Tarot's Kiss (Tarot Chronicles)

by Nichole Blackfinch

  I took a deep breath; my mind would not be killed. Reaching into my bag, I withdrew a manila file folder. This is where I’d placed the documents that would transfer the ownership of my grandmother’s house, saving my mom and myself. Two whole lives in exchange for some measly paperwork I’d had drawn up by my grandma’s lawyer.

  “We’ll eventually need a notary but here’s the stuff we need to fill out for now,” I said, handing the file to Nathaniel. He took the file from me and began to study the paperwork. I stared straight ahead, trying my best to rid my face of expression as Nathaniel read each line of the documents.

  I held my phone under the table, hoping that years of practice in covert schoolroom text messaging would not fail me now. Still expressionless, I tapped the screen to bring up the last number I’d called--Gavin. I didn’t dare peek at my hands to see if I was doing it correctly. Martus Inn, was all that I sent him in the text. If I was going to die today, I wanted someone to know where to look for my body.

  “So, does everything look in order?” I asked Nathaniel. I sounded a lot steadier than I felt.

  “Well now, Miss Lucy, I’m no lawyer, but it appears to be just fine. So now we wait. My contact will confirm that your momma has been released with no police fanfare and then you’ll be free to go.”

  Nathaniel remained silent, gazing across the room at the view through the window. I stared at him, unwilling to show any weakness by speaking again or breaking my eye contact. People hated silence; let him break down first.

  “Lucy,” he said finally, “have you heard the name Dominique Cadeaux?”

  “Cadeaux? Is she related to Gavin?”

  “Yes,” he coughed. “Many generations back. Now this Dominique, she fled her husband in France and came here to found the Divinatory Guild of Savannah. As the story goes, she arrived in the US more or less penniless, with her young son, and took a job as a seamstress. Within five or six years, she was a wealthy woman. Very wealthy.”

  “How did she do that?” I asked, interested despite myself.

  “A better question, dear Lucy, would be ‘Why didn’t Savannah burn during the war?’ Answer that and you’ll answer the other,” Nathaniel wheezed as he laughed.

  I thought for a moment. “So, you’re saying Dominique kept Savannah from being ruined in the war…and someone rewarded her for it? I’m assuming she used the Oracle Deck to figure this out.”

  “A stolen Oracle Deck, Lucy. Dominique stole that deck from her husband when she came here,” Nathaniel said, tapping his fingers on the table.

  “Ok, so what? She shouldn’t have stolen something, but wow, she kept a whole city from being ruined. That pretty much makes up for it, don’t you think?”

  “Depends on how you look at it, my girl,” he replied. “Wars and politics, these are small-time affairs, really. These are the issues that have financed the Guild, sure, but it’s hard to say, sometimes, who’s wrong or right. Dominique was a do-gooder, very touching, yes, but her husband—now, he had the bigger picture. He was experimenting in the truly…important questions.”

  “And Dominique wasn’t?” I asked.

  “She didn’t approve, thought he was meddling in dark areas, things better left untouched and not just the tarot. Wanted him to avoid the real questions. The real potential of the Oracle Deck,” Nathaniel coughed loudly again into his handkerchief.

  “So, again, I’m wondering,” I said, “What questions? What does anyone need to know so badly?”

  “Think about it. I’m an old man, Lucy, not as young as I once was-”

  “Oh, but I’m sure you’re just as evil as ever, so don’t feel too bad,” I snapped.

  “I’m dying,” he interrupted. “I’ve held on for years, but my time is nearly done. I can feel it. You just know it, when it’s coming close. And I don’t have the answers I need from that deck. But adding even just one more card to the Oracle Deck would increase its power, might be able to give me what I need.”

  “Which is?”

  “What do all men want, Lucy?” he asked.

  “Big meals and hot girlfriends?”

  “No,” Nathaniel said slowly, “Not at the end of their days, especially. What I want—what I need—is so much more than that.”

  He said nothing more for several long minutes before speaking again. “Picture immortality, Miss Lucy, think of that. Think of shaping a world, not just for generations, but for eternity. This is the thought that has captivated my mind for these past few years. Eternal life. I’ve tried to tease the answer from the deck, but I need more pieces.”

  “Immortality? Seriously? There’s no such thing, you’ve got to know that, you couldn’t be that senile. No one lives forever. How could you. . .” I was speechless. He had lied, hurt, murdered…for this? What had I lost for this? For this ridiculous, impossible whim of a crazy old man.

  Nathaniel continued, “I’m not entirely selfish, you know. You could help me, young lady. Your talent is. . .”

  He was interrupted by sound of the door creaking open behind me. I swiveled my head to see who was there, my first thought being that we’d drawn the attention of a manager when I’d raised my voice. But there, at the edge of the room, staring at me and Nathaniel, was my dad.

  I ran to my dad, hugging him tightly. Gavin must have called him after getting my message.

  “You know him!” Nathaniel wheezed at me with sudden anger.

  “Well, yeah,” I stammered, taking a step backwards. I was puzzled; did Nathaniel know my dad?

  “YOU LITTLE LIAR!” Nathaniel yelled toward me, his face growing nearly purple with the effort. “I should have known you would be in company with Richard.”

  “I’m not Richard,” my dad replied calmly. “Richard was my-”

  “Shut up! No more of your lies, boy. I know you well, Richard Alton, you think I would forget your deceitful face, even after forty years? You ruined the Guild but that wasn’t enough, eh? Now you take this from me, too.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” my dad said.

  “I already killed you once and yet here you are, mostly the same, boy. Selfish as you ever were and I should have known you’d be the one to figure it out.”

  “Figure out what?” my dad asked as he edged subtly forward.

  “Immortality. My immortality! That ultimate question, how to live forever, and you’ve hoarded it for yourself. All for your greedy, bastardly self.”

  “Nathaniel, listen,” I said. “This isn’t Richard. This is Tyler. And there’s no such thing as immortality. That’s stupid. Did you really think tarot cards could give you that kind of power?”

  Nathaniel ignored me and addressed my father again. “So Richard, since I obviously cannot rely upon your lying young lady friend to share the secret, I am asking you. You will tell me what those cards revealed! You’ll tell me the secret and if not…” Nathaniel reached into his jacket, withdrawing a small handgun and pointing it levelly in my direction. I froze. How could I have not thought that Nathaniel would be armed? For the first time since I’d entered the room, I considered the very real possibility that I wouldn’t leave alive.

  “Nathaniel,” my dad said, his voice still calm and even. “Don’t do something stupid here. Put away the gun and we’ll talk about this.”

  “Tell me now, Richard, or the lying young lady here dies.”

  “Put away the gun,” my dad demanded.

  “Fine then Richard, say goodbye,” Nathaniel wheezed, moving his finger to the trigger. I closed my eyes, waiting for whatever pain the bullet would bring. I thought of my mom—she didn’t even know where I was. She’d be alone. Or worse. I thought of Matt, and of Gavin.

  Everything happened so quickly, then. My dad pushed past me to charge at Nathaniel, knocking me down. I felt a hot pain in my side, heard a gunshot, found myself on the floor. The world went black.

  Chapter 29. Tyler and Claire.

  “Lucy. Lucy,” I heard my name, felt a hand smoothing my hair back from my face. I b
linked, tried to focus.

  “Dad?”

  “I’m here. You’re ok, you’re going to be ok. You bumped your head.”

  “Did I get shot?” I asked, my head felt cloudy and confused.

  “No, I pushed you down before I charged at Nathaniel.”

  Panic charged through me. “Nathaniel! Where is he?”

  I sat up abruptly and was met with aching disagreement from my chest; I’d cracked a rib in the fall, it seemed. Nathaniel lay across the room, his body motionless on the floor. “You shot Nathaniel?” I asked.

  “No, I knocked away his gun and held him down.”

  “Is he…going to get back up?”

  “I don’t think so, Lucy,” he said gently. “As I held him down, I realized he wasn’t breathing and his pulse stopped. I can only guess that he had a heart attack in the struggle. He’s not a young man, or healthy. I’ve already called 911. They’ll be here any second.” My dad helped me maneuver back to one of the chairs.

  We heard the sirens approach and went to the front of the inn to direct the paramedics and police officers. The officers, not surprisingly, had questions for me and my dad. As Nathaniel was loaded on to a stretcher and taken away, we told them a simplified version of the truth: that Nathaniel wanted some items from my grandmother’s estate, that we’d come to discuss it with him and he’d become irrational and frantic before pulling a gun on me. The officers took our notes and contact information and we were free to leave.

  “We should go get your injuries checked out,” my dad said, helping me into the Jeep as I winced at the ache in my side.

  “I want to see mom first,” I said. “Gavin sent me a message that he and Julia are looking after her.”

  “Gavin’s house it is, then.”

  I reclined my seat, trying to give some relief to my ribs. “It’s funny,” I remarked to my dad.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Nathaniel didn’t pull that gun on me until you showed up. And that was because he thought you were your dad. I was scared before then, but the deal was going ok with him. It was calm, you know, until you got there.”

  “How is that funny, kiddo?”

  “You left us when I was two and then avoided me for sixteen years because of that tarot prediction you did. And then we finally meet, you rush in to save me, and lo and behold that’s what ends up putting my life in danger. So it’s like you had to miss all those years with us for no reason. Things never seem to come true in the way you’d expect. Joke’s on us, I guess, but what a crappy joke.”

  I looked over at him and realized by his nod that this had already occurred to him. “Maybe, Lucy, but who knows? It’s even harder to second guess the past than it is to predict the future.”

  I stared up through the open roof of the Jeep, letting the sunlight stream over my face. “Should I tell mom about you?”

  He didn’t answer but I knew he’d heard me. We drove for several blocks before pulling up to Gavin’s tall white home facing the tranquil central garden square. My dad turned off the engine and came to my side of the car to help me step down. I planted both my feet on the pavement and he hugged me gingerly but close to him.

  “I don’t know about Mom, Lucy,” he said over the top of my head. His voice sounded rough, uneven. “I don’t know if you should tell her or not. Let me think about it. Are you going to be ok?”

  My ribs hurt, and my heart hurt and my eyes stung as I felt tears rising. “I’ll be fine, dad. I’m the toughest chick you ever met, remember?”

  He half-laughed and let me go. I turned to walk toward Gavin’s front door, averting my eyes from the dark splotch my tears had left on my dad’s shirt.

  “Hey Lucy,” he said, as I began to climb Gavin’s stairway.

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you. I always did.”

  “I—I love you too, Dad.” And with that I opened the door and stepped into the cool entryway.

  Inside the house, my mom was at the kitchen table, her hair wet from a shower. She was wearing an unfamiliar dress that I assumed to be Julia’s and an angry bruise was surfacing near her left eye. She’d been hit. Because of me, I thought sickly. I walked behind her, wrapping my arms about her shoulders.

  “I’m so sorry, Mom.” My voice cracked as I started to cry again. “I’m so, so, sorry.” She raised her hand to pat my wrist. We stayed that way for a moment, unable to find words, until Julia gently approached us, offering us sandwiches and tea for which we had no appetite.

  As if by some hidden agreement, we didn’t speak that night about what we’d both been through. We didn’t ask questions or offer explanations. Gavin booked flights for my mom and me for the following day. We all wanted to go to bed early.

  I stayed in the same guest room I’d slept in on my previous trip to Savannah. Julia lent me a nightgown and I stepped into the bathroom to change, washing my hands and face, frowning at the dark circles under my eyes. I wanted to sleep and sleep. I wasn’t entirely sure I ever wanted to wake up again.

  I’d just pulled back the pink-patterned coverlet, ready to fall into bed, when I heard a soft knock at the door.

  “Come in,” I said, walking toward the door.

  Gavin entered the room quietly, pulling the door closed gently behind him. He gestured at the bed. “May I have a seat?”

  I nodded and he sat on the edge of the bed as I stood in front of him. “Lucy,” he said, “I’ll never forgive myself for what I’ve cost you. It was my compulsion that pulled you into this situation, but you’re the one who’s paid so dearly.”

  “Gavin, it’s not all on you. I wanted to find answers, too.”

  “No,” he said, picking up my hand and holding it between his. “It was unfair of me. And I can’t express how very sorry I am. Your mother could have died today. You could have died today. Your parents could have lost you forever, and ultimately, it would have been my fault.”

  “I don’t blame you for anything, Gavin. Neither of us knew what we were getting into, I think.”

  Gavin looked at me, the deep black of his eyes fixed on my face. Without a word, he pulled me down so that I was sitting on his lap, his arms encircling my body. He buried his face in my hair.

  “Will you come back to Savannah ever?” he murmured, his accent soft in my ears.

  “I think so, yeah. But maybe I’ll have to do a reading to find out for sure.”

  Gavin gave me a sad, strange smile and gently laid me on the bed as he stood, pulling the sheets and coverlet over me. He bent down, placing one arm on either side of me, his forehead touching mine. He kissed me softly, his lips warm against mine, just for a moment.

  “I’ll be here, Lucy. Goodbye.” He smiled as he left the room, turning out the light and leaving me to dream peacefully.

  Gavin had left by the time my mom and I woke up the following morning, so it was Julia who made us breakfast and drove us to the airport. “You’re the best, Julia,” I said as I hugged her goodbye at the curb. “Come to Boulder sometime. I’ll teach you to snowboard.”

  “I just may do that, honey,” she said with a wink. “But you stay out of trouble till then.”

  OUR PLANE WAS AT CRUISING ALTITUDE before I was able to begin the conversation I knew I needed to have. I turned to my mom, who was flipping aimlessly through a magazine. “Mom, we need to talk.”

  She carefully placed her magazine in the seat-back pocket in front of her and folded her hands in her lap. “I’m listening,” she said.

  I couldn’t hold any more secrets. I told her then about the letters I’d found months earlier. I told her about my trips to Savannah and to Auburn. (“You told me you were camping!” she said). I told her about the threats Nathaniel had made, and how he’d revealed that he was behind Angie’s murder. I told her about the showdown at the Martus Inn, avoiding mention of my dad. By this point, tears coursed freely down her face. I pulled tissues from my bag for both of us and waited for her to seem calm.

  “There’s more, Mom,” I said, trying t
o pick each word cautiously. “When I was in Savannah before, I met someone important. And yesterday, that someone was the friend who showed up to help me when I was meeting with Nathaniel.”

  My mom nodded and wiped at her eyes with the tissue.

  “Mom,” I continued, “It was Dad. He was the one who helped me.”

  My mom looked like I’d just knocked the air out of her. “I always knew,” she whispered hoarsely, “I always knew he would be back, somehow. All these years.”

  I leaned toward my mom. “His prediction came true, Mom. He did put my life in danger but he didn’t mean to. But it’s over now. It’s all over.”

  I placed my arm around my mom’s shoulder as she cried. We’d both lost so much, in this year and in this lifetime. Nothing could change what had been taken from us, but I knew that each of us felt the overwhelming gratitude of having at least been spared one another.

  Chapter 30. L’Impératrice.

  The early evening sunlight streamed through the windows of my house, casting still patches of gold warmth across the floor. I pushed the door shut behind me, causing motes of dust to swirl in the light. It was perfectly quiet; I hadn’t wanted my mom to come in with me. I wanted some time alone to think.

  A large bouquet in a purple vase stood on the carved old desk near the door. Stargazer lilies, so beautiful. Their fragrance bathed the room. I bent to read the tag.

  I’m here for you. I love you.

  -Matt

  Matt, so sweet, so deserving of someone much less complicated than what I’d become. I’d kept so many secrets from him, too. I thought guiltily of Gavin, and then pushed the thought from my mind. It’ll all work itself out, I told myself. In the meantime, I’d take a long bath, and then maybe call Matt over for dinner. He didn’t even know I’d left for Savannah again—he probably just thought I was avoiding him or staying at my mom’s.