Page 20 of Chaos
Felix let out a little hiss like he didn’t like it, but nothing could ruin Reyson’s mood.
“He’s in your future, my witch. Yours too, cat. Mine as well. The fates have tied the three of us. Something is coming.”
“The Three of Pentacles,” Felix gasped.
“What?”
“I told you not to pick and choose the cards when you drew that spread. You were so focused on the Major Arcana and the Five of Swords that you neglected the Three of Pentacles. You asked what to do about bloody Chaos when you drew the cards. It told you several things, but it also told you that you’d have help. You threw a wobbly over The Lovers instead of focusing on the full deck.”
Reyson just winked at me.
“The Lovers? I told you.”
I glared at Felix for letting that tidbit slip, but he was right. I flipped my shit when I got tricked into raising a god, and the first thing he did when he wakes up was talk about us marrying, then I drew The Lovers. I didn’t ignore it, though. I knew the whole spread was significant, but I needed time to figure out what everything meant.
“Well, Gabriel drew the exact same spread. He came here to apply for a library card to research. I offered to do a reading for him to see if it would clarify anything, and I drew it again. My question was what to do about Reyson. His question was about his life in general. He’s a Morningstar.”
Felix knew what that meant, but Reyson didn’t seem to. I tried to explain.
“Gabriel is a descendent of a fallen angel. A pretty famous one. His family eventually earned respect, but one of his ancestors made a deal with a demon a long time ago and caused a lot of trouble. It’s probably going to be another five hundred years before the magical community forgets about it. That family had it worse with the shunning because of the Morningstar name. I’m not sure if Gabriel knows all of that since most people have forgotten.”
“I know of angels. They are much younger than I am, but they were only just getting involved in Earth matters when I left for the aether.”
“Lucifer lost the plot and tried to rebel,” Felix said. “He got banished from wherever the angels live. He fell to Earth and sired a few children before he disappeared forever. Some people think he’s off running Hell and wrangling the demons, and some people think they forgave him and went back home. No one knows for sure.”
“Demons get really mad if you ask about him,” I said.
“I’m familiar with demons, too,” Reyson said. “Younger than me, but power-hungry little things that like meddling in things they shouldn’t. I used to get blamed for their antics all the time. Demons are not my favorite things. I can tell you one thing for certain. They would not follow one man and make him king.”
“Can we focus on my spread? We’ll never figure out demons. All this is tracing back to you, Reyson. Someone wanted you back here, and now my tarot cards are acting up.”
Reyson just tucked a curl behind my ear and smiled.
“I don’t use cards to predict the future, but if one of those cards says you will have a team to fight what is coming, then you can count on me to be a part of it.”
“What exactly is coming, and who thought you would help them if they brought you back?”
“A complete fool would think they could control me. But every possibility I see with you and all these people that keep getting added has a major fight in it ahead of us. Several supernatural species will be involved, and it’s going to draw the attention of the humans. They will join the fight, and many people will die.”
“Unless we figure this out and stop them, right? We have this entire library, a warlock who used to be a familiar, a god, a descendent of an angel, and me. I already have two suspects.”
Reyson just shrugged.
“Tell me who they are, and I’ll kill them now. Problem solved.”
“One is a Hellhound, and the other is only still alive because of a deal with a demon. If you kill the Hellhound, the demons will retaliate, and I don’t think there is a way to kill Dorian with that deal. His painting is in the vault, but they might get upset for breaking their deal if we destroy it. We have to do this other way.”
“Hettie came in with a bunch of other hedge witches,” Felix said. “We don’t know where Dorian or the Hellhound is. Whoever got the hedge witches to do their dirty work will wonder why they haven’t brought Reyson back, and the other witches are going to wonder where Hettie is. Someone will come in here looking for her. I say we give them a little chaos in their lives. He can do that Jedi trick he did on the Morningstar guy.”
Reyson just clapped his hands together loudly. Felix and I jumped.
“Anyone involved in my resurrection will now feel the pull to come to visit this library. They won’t be able to resist it, or it will do horrendous things to their digestion. Give it time. They will come.”
Reyson was super handy in a pinch. I needed to do my part if we were to be a team. I might be a librarian, but I had specific skills. Minerva Krauss was a genius when it came to curses. She’d written several books here in the library, and she taught me at the Academy.
She should finish that book soon and coming back to discuss it with me over tea and cookies in the alcove where all that was allowed.
I needed to find out all the curses she knew that were too dangerous to put into print or teach to college students.
