No, wait! I’ve decided I don’t want to know.
“Remi, I never would have guessed you believed in all this magic and paranormal craziness.” I met Remi on my first day of classes at the local college, and we’ve been tight ever since. She had said the first day she felt like I was a friend she’d had forever. I couldn’t have agreed more. I had lived in Montana for a week when we met and hadn’t yet ventured out of the farmhouse much. I mostly spent the week getting acclimated to my new home and obsessing over the wolf from my dream. Little did I know ten months ago I would continue to have the same dream almost every night and, it would only get worse.
I started sleepwalking not long after the first dream, and this morning, I woke up face down in the dirt in the woods behind my house. It wasn’t my favorite way to wake up and I definitely would not recommend it.
“Well, my sweet friend, there are still many things you don’t know about me.” Remi gives me a mischievous smile, her ocean-blue eyes sparking. “Last week, Esme told me to not worry or panic about my finals for the semester and guess who passed all her classes?” Remi motions to herself with a wave of her tanned hand. “That’d be me!”
“You needed a psychic to tell you that you’d pass your exams when you’ve been an A student your whole life?” I wrinkle my nose at her. “Seems like you wasted money to me.”
“I hear we have a skeptic in our midst,” a musical voice says from behind the curtain leading to what I would assume is another interior room. A middle-aged woman flips the curtain back and makes her grand entrance.
She is exactly what I expected when Remi told me we would be seeing a psychic tonight. She wears a long patterned skirt, and a loose blouse cinched with a thick belt at her middle.
The woman is beautiful in her own way. Her curly hair is dark with strands of silver starting to show from age, and I can see from across the room that she also has some feathers and other jewels woven into it. Her almond-shaped eyes are dark but reflect the small amount of light in a way I have never seen before. It’s like making eye contact with a piece of obsidian. Very Interesting. Lastly, her tanned skin is flawless except for a small mole above the right side of her lips that are currently giving me a welcoming grin.
“No shame in being a skeptic, my dear, but I have no doubt we will be changing your mind soon.” The woman continues to smile at me, but as she cocks her head to the side and exams me from her place across the room, I notice the slight widening of her eyes.
As quickly as the surprised look appears on her face, it vanishes. “Please, come sit, my girls, and we can get started. Remington, I am pleased to hear your exams went smoothly. And I’m enjoying your new haircut. It’s flattering on you.” She pats Remi’s hand as they sit down across from each other at the table.
Remington reaches up and touches the ends of her chocolate-brown hair. She had cut a couple inches off the other day, and it now rests at her shoulders. “Thank you again for getting me in last week, Esme. I really needed some reassurance it was all going to be okay.” Remi grins at the psychic, a look of trust and calmness on her face.
I suppose if Remi trusts this woman and is relaxed being here, I don’t see the harm in staying, I slowly take my seat next to Remi and across from Esme, who is now digging around in a cabinet behind her. “Are you going to read my palm or something?” I shakily laugh and wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans in case she says yes.
“No, my dear, that’s just a parlor trick people perform. We use real magic here,” Esme tells me as she places a deck of tarot cards in the middle of the table. I almost start laughing when I see the excited look on Remi’s face.
Good Lord girl.
“Let me get this straight. Palm reading is bull, but tarot cards are real magic?”
“Pruitt! Shut up and let the lady do her thing!” Remi reaches over and pinches the soft skin on the underside of my arm.
“Ouch!” I immediately rub the sore spot.
“Precisely,” Esme says with a slight laugh. I watch in fascination as she places the stack of cards in her hand and proceeds to knock and tap the top of the stack. She then places the cards on the table and shuffles them around on the purple tablecloth. She whispers something as she does this, but I can’t make out what she says. “Okay, let us begin.”
Esme places the cards facedown on the table in a pattern that doesn’t make any sense to me, but then again, none of this makes sense. I bite my lip and silently watch as she continues to chant and place the cards on the table.
It may be psychosomatic, but I suddenly feel a flash of cold air hit my back, and it causes chills to run down my spine. Esme picks up what looks to me like a totally random card and flips it over, revealing a picture of a man holding a lantern.
“The Hermit,” Esme says.
“Ha! Even the cards know you need to leave the house more!” Remi giggles from her spot beside me.
“You have been lonely for many years… isolated,” Esme explains as she traces the shape of the painted man on the card with a long finger.
I keep my face neutral, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing she’s not far off. While I’ve always had Addison
