Without Foresight

by P. D. Workman

  He blinked at her slowly, his pupils wide pools of darkness. “Are we going to your house?”

  “Well… I have to get Starlight home. Then I can drive you to your house.”

  “I’ll just stay at yours for a while.”

  “You can’t.”

  “I was there earlier today, in case you don’t remember.”

  “Well… I can’t help that. I wasn’t exactly… in charge then.”

  “I behaved myself.”

  “Did you?”

  He gave a slow smile. “I got him out of you, didn’t I?”

  “Apparently, but I’m not sure about your methods.”

  Corvin opened the passenger door to slide into the seat. “I’m not holding your cat.”

  Reg called Starlight as she opened the driver’s side door. “He can sit in the back. He doesn’t need to be in anyone’s lap.”

  “Good. Of course, I’ll have to get it cleaned.”

  “He’s not dirty. And it’s not like you’re allergic.”

  “I don’t want cat hair in my car.”

  Reg rolled her eyes. They had just witnessed the demise of a powerful wizard who had been trying to possess Reg, and Corvin was worried about a little cat fur. Starlight smelled the car, then finally jumped in and settled himself on the back seat.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Reg picked Starlight up from the back seat and carried him into the cottage. She could have just asked him to follow her, but cats were ridiculously unpredictable and he might just as easily decide to run away to see his old friend Nicole or a stray he had spotted out the window. Or to go hunting for the diamondback rattler that Reg had seen.

  “Reg! Oh, Reg!”

  Reg turned as Sarah came out the back door of the big house. “Hi.”

  “Oh,” Sarah noticed Starlight in Reg’s arms. “Did he get away?”

  “No… not exactly. He was… helping on a case.”

  “Oh.” Sarah frowned, looking doubtful about this. Although she tolerated Starlight, Sarah didn’t like cats, and she didn’t want them out in her yard chasing birds or wrecking the garden. And she worried that Starlight would attract other cats from the neighborhood. She knew that Starlight was Reg’s familiar and worked with her, but Reg didn’t usually take Starlight with her except on longer trips. “Okay. Well, let’s get him inside first, so you don’t have to worry about him getting away.”

  Reg agreed. Sarah’s eyes turned toward Corvin, who had followed Reg into the yard, and her frown deepened. “How did he get past the wards?”

  “Uh…” Reg tried to come up with an explanation that Sarah would understand. Something that would not make her want to throw Reg out. “Well… that’s sort of a long story, and I’m not sure I can tell you all of the details.”

  “You let him in?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Either you did or you didn’t,” Sarah said severely. Reg unlocked the door and let herself in. She put Starlight down on the floor and he trotted away as if going out on an excursion to kill a basilisk were routine.

  “I didn’t,” Reg said. “But I did.”

  “You did,” Sarah repeated.

  “But I didn’t.”

  Corvin followed them into the house. Sarah studied him.

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with me,” Corvin said, giving Sarah a sloppy grin.

  “He’s acting kind of drunk,” Reg said. “I don’t know if that’s normal or not.”

  “Normal for what?” Sarah asked. Then her eyes widened. “Has he been feeding?”

  Reg nodded. Sarah blinked at her. “Who?”

  “You remember Jeffrey Wilson?”

  “The wizard? Of course. But how could—he would never let Corvin…”

  “He wasn’t exactly in a position to object. He was…”

  “He was dying,” Corvin said baldly. “What would you expect me to do? Allow those powers to be dispersed?”

  “Dying. What happened to him? He was very powerful.”

  “Powerful apparently doesn’t mean smart,” Corvin said with a smirk. “Would you have let yourself be bitten by a basilisk?”

  “Bitten… heavens, no. Not another one?”

  “The same one that bit the troll,” Reg said. “But… it’s dead now. Actually, it was dead when it bit Wilson. Actually, I don’t know if it is dead now.”

  “Looked pretty dead,” Corvin contributed. “Well… until it bit Wilson and swallowed its own tail. What happens after that is anyone’s guess.”

  “I don’t know,” Reg repeated. “I don’t know if that means it’s dead or alive.”

  “Well. You’ve had an eventful afternoon. But he can’t stay here,” Sarah look pointedly at Corvin.

  “I was thinking of driving him home. I don’t think he’s safe to drive himself.”

  “I’ve been driving myself after feeding for many years,” Corvin informed her. “It has never been a problem.”

  “Well, maybe he was on some drug that is affecting you. I don’t know.”

  Corvin rolled his eyes. “It isn’t like I have consumed his body. I don’t take in anything of his physical form.”

  “What is it then?”

  Corvin considered the question. “Perhaps the basilisk,” he said eventually. “Maybe it conferred on him with some extra powers after all. I feel very… well.”

  Sarah nodded slowly, her brow wrinkled. “Maybe so. There are old texts that speak of… divine intoxication conferred by the basilisk. It is the result of drinking the elixir of life. The essence present in the snake’s venom.”

  “I don’t know what it is,” Corvin said slowly, “but it feels very, very good.”

  Sarah looked at Reg worriedly. “Maybe we’d better keep an eye on him. If he’s drunk on the basilisk’s essence, there could be negative effects too. And we would do well to find out now what powers he was able to consume before Wizard Wilson’s death.” She shook her head and dropped her voice. “I don’t like it. It would have been better if the wizard’s power had been spread out.”

  They eventually persuaded Corvin to sit on the couch to watch TV and, eventually, he fell asleep there. Sarah asked questions at length and did some witchy stuff that Reg didn’t understand, mumbling spells or prayers, walking around Corvin several times, laying out herbs and touching the various wards around the cottage. Even Starlight, who was very interested in these activities initially, eventually tired of watching Sarah and curled up on Reg’s bed to go to sleep.

  “I’m kind of tired too,” Reg confessed to Sarah. “Do you mind if I go lay down for a while? You can wake me up if Corvin wakes up or if you need anything.”

  “Of course, Reg. I don’t imagine you got much sleep last night with a restless Bigfoot on your hands. You were up pretty early this morning. For you, I mean.”

  “Oh!” Reg rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on this. “I forgot all about… is Etienne okay? Did he come to see you this morning?”

  “Yes. I drove him to the hotel where his lady friend is staying.” She paused and shrugged. “The poor boy has a bit of a weak stomach. But I suppose that’s what happens when they vary from their natural diet to eat things like Hershey’s bars and… whatever happened to be in your fridge.”

  Reg felt sorry for Etienne. He had already been anxious about Ilka and Sarah’s driving had clearly not helped. She hoped he’d felt better once he got to her suite.

  “When is he coming back? Is he coming here before he goes home?”

  “He took his things with him. I don’t think he was planning to come back here, but he did say he would be in touch and let us know what he was doing.”

  “And you haven’t heard anything back?”

  “I haven’t. He doesn’t have a phone, does he?”

  “No, he would probably just come back here. Or get someone to make the call for him. I feel so bad about abandoning him this morning… but things got very strange.”

  “Yes,” Sarah cocked her he
ad to the side. “They certainly did. But I’m sure he understood. He would be much happier being left to his own devices than having to deal with police and snakes and the rest of it. They are a very quiet people. They would much rather be left to themselves.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  When Corvin awoke, he seemed much steadier. Sarah proclaimed him recovered and able to get himself home rather than Reg having to take care of him. Reg sat on the couch watching Corvin get ready to go. He seemed to be okay.

  “If you want, I could stay longer,” Corvin teased.

  “No, no. I just want to make sure that you are back to normal. I don’t want you getting in an accident on the way home.”

  “Nice to know that you care.”

  “I just think I’ve spent enough time at the police station, morgue, and cemetery this week. I’d rather not have to do it all again.”

  “You just don’t want to admit that you like me.”

  “No, I don’t,” Reg agreed.

  His mouth twisted into a grimace at her ambiguous answer. He decided not to push it any further. Reg turned to Sarah after Corvin was gone. “So do you think… he’s dangerous?”

  “He’s always been dangerous, dear. Now… even more so.”

  “I know…” Reg sighed. “Be careful. Don’t let him into the house. But it wasn’t really my fault; I wasn’t in control.”

  “You certainly do attract the interest of powerful creatures, don’t you?”

  “It’s just a coincidence.” Reg didn’t want to think that something about her personally or about the choices she made had something to do with it. It was just bad luck.

  Starlight rubbed against Reg’s legs, and she scratched his ears.

  “Maybe if I want better luck, I should get rid of the black cat,” she teased.

  He looked at her with big, unblinking eyes.

  Sarah laughed. “Yes, maybe you should,” she agreed. But Reg knew she had a soft spot for Starlight. She wouldn’t tell Reg to get rid of him if she actually thought Reg would do it.

  Reg felt more caught up on sleep and decided it was time to get herself something good to eat. Not just something grabbed in a hurry from the cupboard or the fridge, but a good meal. And The Crystal Bowl was always her restaurant of choice.

  When she got out to the street, she was distracted from her own vehicle by a long black limousine. She watched in surprise as it pulled over in front of her car. Maybe Sarah had visitors?

  But she knew the cloaked figure who climbed out of the car. Etienne straightened up, then gave a brief bow in Reg’s direction.

  “Reg Rawlins. I am returning home.”

  “In style,” Reg observed.

  Etienne looked through the door into the car’s interior. “More legroom,” he commented. “It will be better for the trip.”

  “Is Ilka…?”

  Etienne indicated that she was in the car, which didn’t surprise Reg. The limousine was more like something the empress would rent than Etienne. “She is going to go to Miami. There is a family there that will take her in so that we can continue to see each other and court… and maybe in time…”

  “You’re not rushing things.”

  “No.” He sounded relieved about that. “Our families are both in agreement that this should not be rushed. We need to take the time to get to know each other well before any irreversible steps are taken.”

  “Yeah. That sounds smart. Is she okay with that?”

  “We will find out. She has agreed to a trial, but I know she is impatient to move things forward.” He smiled his shy, embarrassed smile, his teeth showing slightly behind his full beard. “The women of our species are very strong-minded.”

  “So I have noticed. Well, good luck. I hope it will all work out. You have my address; you can write and let me know how you are doing anytime.”

  “I shall. Bruce takes my mail into town once a month.”

  Reg nodded, familiar with the procedure. “The last Tuesday of the month. I look forward to hearing how it goes.”

  And surprisingly, it was true. Reg had never looked forward to having to read anything, but she hoped that all would go well for Etienne and Ilka, and they would find happiness together. She looked forward to finding out how they fared.

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  Preview of Careful of Thy Wishes

  Chapter 1

  Reg had been putting it off for too long. She had been spending more, knowing that she had the gems to fall back on, so although she had been doing okay with her psychic services business, she had been spending more than she was making, which wasn’t a great way to keep her bank balance in the black.

  She kept putting off cashing in on a couple of the gems because of the work involved. She hadn’t ever done it before, for one thing. She had used pawnshops in the past to get a bit of cash for jewelry she had acquired through one means or another, but she knew that she didn’t get anywhere near what they were worth. And she couldn’t take cut, unset gemstones to a pawnshop. They weren’t jewelers. They wouldn’t know how much they were worth or give her a fair price.

  That meant that she had to figure out where to go to sell the gems. She found several gemstone buyers in nearby cities, that was an easy enough internet search. The problem was finding one that would not only give her a fair price, but would look the other way on gems that might not have come through regular channels.

  The stores in Black Sands would be more understanding about how she had acquired the gems, but she didn’t think it was a good idea for anyone in Black Sands to know about the fact that she had a small chest of cut gems in her possession. She hadn’t yet rented a safe deposit box like Sarah, her landlord, had suggested, which meant that the box of gems was in Reg’s closet. Or under the bed. Or whatever other place she had chosen to hide it in temporarily. She moved it around regularly because she knew it wasn’t safe. There wasn’t anywhere secure to hide it within the guest cottage she rented from the older woman. If word got out that she had the gems, she could have a problem.

  Of course, the cottage was protected with magical wards and charms, but Reg knew that there were still ways for less honorable thieves to find their way around the wards, or for powerful beings to break them. She knew because it had happened before. Sarah had helped her to set new wards several times. She always rolled her eyes and gave Reg a stern lecture on not allowing herself to be talked into releasing the wards, allowing a pixie into the house, or any of the other means by which the wards were vulnerable.

  So Reg knew that she couldn’t liquidate any of the jewels in Black Sands. It was too risky. She would have to go into one of the bigger cities where she was unknown and where she would not be able to explain how the stones had come into her possession. And those kind of places didn’t advertise the fact on public websites.

  But she couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

  There were a few interesting listings on Craig’s List and eBay. Reg made screenshots of them and looked the addresses up on the maps app on her phone.

  “What do you think?” she mused aloud.

  Starlight looked at her, blinking first his blue eye and then his green. She didn’t know how much of commerce or the internet he understood. His psychic powers might not extend that far.

  “I need money if I’m going to get you food and kitty litter. So you want to help me with that, right?”

  He blinked again, both eyes together this time. Reg fo
cused on the white mark in the third eye position on his forehead. The star that gave him his name. She squinted her eyes slightly and let them go out of focus, thinking about the listings that she had just found on her phone, trying to sort out which of them was the best bet. She brought up the first one in her mind, a David Price of Rite Price Gem Exchange and immediately felt a sense of foreboding. Her stomach tied itself in a tight, heavy knot that nearly made her physically sick.

  She didn’t know what the danger was in going to Price, but she knew it was not a good idea. She mentally struck that one off her list.

  “Okay...”

  She opened her eyes for a couple of seconds to check out the next listing. Dreame Jewelry. Achieve your highest dreams. That one sounded even sleazier than the first. But she focused her eyes on Starlight’s white star again, and thought about it. She had never dreamed that she would come into possession of such a fortune. There had been plenty of times in the past when she had dreamed of somewhere safe and sheltered to live and a bowl of warm soup in her hands. Reg had found that and more in Black Sands, a little Florida community that had seemed ripe for all kinds of paranormal cons. But as she had soon discovered, there was more to Black Sands than just a high percentage of practicing psychics and retirees with thick wallets that needed unburdening. Instead, she had found a community that had not only accepted her as a bona fide psychic, but had opened up to her a whole new world of paranormal practitioners and experiences that were often difficult for her to believe existed.

  She still woke up some mornings wondering if the past year had all been a dream and she didn’t really possess any unusual psychic or paranormal abilities. Maybe there were no witches, fairies, sirens, or immortals. Maybe it was all just a very detailed and involved hallucination.

  And then she talked to her cat and pulled out the little chest of gems and looked out the window at Sarah’s backyard garden, flourishing under the care of Forst, the garden gnome. And she knew that it was all real.