Page 17 of The Nephilim's Touch
Gabe snorts as his long fingers graze over the countertop right in front of Top Hat Guy. “Wait, like the neighboring county?”
“Like the neighboring county. Hence why I go by Van. Vanderburgh issucha mouthful.”
Gabe’s lips twitches as if he’s holding back a laugh. Or a joke.
Top Hat Guy tips his head in acknowledgement. “Well, Van, what can I do for you?”
I spin and take in the shop. It’s quaint, and just seeing the library ladders makes me itch to play on them, but for Gabe, I’ll refrain. “I believe we’re just looking until the sun goes down?”
Gabe shrugs. “Unless you got in new plants over the last few hours?” He’s so damn hopeful.
Top Hat Guy shakes his head. “How about a tarot reading while you wait?”
“Oh, I haven’t had my cards read in a while.” I sidle up to the counter where Top Hat Guy reaches over and grabs something from my t-shirt pocket.
“I wondered where that’d gone off to.” Top Hat shows us that strange Consort/Empress card before shuffling it into a deck that seems to have appeared out of nowhere. “The cards get up to no good sometimes.”
“That’s the card that was in my book!” Gabe says.
“Curious,” is all Top Hat Guy says. The three of us go silent as he shuffles. “Anything in particular you’d like guidance on?”
Gabe taps his lips with his pointer finger as he thinks. “I don’t know.”
I hop up on the counter with my tail flicking around behind me like a cat. “What about how to learn my lesson so I can lose this ASAP?” I lift my shirt to reveal the countdown device ticking away. Okay, it doesn’t actually tick, thank fuck. But it’s annoying justknowingit’s there.
“What’s your lesson?” Top Hat Guy asks as he continues his shuffling.
I wave my hand around. “Something about not being selfish and losing my temper. I think it’s bullshit. I was protecting my family when I killed Drake, but no one ever listens to me. They just say how selfish I am?—”
“That you ran away,” Top Hat Guy says. When I glare at him, he holds his hands up. “That’s what the rumors say.”
“So youdoknow what’s going on,” I grind out.
“A bit.” He goes back to shuffling and I have no idea where Gabe’s gone off to.
I growl and try to keep my tail from igniting again. “Then don’t act like you don’t. Why wouldn’t I have run? I broke the stupid rule that says I can’t kill someone outside of a deal. Poe has a hard-on for his stupid rules and doesn’t hesitate to dole out punishment.”
“What would have happened if you had just gone to Poe and explained?” Top Hat Guy keeps his eyes on the tarot cards.
“I’ll never know, I guess.” I let my shirt drop to cover the device.
“Perhaps, next time, talk to him instead of running?”
“No.” I hop off the counter and cross my arms. “That’s not how I roll.”
Top Hat Guy just nods and holds out the deck of cards. “Cut the deck however you want, then draw a card.”
Being extra, I cut the deck into seven piles, then flip the top card from the middle pile. “Son of a bitch,” I laugh out.
“The Consort,” Top Hat Guy says. “Curious.”
We both look up to find Gabe watching us with wide eyes and his hands behind his back, like he’s hiding something. “Uh…”
“What do you have there, Gabe?” Top Hat Guy asks as the nephilim walks up to the counter to present none other than his own Consort card.
“I think it likes me.”
“Or the deck’s rigged,” I growl out as my battle with flame dies and both my tail and horns catch fire.
