Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I understand that. Reminds me of a conversation I had with my mom earlier.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Apparently this new development—this weird text—has got my dad thinking there might be something he missed all those years ago when he was trying to figure out the mystery behind his uncle’s death.”
“The one he was named after. The original Sean Murphy.”
“Yeah. Apparently my dad got really focused on that when he was younger. And my mom doesn’t want him to go back to that place.”
“Why would she think this has anything to do with that?”
“Honestly? I don’t really know. My guess is he said something to her about it.”
“Do you think it has anything to do with that?”
“No.”
I’m not sure how much I can say to Ava about the documents. Not much more than I’ve already said. My guess is it has something to do with those documents. Which is more likely than it having anything to do with my great-uncle.
“Well, I’m hoping my mom can shed some light on it.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
We finish our dinners, and Ava clears the table.
“I didn’t have time to make any dessert,” she says, “but I still have ice cream.”
“Sounds perfect.”
She dishes it up, and I take a spoonful, letting the richness flow over my tongue.
As delicious as the confection is, Ava’s richness would be even better.
But no.
I have got to hold back tonight.
“How about that reading?” I say.
“You mean a reading for you?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.”
“Do you have a specific question you’d like answered?”
“Is that how it works? Can’t you just do a reading?”
“I can, but it’s more helpful if I know what I’m looking for.”
“Okay, then. I’ll ask the same question you did. What is the meaning of this message that we’ve both received? How does it factor into my life?”
“Okay.”
We finish our ice cream, Ava clears the table, and then she pours us each more glasses of water and wine.
“Let me get my cards.”
She walks over to a bureau and opens a wooden box. She pulls out what appears to be something bound in silk.
“I’m going to shuffle the cards.” She sits back at the table and unwraps a scarf to show me a deck of cards. “And then I want you to hold them to your heart with your hands touching them. You need to infuse your energy into the deck.”
“Okay.”
I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I will do my best. I want to respect her feelings on this matter.
She shuffles the cards once, twice, three times. Then she hands them to me.
I clasp them in my hands, hold them to my heart.
“Close your eyes,” she says. “Feel your energy flowing from your body and into the cards.”
I obey, closing my eyes. As far as feeling my energy? I’m not exactly sure what she wants me to do, so I just think the words.
Energy flow to the cards. Energy flow to the cards. Energy flow to the cards.
Then I open my eyes.
“Hand the cards back to me,” she says.
I do, and she sets them in front of her. “Now cut the deck.”
I do.
She sets the second pile on top of the first, and then she holds the cards for a moment, closing her own eyes. Then she opens them.
“What were you doing just then?”
“I was infusing them with my energy so that I might give you a good reading.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to do my standard three-card reading,” she says. “The Celtic cross reading is the most common, but it’s a ten-card spread, and I think three cards is better for a specific question.”
“Whatever you say.”
She lays three cards on the table. The images are vivid and bright, and my gaze falls on the first one that faces me. A naked woman kneels by water, and above her shines a large yellow star surrounded by smaller white stars.
Ava stares at the cards for a few moments, twisting her lips.
“Ava?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
AVA
“Give me a minute,” I say. “I’m thinking.”
The cards I drew are a little disturbing, and I need a moment to process.
The first card I drew for Brendan is the star. It’s normally an amazing card, meaning hope or calm, essentially a good omen.
But it’s upside down, in the reverse position.
Which indicates the opposite. Darkness.
This is his mind and his past.
I don’t feel that Brendan has a past of darkness, and I’m not sure there’s anything going on in his mind that’s dark.
So I need to think about the card for a moment in relation to the other two cards.
The second card, representing the present and his body, is the two of swords. A blindfolded woman sits in front of water, balancing two swords. Behind her, a crescent moon shines. This card is upright, not reversed, and is normally a card that indicates indecision about something. The suit of swords is a suit of masculine energy, so I’m not surprised that I drew a sword for Brendan. It’s also a suit of intellect and thought. Logic.