Tarot's Kiss (Tarot Chronicles)

by Nichole Blackfinch

  I took her pin I my hand and began to write as I stared at the card. I finished the exercise quickly and reviewed my list:

  Greed

  Miser

  Wealth

  Gold

  Dreaming of money

  Suspicion

  Excess

  “I don’t know if any of these things will help me decide on a city,” I said.

  “For the best insight, I recommend that you take this home,” Aurora said. “Then, just before bedtime, drink a glass of water and ask the universe to bring the answer to your subconscious as you dream. Place your list under your pillow, and when you awake, you just might have the answer you’re seeking.”

  This sounded incredibly stupid to me, but I didn’t have anything to lose. “Thanks, Aurora, I appreciate it.” I hesitated for a moment, feeling like I should buy something from her since she’d spent so much time helping me. A row of delicate bracelets on a purple velvet stand inside the display case caught my eye.

  “Those are astrological luck bracelets,” she said, following my gaze. “I’m guessing you’re a fire sign?”

  “Yeah, actually, I’m an Aries, how did you know?”

  “I’ve been doing this a long time dear, and only a fire sign would throw themselves into whatever it is you’re about to do.” She pulled a silver bracelet away from the stack, telling me to try it on.

  The bracelet was marked with the subtle sign of the Ram, which looked like a “V” with tips curling outward like horns. Surrounding the Ram sign were crystal stars representing the Aries constellation. The cool tones of the silver looked nice against my tanned wrist.

  “I love this,” I said. “I’ll take it. And I’d like one for Gemini, too.” Gemini was my grandmother’s sign; I’d wear it in memory of her.

  Aurora clipped off the tags and rang me up. The total was expensive, and I nearly winced at the cost before remembering that it was ok for me to splurge now. I thanked Aurora and promised her I’d let her know what I discovered.

  I was nearly out the door when she called my name. “Lucy,” she said as I turned to face her, “Whatever it is that you’re doing…well, it isn’t my business, but please be careful, dear. Danger spikes in your aura.”

  I nodded and left the store, feeling uneasy as I drove home. What danger was supposedly in my aura? And did I even believe in stuff like that? The past few months had made me question my views of the world. Reality was apparently less like concrete and more like taffy, stretchy and changeable.

  Several hours later, having finished painting my bedroom, it was time for me to sleep. My bedroom smelled like paint fumes, so I opened up the seldom-used guest bedroom at the end of the upstairs hall and made the bed with clean linens. In the bathroom, I filled a tumbler with water and returned to the bedroom. Feeling glad that no one was around to see me, I slowly sipped the water as I thought about the city of Auburn and the Four of Coins. I slipped the sheet of fairy-printed paper underneath my pillow and lay down, exhausted.

  Sleep was a fickle companion as the night wore on. I woke several times, sweating and twisted up in the sheets. When my dreams finally arrived, they were dark, unusual fragments. I saw my grandma before realizing it wasn’t my grandma at all—it was a two-headed monstrosity of an imitator. Nathaniel made a brief appearance, insects leaping from his mouth as he tried to speak to me. And then, a man I didn’t know appeared. He was seated on a rock and was so very thin, he looked malnourished. Filth covered his face and his ragged overalls, a bloody cut scrawled across one cheek. One hand lay on a pickaxe, the other wiped at his eyes, leaving a smear of grime. He didn’t speak to me, but I knew his thoughts. I failed, he thought. No gold, I failed, I failed. Disturbed but still half-asleep, I reached for the pen and scrap of paper on the nightstand, struggling to form letters, and fell back to my pillow, and into a deep slumber.

  It was late when I woke. The sunlight streamed from the wrong direction and the view from my pillow was all wrong until I remembered that I’d slept in a different bedroom. My throat felt like a dried-up husk, so I reached for the tumbler of water I’d left near the bed. I gulped the last remaining sip and as I set down the glass, I saw the scrap of paper I’d written on the night before.

  My writing was nearly illegible; I stared at the paper for several moments before realizing what it was that I’d scribbled in the night. Two simple words: gold rush. Had Aurora’s suggestion worked? If so, this was the help my subconscious had provided overnight. Reaching under the pillow, I pulled out the list for the Four of Coins that I’d made in the shop. I looked at the list and then looked the words I’d formed in my sleep. And with that, I knew where I’d need to look next. Bounding downstairs, I took my phone from its charger and made a call.

  “Hey there, kiddo.” My dad had answered his phone on the first ring. “What’s new?”

  “How fast can you get on a plane?” I asked.

  “As fast as security lets me, same as anyone else,” he replied.

  “Ugh, you know that’s not what I mean, dork,” I laughed at my dad. “I’m asking if you think you could be ready to meet me out west tomorrow?”

  “Why? What’s going on, Lucy? Are you ok?”

  “I’m better than ok, I think I know where to find the Empress. But we’ll have to fly to California,” I said. I quickly explained to him that I’d wondered if the name Auburn was a clue, and about the help Aurora had given me, and what I’d written in my sleep.

  “Aurora? She’s still around?”

  “You know her?” I exclaimed.

  “It’s a small world there in Boulder. Anyway, you were telling me you woke up and saw ‘gold rush’ written on the paper,” he said.

  “Yeah, and that made me think of California, and there is a city called Auburn in California. So I looked it up and it turns out it used to be a mining town. I’m thinking that might be grandma’s home town, and if so, maybe that’s where the card is. It would make sense with my readings.”

  My dad agreed that it was worth looking into. We checked flight times and decided we’d meet at the Sacramento airport the following day and then drive to Auburn.

  LATER THAT EVENING MATT WAS PLANNING to come over for a date, so I ordered a pizza and straightened up the living room. I was trying to decide whether I felt more like video games or a movie when I heard Matt’s voice calling to me from the front door. I yelled for him to come on back.

  Over the past few years, it seemed as though Matt only wore black or gray, but today he was wearing a light blue shirt that made his eyes look even bluer. He noticed that I was staring at him and his cheeks reddened.

  I knew compliments made him self-conscious, so instead I skipped over to him and wiggled underneath his arm so that he was hugging me. “Hey! Guess what?”

  “What’s that, babe?” He kissed my hair and rubbed my shoulder.

  “You know how I’ve been all super-sleuthy, trying to find that card of my grandma’s?”

  “Yeah, you may have mentioned something about it. Like two hundred times.”

  “I think I might have figured out where it’s at. I think my grandma might have hidden it in this town she used to live in.”

  “Where at in the town?”

  “That part I don’t know, but I’m going to fly there tomorrow and track it down. I’ve got a good feeling about it.”

  “So, is this town close to here?”

  “No, it’s way up in California. Why?”

  Matt was silent, his face set in a scowl. “So I take it you’re not coming with me,” he said quietly.

  For a moment, I didn’t know what he was talking about. And then it hit me. Tomorrow was the day that a rep was coming to meet Matt and his band. “Oh, no. I totally forgot. I am so sorry, I just got all excited and-”

  “No, right, it’s fine. It’s only the biggest day of my life. It would be too damn much to ask for my girlfriend to be there. Like she promised she would be.”

  “You know I wanted to be there. Don’t act like I
didn’t.”

  “Then cancel your trip. Go next week.” His blue eyes were dark with the challenge.

  “But I already bought tickets.”

  “So what? You’re loaded, right? Buy more.”

  I hadn’t told anyone about finding my dad, so I couldn’t tell Matt that I’d already planned to meet him in Auburn. I really wanted to see my dad again. I didn’t want to change the dates, but I hated to back out of a promise to Matt. I hesitated. “Well, maybe I could. . .”

  “Forget it. Just forget it. You obviously don’t care. Actually, you haven’t cared about anyone but Queen Lucy ever since you got into this tarot stuff.”

  “That’s not even true!”

  “Yes it is. You’re being a selfish and you’re being a baby.”

  “Well, I think you’re being a selfish baby.”

  Matt groaned. “Grow up, Lucy. Don’t call me until you do.”

  He stormed out of the room and I didn’t bother to follow him. The front door slammed shut and I heard the uneven growl of his engine as he pulled away from the house, just in time for the pizza to arrive. I tipped the driver and threw the pizza away. My appetite had been replaced by an interesting mix of anger and guilt, so I decided to sulk in the bath tub and go to bed early.

  BY LATE THE FOLLOWING AFTERNOON, I WAS STANDING near the baggage claim, wondering where my dad was. His flight should have arrived before mine. I plopped down on top of my suitcase and called him six times. He didn’t answer. I stood up and paced across claim area looking for him, circling each carousel.

  I was about to call again when I felt a hand on my elbow. “It’s about time, slow poke,” I said as I turned to hug my dad.

  “My flight was delayed a bit.”

  “Gavin? What the hell? Where’s my dad?” Gavin stood in front of me, expressionless. I quickly withdrew my hug and frowned.

  “It’s a pleasure to see you again, as well, Lucy,” he said wryly.

  “So is my dad with you?” I asked.

  “He sent me in his place. Sorry to disappoint.”

  “No, it’s not that—it’s just that he said he was coming. He didn’t say he was sending you,” I said.

  “Lucy, you have to remember that your dad still believes that his presence will put you in the path of danger. That doesn’t bode well for taking trips together. He told me that Benna confirmed the prediction still stands.”

  “Eh, what does Benna know anyway? She’s probably crazy.”

  “She might be crazy. But she’s never wrong,” Gavin said. “If you were given advice by Ms. Benediction Travis of Georgia, you’d do well to follow it.”

  Gavin began to walk ahead of me, pulling his wheeled bag behind him. I tailed him to the car rental counter, busying myself with the stack of complimentary maps on the counter as Gavin signed the rental forms.

  “So, Tyler tells me you have reason to believe that your grandmother was using the name ‘Auburn’ as an assumed name and that you think Auburn is her hometown, correct?” Gavin asked as we pulled away from the airport.

  “That’s the basic thought, yeah.” I rolled down the window to let the hot air blow out. I was dying for a drink.

  “Do you have a plan for finding out more?” Gavin asked.

  “No, I figured we’d just go from door to door asking people if they knew a chick called Eleanor Gibson who lived in town like forty-five years ago. It doesn’t seem like a big town, so it should be easy.”

  Gavin opened and closed his eyes slowly and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He didn’t reply.

  “Oh come on, Gavin. I’m kidding. Of course I have a plan. I have an address for the county office where we can look at records. Their records go back to 1873, and since my grandma obviously did not pre-date the automobile, I’m pretty sure we can find a birth certificate or something.”

  “And once we find records?”

  “We’ll think of something. But hey, will you pull into a gas station or something? I’m pretty snacky.”

  At the next gas station we passed, Gavin waited in the car while I ran inside to get something to eat. A few minutes later, having used the bathroom and grabbed snacks, I made my way back to the dark blue rental car.

  “I got a variety of stuff, so dig in,” I told him, taking a sip from my bucket-sized fountain drink as I picked out a handful of nacho cheese chips.

  “Those smell truly awful,” Gavin said, eyeballing the open bag of bright orange chips.

  “Well, gee, they were fresh out of tea and crumpets.”

  “Why is it that Americans love to joke about tea and crumpets? It’s a tiresome joke, really.”

  “Why is it that you can’t remove whatever it is that is lodged up your backside? It’s seriously messing with your sense of humor. Which is also pretty tiresome,” I crunched my chips extra loudly.

  Gavin exhaled. “Grow up, Lucy.”

  “Loosen up, Gavin.”

  We made the rest of the drive in silence. I didn’t appreciate being told to grow up twice in two days. Gavin stared fixedly at the road while I sent text messages to my friends and checked my home page. If Gavin wanted to be a grump, fine, it didn’t have to ruin my time.

  My dad had made hotel reservations for us; we checked in quickly and glared at one another as we stood in front of the elevators that would take us to our rooms. Well, I glared at Gavin while he mildly flipped through a travel brochure from the lobby. We rode in silence to the second floor, and as I left the elevator, Gavin tossed me the car keys.

  “Meet at seven for dinner?” he asked.

  “Sure. Fine.” I didn’t look back at him as I lugged my bag toward my room. My dad could have at least called me to tell me he was sending a substitute, I thought as I tossed my stuff down on the hotel comforter. Why did I have to hear it through Gavin?

  I flicked on the tv and turned it right back off again, picking up my book to scan a page. Boring. No new messages on my phone, I saw. Dinner was still two and a half hours away. I paced to the window, looking out at the parking lot and a strip mall across the interstate. Might as well go shopping, I told myself. Taking the rental car keys in hand, I left the stuffy room behind and started for the strip mall.

  The clothing racks had a listless feel to them. We were nearing autumn, and the summer clothes drooped dispiritedly on their hangers, as if they knew that their value was dropping steadily with each passing day. I gravitated toward a display of tank tops and distressed jeans. Maybe I should buy something new to wear to dinner. Gavin probably wouldn’t find the tank tops I was looking at to be suitably “grown up,” I thought with a smirk.

  I abandoned the tanks and tees and moved to a section of slinky whispering sundresses. Silky fabrics, thin straps, small skirts. I plucked several from the rack and walked to the dressing room.

  The first dress was a red matte jersey with spaghetti straps that played up my curves and made me feel like a bombshell. I leaned forward toward the mirror and made a cheesy model pouting face. Yeah, the red dress was a little too…obvious.

  The next dress felt like a nothing more than a light breeze as it settled against my skin. Emerald-green silk in a simple wrap style, it made my waist look tiny and fell smoothly to just above my knees. Not too dressy, but sexy. I spun around, pleased with the fall of the silk against the tanned plane of my back.

  Slipping out of the dress and back into my shorts, I left the dressing room with the green dress, stopping to choose a pair of copper-colored sandals and a pair of exotic, dangling earrings. As I passed the perfume counter, I bought a woody, sugared scent that the sales lady assured me was both subtle and sophisticated.

  I met Gavin in the lobby at just past seven. He was seated in a leather chair, sketchbook held idly on his lap. I tapped him on his shoulder.

  “So, where should we head to eat?” I asked.

  He looked up at me, momentarily startled. “Ah, well, somewhere befitting how very nice you look,” he said, smiling as he stood.

  “You like? I thought
maybe it wouldn’t be, oh, grown up enough for dinner.”

  Gavin sighed. “I’m sorry I gave you a hard time earlier. It was uncalled for.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s ok,” I replied, feeling somewhat deflated. I’d wanted to nurse my grudge a bit longer.

  “Shall we?” Gavin offered me his arm and I grinned up at him as we walked to the car. Maybe the evening wouldn’t be so dull after all.

  The restaurant had the feel of an upscale lodge. Although the night was warm, a fire danced in the giant river rock fireplace, casting a flickering glow against the golden wood of the walls and floor. An elegant older woman smiled at me as the host led us to our table. I realized she must have thought that Gavin and I were together, an ordinary young couple out for dinner, instead of two weirdos traveling cross-country in search of a tarot card.

  Once seated, I looked at Gavin across from me, the fall of his thick hair, his bittersweet chocolate eyes, so frequently unreadable, though now they looked almost sad. I wondered what he was thinking about, what would have upset him. But of course, he had lost both his parents and his grandfather. Did he have anyone to rely on, the way I had my mom and Angie? His cousin Julia perhaps? Was he lonely?

  “You really do look lovely,” he said, breaking into my thoughts.

  “Thank you.” I looked down my menu, fiddling with my earring. “You, too. Well not lovely, but, you know, nice.”

  We ordered our food and the silence between us grew uncomfortable. I struggled to think of something to say as I sipped at my glass of water. Gavin straightened his collar, unnecessarily, and cleared his throat. The quiet yawned between us.

  “I need to, uh, powder my nose,” I said, and rose, sending the napkin on my lap tumbling to the ground. I hurriedly picked up my napkin and left for the restroom. I sat down in the stall, racking my brain for something to talk about. This wasn’t a problem I typically had.

  As I sat there, I noticed the dual-chambered toilet paper dispenser was empty on one side. I slid the plastic center piece of the dispenser aside so that I could reach the new roll on the other side. I’d just reached inside the dispenser, grasping to find the end of the roll, when the center partition snapped backward on my wrist, trapping my right hand. I pulled my hand downward, hard, and tried to move the partition back and forth, but it was useless. I was caught, oh God, on a toilet paper holder. Beads of sweat began to form on my upper lip. This was so embarrassing. I yanked my left hand backward on the center piece that had snapped against my wrist, but it was jammed and wouldn’t budge.