The Den (3 page)

“Well, I should stay away from graveyards for sure.  I explained that this was difficult, since there was one outside our window.  Ha!”  Skyla tried to force a laugh again.  Again it didn’t work.  “Yvette warned me I need to be extra-careful right now.”

Skyla saw Yvette in her mind’s eye.  Yvette sat with her finger touching the fifth card.  It was the card closest to Skyla in the middle column.  Yvette looked up at Skyla and tapped the card deliberately.  Skyla could clearly see the bold print underneath the picture: “THE WORLD.”  A topless woman stood proud with a globe below her.

“Ahhh,” Yvette said.  She leaned over the cards and touched Skyla’s trembling hand.  “This card shows potential.  It symbolizes a wonderful completion of this part of your life’s journey.”  Skyla watched as Yvette stroked the sixth card.  “The Knight of Wands” was written underneath a proud man on horseback.  Yvette took a deep breath and said, “A young man will come to you.  His energy will trigger your own, and your life will change drastically.  This happens in the near future, maybe a few months from now.”  Yvette stared at all the cards for a long time after that.  She was silent.

Skyla sat twirling her hair and watching Yvette in her mind. 

Brooke cleared her throat and Skyla looked up and focused her eyes on her friend.  The two sat quietly while Skyla attempted to go on.  Brooke bit her lip and waited.

Skyla remembered Yvette running her fingers up and down the final column, which contained the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth cards.  Their print read: “Temperance,” “The Lovers,” “The High Priestess,” and “Transition.”  Skyla heard cars passing by outside her window.  She listened to some girls laughing in the dorm room next door.  The room where Skyla and Yvette sat was filled with silence.  After a long time, Yvette looked up.

She pointed at the card that said “Transition.”  She let her finger hover over the drawing of a cloaked woman who stared up at the sky.  Yvette began,  “Some decks mark this as Death.”  She paused. “It symbolizes a new beginning.  You must beware that this new beginning does not mean the end to this life.  Channel your inner patience, your temperance, and make sound decisions.” 

Skyla’s eyes swept to the picture of a beautiful woman with flowing blond hair.  She focused on the word
Temperance
.

Yvette spoke slowly.  “I can see in these last cards that someone is trying to get you back.”  Yvette waved her hand over the cards. 

Skyla saw the one with a naked man and woman, “The Lovers.”  She saw the “High Priestess” sitting regally on a throne.  She could not see how Yvette could divine any meaning from them.

Yvette warned, “Be careful around here.  The cemetery is too close.”

“How would this ghost be able to hurt me anyway?” Skyla quickly asked.  “It’s just a ghost, right?” 

“Hmmm?”  Yvette closed her eyes and was still as stone.

A few minutes passed before Yvette spoke again.  “I taste poison on my tongue.  I fear the biggest danger will be a type of toxin.  Yes.  I can see you swallowing it.  I see one of your friends from your past connected to this. I sense male energy.  It is intertwined with the energy of at least one other man.  It isn’t as if one of these men
wants
to cause harm to you.  In his eyes he just wants you back.”  Yvette paused for a moment.  “I see the letter ‘R’ for a female’s name.  Maybe it’s Roberta, Rachel, or Rebecca.  That is all there is.”  Yvette nodded.  “Now, you will see me very clearly for the next few days.  I will be with you as a protector.  My words will linger very clearly.  Try to listen over and over again so that you may heed my warnings and learn from this reading.”   Yvette clapped her hands and said in a totally different, less ominous tone, “Now go get us both a large cup of water.  Then you can ask me some questions.”

Later that night Skyla would reprimand herself for not asking the obvious follow-up question: How could a ghost feed her poison?  She suspected a possession was involved.  Maybe it was best that she did not know.

Skyla got her bearings and spoke to Brooke. “I guess no more jogs around the neighborhood.  I don’t think it’s a great idea to run by the cemetery.”

“Well, I think the part about ghosts coming for you is the scariest,” Brooke said.  She shifted and lay back in the grass.

“Yes.  You are quite right.  Evidently, Yvette sees someone lurking around me now.  She can tell he is near.  I should keep aware.  Watch out for those watching me.”

Brooke was always very matter-of-fact.  “Well, it isn’t the first time that someone said you were a witch.  I used to say it all the time.  Freaky things always happen around you, especially when we were younger.  So no big deal, right, Sky?  And the vampire thing is pretty cool.” 

“Easy for you to say.  The psychic prophesied you were going to find everlasting love and become part of a large family, just like you always wanted.  Ooh, intense!  I just want to get out of here.  After graduation I am gone.  New England is creepy.”

“Ha.  Some would say you were creepy.  Just kidding.  Where will you go?  To New York with me, right?”  Brooke sat straight up to pout at her friend.

So Skyla Jane Judge would go to New York.  How could she not?  It figured that her one friend in the world was bent on living in a run-down one-bedroom apartment on Avenue C.  Well, at least Skyla would not be the strangest one in the neighborhood anymore. 

-Four-

Restless

New York City was definitely a breath of fresh air, figuratively speaking, of course.   Skyla could keep to herself while seated in a busy café surrounded by all different types of people.  She did not have to talk to them or pretend anymore.   Skyla’s father would financially support her for exactly one year.  This was against her mother’s strong objections.  Skyla’s mother wanted her to stay home. She was very lonely in the big house all by herself.  Skyla’s father had ignored her mother as usual but agreed that after the year, Skyla would have to “get a real job.”  He didn’t consider waitressing at the Italian place on Second Street a good career move.  He thought that after he’d spent six figures on a college education, Skyla would be able to find something better.

Brooke was lucky.  Her parents were always traveling somewhere.  Her father was a successful writer and her mother a painter of sorts.  They never much bothered with Brooke or her older sister.  When Brooke had left home to stay in the dorms on the other side of town, they sold their large Chestnut Hill home and moved to a charming cottage on Nantucket.  Brooke had always spent much of her time at Skyla’s house, so the loss wasn’t really felt.  Brooke’s older sister, Maggie, checked up on Brooke every once in a blue moon.  Maggie was off in L.A. now being an actor or singer or something like that.  Maggie was a lot like Brooke’s mom, Claire.  Brooke prided herself on being the very opposite.  Claire had been a hippie and spent much of her teens and twenties hanging with Skyla’s mom.  Claire got married after becoming pregnant.  Vera followed suit, figuring it was about time anyway.  The two managed to keep partying with their new families in little apartments in the Boston area.  When it was time for Maggie to start school, both families finally settled down in a beautiful New England town close to Boston where Skyla’s father had inherited a home.  Claire and Vera got pregnant at the same time and named their daughters to signify their love of nature and all things beautiful: Brooke and Skyla.  Skyla’s father grew tired of the lot rather quickly.  He left soon after Skyla was born.

Skyla didn’t care what her father or anyone else wanted for her.  She liked feeling as if she were just passing through, as if she weren’t tied to anything here, especially a job.  Skyla had just been telling Brooke that morning how nice it was to feel normal.  There was a slight danger in Skyla’s falling for Seth, the manager of the restaurant.  Every day, she and Brooke came up with new reasons to stay away from him.  He was ten years older.  He had slept with Katie, one of the other waitresses, who already hated Skyla.  He would certainly not find Skyla charming when he found out about her “gifts.”  These sessions proved to be unsuccessful, because one night the week before Skyla found herself following him home. 

Work was now unbearable—just like Brooke had warned it would be.  Seth no longer flirted with Skyla.  Seth was now all Skyla could think about.  Katie was nasty to the customers at Skyla’s tables and started sabotaging orders with the help of the chef, who happened to be Katie’s cousin.  Skyla gave up her shift one night because she couldn’t handle Seth’s ignoring her for one more evening.  Instead of subjecting herself to the torture, Skyla went to her favorite café to read her newest book.  She enjoyed her tea and basked in her new-found normalcy. 

Skyla had just started the second chapter when she stopped midsentence.  A shiver ran up her spine.  She felt him.  Or maybe she just sensed him: that tingle, the hair standing up on the back of her neck, and her heart pounding like it would jump out of its cavity.  She was immediately covered in a black cloud.  It suffocated her and kept her frozen in place.  A silent but deafening boom rang in her ears: terror! 

Skyla knew
him
immediately, because she had felt him in her dreams.  He had appeared in several of the nightmares that had followed Yvette’s reading.  It had been three months since the clairvoyant had turned on a switch for Skyla.  Now there were plenty of dreams and visions that flooded Skyla’s world.  They warned Skyla of the imminent danger that lingered between worlds.  She mustered the strength to look up and found he was looking down at her.  He was staring right into her soul.  He was a towering six foot four at the very least.  He had pitch-black hair and eyes the color of coal.  Time stood still.  A tear ran down Skyla’s face as their eyes locked.  Then he just turned, walked up to the counter, paid for a cup of coffee, and walked away. 

Maybe Skyla was mistaken.  Maybe she made things up in her head.  She thought this was the man of her nightmares, but she had to be crazy.  Skyla would tell Brooke, though, and Brooke would tell her that she wasn’t crazy.  She would remind Skyla of all the other times she’d had to tell her she wasn’t crazy.  Brooke would mention the other strange things that had happened since they’d known each other.  There was the time when they were playing with Barbie dolls and Skyla made the doll’s hair grow longer.  There was the time during a school dance when Skyla realized she could read minds if she wanted to.  That resulted in Brooke’s dating Mike Connell for a few weeks.  Skyla and Brooke would use this skill to their benefit more than a few times during the next few years.  Oh, right, and there was the time in high school when she literally heated up a room.  That was Brooke’s all-time favorite. 

Brooke had been having a few girls sleep over after her sweet-sixteen birthday party.  Skyla was so anxious that night.  She’d never felt comfortable around those girls.  All of a sudden, the room heated up to the point where they had to open the windows despite the fact that it was the middle of February. 

“Weird,” Brooke said. 

“Cool,” the others said. 

But Brooke was always the honest one.

A voice broke through Skyla’s thoughts. “Hey.  Hey.  You okay?” 

“Huh?”

“You okay?  You look … I don’t know.”   He was a nice-looking guy: dirty-blond hair and greenish-gray eyes.  Not from here, that’s for sure. 

He helped himself to the seat across from Skyla.  If Skyla hadn’t been so glad to have friendly company, she would have been quite offended by his boldness in interrupting her reading.

“I mean, sorry, but you looked like you just saw a ghost.  Are you going to faint or something?  Your face is white as a sheet.”  He stammered a bit. 

“Were you watching me?” Skyla asked him, but her attention was really focused on the side window.  Watching the dark-haired man walk away.  She noticed he had a dark glow about him, too.  Was it was red?  It was hard to tell under the streetlights.

“Do you know that guy?” he asked.

“Uh, no.  No.  I am okay.  I just, well, I thought I knew him at first, but I don’t.  Everything is fine.”  Actually, everything did start to feel fine again.  She felt the panic leave her.  It trailed right out the door and followed the dark-haired man out onto Third Street and made a left on Avenue D. 

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” Skyla said.  She smiled in spite of herself.

He introduced himself, and she did the same.  His name was Alex LaBauve. 
That is a pretty name
.
Those are pretty eyes, too.

Skyla took better notice of her companion.  She sat up a bit straighter and tucked her hair behind her ears. 
Is he famous? 
There was something about him that seemed so familiar.  Skyla was about to ask Alex if they had met before but decided not to do that.  He was probably famous, a model or an actor. 

He was obviously a nice guy, caring and observant.  Looking past the chiseled jaw and broad shoulders, he seemed pretty normal, pretty ordinary. But what did Skyla know about normal and ordinary anyway?  Maybe Alex tried just a bit too hard, though: jeans and a polo shirt, hair not too neat but definitely messed up in the right way, teeth very, very white.  Maybe he was trying really hard to fit in.  That was odd for such a good-looking guy. 

“So, you aren’t from here, are you?”  Skyla thought she would get a background check.

“Well, I am from here now.”

“Right, but where did you come from?”

“All over,” Alex said.

“Well, your accent sounds a bit Southern.  Are you from the South?” she pushed.

“Yes.  It isn’t too interesting.  Where are you from, Skyla Jane Judge?”  He gave her a little smirk, as if he were embarrassed to even ask. 

His head tilted down, his eyes shyly looking at her, imploring Skyla to answer such a simple yet direct question.  She guessed he could be trouble after all.

“Me?  Oh, I am from Chestnut Hill, a town right outside Boston.  It’s a college town.  Nothing much else to say about it.” 

Skyla noticed that Alex scrunched his face a bit, and she wondered what that meant.