Chapter Six – Sometimes, in a Crystal Ball
Cards were considered an unusual way to foresee the future, and Cassandra despised them with a passion. However, seeing how limited his funds were, Ryder couldn’t afford being picky about the methods this city clairvoyant chose to conduct his fortunetelling. Jack shuffled the cards and laid them out in front of him with a flourish.
“I see…” Jack said slowly and tapped the table with his fingers in a staccato rhythm, “yes, I see.”
“What do you see?” Ryder asked. The strange illustrations on the faces of the cards meant nothing to him. If he were to consider only the images painted on the shiny surface of each card, he would call them ominous. But they didn’t smell of anything foul if he didn’t count the chemical that must have been used to make the colors pop. Those cards weren’t magic; most likely, this clairvoyant was either a beginner who couldn’t yet control his gift, or the tools he had chosen were the wrong sort.
“I see,” Jack frowned and grabbed the cards to shuffle them again, “something that I can’t tell you.”
Ryder startled the young clairvoyant by slamming his fist against the covered table. “You will tell it to me right away! This is the fourth time you’ve laid down the cards. What are you waiting for?”
“Okay, okay, don’t get upset,” Jack hurried to appease him. “It’s just that,” he scratched the crown of his head, pulled at his nose and then grimaced, “people usually don’t like their fortunes told like this.”
“Stop stalling,” Ryder growled. “I am not people. I am the alpha of--”
“Luna’s Sentinels, yes, I know,” Jack said brightly. “But it’s weird that they always fall the same way.”
“Why would it be weird? The fate is the same no matter how much you shuffle those cards.”
“You make a fine point, Mr. Asherman. The thing is,” Jack said and leaned over the table to point at a card with a lugubrious illustration, “that means death. And I don’t feel comfortable telling you that your future points out that you might die.”
Ryder nodded solemnly. Of course, he hadn’t yet managed to secure his fated bond with his mate, and what this young city clairvoyant was telling him was in line with Cassandra’s premonitions. As long as he didn’t change anything, his fate, and that of his pack, would remain the same.
Jack stared at him in admiration. “Anyone else would have left by now, slamming the door. You are amazingly calm, Mr. Asherman.”
“It is because I know it to be my fate. I am here in Glasstone to change it.”
“Change your fate?”
“Yes. However, you are telling me nothing new. What else do your cards say? I cannot read them.”
Jack scratched his head again. “You mentioned Theodore Pembroke as your potential lover.”
“Mate, not lover,” Ryder corrected him.
“Yes, mate. But he’s a blond.”
“Fair-haired, yes,” Ryder said.
Jack tapped his cards again. “Your love interest doesn’t look like that, though. Also, he’s a, how should I say this… a commoner.”
“A commoner? Are we living in the sixteen-hundreds?”
“Well, I thought it would be the sort of language you’d understand. My apologies. What I mean to say is that the cards reveal that your future love interest – not the current one, mind you – is an ordinary person. An Average Joe, as we’d say around here.” Jack was shifting in his chair, uncomfortable with reading Ryder’s fate.
As he should be, since he was saying a boatload of bollocks. Average Joe was how Danny had introduced himself the first time – it annoyed Ryder to think of that particular situation given the circumstances. Had someone put Danny under a spell too? Someone with a deck of lying cards like Jack the clairvoyant before him? He had a mind to grab the young man by the scruff of his neck and throw him outside on his ass. People of such a sort had no business reading people’s future.
“Do you know a Daniel Wilson? Danny, as he goes by?” Ryder asked.
Jack shrugged and shook his head. “I’ve never heard of the guy. Why are you asking me about this person out of the blue?”
“He likes to go around, claiming that he’s Average Joe.”
“Like in my cards?” Jack’s eyes grew wide behind the thick glasses. “That’s a weird coincidence.”
“There are no coincidences. Your cards are lying.”
“Really?” Jack appeared slightly irritated by being called out on his act. “Just earlier, you were totally fine with dying. Now you can’t accept that you might just like this Danny person?”
“Is it him in the cards?” Ryder leaned over the table to study the suspicious looking things, but as much as he tried, the pictures said nothing to him.
“I don’t know. You’re the one who seems convinced of it,” Jack shot back. “Anyway, I was only doing this to prove to my friend that no one would take me seriously if I were to open a fortunetelling business.” With brisk moves, he began gathering all the cards from the table. “This session is free, so go ahead and leave.”
“Not so fast.” Ryder grabbed Jack’s wrist, forcing him to drop the cards back on the table. “Lay the cards again. If they fall the same way, I will listen to all you have to say.”
“Will you leave after?” Jack was eyeing the exit as if he wanted to make a run for it.
“Yes, I promise. I will not bother you again.”
Jack plopped down on his chair and began shuffling the cards. “See?” he said, once he had them all displayed again. “This fair-haired man,” he said, pointed at a card, “holds a sword, so he’s your enemy. Confront him, and you’ll meet your end. And here we have Average Joe waiting for you. But this shows a path, so there’s a choice you must make, I suppose.”
“You suppose?”
“Well, I got into this sort of thing only a couple of months ago. My friends hate it when I tell them the truth as the cards show it. That doesn’t make it less the truth. Just one of them thought I could really read the cards and read them well. And you hate it too,” Jack said quickly. “Which proves my point. I cannot read the future people enjoy hearing. Therefore, fail. You know, I’m grateful that you dropped by. It would have been something if I got to tell you that you’d marry Theodore Pembroke, and then that happened. It would have been an incredible boon to my business.” The young man gestured around. “But now I need to kiss this goodbye, and you know what? I’m glad. I’m so totally glad. Because I don’t want this burden more than I hate being unemployed.”
The clairvoyant was talking so much, it made him dizzy. Obviously, he wasn’t very good at his job, but there was no denying that the cards fell the same, each and every time.
“Do you recognize this?” He placed a small charred fragment of incense on the table. Although it had burned his fingers, he had managed to smuggle it out of Theodore’s office. A conviction that it had something to do with the curse affecting both him and his mate was taking root in his mind.
Jack stopped his complaints to take a good look at the incense fragment. “Chance has it that I know. It’s from a posh store selling high-end stuff. Not that I ever shop there. But it’s a good place for playing dares.”
Playing dares. This clairvoyant was a wacky fellow. “Tell me everything you know about it.”
“Well, for starters, it costs a lot. Also,” Jack drew the charred fragment near his nose, “it is not the sort of scent that just anyone can tolerate. I mean, it kind of turns my stomach even if it’s inactive, as it is now by the looks of it.”
Jack had to have an even more sensitive nose than he did, because in this state, the incense no longer seemed dangerous. Ryder could barely detect it, yet this human’s nose was still offended by it.
“Take me to this store.”
“Who, me? Now?” Jack pulled back, looking for the exit again.
“Yes. It’s not like you have other people lining up to hear their fortunes told by you.” To make a point, Ryder went to the door, opened it, allowed Jack a short glimpse at the freedom that lay beyond it, and then closed it. “If you care about your reputation as a clairvoyant, you will assist me in my quest. My success will be a boon for your business, should it occur,” Ryder added. It looked like this young man liked the word ‘business’ a lot.
“What’s the point of it? What’s with this particular scent that makes you so interested?” Jack asked.
“It was in my mate’s office, stinking up the place,” Ryder explained. “What you said about him yielding a sword is the truth. He gave me this.” To show what he meant, he opened his jacket and showed Jack the claw marks Theodore had given him.
Jack yelped and jumped from his chair. “What the heck, man? You should go to a doctor or something! And what do you mean? He attacked you with a sword?”
Ryder huffed. A slow-witted human had been chosen by the powers that be to do their bidding and become a clairvoyant. How couldn’t they see that Jack was a bad choice? He barely understood the world around him, let alone the unseen.
“No. With his claws.”
“Claws,” Jack repeated and nodded, as if that revelation was enough to enlighten him on matters only he was interested in.
“Yes. Because he is also an alpha, the wounds will take a while to heal. But they will. I am concerned about the T-shirt. Such things cost currency, and I have it in short supply.”
Jack made a move to scratch his head, but he must have noticed the look Ryder gave him because he gave up. He began pulling at one of his ears instead. “Are you telling me that Theodore Pembroke attacked you? You should have recorded it with your phone and then posted it on social media! It would have gone viral in like a second!”
Viral. So the curse could be a virus affecting Theodore’s blood. Maybe it was because of that he appeared so unaffected by the horrible scent of that incense. Ryder didn’t care about any of the nonsense coming out of Jack’s mouth otherwise.
“Come with me,” he commanded. “It is in your best interest as a clairvoyant to see how you can assist me in my quest.”
“Clairvoyant? No, no, no, I’m just a guy who enjoys playing with cards and got a few things right. Really, I’m ready to hang up the towel. This thing is not for me. Because, now that I think about it, you better go to the police. Also, to the hospital. That wound might get infected,” Jack said, the words pouring out of him dozens per second. “Gosh, I can’t believe that I almost thought—never mind. I can’t come with you. I have laundry to collect, and some other chores, like buying bread. But it was nice to meet you, Mr. Asherman.” Jack moved around the table and gestured for Ryder to get out.
“You do not decide if you want to be a clairvoyant or not,” Ryder boomed, making Jack screech and jump like a scared feline. “You will come with me.”
“But I don’t have time,” Jack whined. “Look, I’m a fraud, okay? None of this is real.” He gestured around. “It’s a thing people do for fun, and I’m bad at it. Nothing I said to you is true. I have no idea why I invented all that stuff. Maybe I wanted to turn a quick buck.”
“You charged me nothing for this session,” Ryder reminded him. He grabbed Jack by his wrist and pulled him along. “But I will pay you for your time if you show me to the store where my mate got that cursed item.”
“Pay me? You can’t afford a T-shirt, man,” Jack complained.
The currency he had could only be used for something important. Since Danny – Average Joe, since it looked like this imagined name played a role in Ryder’s fate – was allowing him to stay under his roof for free, he could afford putting the valuable bills he had on him in Jack’s hands.
Jack tried to take a step back but curiosity got the better of him. He moved in closer and looked at the money. “You’re giving me three hundred dollars to show you to a store?”
“Are your services more expensive than that? I will be in your debt.”
“No, not, it’s a little too much. Okay, I’ll take one hundred. Wait, I also need to buy some groceries today… I mean, I could do with a little more than ramen,” Jack mumbled to himself, “ah, damn it, I think I’ll help myself to two hundreds--”
“Take it all.” Ryder forced all the bills into Jack’s hand.
“But it’s too much!” Jack exclaimed.
“Then you owe me,” Ryder said matter-of-factly.
“Ah! Damn it. Well-played. But let’s stop by a drugstore and get some bandages at least. I really have no idea what I would do if you suddenly experience seizures and fall to the ground frothing at the mouth.”
“Have you ever seen a curse like that?” Ryder knew that there had to be an explanation for the young man’s reluctance. As a clairvoyant, he probably saw many things that could affect his mind. Cassandra was half-mad most of the time, which was why it was so difficult to get the truth out of her. In a way, this young man Jack reminded him of her, so he shouldn’t have been so quick to disregard his talents. Yes, he was obviously wrong about Average Joe, who could be Danny, as much as he disliked the idea because the scents in his human host’s house were too pure to be tainted by a curse, but otherwise, Jack had known many things that matched Ryder’s current situation.
“Promise me you won’t kill me and leave me in a ditch,” Jack said, fiddling in his pocket for a set of keys that emerged from one of them with the sound of clinking bells.
Those had to be amulets to fend off evil spirits. There was a small bear, and a girl dressed in a sailor’s outfit, and a cat with crazy-looking eyes, all hanging from the same metal thread that held the keys together. The young clairvoyant most likely had a hard life.
“It appears that you are well protected. You have nothing to worry about,” Ryder said, pointing at the amulets.
Jack followed his eyes to his dangling keys. “Yeah, totally,” he said with a snort. “Let’s go. But first, we need those bandages.”
“No,” Ryder insisted. “I will heal. And I have no currency left anyway. I suppose there are no healers offering their services for free, as you are doing with your gift.”
“Nope, quite the contrary,” Jack said. “But I can spare a little from the money you gave me. If I do that, I’ll feel a little less bad about taking it from you.”
Ryder shrugged. “I will not tolerate delays. Lead me to that store. It must be a place that crawls with evil.”
“Only with overpriced items, and people ready to throw you out on your ass,” Jack explained. “Although, some of the salespeople there… well, you could call them witches for all I care.”
Witches. It matched what Cassandra had warned him about. His path would not be without danger. It had been naïve of him to believe that he would simply get his mate so quickly and return to his pack. The full moon would not be upon them for a while. He still had time.
***
Danny stared at his phone. How would Ryder feel about a little bit of texting? Would he think Danny was clingy? Wait, they weren’t in a relationship, so things like that didn’t matter. They had just shared a bed for a night and enjoyed breakfast together. Since sex hadn’t been in the equation, it was really wrong to assume that it had even been a one-night-stand.
Not a relationship. Not a one-night-stand. But they were friends. They were becoming friends. Ninety-nine percent of the entire population would likely call him nuts for letting a guy stay under his roof without knowing anything about him, but that was where Danny was no longer that cautious guy and had finally cut ties with being condemned to be Average Joe for his entire life.
It was time for that lunch with Vince anyway. He would try to text Ryder later, ask him what he would like to eat for dinner. Yep, it sounded like a great plan.
“Gosh, today’s horoscope tells me that I’m going to find a rich guy,” Kat commented, giggling and showing his phone screen to Jeff.
“Shut up, those things are never true,” Jeff argued, only to annoy his bestie. Although they were on friendly terms, neither of them ever missed a chance to sting the other with well-aimed barbs. “You should have been divorced three times already if they told the truth.”
“Shut up, you’re just jelly,” Kat said. “You just don’t believe in magic. I bet Danny is of a different mind. What sign are you, Danny?”
Danny wanted to tell Kat off, but at the same time he was in a good mood. “I’m a Libra,” he replied, smiling.
Kat scrolled quickly and a crooked smile quirked his lips. “It looks like you’re not in luck, Libra. Disappointment is written in your stars today.”
Danny shrugged. “I don’t believe in that sort of thing, anyway.”
“Don’t tell me. Is it because of that gruff guy who brought you here this morning that you are smiling like that?”
Danny didn’t bother to look Kat’s way, too caught up in his daydream fantasies. “Yes. It was like I was fated to meet him.”
“Fate? And you claim you don’t believe in horoscopes,” Kat reproached him.
“Well, I saw him in a crystal ball, what can I say?” Danny replied, feeling like stretching over the counter like a pleased house pet.
TBC
Author's note: Thank you for reading! In case you want to support me while writing this story, you can do so on my Patreon.
@Derek - things are definitely confusing for Ryder, too... and he will set on a quest to clear the mystery, accompanied, as you know after the current chapter, by Jack. I'm happy to offer surprises.
@DavidB - the cute psychic will play a role... so you will see plenty of him! As well as Ryder and Danny, of course. As for Pembroke, yep, the guy's dangerous.
