Magic Underground: The Complete Collection (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 4)

by Melinda Kucsera

  A setting was revealed that was stereotypically designed to look somewhat like the intimate interior of a fortuneteller’s room. There was the silk-scarf-covered, round table, the crystal ball in the corner, the hanging lengths of coin-bedecked shawls and trinkets, and several chairs positioned around the table which were upholstered in thick, dark velvets and brocades. There were two decks of cards in the center of the table.

  Carol smiled as Lorelei slipped out of the shadows in the back, dressed in flowing colors and textures, her violet eyes hinting at mischief, and glided forward to take a seat in the most ornate of the chairs facing her potential audience. Several people applauded. One person gave a hoot of questionable enthusiasm. Carol smiled. She stood by the front of the stage, where she would be seen in the light.

  Movement behind Lorelei caught Carol’s eye, and Freddie stepped out of the darkness and also seated himself at the table. As he sat, he said something to Lorelei behind his hand, and they both laughed. Lorelei looked up and met Carol’s eyes as if she had known Carol was there the entire time. Her characteristic, silvery ermine stole seemed to also stare. Carol knew it actually was staring at her. Karl was its name, and even though it looked like a normal fur stole, complete with head and feet, it was a ghost. A ghost with a sense of humor, Carol remembered, thinking of how it had played about her feet when she had met Lorelei the last time.

  “Carol! Carol Conley!” she called. “Och, you have to take part in zis! Zis is going to be fun! Come on. You come sit right here!” She beckoned Carol over and into the tent with billowing, Bohemian sleeves.

  Carol was only going to stay to see if she could meet up with Bobbi, but she found herself sitting at the fortuneteller’s table in the open tent.

  “Hello, Lorelei,” she opened. “What’s going on? I understand you’re doing something with Tarot tonight?” Carol looked over at Freddie, seated on Lorelei’s other side from her. “Freddie! How are you? You said you were going to be traveling the last time we spoke, but I didn’t know you were going to be here! Goodness!” She laughed. “I didn’t even know I was going to be here. It’s good to see you both. What’s on the agenda for this evening?”

  There was a sigh in her ear as she put down her bag with the bear in it. “Watch, Carlie,” Ian cautioned, using her familiar nickname. “These twa are plottin’ somethin’, ye ken?”

  Freddie greeted Carol by reaching out, gently squeezing her hand, and giving her a warm smile.

  “My dear, it is so good to see you. This is totally unexpected! But we do seem to travel to the same places, don’t we?” He referred to their unexpected meeting at the Gem Show, almost a year ago. “You know what they say: ‘Great minds think alike’.” He winked and moved his fingers in one of his characteristic, theatrical flourishes. Carol and Freddie Archegon were friends and had spent several weekends together this past year on antiquing trips. She was genuinely pleased to see him, although mystified as to why he would be here with Lorelei. Lorelei did these sorts of shows, but why would she bring Freddie along? Carol figured that she might be able to figure it out as the night went on.

  Lorelei spoke again, her voice quiet but commanding. “Ve are going to have a game tonight… a game with my deck! You zee,” and she looked out at the growing audience, her voice gaining in strength, “Tarot vas originally a game that people used to play around tables just like zis one. Tonight, ve are going to play ze game… with people from ze audience! I have picked my first two players. Who shall be next?”

  Hands went up. Lorelei called up two more people: a tall, heavy-set man with a broad mustache and black cowboy hat, and a middle-aged woman in blue jeans and a maroon sweatshirt with a printed bouquet of flowers on it. The new guests introduced themselves to the audience as “Bill, from Bozeman, Montana,” and “Marion, from Poughkeepsie.” They took seats at the table.

  Bill wore a large, turquoise nugget set in heavy silver on a loose bolo tie around his collar. His hat looked new, like it had never seen a day spent in the sun on the back of a horse. Marion had rings of several colors of gold and gemstones on each of her fingers. Her hair was done in short, poofed curls and her lipstick, a bright coral, clashed with her shirt. Carol recognized patsies when she saw them. She wondered what kind of game this was going to be.

  “Tonight!” Lorelei called out to an audience that was getting steadily larger. “Ve shall play ze Tarot Gambit game! Each player gets one Major Arcana card, and three Minor Arcana cards. You must put your Minor cards together to describe, or foil, your Major card.” She weaved her hands around in the air as she spoke, as if trying to catch smoke with her fingers. “The coin for zis game is not money, no, but some item of importance to you: a vatch, a ring, your hankie left to you by your Great-Grande-Mama. something you value must go into ze pot!” She held up one finger and waved it in front of the crowd. “Each action costs a trinket. You may discard a card to buy a card. Pay a trinket. You may take a card from an opponent. Pay a trinket. Lastly, you may discard a card from your hand to take the top card from ze discard pile. Pay a trinket!” Lorelei howled with theatrical laughter, and the crowd joined her. “Any vay you slice it, ze trinkets are what are worth vinning here. Vinner takes all.” The audience hushed in awe. Lorelei turned to the people around the table. “Are you ready? You are ze ones I have chosen, and none to replace you.”

  “A spell!” Ian’s voice came to her as if beleaguered. “It be a bindin’, Carlie! Watch now. An this isnae a trap, I ken naught.”

  Everyone said they were ready, and Carol halfheartedly raised her hand… which Lorelei took as an assent. She immediately dealt them each a card.

  “Zis is your Major Arcana card. Look at zis card. Feel it! It lives within you! If you need to look up ze meanings of ze cards, there is a tiny booklet in a pocket on ze table-skirt by your seats. Remember: you can use your Major Arcana card as it is… or, if you zo desire, you may flip it over to access its inverted properties. Ah! And you know ze cost, yes?” she looked out at the audience.

  “Pay a trinket!” They shouted together, laughing and elbowing each other.

  Carol looked at her card. It was the Chariot. And it came to her hand inverted. Carol could not turn it over without paying this “trinket” price. She looked at the meaning in the little booklet: You hesitate to take up the reins and have control over your own life. You know you can instigate change, but currently you are not. You have reasons that hold you back, but they are excuses, and you do have options. Recognize your inner resistance, and gain power over it.

  Then Lorelei dealt the three Minor Arcana cards with a practiced sweep of her hands. Carol received a Five of Leaves, a Three of Butterflies, and a Two of Shells. Carol consulted the booklet. The Five of Leaves had to do with loss of, or conflict over, material things such as wealth, health, family, stability. She was not too fond of that. Maybe she could moderate its influence with the other two. She read on. The Three of Butterflies symbolized outside influence over her creative and inspirational energy. Someone of ambition and drive. Carol smirked to herself. If that wasn’t Freddie to a “T”! The Two of Shells seemed to have to do with balance, and of getting stuck there. It spoke of intuition and the importance of paying attention to it; of bending like a reed and being flexible to destiny. Carol mused over her findings.

  “Trinkets please!” Lorelei called out. Freddie pulled a plain chain with a large, faceted, golden topaz pendant out of his pocket. He placed it in the center of the table. The crowd “Ooh-ed”. Next around the playing field was Bill-from-Bozeman. He felt his pockets.

  “No coins, you said.” He harrumphed, then pulled off the bolo tie. He placed the turquoise next to the topaz pendant, its opaque blue contrasting nicely with the glimmering, golden stone. Marion was next. She didn’t say anything, but held up her forefinger, then reached into the pocket of her jeans. She pulled out something dark enclosed within her hand. She placed it on the table. it was a scarab, a large one, carved out of what looked to be nephrite jade. Carol’s mouth fell
open. It was carved single-sided, in the old way, where the feet were etched into the belly along with the markings of the carver. Carol had seen ones like that with Cuneiform on them. She had an old bracelet of them which had been left to her by her Grandmother. But this one was jade, a highly prized stone in Ancient Egypt and, in the ancient ways, a person of stature was entombed with a jade scarab placed on their breast. This was a scarab like that. Carol didn’t sense anything coming off of it. Could it be a knock-off… or were the spirits that were inevitably attached to it just hiding from Freddie?

  Now that is a piece he would very much like to get his hands on, Carol thought. It was her turn. What was she going to put in there? Not the bear, of course. No one would understand that anyway, and Ian wouldn’t want to go with anyone else. Her wedding ring was not an option. All she had left was the moonstone ring in her pocket. She placed it carefully on the table and looked warily at Freddie. He crowed with delight and clapped his hands.

  “I knew you had it! I’ll win it back, you’ll see!” He winked at her, laughing out loud.

  “Oh, zis shall be a rich pot!” The onlookers cheered. “Now!” Lorelei said dramatically, raising her hand with the ermine coiled around her arm, as if simply draped there, “It is time for ze phase of play! Who would like to throw in a trinket and discard to get another card?”

  There was a girl, Carol noticed, watching them play. She had large, horn-rimmed glasses and was bookish. She was staring intently at the cards themselves, almost falling onto the stage to see them better. The shopkeeper with the blue hair passed behind her and tossed a pack of cards by her feet. The bookish girl stared after her and picked them up, quickly depositing them in her satchel with a grin, and returned to watching the game. Carol saw the blue hair flitting through the crowd here and there.

  Clever tactic, Carol thought, Giving out free samples like that. She scanned the onlookers but did not see Bobbi anywhere. I wonder where she is?

  Freddie looked at his hand. He just smiled his wide smile, like a cat who is very pleased with themself.

  “I’ll hold.”

  Bill looked nervously at his cards and pulled a wad of bills from his pocket. He removed the bills from the gold money-clip holding them, put the money back in his pocket, and placed the clip on the pile. Then he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a stone about the size of a golf ball, which he also placed on the pile. The stone was dark and roughly-rounded, with streaks of translucent white and orange running through it. Carol realized it was an agate, a large one. It looked like it had been plucked from a Montana river only days before.

  “Two please,” he said to Lorelei, handing her two cards. She smiled and dealt him the replacements. He looked at them and frowned.

  Marion looked at her cards, and then at the new discard pile. She smiled ruefully, pulled off a ring that was encrusted with what looked like rubies, and tossed it in the middle. She handed Lorelei a card from her hand.

  “I want one off the discard pile,” she said, and was handed the top card as the audience shouted its approval.

  The turn passed to Carol. There was nothing she could do. She was not carrying any trinkets!

  “I’ll also hold,” she announced. The crowd groaned with disappointment.

  “Vell, vell, vell,” Lorelei said. “How interezting! A short game, no? Zis is fine... I plan to play many more of these games tonight!” The crowd roared appreciatively. “It is time to reveal your hands! Players, lay down your cards!”

  Everyone laid their cards down in front of them. They each started studying everyone else’s cards and consulting their little books of meanings.

  “Vait!” Lorelei cried, throwing up her arms. Carol could sense the ghost-ermine’s panicked chittering, as it struggled to cling to its perch. “There is one more thing… ze Dealer’s card is revealed at ze end. It determines ze real meaning behind what you have come up vith!”

  She turned over a Major Arcana card. It was the Hanged Man, showing upside-down to them. Carol thumbed through the book, squinting to see the tiny print.

  The Inverted Hanged Man suggests that your (seemingly) noble deeds of self-sacrifice are useless. There will be no benefit to the Greater Good.

  Carol sighed. That didn’t bode well for her. She considered the other hands laying on the table before her.

  For his Major Arcana card, Freddie had the Magician. Carol wondered how he had managed that. The coincidence was far too suspicious for Carol to feel easy with it. His supporting cards were an Ace, an Eight inverted, and a Child, of Butterflies, Leaves, and Spirals respectively. This translated to: he was a person of importance who had great creative drive, should continue doing what he was doing, and must be careful, lest he become spoiled in immaterial matters and lazy in enlightenment. His cards all supported one another very well, even with the added influence of the inverted Hanged Man.

  Bill had the Emperor. “Ah c’n reinforce mah state of sovereignty pretty darn good!” he stated proudly. His supporting cards were the Seven of Athames: have faith in your knowledge and strength; the Gentleman of Butterflies: there is a need to find and nurture creative will; and the Five of Butterflies: loss of, or conflict over, career or purpose. Bill started to cry. “Ah always wanted to be a painter….” He sobbed quietly into an embroidered hankie he pulled from his pants’ pocket. “You ain’t never seen nothin’ ‘til you seen all that sky in the early mornin’ sunrise.” He blew his nose loudly. “Ah don’t care if ah win. Ah, know what Ah’m gonna do when Ah git back to the Ranch.” He sat back and pensively fingered the buttons on the cuffs of his shirt.

  Marion was showing the Moon, meaning delusion, exaggeration, or undue embellishment about self. Her hand was made of Athames and Shells, representing conflict, fair justice, emotions and relationships, and consisted of a Mademoiselle, a Nine and a Six, meaning willpower in the face of adversity, things coming to fruition even though they may not be pleasant now, and leaving a bad situation in order to better understand oneself. Marion frowned.

  “Now, I just can’t make heads or tails o’ this. I don’t know what this is even talking about!” she said in a flippant tone although she was looking around nervously. A woman in the audience caught her eye. She was giving Marion a thumbs-up. Marion gave her a brief smile, which was reflected back. Carol thought she saw a face she recognized in the back of the crowd but couldn’t be sure.

  Carol’s cards were on the table: inverted Chariot, Five of Leaves, Three of Butterflies, Two of Shells, all upright. It told her that she was caught in a rut and needed to take control over her life. It told her of loss, of Freddie’s influence over her, and of needing to be able to bend to the will of fate. It was a good hand, except for the Five of Leaves. The only loss she could think of was that of her husband, years ago. It looked like either Bill or Freddie had the winning hand. Bill’s hand had certainly meant something to him. Carol swore softly to herself. Was she going to lose that moonstone after all? She realized that if she had to lose it in such a way, she hoped it went to Freddie. At least he would know what he had. Carol hoped he found a spirit worthy of binding to it. The moonstone was so pure, it looked like a window into another world. Someone strong, noble, someone regal even should volunteer for this one. She knew he would choose well. That was probably the “loss” she was seeing in the Five: the ring. Now she knew the game was a set-up, even as Ian cried out, noiselessly.

  “Ye liars an’ thieves! Ye haed this all set-up, didnae ye?!” His Accent sounded like thunder over the crags in her mind. The table-skirt swayed with his rage. Carol could hear cries and explosions behind his voice, like some far-off battle from days of yore. This happened when Ian became upset: his past life came crashing down around him, removing his ability to have self-agency.

  Carol sat calmly as the cards were tallied by Lorelei. The winner turned out to be, indeed, Freddie. The other players seemed a little taken aback that they had actually lost their personal items, but Lorelei took them aside, explaining details and hand
ing them a business card, and they proceeded to leave without any further questions.

  Carol went over to Freddie.

  “You set me up.” She said with a smirk. “You’re such a devil, Freddie! What if I hadn’t had the ring?”

  “I knew you’d have it,” he replied. “And, before you ask, I can’t reveal my sources.” He stopped for a moment and held her hands in his, looking her intently in the eyes. “Does it help if I say I have specific plans for it? Grand plans that you will be proud of? I promise.” He looked hopeful. His grey eyes gleamed reflectively in the torchlight.

  Carol sighed. She could now only hear battle sounds in the distant background, which meant that Ian was lost in his own idiom for a while. She would not see, hear, or feel his presence until tomorrow at least. She was on her own here.

  “I want to trust you, Freddie, of course I do. We’re friends, aren’t we? I hear your promise, and I’m going to hold you to it, d’you hear me? You have been promising me all year that you are doing only good with these patra. I want to believe you. I want to trust you. So... I claim the right of first refusal. You have to convince the spirit you are going to put in there to go along with it, and then get me to okay them. Deal?” She spat in her hand and held it out for him to shake.

  “Oh! So, it’s going to be like that, eh? Going all Irish on me, are you? Deal!” Freddie spat in his palm and clasped his hand to hers. “Once, for friendship. Twice for luck. Thrice to make it official.” Each count, they pumped their hands up and down; a measured, deliberate handshake. If that handshake was what she thought it was, he was now bound to her approval in order to use the gem.