Cartomancy (5 page)

Chapter 17

When the girls got home from the mall they
couldn’t wait to try on their new outfits. They ran straight up to
Astrid’s room to make plans for tomorrow and the big interview.
Astrid couldn’t believe they were going to be on television, even
if it was only local television. Finally something cool was going
to happen. “What kind of questions do you think she will ask us? I
hope we don’t mess up or anything, it’s kind of embarrassing.”
Waverly said as she looked at herself in the mirror and twirled
around Astrid’s deconstructed bedroom. “I’m not really sure” said
Astrid. “But, it’s Kate’s mom and we’ve talked to her before, so I
guess we should just act like we always do around her, I don’t
think it’ll be weird or anything.” Waverly had put a drop cloth
over herself and was now acting like a ghost.
“Ahhh-ahhhh-oooohhhh-ahhhhh” she wailed in a high pitch voice. “I
mean should we act like we possess some actual knowledge of the
great beyond and pretend to actually know how to read Tarot cards?”
or should we just be vague?” She asked Astrid spinning around the
room in some ghostlike fashion. “What do you mean “act”? Hasn’t it
occurred to you yet that people actually believe what we are
telling them? And we are being interviewed because we have been
right so far? Why do you think there are lines of people waiting to
see us every day?” None of this had really occurred to Waverly at
all; she just thought they were having fun. All of the sudden the
realization came. Waverly pulled the drop cloth over her head and
stared at Astrid. “Do you think we have some talent for card
reading?” She asked Astrid. “Think? I KNOW it, we’re DOING it every
day, and whether WE think we’re right or not doesn’t matter,
because THEY think we’re legit.” Astrid shook her head; she was
surprised that Waverly didn’t believe as she did.

Chapter 18

Astrid woke up early from a very vivid dream,
and she wanted to tell Waverly all about it, but she wasn’t in her
spot on the floor. She figured she was taking a shower or
something, so she closed her eyes for a minute. Then she smelled
the coffee. Astrid pulled her hair up into a bun, and went
downstairs. Waverly was sitting at the table with Astrid’s parents
having a grand old time eating breakfast. “So, this was your plan
all along? I see how it is, trying to weasel your way into the
QAV.” Astrid got a bowl of cereal and sat down next to Waverly.
“Your parents were kind enough to offer me breakfast, and how in
the world could I say no to such sweet faces?” Astrid fake coughed
the word “suckup” in the direction of her friend. “You girls better
start getting ready; the camera crew should be here in a few
hours.” Her father said from behind his newspaper. “OMG you’re the
world’s funniest dad, remind me to crochet you a ribbon.” Astrid
said throwing a fruit ring over the top of the paper. “Are you
denying that it takes you longer than any other two humans on the
planet to simply dress and present yourselves?” Astrid could not in
fact deny this. It was an absolute truth. “I don’t expect you to
know what it’s like to have to do your hair.” She said and she
kissed her father’s bald head. The girls then went upstairs to
begin the whole process of “getting ready.” “Is it okay if we set-
up out here? “ Jenn asked Astrid’s mom. Katy’s mom was called Jenn
Haven on television. As far as Waverly knew it wasn’t even close to
whatever her real name was, all she knew her as was “Kate and
Jordan’s mom.” “I’d like to interview the girls on the porch and
maybe they could do a reading for someone. I’ll ask them a few
questions for the backstory. I promise it’ll be over in a jiff.”
Astrid was surprised at how much make-up Jenn had on when you got
up close. She guessed it was a television thing, lighting and all
that. Whatever the reason, one thing was for sure; Katy’s mother
was very glamorous and she seemed genuinely kind. It made Astrid
seriously wonder who had raised Kate. Once the porch was all set up
with lighting and a camera angles, it was time for the interview.
The girls were sitting at a table pretending to be doing a reading
for Jenn’s personal assistant, while Miss Haven spoke in the
background. “Two young ladies from Black’s Glenn have been quite
the talk of the town lately with their summer job. In the quiet
neighborhood of Pleasant Path, these two young entrepreneurs have
been making quite a name for themselves. Mistresses Astrid and
Waverly, as they are known, have been reading tarot cards for the
locals, and one thing is for sure; they have been surprisingly
accurate in their predictions, even appearing in a popular local
blog. From finding lost pets, to giving romance advice these girls
are finely honing their craft.” Miss Haven stopped speaking and put
the microphone down. “Okay kids, that was the intro, now I’m going
to ask you both some questions, and then we’ll shoot some more
cutaways of your porch and your gorgeous home.” Neither Waverly nor
Astrid knew what a cut away was but it didn’t really matter, it all
sounded so professional and cool. Jenn Haven had her make up
retouched and spoke into the microphone again, this time speaking
directly to Astrid. “So Miss Astrid, tell us how you had the idea
for doing readings with Tarot cards?” Astrid was so nervous, but
she tried not to show it, she sat up straight and tried to sound
professional. “Well, Miss Haven, I was watching television at my
grandmother’s house and I saw a commercial for psychic phone
readings and that’s where the idea was born.” Waverly gave Astrid a
thumbs-up from her side of the table, as Miss Haven turned toward
her. “Miss Waverly, when did you first realize that you had such a
talent for card reading?” Waverly flipped her hair over her
shoulder and stared into the camera. “Well, we certainly can’t give
all our secrets away now can we? I’ll just say that it takes a lot
of practice and talent.” Once again Astrid was in awe of Waverly.
She wasn’t even scared at all. Astrid supposed that some people
just had a knack for public speaking. This time Miss Haven had the
two girls sit together as she sat across from them. This was going
rather well Astrid thought quite pleased with herself. “Now ladies,
how do you answer the people in town who look at this as some sort
of witchcraft or sorcery?” Miss Haven’s tone had definitely
changed. Astrid was suddenly jolted back into reality. “We really
weren’t aware that there were such people, but that’s nonsense. You
can buy Tarot cards at the mall for goodness sake. We’re just
having some fun, that’s all.” Once again Waverly saved the day.
“There you have it Ladies and Gentlemen; it’s all harmless fun, now
back to the studio for your weekend weather.” Miss Haven removed
her microphone and stood up. The crew people were already packing
up the lights and equipment. “Thank you girls, you did a great job.
Please tell your parents that I said thank you as well, won’t you
Astrid?” Astrid just nodded. She wasn’t sure how all this was going
to turn out. Waverly stuck her hand out to shake Miss Haven’s. “We
really appreciate you coming all the way down here. Do you have any
idea when this might be on the news?” Miss Haven texted her
producer who was already in the van. “If all goes well, it’ll be on
tonight at eleven o’clock, thanks again girls.” Miss Haven got in
the news van and they drove off. As Astrid watched them driving
down the street, she noticed someone standing at the edge of her
neighbors hedge trying to hide. “Uh-oh” Astrid said to Waverly
pointing to the hedge. “There’s no way this can be anything
good.

Chapter 19

“Hey girls, get down here, you’re on TV!”
Astrid’s father waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs
expecting the girls to come bouncing out of Astrid’s room at any
minute. “Girls!” He yelled again. But nothing happened, so he went
up and knocked on the door. Still nothing. He was sure they were in
there, so he closed his eyes and opened the door. “I’m not
looking…I’m coming inside…take cover, if you need to…” he laughed.
Quiet. Not a creature was stirring. He halfway squinted and opened
one eye. There they were: Waverly on her bed staring at her tablet
with headphones plugged in, and Astrid on the floor, with cards
spread out before her WHILE texting someone, also with headphones
on. An atomic bomb could go off and the world could be covered with
zombies and it’d be days before these two figured it out he
thought. He snuck up behind Astrid and grabbed her shoulders. She
screamed and removed the headphones, her heart making a loud
swooshy sound in her chest. “Hey! Thanks for scaring me papa bear,
I almost died…for real.” He twisted her hair around his hand and
kissed her forehead. “That may be a tad dramatic my love, anyway I
came to tell you guys that you’re on TV right now.” Astrid found
her remote under her bed and turned on the TV. “OMG Wave, check it
out!” They squealed in unison. “No. Way.” Both girls immediately
began texting everyone they knew. Astrid’s father just laughed and
went back downstairs to the living room where Astrid’s mother was
working on her laptop. “Our daughter is quite a hit.” She said
smiling to her husband. Astrid’s father peered over his shoulder at
the computer screen. Within five minutes, the video of Astrid and
Waverly on the news had already been uploaded to various social
networking sites and the video was going viral right before their
very eyes. “Ahh…the awesome power of the inner-webs” Astrid’s
father said mostly joking. Her mom was not so sure. “We may have to
amend the amount of time they spend daily on fortune-telling after
everyone sees this.” She said staring at the computer screen.
“Well, let’s just wait and see what happens, my dear. Let’s let
this play itself out, I’m sure it will die down soon… like any
other fad.” Astrid was watching the video again online, when her
phone began to vibrate. “Meet me out in your back yard.” Hey Wave,
check out this text I just got.” Waverly looked at the phone. “What
the heck? Who is it from?” Astrid shrugged “It’s from an unknown
number, what should we do?” Waverly rolled her eyes. “By all means,
we should totally go outside….at midnight….to meet a stranger…who
will kill us….then you’ll get your coffin for really real.” Astrid
slipped on her flip-flops. “ In this town? Hardly. Get your shoes
and come on.” She said halfway out her door. In the hallway Waverly
grabbed her by the arm and whispered with conviction. “What are you
doing? We can’t go outside!” Astrid continued down the stairs.
“We’ll just go look out the kitchen window and see who it is first,
I’m not going outside without knowing who it is.” The girls looked
out of the kitchen window, but couldn’t see anyone. Suddenly, one
of the motion sensor lights came on, and a person walked out of the
shadows.” Astrid and Waverly looked at each other and for the first
time ever, said nothing.

Chapter 20

Asia Fisher was a girl that they both had
seen at school. They didn’t know much about her other than she used
to have a totally different name: Delilah Johnson. No one knew why,
but in the middle of the sixth grade her name suddenly changed. She
only went to school with them for half a day and she didn’t have to
get dressed for gym. Waverly had always been a little jealous of
that. “Umm..hey?” was all Astrid could say. The girl came a few
steps closer to them and held out her hand to shake. Waverly looked
at Astrid and shrugged her shoulders, but took the girls hand.
“Nice to finally meet you.” She said trying to sound reassuring.
“My name is Waverly, and this is Astrid.” She took a step back to
stand next to her friend, her feet wet from the night time grass.
“I know who you guys are; I came here because I have to tell you
something.” She handed Astrid a pamphlet with a cross on the front
that read “The Wages of Sin are death.” Both girls just stared at
the pamphlet. “I mean, thanks? I guess? Are you trying to save our
souls or something?” Astrid said just as short and direct as Asia
had been. “No, that isn’t my purpose on this Earth. I came here to
tell you that my mom’s church is going to start picketing your
house. She thinks that what you are doing is the work of the devil
himself. I just came to tell you that she’s making me picket too. I
don’t want to. You have always been real nice to me at school. But,
I can’t go against my mom and I don’t want you to be mad at me.” It
took Astrid a second to process all of this new information. “Well,
can’t you tell her that the devil isn’t in any way involved in what
we’re doing?” Astrid asked. Waverly put a palm to her forehead.
“Astrid, look at the pamphlet. They pretty much think everything is
the work of the devil. It’s unfair of us to ask her to go against
her own mom.” Astrid apologized, she knew Waverly was right.
“Listen Asia, thanks for coming here to warn us or whatever. We
really do appreciate it. We won’t be mad at you. Do you want us to
walk you home?” The girl shuffled back and forth and shook her head
no. “It’s no problem; we can just go grab our bikes real…” The
screen door opened and Astrid’s dad said “Time to come inside
girls, it’s getting pretty late.” Asia quickly took Astrid’s hand
in hers. “You guys will still be my friends, right?” Waverly looked
at Astrid and nodded her head yes. “Of course we will. It’s all
good. No worries.” And with that Asia turned and ran back into the
darkness. “Since when are we her friends? When were we nice to her
at school?” Waverly asked. “I’ve never even talked to her at
school. Have you?” Astrid couldn’t remember ever saying anything to
her. “I think I said “cute skirt” to her once, but that’s it. How
sad is it that she thinks we’re her friends?” Waverly crossed her
arms over her chest. “Well, aren’t we?” Astrid threw her hands in
the air. “Let me rephrase that. I’m just saying that it’s sad that
we’ve never even talked to her, and she thinks that we’ve been
nice.” I mean, how mean is everyone else? Astrid yawned. “Hop on
sleepyhead.” Waverly turned around and gave Astrid a piggyback ride
across the yard. Astrid’s dad was waiting for them in the kitchen.
“What was that all about?” He was too tired to be mad at this point
in the evening. Both girls explained the whole thing to Astrid’s
dad. He didn’t seem too pleased about the picketing part, but there
is such a thing as peaceful protest, he reminded them. “I guess it
just goes to show you that you never really know how you’re being
perceived by others. There’s a lesson in there somewhere girls.”
Astrid’s dad waited for the girls to get upstairs before turning
out the kitchen light. He was at the top of the stairs when Astrid
opened her door. “I sort of love you a lot.” She said hugging her
dad. “You are my sunshine and I love you more” He said kissing her
forehead. Astrid turned to go back in her room, and her dad started
down the hallway when he stopped and said “But, you still only get
two hours a day.”