The Fortune Teller(65)

As her consciousness began to slip through the sieve into the realm of dreams, for the first time she yearned for her grandmother.





Ace of Cups

The countryside whizzed by like a windmill spinning too fast.

Semele sat in the back of the car, just a young girl. She rolled down the window and leaned her head out, letting the air whip her face.

“Darling, we’re going in circles,” Helen said to her husband as she turned the map in her hands upside down.

“What’s this?” Joseph stepped on the brake and the car slowed with the rest of the traffic. “Some kind of accident?” He tried to see ahead.

They inched forward and soon had a clear view from the left windows. Up ahead a man lay in a pool of blood with a mangled bicycle beside him. His broken body was bent at the wrong angles, and his open gaze held the empty stillness of death. Semele had never seen anything so graphic. Their car passed inches from the wreck; the door was the only barrier between her and the man’s body.

Then the dream took over. Semele was no longer on the ground. She was staring down at the accident from a bird’s-eye view. The moment merged into another time and place: now she was in a helicopter.

She was older and Theo sat beside her. She looked out the window at a sprawling city, knowing a monster waited somewhere on the ground. She turned back to Theo, then leaned across the seat and kissed him, as if this moment together might be their last.

Theo whispered something in her ear and kissed her back. The roar of the helicopter filled her ears, and the world tipped beneath the blades. They wrapped their arms around each other, reveling in their need and the hunger of being alive.

Then the helicopter descended into the future and the dream caved in.





King of Wands

When Semele awoke the next morning, fragments of the dream stayed with her. She remembered the car ride and the bike accident—those were real memories her subconscious had served up. When she was nine her family had gone on vacation to Austria and she had seen an accident on the side of the road. She hadn’t thought about that trip in years.

Then there was the helicopter ride with Theo—and that kiss. What had that been about? Her thoughts returned to the moment she’d shared with Theo in the gallery. She had replayed their stolen kiss a thousand times.

A heady sense of anticipation filled her. Theo would be here soon. They had a lot to discuss. But first, she had something very important to find.

*

She looked all day, in every drawer and cabinet, in every inch of closet space. She was growing more frustrated by the minute. It was Wednesday and she had to return to New York tomorrow. Mikhail expected to meet with her Friday morning to discuss Beijing, but she couldn’t leave New Haven without finding what her grandmother had left her.

For the first time since her father’s death she entered her parents’ bedroom. Her mother had already given up on the search and had gone downstairs to make dinner. Semele could hear her singing something terribly off-key, possibly with a glass of wine in hand.

Semele grimaced. “God, please help me.”

She lay back on her parents’ bed and closed her eyes. For a moment, she felt herself drifting off. Then she looked over at her father’s nightstand. All his things were still there: Fahrenheit 451, his favorite book, the earplugs he wore at night because “his beloved wife snored,” and the Geiger wristwatch he took off right before bed.

He had bought the watch on that same trip to Austria so many years ago and had refused to get a new one. Helen could only talk him into replacing the leather band.

Semele picked up the watch and laid it across her chest. Closing her eyes, she felt her body become heavy and, for a moment, it felt as though her wrist had become his. Her mind emptied, floating untethered. Suspended in this limbo, her mind brought forth the answer she was seeking. With a gasp she opened her eyes and sat up. She knew where her father had put the package.





The Tower

The bank opened at eight the next morning. Semele and Helen arrived at 7:55 with the key to her father’s safe-deposit box. Semele had to bribe her mother with a venti-macchiato-something to get her out of the house: Helen was not a morning person. She wore oversized sunglasses and sipped her coffee stoically.

“Why haven’t you looked in it yet?” Semele asked again. It had been six months since her father died, and her mother had yet to open the safe-deposit box.

“Because everything I need is in the house. I have no idea why we even have one.”

Semele had thought it odd too when she came across the key.

Inside they both presented their IDs, her father’s death certificate, and the will. The manager escorted them into the back. He took out the box and led them into a small private room and told them to take their time.

Semele looked at her mother. “Do you want to do it?”

“No, you go ahead.”

Before she lost her courage, Semele gave the lock a decisive turn and opened the lid.

Inside was a legal-size envelope thick with papers. On the front her father had written:

For Semele Cavnow

A square box wrapped in old postal paper rested on top of the envelope. The paper had been opened and taped back up.

Semele motioned to the box. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

Helen nodded.

Semele already knew what was inside, but she still couldn’t allow herself to believe.