“Psychic stand?” Madame Crystalle asked. “What ‘psychic stand’?”
“It’s like a lemonade stand, only I give tarot card readings to folk instead of makin’ ’em drink lemonade. I charge a dollar a readin’. I’m pretty good at it, too. I get better all the time.”
“You’re my competition!” Madame Crystalle said.
Dewey blushed and looked down at the gold cloth covering the table. “Sorry.”
“I kid you,” Madame Crystalle said. “I don’t think I have worries yet. But keep practicing and your skills will grow. You do have innate powers. They only need developing.”
I figured Dewey had no clue what “innate” meant. I didn’t either. Nobody asked, though.
“Hear that, Abe?” Dewey asked me excitedly. “I have powers! Like real powers! Not like when we play D and D!”
“Yeah,” I said, “but playing D and D is more fun, though.”
“I won’t have any more time to play on account of I need to develop my real psychic powers.”
Okay, this one hurt a bit. I’d actually miss Dewey if me and him stopped playing, and how psychic could he be, really? He still believed in Santa Claus.
“Don’t worry,” Madame Crystalle said. “You keep playing. Your psychic powers have long way to go and need to develop themselves for a while. So don’t put Dungeons and Dragons away yet, Dewey.”
“How did you know I was talking about Dungeons and Dragons?” he asked.
She stared at him a second. “How do you think?”
Walking into the bright winter sun that day from the cramped basement of Madame Crystalle’s, Dewey looked like he felt more important than he ever had in his whole entire life.
Finding out you were special was a wonderful thing, and the best part? I felt really great for him. It was like a Christmas miracle.
For maybe just a second or two it made me wonder if Dewey was right.
Maybe there really was a Santa Claus after all.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
A Thorn Among
the Lilies
Michael Hiebert
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions are included to enhance
your group’s reading of Michael Hiebert’s
A Thorn Among the Lilies.
Discussion Questions
1. What are the main themes running through this book? Hint: There are two.
2. How do these themes manifest themselves?
3. Do you think Anna Marsh’s punishment fit her crime?
4. Do you believe in psychics? By the end of the novel, how accurate did Madame Crystalle’s reading of Carry really turn out to be?
5. Do you think Leah should have really started an investigation based on what a psychic told her?
6. Do you think Leah would have stayed on such an investigation if a body hadn’t washed up in Willet Park right away, prompting her investigation?
7. Do you agree with Carry trying to hide her relationship from her mother despite Madame Crystalle telling her that Carry’s mother would be okay with it?
8. Do you agree with Leah telling Abe what a serial killer is, despite how he took it?
9. Do you agree with Leah keeping a low profile on the case, especially the fact that she’s using facts that came from Madame Crystalle? Do you think she should have let Chief Ethan Montgomery know where her original ideas came from?
10. Do you agree with Police Chief Ethan Montgomery trying to keep the FBI from becoming involved in the case so he didn’t have to worry about dealing with “the feds?”
11. What are your opinions about Leah questioning people at church?
12. Do you think being the son of a police detective has made Abe more careless around dangerous situations than he should be? Is he more willing to jump into action where he should probably be more prudent?
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2015 by Michael Hiebert
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-738-1
eISBN-10: 1-61773-738-0
First Kensington Electronic Edition: July 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6177-3737-4
A Thorn Among the Lilies Page 28
