followed her.

  “Don’t look so serious, Sophia. I’m fine—better, actually, than I’ve been in months. Now, go shopping, please, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”