The Celestial Curse

by Marie Cameron

  I ask April to tell me her question as I start to shuffle the cards. I can feel the energies swirling around the room and I know April and Duncan can feel something too. April gently rubs her arms while Duncan stares transfixed at his own arms, not quiet understanding what is going on but not naive enough to ignore it either. It’s as if he is trying to see what is dancing upon his skin.

  April asks a simple question.

  “Will I get a good job?” She says with a smile. I focus on the question while shuffling the cards. Amber has done this multiple times with me practicing with her so she knows to stop me when she is ready. We cut and shuffle the cards three times before she finally picks a pile of cards that have been cut into three smaller ones. I place them in a past, present and future positions and I lay the rest of the cards with the bigger deck. I turn over the three cards on by one.

  Past – The Chariot

  Present – Seven of Cups

  Future – Eight of Pentacles

  I look at the cards before me and read them to April. I tell her that she has triumphed over difficulties in the past with the strength of her will, which has set a good foundation for the present and future. She is feeling overwhelmed with choices and knows one must be made. This could be in any area of life but needs to think of the reality of the choice she chooses. The future card is what most people want to know the most. What they do not seem to realise is that the future is ever changing, depending on our actions and the action of people around us, who can influence us either toward our goals or away from them. In this future position is the Eight of Pentacles. This card indicates a new job using existing talents. This card is also known as the apprenticeship card and can show April learning a new skill or a desire to follow a different career path.

  April makes notes, as we always do, while I tell her the meaning of her reading. Duncan is sat quietly watching April. Once April is finished I ask Duncan if he would like a reading done.

  “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.” He says. His question is about finance so I repeat everything I did with April. When I have the cards laid out before me, April offers to bullet point his reading too, to which he isn’t that fussed but she does so anyway so that we have a record of it.

  The Hermit is in the past position and because I know he has just finished University the same time as me, this card would indicate that he had no help from anyone and earned his degree through his own hard work and determination. It also means that he has begun to look within himself to contemplate his career and personal goals in life. Duncan looks at me surprised that I would know something like that when he hasn’t told anyone that he moved away from home and defied all the odds, even though everyone said he would fail his grades which are nowhere near bad. The Wheel of Fortune indicates good fortune, which is placed in the present position. I tell Duncan that it can also mean going through a period of good fortune and he should make the most of this period while it lasts. And the last card, Page of Pentacles, occupies the future position. I advise Duncan that he will have some good news financially in the near future and that it could come in the form of a letter, cheque or property.

  Having finished the reading I thank my guide for her help and mentally say goodbye and watch her fade away. I smile to myself and pack away the cards taking the box back into my room. As soon as I had finished the reading on Duncan the compulsion towards the cards vanishes and I am left feeling slightly hollow.

  Thirty minutes later Duncan has crashed on the couch and April and I make our way to our own beds. I have reluctantly been thinking about Caleb tonight. Since my tarot predictions keep coming true I think I may ask him if he wants me to do a reading on him.

  Chapter Eleven

  It has been two weeks since the night Duncan stayed over and I haven’t heard from Caleb once. I am not sure how to I feel about that right now so I busy myself with work. I started working this week and so far I love it. The pay is average but Gail and her girls, as I have started thinking of them, are a welcome distraction from my own guilt and heavy heart. I know it is my fault that Caleb is angry with me and to be honest I do not really blame him. A couple nights ago the woman that Caleb helped a while back confessed that she tried to flirt with him but he was nothing but a gentleman. She said she felt like she needed to tell me because she felt guilty thinking she had broken us up. What she doesn’t know is that we were not a couple anyway but I did not correct her assumption. I plan to apologize to Caleb the next time I see him. Which might be sooner than I thought if that is him walking towards the door. I am stood off to one side sweeping the floor and dive for the back room. I know I said I wanted to see him and set him straight but I didn’t expect to have too so soon! And now that I’ve hidden myself in the back I feel like a buffoon!

  I take a deep breath and go out to face Caleb. I walk out the door and bump straight into him. He steadies me by holding my upper arms, he doesn’t push me away at first but then an iciness seeps into his eyes and my hope plummets. Gail’s next customer comes in the door so reluctantly leave Caleb to show Mrs Newman to back room where the tarot readings are done. I make sure she is settled with a drink of her choosing and let Gail know her client is waiting for her.

  “Amber as per our agreement, you can sit in this session if you like.” Gail says warmly. I think it over for a second, after all this is why I took the job in the first place, but I really want to talk to Caleb.

  “I would love to join your session Gail as long as Mrs Newman does not mind?” I ask. Gail assures me that the older woman would not mind in the slightest, so I ask her to give me a minute to talk to Caleb.

  “Ok, but make it quick.” She says before closing the door behind her. I rush back into the main shop area and to my disappointment, I do not see him. My shoulders sag and I sigh. Turning around I make my way to the back room where Gail and Mrs Newman awaits me.

  Caleb

  I watch Amber look for me within the store. Her huffing and puffing amuses me. A lot about this girl amuses me, except him. April told me about Duncan but also warned me not to tell Amber I knew. Something about her thinking I was flirting with that woman from her building and being EXTREMLY jealous, April’s words not mine, lead her to accept that boys invitation. If that was flirting then I was a donkey in a previous life!

  No, Amber is the only one I am interested in and that is a wonder in itself since I haven’t been interested in a woman for the past seventy years at least. She doesn’t see me watching her from behind a larger display towards the back of the room. I watch as she turns around dejectedly and hurries for the consultation room that Gail is working in. Deciding to wait in the car so Amber can finish her shift, I spot one of the other helping girls by the pay machine. I walk over to her and ask her to deliver a message to Amber before walking out to my car.

  Amber

  I enter the consultation room as quietly as possible. Gail has already shuffled and is currently placing the cards in a spread. This is not a spread I am familiar with. Aunt Betsy did tell me that a lot of people do tend to make up their own spreads when they have some experience. To be honest it does have an appeal, making my own spreads and what the meanings should be behind the positioning’s. I will look into it later, right now I need to concentrate. I pay attention to the reading and silently invite my guide to come and watch with me. Normally when I call my guide she comes as a feeling, like I can sense where she is and there has been times when she has touched me on the hand, face or shoulder. This time she actually appears beside me as an apparition, granted a see through apparition but till, this is the first time that I can actually see her and confirm that yes she is in fact female. She smiles at me before urging me to watch the reading. Stunned I focus on Gail again and what she is reading. As Gail goes through the reading with Mrs Newman, my guide quietly tells me the same things just seconds before Gail says them, making me think that Gail is listening to her guide too.

  Twenty five minutes later the session is over and Mrs Newman is sayi
ng her goodbyes. I follow the two older women to the front of the shop, Kate the other shop assistant walks up to me,

  “Hey you know that tall dark and handsome guy that was in here earlier?” Confused I look at her for a moment before remembering Caleb was in here.

  “Um I think so.” I reply, no need to make myself look a complete and utter fool, drooling about the one person who probably doesn’t want me anymore. I guess karma really does reap what you sow, and I sowed a lot of dishonesty towards Caleb when I should have been honest about Duncan just being a friend after that first date. I had seen Caleb a couple times since that night but I never gotten around to telling him Duncan was just a friend so he probably thinks were still dating.

  “Well he was watching you looking for him; he was stood over there near the display at the back of the shop. As soon as you went into the consultation room he came up to me and asked me to give you a message.” She says. By now she has my full attention and she knows it, so she draws out the suspension making me almost wring her pretty little neck!

  “Oh, what did he say?” I ask her with forced nonchalance. Not getting the reaction she was hoping for, Katie tells me with a huff that Caleb is in fact outside, waiting in his car and requested that I meet him there after my shift was finished.

  “We can handle the shop now Amber, there is only an hour left so you can go early if you like.” Gail says walking up behind me. I turn around to see her smiling encouragingly at me.

  “Are you sure Gail? It’s only an hour and im sure Caleb wouldn’t mind waiting. After all he is the one who came early not me.” I say back to the kind elderly lady. Gail shoos me away and before I know it I have my coat and bag on my persona and am making my way to Caleb’s car across the street. Caleb sees me coming and switches on the engine. As soon as im all buckled up he heads for the motorway.

  Chapter Twelve

  The silence in the car is deafening, neither one of us has said a word yet, since I got into the car. I twiddle my thumbs while chewing the inside of my lip. I glance at Caleb out of the corner of my eye to see him fixated on the road ahead. Which is a good thing, I tell myself after all I wouldn’t want him to crash the car! It doesn’t take long before we are pulling up at our destination. I sit up and look between the house and the man sitting next to me. Seeing my confusion Caleb takes pity on me and decides to fill me in.

  “Betsy and I have been discussing the best way for us to find a cure for this curse I have. This is a witch I have worked with in the past and I think she may be able to help us find what we are looking for. I am hoping she is as helpful now as she was then.” He says with one of his famous smirks. I will ask him later what she helped him with before for him to consider her now, but right now I am intrigued to be meeting a real live witch!

  I try to contain my excitement but as we exit the car I find myself restlessly switching from foot to foot. Caleb throws a wry smile my way before heading in the direction of the small cottage style house. I hadn’t realised until now that Caleb had driven us outside of the city into a more rural area where the tiny cottage is surrounded by trees. Actually the more I look the more it looks like we’re in the middle of a wooded park. This makes me wonder how far we have travelled and how long I was say staring at Caleb. The sudden horror of remembering all those amused glances he would through my way every once a while had my face flaming with embarrassment. Caleb notices where my thoughts have gone and chuckles. I keep my head cast down so that my hair covers my face and walk ahead to the front door. I knock on the door just as Caleb walks up behind me and a blond middle aged woman frowns down at me. I frown back and look to Caleb, who once again is enjoying my discomfort.

  “I thought you would be coming alone Caleb?” The wicked witch of the west says to Caleb as she scrutinizes me from top to bottom. I had already gotten the hint that she didn’t like me but I think that was my confirmation just in case I didn’t get the message the first time round from her icy demeanour. I scowl at the mean old witch while Caleb sweet talks her into letting us into her house. To be honest I would rather stay out here or wait in the car.

  Caleb

  I watch Amber and Lilith with amusement. Lilith and I had tried to make a relationship work but because of my curse we had broken up one month into it. We had remained friends but Lilith did occasionally get a little over protective of any woman who might get a little too close to me. We had developed a family relationship and cared for each other as such, although she can be extremely annoying sometimes when she tries to interfere in my love life. There have been times in the past where I have brought a female to meet Lilith and she has taken a dislike to them, even though they were only work associates she had taken the time to warn me they were no good for me romantically. I am sure you understand how annoying this can be since you have probably experienced the same thing from your parents…

  “Lilith this is Amber, the guardian I was telling you about and Amber this is Lilith, a very good friend of mine. We have known each other for years.” I say as I watch the women eye each other up. Lilith relaxes and smiles at Amber, leaving her a little confused and unsure of where she stands. Lilith always puts people on edge when she first meets them. When she has decided if they are good enough for her to bother with or not, then you get to know the real softy person behind the tough exterior.

  “So this is the girl I have been hearing so much about?” Lilith asks sweetly. I experience a mini heart attack when I think of some of the things I have told her about my feelings towards Amber so I give her a warning look not to say anything in front of present company. Lilith takes the hint with a smirk and links her arm through Ambers, leading her into the house. I take a step towards the door and walk into something solid! Lilith has put up an invisible barrier preventing me from entering the house.

  “Lilith what are you doing?” I call out to her. She turns around and I see the twinkle in her eyes. I do not think I am gonna like what that twinkle suggests will happen next. My fears are confirmed with her next statement.

  “I think Amber and I need to have a bonding moment Caleb so why don’t you enjoy the scenery for a little while?” And with a tiny flick of the wrist, the outer door slams shut leaving me terrified of that so called bonding moment. Probably wants to grill Amber for as much information as possible before letting me in, knowing I will interfere with anything I think she doesn’t need to know. But then again if Lilith is to be Amber’s magic teacher then I guess they will need to get along. I just hope Amber has enough common sense to aid her with the older wiser, but troublesome witch.

  Amber

  Lilith slams the door in Caleb’s face before dragging me into a nice homey sitting room. One that actually has a coal fire in the centre with comfy chairs placed in front of it. This is where Lilith takes me and sits me down in one of the big chairs while she sits in the other, staring intently at me.

  “What’s going on between you and Caleb?” asks the deceptively calm woman opposite me.

  “Nothing” I mumble back and sink deeper into the cushions. She smiles and leans back.

  “Ok so if there is nothing going on then why would he bring you here?” She asks, confusion lacing her words.

  “I do not know.” I reply with confusion of my own at her question. “He was waiting for me at work this afternoon. All he told me was that he and my aunt had said that you may be able to help them with something and he took me along for the ride.” I say. If Caleb hadn’t told her why I was here then I am not going to say anything to mess up whatever plan he had in coming here. After all I may be able to use it as a bargaining chip against him later. Although I will be having a word with him myself about filling me in on what others know before leaving me alone with a crazy witch that could probably turn me in to anything she could think up!

  “Ok well, why don’t we let Caleb in so he can clue us both in his little plan shall we?” She asks, I just nod my head and watch her get up and call to him through the window. She comes back and sits down just
as a door slams open and Caleb walks in with a concerned frown on his face.

  My insides warm up thinking that the concern is for me but when he speaks, alas, it was not concern for me that came out he voices, it was concern for what I might have revealed to Lilith that he didn’t want her to know. Which just pipes up her interest further, who does not waste any time in bringing the conversation to the actual point he was probably trying to avoid.

  “Why are you here Caleb? I asked your friend but she doesn’t even seem to understand why she is here with you, even though I sense she wasn’t telling me the complete truth and that she has secrets of her own, which she will tell me in her own time.” She says while looking at me and smiling slyly. It actually kind of unnerves me for I get the feeling she already knows more than I want to tell her. I glance at Caleb to gage his reaction to her comment but he is casually looking at the decorations around the room with his hands in his pockets and refusing to meet my eyes. Lilith laughs so I narrow my eyes at her. Enough playing games, I think it’s time they both tell me what game they are playing at my expense.

  “I would actually like to know why I am here. All Caleb told me is that you helped him in the past and that maybe you would be able to help me now.” I say much to Caleb’s dismay and Lilith’s delight. Well if he didn’t want her to know something he should have told me first why he brought me here rather than a brief explanation in the car before. Anyway it’s not like I actually told her anything about the help we would be asking for and since she is a magic teacher wouldn’t she have already guessed that would be why we were her? Unless she offers other services which I do not think I want to know about!

  They both stare off at each other as I watch them. Finally Caleb gives in and tells Lilith, and I why we are here.