The Hollow Ones(39)

“What is in the back room here?” he asked.

She kept smiling. “That is a private office, and where we do readings.”

“We would like a reading, then,” said Blackwood. “My associate, Miss Hardwicke, would like a spiritual consultation.”

“Consultations and divinations are by appointment only.”

“Is there someone ahead of us?”

“No…” said the counter woman.

“I see your prices on the wall behind the counter.” Blackwood pulled a wad of cash from his trouser pocket and peeled two fifties off the top. “Here you are.”

Odessa said, “Mr. Blackwood, may I speak with you a minute?”

The woman received the bills and looked past Odessa to the front of the store. She spoke what sounded like a derivation of Creole. The old woman rose slowly from her folding chair and closed and locked the front door, flipping a sign that read, PRIVATE READING, PLEASE COME BACK IN 15 MINUTES.

Odessa said to Blackwood, “I don’t want a reading.”

“Come, come,” he said, eager to get into the back room.

The old woman shuffled past Odessa, smelling of ash. She waved Odessa on with an arthritic hand, her robe swishing along the floor.

Odessa wasn’t sure what Blackwood was up to, but she was certain she didn’t like being the unwitting subject. She stepped through the door next to a selection of amulets, talismans, and charms.

The back room looked half storeroom, half break room. The counter woman whisked away a soda cup and fast-food bag from the reading table. If Blackwood was expecting to find the shop’s owner back here, he was disappointed.

“Please sit,” she said, indicating a preferred chair.

Odessa looked at Blackwood. She assumed they could leave now.

He pulled out the chair for her.

Rather than question him, she chose to trust that he had a plan. With a sharp look at him, one that she hoped conveyed this trust, she sat, Blackwood sliding the chair in beneath her.

The old woman sat across the table. Blackwood and the counter woman remained standing, like seconds in a duel. The old woman unboxed a deck of Tarot cards, shuffling them gently with her stiff hands and clumsy fingers. She spoke, and the counter woman translated her words for Odessa.

“Please relax and clear your thoughts.”

Yeah, right, thought Odessa. She made a show of dropping her shoulders and exhaling.

She smiled at the old woman, awaiting the performance.

The old woman dealt four oversize cards facedown onto the table. She turned them over in order, one at a time, not speaking until the fourth card had been revealed.

“You are in a secure, healthy relationship with the man in your life,” the counter woman translated. “He is a good man, and devoted. He has genuine feelings for you. You are his one true love.”

Odessa nodded. So she was starting with the soft touch.

“But he is not yours.”

Not her one true love? Odessa smiled sharply. “Isn’t that kind of a bold statement?” she said.

The counter woman did not translate Odessa’s comment for the old woman, whose crooked, wrinkled fingers pawed gently at the cards’ faces. “He will be financially secure. Successful in his field. He will take a trip soon. A new man will come into your life.”

Now she was coming in with the destabilizing statement, meant to stir up Odessa’s emotions, get her engaged and vulnerable. Fat chance. Odessa glanced at Blackwood to see if he was enjoying the show…and also to make clear to him that she was not.

Another four cards went down. The old woman spent a few moments considering them. Her gaze darkened.

“This is a time of great transition for you. Great danger: Something evil has crossed your path.”

Odessa did her best to hide her reaction. She was certain these charlatans profiled their marks, tailoring prophecies to their customers’ reactions. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing she had responded to their generic prediction.

“This is not the first time you have become the focus of a great darkness. You are not an attractor of darkness, however.” She puzzled over the cards here. “You are more of a…a conduit. A go-between.” The counter woman was having some difficulty translating the term. “An agent.”

Again she glanced at Blackwood, hearing an echo of his earlier words. She wondered what was going on here.

The counter woman translated: “You are the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter.”

“I’m a…what?” Odessa did the math quickly. “I’m one of six. I have five siblings.” Odessa wanted to say more, but thought that maybe this woman’s game was to trick her into divulging personal information. She clammed up.

“You are the seventh,” said the old woman.

“Okay,” said Odessa, annoyed. “Anything else?” She wanted to be done with this.

The old woman laid another card down, this time faceup. “You have a slight backup in your intestines.”

Odessa could have done without hearing that. “That’s great, that’s quite enough. Thank you.”

Odessa started to stand, but the old woman spoke sharply to the counter woman, the two of them having a conversation.

The counter woman said, “She asks if you want to know about your father.”