“My darling Cherry, you mustnever, and I meannever,leave the crystal ball uncovered when you are not using it!”
I’d gasped, looking up at her with all the adoration that came from having a pretty cool famous mother. “Why? Because the spirits will enter the house?”
“No, because it’ll refract sunlight and cause a fire. Your great-great-great grandmother burned down her parlor that way. We wouldn’t want that, would we?”
“No!”
“Exactly. Because just like that nice bear on the TV says, only you can prevent house fires.”
“I think it’s forest fires, Mommy.”
“Close enough.”
“Concentrate on yourself. What you are feeling, what you are thinking. Let all those emotions, thoughts, and worries fill the crystal ball as if?—”
“Meow!”
I jolted at the sound of my cat, Hudson, entering the room with all the aplomb she usually had.
“Shoo!” I whispered, hoping the client was concentrating hard enough on the crystal that she didn’t notice. My cat wasn’t really a fan of other people unless they were kids or armed with catnip, so I’d expected her to avoid the place.
“MEOWWW!”she responded even louder, jumping onto my reading table and nearly scattering my tarot cards.
“I apologize,” I murmured, brain rapidly spinning out with how to play the situation off. I really didn’t want to come across as unprofessional. I had a reputation ofgenerationsto maintain. “Animals are much more sensitive to psychic energy, and as I said, it’s been a turbulent day.”
The woman nodded sagely, as if everything I said made sense. “This is your familiar, then?”
Oh, well that was convenient!Is she my familiar, though?I don’t know, is that a thing?Do oracles have familiars?
“Yes, this is Hudson. My familiar is very astute.” More like a pain in myasstute.
“I see. But aren’t feline familiars supposed to be black? If he’s your familiar, why is he white?”
I stared at her. My Hudson had a beautiful, pristine cream coat that she spent an inordinate amount of time cleaning. “You can’t just ask an oracle why her familiar is white.” Was that a little too harsh? Oh well. Whatever. Hudson deserved too much respect to let that slide. “Also, she’s ashe.”
“Oh, my deepest apologies. I meant no offense.”
I looked at Hudson, raising my eyebrows as if we were actually talking. While the two of us could communicate just fine normally, it wasn’t like we used actual words. But my kitty got my drift and let out a short chirp before jumping off the table. No doubt to go to the wall gym I’d had installed for her so she could look down on any humans like the peasants that they were.
“Apologies accepted. But enough pleasantries. Let us commence our communion with the fates.”
Was it a little camp? Maybe. But that was the thing. Although people liked to deny it, liked to insist on only sophistication or high-brow intellectualism, the truth was, one didn’t need to be an oracle to see that peoplelovedcamp. Also, the more stressful the times were, the better camp felt.
And no matter how one shook a stick at it, the world was getting pretty damn stressful.
“Return your focus to the crystal ball and intone to me what wisdom you wish to seek from the fates.”
“Pardon?”
I sighed. “Look back into the crystal ball and ask what you wanna ask.”
“Right.”
Thankfully, she did so. As she settled, I lifted my gaze to study her and the canvas she was beginning to fill.
What do I see?What do I see?
Did I leave the oven on?No, when did you last cook?