“They are here too… it is how I knew you had found the card and begun to use it”, her mother stormed off and then stopped by the table. “I made a choice to live and curse my entire generation and even you, or get sucked into this world and try and sustain the balance so you can have a better life or at least a chance to a normal life out there”.
Nora noted the shaky tone with which the woman speak, as well as the abnormally lengthy grey hair on her head.
“Your hair”, Nora pointed out.
She watched her mother hold unto the strand and sigh. “This place takes its toll on me and keeping him trapped and unable to manifest his true form is even harder than I imagined”.
Nora’s interest got piqued again.
“Who is he?” she asked. “You’ve mentioned that twice already”.
“He doesn’t have a true face and he can be anyone, which is why I need you to go back and allow me to continue to hold him back so nobody gets hurt over at your end”, her mother explained.
It sounded too late and Nora could tell the woman had no idea about just how much chaos ensued in the real world. Her face bore distraught and told enough to the ignorant woman who gasped, placed her hands over her mouth and slowly began to draw close to her daughter.
“What are you not telling me?” she asked. “What is happening over there?”
Nora cringed at the thought and recollection of everything. She helped herself to a seat and lowered her head in pain, before slowly looking back up at her mother.
“I wish I can say whatever you’re doing here is working, but I cannot”, she replied. “I drew the Grimm Reaper on my first reading, and the second dint fare any better because my friend is now one of those things”.
Her mother’s eyes widened, and the woman gulped down in difficulty.
“It has taken lives”, she muttered. “If it has taken a life, then he is strong enough to be back”.
“Or maybe he is back”, Nora noted.
The fear emanating from the woman’s eyes was enough to tell Nora about how dangerous whoever she was referring to was. Her mother was terrified no doubt, and by the looks of the markings on the walls which looked like warding spells, she could guess she was frantically trying to keep something out.
“Who is he?” Nora asked again. “What does he want?”
Her mother got up and began pacing around the room frantically. She bit her nails and shot Nora odd glances before continuing on her path once again.
“Firstly, I find out dad has been hiding secrets from me and now you’re doing the same too’, Nora sounded disappointedly. “I wonder if I ever really meant anything to the both of you”.
She got up and motioned to leave, but her mother followed her hurriedly and stopped.
“You wouldn’t understand! We are trying to protect you!’ the woman sounded close to tears.
Nora scoffed, turned around with reddened eyes and shot back at her mother. “What are you protecting me from? Is it the truth that I had a brother, or the fact our bloodline is cursed?”
Her mother turned pale immediately. “How did you know of him? Who told you about him?”
“Aunt Laura and Father might have slipped and hinted at it”, Nora replied with a grin intended to get at her mother.
The act was working, and it caused the woman to grow a look of despair on her face. Her breath heightened and her hands began to tremble as she struggled to keep herself on her feet. She turned around, looked for somewhere she could lean against, and found herself a spot by the window.
“What is it?” Nora asked. “You look terrified”.
Her mother bobbed her head and swallowed hard. “Laura is dead, or at least, has been for a while now, and your brother is the devil running this entire ordeal”.
Nora felt her lungs collapse as wind hurried out of it. She staggered backwards and tried hard not to believe anything her mother had just said. She had seen her Aunt Laura in the flesh and the woman looked perfect and undead. She had spent the past few hours in the house with her, just as the others had and nothing stood out asides her intricate knowledge of the tarot cards.
“That’s impossible”, Nora replied. “I saw her… we were together and she has taught me quite some bit about the tarot card so far”.
Her mother waved her hands and shook her head. “Laura is dead and whoever you saw or whoever showed up at your door cannot be my sister because only one in every generation is allowed the gift to read cards”.
Nora’s heart sunk and her insides felt hot with worry.
“It is time you got to know the truth about your brother and our history as a whole”, her mother sighed, clapped her hands and suddenly caused the room to fall into darkness.
Nora felt scared but some relief came with the fact that her mother was standing right there before her. She watched the candles around the living room table light up immediately, prompting the duo to head in the direction. Her mother settled into a seat opposite that of Nora’s and held out the tarot cards towards her daughter.
“You can only see everything if you decide to read it yourself”, she whispered.
Worried sick and frightened beyond her depths, Nora retrieved the cards from her mother as she made a rather bothersome discovery.
“No blood”, Nora whispered.
Her mother nodded her head. “Go ahead and take a reading darling and you’d see how it all came to be”.
Nora nodded her head, readied herself to begin shuffling the cards, while her mother smiled and held her hands out over the flames.
“You can do it darling… I can see the power in you burning brighter than any of us ever could have had”, she spurred on the girl.
Closing her
