Page 56 of The Magic of Betrayal
"Got it. Thanks, big guy!"
"Okay, now it's our turn! To the back room for privacy. Move it, girl." Roberta poked me in the side to get me moving and I felt like a sheep being herded by a pack of shepherds.
"Fine, fine, okay!" I scolded so they'd quit jabbing me to move my ass.
We filed into the tarot room and took the exact same seats we had the last time they'd cornered me and spouted their craziness about the prophecy. Turned out that it wasn’t as crazy as it seemed seeing as how everything went to shit afterward. They exchanged a look and then turned to me in synchronicity that was creepy as shit.
"You must be careful, dear girl. Trouble has come to Emerald Lakes and more is on the way," Matilda said ominously.
"Betrayal. There will be betrayal and everything you know will be called into question. A transformation will soon happen. Lies will be exposed," Roberta shuddered visibly.
"So many lies," Matilda spat.
"Who is going to betray me? What lies?" I questioned, despite not wanting to take them seriously, I had to admit that there were a lot of strange things happening and the guys were taking the prophecy to heart so I should do the same, but it was hard.
"We haven't seen that, just that it will happen and you must stay true to the path," Roberta explained, like I should know what that meant.
"What path? I'm sorry you guys, I don't know what that means and there's not much I can do when I am only given cryptic messages. If the stars were really so concerned, they'd be more forthcoming with information!" I snapped, but I couldn't help it, I was getting so frustrated with all of this nonsense.
Roberta looked sad, her mouth frowning as she told me softly, "They didn't mean for it to happen like this. Just know that."
"The stars? Who didn't?" I leaned forward, but there was nothing more to be said.
"Just be on alert, child. That's all you can do. What's going to happen is already written," Matilda sighed, and with that, they stood and stalked from the room, leaving me sitting there wondering what the hell was going on, and how much worse could things actually get?
Letting their words sink in, I stared at the dead cactus in the center of the table. The same one that had bloomed so beautifully for me the last time the three of us had sat in this room, was now a spiky black blob and the petals were strewn on the table, shriveled up little blackened wisps of what once was a work of natural art.
Hopefully, that wasn't going to be a metaphor.
* * *
After seeingthe Seers out of the shop, I flipped the open sign to closed and told Frank and Arlo to take the rest of the day off. There were only a couple hours left until close anyway and I just didn't feel like dealing with anything else today.
I put on some music and made my way back to my office to hopefully get some work done. So much for a productive day. Frank's drink was still in my system, and I felt fantastic aside from my sour mood. Wonder if he could mix me up something to fix that?
Worst part of owning my own business was all the stupid math. I'd been meaning to get an accountant to handle all of this but I was still dragging my feet in pure Saige fashion. Once I was positive my eyes were going to stay crossed if I did one more calculation, I pushed away from the desk and stretched, my eyes catching the clock on the wall. Holy moons, two hours had just gone by like nothing.
My evil inner witch took that opening all too smoothly;you should stop by the grocery store and get some ice cream, and not look at another number for the rest of time.
Couldn't argue with that logic.Hmm, do I want peanut butter chocolate swirl or mint chocolate chip?
"If I could turn back time, if I could find a wayyyy."
I jumped when Cher's voice started blasting from my phone and my initial shock faded to amusement when 'Thunder Daddy' popped up as the caller.
"Why hello, Thunder Daddy," I cooed, stifling a giggle.
"Is this some kind of new kink you want to try, baby girl?" Cam sighed, like he was no longer shocked by my bullshit.
"Ask Kai, I'm positive he's the one who came up with the nickname."
"Fucking Kai..." Cam huffed, and I could picture him running his hand through his hair with exasperation.
"What'd you say, Thunder Daddy? You wanna fuck me?" I heard Kai shout in the background and I laughed so hard, tears were making an appearance.
"Ignore him. I'm not even going to acknowledge his ass," Cam told me.
"You want my ass, Thunder Daddy? Is that what you just said?"
