Cartomancy

by Kristin Cook

  Chapter 14

  Astrid’s father had been at work for a short period of time when he opened his laptop and had quite a few emails from some of his friends and work associates. They pretty much all had said the same thing: “check this out: “Blog is the New Black’s” with a link to the web page. So, her father had opened the link and read the blog and was pretty impressed with the Tarot part of it. Even though he still thought it was a fluke. He also made a mental note to check out The Bunny Riot this coming weekend. Astrid’s father was also quite surprised at the number of blog post replies. He read the posts, most of them were just talking about how much of a creep the fiancée is and how she’s better off knowing that now, as opposed to later. But, there were also a few posts from people who had gotten Tarot readings as well and how what the girls had told them ALSO had turned out to be true. Astrid’s father phoned his wife. “Hey hon, check out this blog I have been reading, it’s called…” he started to say, but Astrid’s mom beat him to it ..“Blog is the New Black’s? Yes, I am on it now, and I honestly don’t know what to think. I mean, how can they be so right? I heard people in line at the grocery store talking about it too. What in the world are those girls up to on our front porch?” she asked. “Your guess is as good as mine, when I took them to the store, they had quite a bit of money, maybe this scheme as you call it, has more to it than we originally thought.” Her father sighed. “Well dear, I will let you get back to work, just one more thing…..I want to try The Bunny Riot this weekend.” Her father laughed and said “Will you ever let me have an idea before you do?” Her mother chuckled back “that’s pretty unlikely at this point dear.” And they both hung up.

  Chapter 15

  Astrid awoke to her phone buzzing under her pillow. She knew it would be Waverly. “What’s up Wave?” she said yawning. “Umm…go look out your bedroom window amigo” she said and hung up the phone. Astrid blinked a few times and walked over to her window, she squinted in the bright light, but when her eyes began to focus, she couldn’t believe them. Out on the lawn and all down the sidewalk were literally hundreds of people. Waverly was there too with a notebook writing things down, so Astrid dressed quickly, and ran downstairs and outside. “OMG Wave, can I see you on the porch for a sec?” Waverly finished with the lady she was talking to and followed Astrid to the porch. “What the heck dude?” was all she could say. “I don’t know Astrid, I’m as shocked as you, I just got here and they were here and I didn’t know what to do, so I just started taking names and phone numbers. We can’t see all of these people in two hours.” Waverly stated. “Two? We can’t see this many in twenty-four hours! How? I mean, where? Or what? How did they all know?” Astrid was exasperated and a little in shock. “Calm down” Waverly said. “I know it’s crazy. All I could think to do was start taking names in some kind of order, we can read as many as we can today, and the rest will have to come back tomorrow, we’ll just give them times, so they aren’t just hanging out in the yard.” Astrid thought this was a great plan but she was still trying to get her mind around how they all found out. “I’m surprised your mom didn’t freak out and wake you up before I got here.” Waverly said to Astrid who was busy trying to count all the people in front of the house. “She had an errand to run or something, she’ll be back soon though so we better start making some order out of this chaos.” Waverly handed Astrid a notebook and a pen. “I guess we should see who was here first, write the names down, and see them today and tell the other people we’ll call them later with a time to come back tomorrow, does that sound like a plan?” Astrid just nodded. It was better than her only plan, which was to freak out and go back to bed. “This is all so cray-cray.” Astrid kept repeating. “Well, you’re the one who wanted excitement, remember?” Waverly giggled. “What is it that your grandma said? Be careful what you wish for.” Waverly threw a handful of grass at Astrid and continued speaking to The Questioners.

  Chapter 16

  When it was all said and done, the girls had earned two hundred dollars from readings and another one hundred from selling drinks. They were quite proud of themselves for being rich and were making plans, on the sidewalk, in chalk, to move their base of operations to the back porch, as it was bigger and screened in, when Astrid’s mom came outside. “Honey, there’s someone on the phone for you.” Her mother seemed almost giddy. “Ok, I’ll be right in” Astrid yelled back. When Astrid came back outside she could barely contain her excitement. Waverly was still on the sidewalk drawing hearts and rainbows in chalk. “You’ll never guess who that was” Astrid said beaming. “Casket Discounters?” Waverly said while attempting to outline herself in chalk. “No! It was Kate’s mom! She wants to come over tomorrow and interview BOTH of us for the local news! Isn’t that awesome?” Waverly looked at Astrid in astonishment. “What are we going to wear?” was all she could say. “I already asked my mom to take us to the mall, and she said yes, so let’s go!” Astrid was quite literally jumping up and down. When they got to the mall, they couldn’t decide which store to go to first. There was a dark store for teens that only sold black clothes, and a store for sporty kids, and one for skaters, and one for super-trendy rich kids, and one for kids who let their parents pick out their clothes, it was all too overwhelming. Astrid’s mom went to get coffee while the girls decided which direction to go in. Astrid was drawn to the darkness of the dark store, although she didn’t know why, but she always had been. Waverly on the other hand liked colorful, cute, cartoony clothes, so they decided to go to a music-y store which kind of had both. While they were looking at outfits that went together but weren’t too matchy-matchy, a girl with black and pink hair came up to them. “Hey, aren’t you the guys who do the tarot card readings?” she asked. “Ummm..yep, we are.” Astrid replied. “Well, do you think you can do mine right now?” she said. “Wowsers, I’m really sorry but we didn’t bring the cards with us.” Astrid said. It had never even occurred to her to take the cards with them, and she felt bad. The girl seemed dejected. “You mean you only have one deck? You should totally have two.” Black and Pink made a good point. This was another thing that they hadn’t thought of. “You are so right and thank you for mentioning that. You can always come over to the house whenever you want.” Astrid knew that Waverly was always in awe of high schoolers, and this one was no different. “Wasn’t she cool? I can’t wait to be in high school and be cool like that.” Waverly said in a dreamy voice. Astrid shrugged, they needed to get back to the business at hand before Astrid’s mom came back and started “making suggestions.” Eventually they had found two cool outfits that Astrid’s mom had deemed “age-appropriate” and they were about to leave the mall when Astrid remembered that they sold cards at the bookstore. “Hey Madre, can we run in the bookstore really quick?” Astrid asked. Her mother looked at her watch. “You girls have ten minutes while I go back to SuperCoffee. Meet me back at this spot.” The girls nodded and ran into the bookstore. They quickly found the tarot cards and tried to pick out a good deck. There were so many to choose from. They finally settled on the Travelling Circus of Gypsy Clowns deck because it was the most colorful. When the girls got back to the meeting spot, Astrid’s mother wasn’t there. So, they sat on a nearby bench to wait. They opened the deck, just as Black and Pink was walking by with her cool high school friends. “Hey do you still want a reading?” Waverly said in a loud voice. The whole group of high school kids turned around and looked at them. Astrid was mortified. Waverly was ecstatic. “It’s a brand new deck, so no charge.” She said hopefully. “Umm, yeah that’s cool, let’s do it.” Black and Pink replied. Astrid was frozen; she had no idea how to be cool in front of high school kids yet. She looked like a deer in headlights. Waverly, on the other hand was in her element. “Okay” Waverly began, “I will shuffle the cards and you cut the deck. Try thinking of a question or something you want to know the answer to while you’re doing it.” The girl cut the deck and with her left hand Waverly drew three cards. She stared at the cards intently. “Ok, your cards are Ju
stice, The Hanged Man, and Temperance.” She said. Black and Pink seemed puzzled. “What do they mean?” She almost whispered. “Have you recently gotten into a fight with your bf?” Waverly asked. The crowd of kids gasped. “Dude, I just broke up with my bf, because he cheated on me.” She answered. “Are you totally sure he did? Because I don’t think so, I think it was a misunderstanding.” Waverly said trying to stay impartial. “Duude, I freaking told you no way! Brandon totally loves you!” said one of the other kids. “Oh shut up Jason, you would have to say that.” Black and Pink said cracking her knuckles. Waverly continued “I see that you have been wronged, but I also see reconciliation. I also see you getting a new job.” Waverly insisted. Just then, Astrid’s mom walked up to the group. Astrid was so embarrassed she just stared at her mom. Her mom pretended not to notice them and walked to a nearby table and sat down. Astrid let out an actual sigh of relief. “Well that’s it for the show people, if you want more readings; you have to come to us.” Waverly said as she got up from the table. Astrid was amazed at how calm Waverly was with all of these high school kids. She was in awe of her best friend.

  Chapter 17

  When the girls got home from the mall they couldn’t wait to try on their new outfits. They ran straight up to Astrid’s room to make plans for tomorrow and the big interview. Astrid couldn’t believe they were going to be on television, even if it was only local television. Finally something cool was going to happen. “What kind of questions do you think she will ask us? I hope we don’t mess up or anything, it’s kind of embarrassing.” Waverly said as she looked at herself in the mirror and twirled around Astrid’s deconstructed bedroom. “I’m not really sure” said Astrid. “But, it’s Kate’s mom and we’ve talked to her before, so I guess we should just act like we always do around her, I don’t think it’ll be weird or anything.” Waverly had put a drop cloth over herself and was now acting like a ghost. “Ahhh-ahhhh-oooohhhh-ahhhhh” she wailed in a high pitch voice. “I mean should we act like we possess some actual knowledge of the great beyond and pretend to actually know how to read Tarot cards?” or should we just be vague?” She asked Astrid spinning around the room in some ghostlike fashion. “What do you mean “act”? Hasn’t it occurred to you yet that people actually believe what we are telling them? And we are being interviewed because we have been right so far? Why do you think there are lines of people waiting to see us every day?” None of this had really occurred to Waverly at all; she just thought they were having fun. All of the sudden the realization came. Waverly pulled the drop cloth over her head and stared at Astrid. “Do you think we have some talent for card reading?” She asked Astrid. “Think? I KNOW it, we’re DOING it every day, and whether WE think we’re right or not doesn’t matter, because THEY think we’re legit.” Astrid shook her head; she was surprised that Waverly didn’t believe as she did.

  Chapter 18

  Astrid woke up early from a very vivid dream, and she wanted to tell Waverly all about it, but she wasn’t in her spot on the floor. She figured she was taking a shower or something, so she closed her eyes for a minute. Then she smelled the coffee. Astrid pulled her hair up into a bun, and went downstairs. Waverly was sitting at the table with Astrid’s parents having a grand old time eating breakfast. “So, this was your plan all along? I see how it is, trying to weasel your way into the QAV.” Astrid got a bowl of cereal and sat down next to Waverly. “Your parents were kind enough to offer me breakfast, and how in the world could I say no to such sweet faces?” Astrid fake coughed the word “suckup” in the direction of her friend. “You girls better start getting ready; the camera crew should be here in a few hours.” Her father said from behind his newspaper. “OMG you’re the world’s funniest dad, remind me to crochet you a ribbon.” Astrid said throwing a fruit ring over the top of the paper. “Are you denying that it takes you longer than any other two humans on the planet to simply dress and present yourselves?” Astrid could not in fact deny this. It was an absolute truth. “I don’t expect you to know what it’s like to have to do your hair.” She said and she kissed her father’s bald head. The girls then went upstairs to begin the whole process of “getting ready.” “Is it okay if we set- up out here? “ Jenn asked Astrid’s mom. Katy’s mom was called Jenn Haven on television. As far as Waverly knew it wasn’t even close to whatever her real name was, all she knew her as was “Kate and Jordan’s mom.” “I’d like to interview the girls on the porch and maybe they could do a reading for someone. I’ll ask them a few questions for the backstory. I promise it’ll be over in a jiff.” Astrid was surprised at how much make-up Jenn had on when you got up close. She guessed it was a television thing, lighting and all that. Whatever the reason, one thing was for sure; Katy’s mother was very glamorous and she seemed genuinely kind. It made Astrid seriously wonder who had raised Kate. Once the porch was all set up with lighting and a camera angles, it was time for the interview. The girls were sitting at a table pretending to be doing a reading for Jenn’s personal assistant, while Miss Haven spoke in the background. “Two young ladies from Black’s Glenn have been quite the talk of the town lately with their summer job. In the quiet neighborhood of Pleasant Path, these two young entrepreneurs have been making quite a name for themselves. Mistresses Astrid and Waverly, as they are known, have been reading tarot cards for the locals, and one thing is for sure; they have been surprisingly accurate in their predictions, even appearing in a popular local blog. From finding lost pets, to giving romance advice these girls are finely honing their craft.” Miss Haven stopped speaking and put the microphone down. “Okay kids, that was the intro, now I’m going to ask you both some questions, and then we’ll shoot some more cutaways of your porch and your gorgeous home.” Neither Waverly nor Astrid knew what a cut away was but it didn’t really matter, it all sounded so professional and cool. Jenn Haven had her make up retouched and spoke into the microphone again, this time speaking directly to Astrid. “So Miss Astrid, tell us how you had the idea for doing readings with Tarot cards?” Astrid was so nervous, but she tried not to show it, she sat up straight and tried to sound professional. “Well, Miss Haven, I was watching television at my grandmother’s house and I saw a commercial for psychic phone readings and that’s where the idea was born.” Waverly gave Astrid a thumbs-up from her side of the table, as Miss Haven turned toward her. “Miss Waverly, when did you first realize that you had such a talent for card reading?” Waverly flipped her hair over her shoulder and stared into the camera. “Well, we certainly can’t give all our secrets away now can we? I’ll just say that it takes a lot of practice and talent.” Once again Astrid was in awe of Waverly. She wasn’t even scared at all. Astrid supposed that some people just had a knack for public speaking. This time Miss Haven had the two girls sit together as she sat across from them. This was going rather well Astrid thought quite pleased with herself. “Now ladies, how do you answer the people in town who look at this as some sort of witchcraft or sorcery?” Miss Haven’s tone had definitely changed. Astrid was suddenly jolted back into reality. “We really weren’t aware that there were such people, but that’s nonsense. You can buy Tarot cards at the mall for goodness sake. We’re just having some fun, that’s all.” Once again Waverly saved the day. “There you have it Ladies and Gentlemen; it’s all harmless fun, now back to the studio for your weekend weather.” Miss Haven removed her microphone and stood up. The crew people were already packing up the lights and equipment. “Thank you girls, you did a great job. Please tell your parents that I said thank you as well, won’t you Astrid?” Astrid just nodded. She wasn’t sure how all this was going to turn out. Waverly stuck her hand out to shake Miss Haven’s. “We really appreciate you coming all the way down here. Do you have any idea when this might be on the news?” Miss Haven texted her producer who was already in the van. “If all goes well, it’ll be on tonight at eleven o’clock, thanks again girls.” Miss Haven got in the news van and they drove off. As Astrid watched them driving down the street, she noticed someone standing at t
he edge of her neighbors hedge trying to hide. “Uh-oh” Astrid said to Waverly pointing to the hedge. “There’s no way this can be anything good.

  Chapter 19

  “Hey girls, get down here, you’re on TV!” Astrid’s father waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs expecting the girls to come bouncing out of Astrid’s room at any minute. “Girls!” He yelled again. But nothing happened, so he went up and knocked on the door. Still nothing. He was sure they were in there, so he closed his eyes and opened the door. “I’m not looking…I’m coming inside…take cover, if you need to…” he laughed. Quiet. Not a creature was stirring. He halfway squinted and opened one eye. There they were: Waverly on her bed staring at her tablet with headphones plugged in, and Astrid on the floor, with cards spread out before her WHILE texting someone, also with headphones on. An atomic bomb could go off and the world could be covered with zombies and it’d be days before these two figured it out he thought. He snuck up behind Astrid and grabbed her shoulders. She screamed and removed the headphones, her heart making a loud swooshy sound in her chest. “Hey! Thanks for scaring me papa bear, I almost died…for real.” He twisted her hair around his hand and kissed her forehead. “That may be a tad dramatic my love, anyway I came to tell you guys that you’re on TV right now.” Astrid found her remote under her bed and turned on the TV. “OMG Wave, check it out!” They squealed in unison. “No. Way.” Both girls immediately began texting everyone they knew. Astrid’s father just laughed and went back downstairs to the living room where Astrid’s mother was working on her laptop. “Our daughter is quite a hit.” She said smiling to her husband. Astrid’s father peered over his shoulder at the computer screen. Within five minutes, the video of Astrid and Waverly on the news had already been uploaded to various social networking sites and the video was going viral right before their very eyes. “Ahh…the awesome power of the inner-webs” Astrid’s father said mostly joking. Her mom was not so sure. “We may have to amend the amount of time they spend daily on fortune-telling after everyone sees this.” She said staring at the computer screen. “Well, let’s just wait and see what happens, my dear. Let’s let this play itself out, I’m sure it will die down soon… like any other fad.” Astrid was watching the video again online, when her phone began to vibrate. “Meet me out in your back yard.” Hey Wave, check out this text I just got.” Waverly looked at the phone. “What the heck? Who is it from?” Astrid shrugged “It’s from an unknown number, what should we do?” Waverly rolled her eyes. “By all means, we should totally go outside….at midnight….to meet a stranger…who will kill us….then you’ll get your coffin for really real.” Astrid slipped on her flip-flops. “ In this town? Hardly. Get your shoes and come on.” She said halfway out her door. In the hallway Waverly grabbed her by the arm and whispered with conviction. “What are you doing? We can’t go outside!” Astrid continued down the stairs. “We’ll just go look out the kitchen window and see who it is first, I’m not going outside without knowing who it is.” The girls looked out of the kitchen window, but couldn’t see anyone. Suddenly, one of the motion sensor lights came on, and a person walked out of the shadows.” Astrid and Waverly looked at each other and for the first time ever, said nothing.