Page 33 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
Ellis snorted and rolled her eyes, as if snapping herself out of a trance. The questioning look on her face shifted into something else. Acceptance.
“Doom. Got it,” she said with a bitter laugh, shaking her head.
“It’s not doom,” I replied quickly. “It’s reality, really. It’s... life breaking apart so it can be rebuilt. Sometimes things have to go to shit before they can make sense again, you know?”
“Is that your professional opinion?” she asked, her tone sharp enough to make my spine straighten as I worked to conceal my annoyance. “You can’t sell this to me as a positive thing,” she added, her expression unreadable but all-knowing. “From my experience, people don’t come out of collapse better. They come out broken and scarred.”
I frowned at her words, my eyes searching her face for a beat.
“Scars don’t mean broken,” I murmured slowly, beginning to shuffle the cards again. “They mean healed.”
My words earned me a look—something sharp and steely—but it wasn’t anger. It was something else. Like I’d touched a nerve, something deep.
Another card slipped from the deck.
The Star.
I smirked to myself, feeling a flicker of smugness as the card backed up my last words. I looked to Ellis, who stared at it, unblinking, before—begrudgingly—shifting her gaze to me.
“The Star is hope,” I said, trying to hide my satisfaction. “It’s what comesafterall the destruction, the pain, the upheaval. The stillness after the storm. The light in the dark.”
Ellis blinked and pursed her lips.
“After,” she repeated, her voice cold.
Neither of us spoke. I wasn’t sure what to say. For the first time during a reading, I lost my words and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was her unbelieving presence, or the fact that I felt mildly self-conscious around her.
The way her cold green eyes locked onto the card made me wonder if she wanted to shoot laser beams at it.
She looked like she was waiting for the cards to open their mouths and speak directly to her.
She was carrying pain, I decided, feeling my ire toward her soften slightly. I mean, we all were. We all carried some form of pain or trauma that guided the bulk of our words and actions. But she… she was gripping something so tightly inside her, and it was eating her alive.
Ellis blinked suddenly, as if snapping out of a trance, and cleared her throat, making me jump as those vivid green eyes locked onto mine.
“Where’s the rest of the show, then?” she snapped. “Crystal balls? Will you curse me if I leave early?”
I raised a brow, pursing my lips. “Only if you’re rude about it. So, it’s not looking good for you right now.”
She snorted and got to her feet. “This is all bullshit. I’m done.”
I don’t know what possessed me to push her. Normally, when confronted with a nonbeliever, you just let them go on their way.But something in the back of my mind was practically screaming not to let her storm out of here.
I stood, too, a rush of unidentifiable emotion surging through me.
“What is it about the cards that gets to you, Ellis?” I asked, clutching my grandmother’s deck like it was a lifeline. “Were you this affronted when your friend used to read them for you? Do you truly not believe in it, or do you just hate how much sense they make?”
Her lips parted, eyes widening in slight surprise, but no words came out.
“You don’t like being challenged,” I continued with a shrug. “You said so yourself, you like facts. Reality. Except we’re two cards in, and I think we’re diving headfirst intoyourreality.”
“You don’t knowanythingabout me,” she bit out, her voice cold as she folded her arms. “Maybe you think you’ve got something on me because you people are trained to read body language to cover for you when those stupid cards come up. But if you think you know anything about me—or who I am—you are sorely mistaken.”
My skin tingled, and my heart was racing. I wondered for a moment if Ida could hear us—we were definitely loud—but then, without warning, the wind chimes rattled again, more forcefully this time. The candles flickered violently, as if a real gust of wind had blown through the room.
The sharp, sudden clinking of the chimes echoed in my ears, setting my pulse hammering. Then, just as I registered the sound, each candle began to sputter out.
One by one.
