Oklahoma's Gold (29 page)

They looked sheepish, but only briefly, for the excitement returned, too strong to be frightened away by guilt.

"You'd never guess who we've been talking to!" Missy exclaimed breathlessly.

"Madame Zorda," Deek interrupted, not to be left out.

They jumped up and down, both chattering at once, trying to tell their story. It took both Jess and Daniel to quiet them down.

"Now, one at a time," Daniel advised sternly.

So they heard wild, fantastic stories about the fortuneteller. How she knew about the car accident, knew they came from Ohio. "She even knew about my dog, Snags," Deek claimed proudly. "You remember Snags, Jess."

Yes, she remembered. He'd been Deek's pet when he was five. Then a couple years later, he died unexpectedly. Deek never really got over it. Didn't even want another pet.

"She says she talked to mom and dad, too." This time it was Missy, her voice a trembling, frightened whisper.

"Missy, I don't think you should …"Jess began, but stopped short when she caught Daniel's warning glance. "Okay. What did she say?"

"That they are happy and sad. Happy because they are together. Sad because they miss us." Her chin began to quiver slightly, but then she bit down hard on her lower lip. "And she said they are angels. That they watch over us and protect us." Missy looked up at Jess; her eyes glistened with tears. "Isn't that nice, Jess?"

Jess reached out and gave Missy a long, hard hug. "It sure is, Missy. It sure is."

"And here's the best part!" Deek announced. "Madame Zorda wants to talk to you, Jess. And Daniel, too."

"Why, whatever for?" Jess didn't expect this. She was puzzled and maybe just a bit irritated. She didn't like how Madame Zorda had seemed to get two vulnerable children, especially her brother and sister, all worked up. It just wasn't right. And now she wanted to see her? The woman definitely was manipulative.

"I think it wouldn't hurt. In fact, might be fun. You're having fun, aren't you guys?" Daniel commented.

Surprised, Jess stared at Daniel. Who was this guy? He hadn't wanted anything to do with Madame Zorda yesterday. He even scoffed at the idea of believing in such nonsense. She considered that maybe he was just trying to humor the kids. Suddenly, Jess recognized that it could be fun after all.

"All right, guys. Let's go." She smiled at Daniel and grabbed his hand. As she glanced over his shoulder, Jess noticed a man standing about fifty yards away. He was leaning against a fence, smoking a cigarette. Jess frowned, but then turned to walk away with Daniel. She suddenly stopped.

"Everything okay?" Daniel looked puzzled.

"Yeah. Fine. I just—never mind." She smiled and squeezed Daniel's hand to assure him.

"Come on slowpokes," Missy shouted as she and Deek ran on ahead.

* * *

The little makeshift stand was sheltered in the front with long strings of colorful beads. Above the doorway, huge, glittered letters formed
Madame Zorda Welcomes You
. As they pushed aside the beads, a dark room filled with a smoky mist greeted them.

"Miss Clinton. Mr. Ross. Welcome." The husky, accented voice came from beyond the mist, sitting at a table.

As they stepped closer, Jess studied the woman before her. Not surprisingly, Madame Zorda wore the typical fortuneteller garb. Her face partially veiled, made it difficult for Jess to really see what she looked like. And that, she realized, bothered her. At least the eyes were uncovered. Dark, warm brown, large and soulful. They seemed wise, like deep pools of knowledge. Of course, it could be just the mood and atmosphere of the room playing tricks on her. She shrugged. Just for fun, right? That's what they had decided. She took a quick glance at Daniel. His expression appeared relaxed, however inquisitive, too.

"Please, sit down." She gestured to the chairs in front of them.

Wordlessly, Jess and Daniel did as she asked, still waiting to see what this visit was about. It's one thing to come here, get your fortune told, Jess reasoned. That's the way it worked. To be summoned? Now that was entirely different. Even strange. So, it had to be that they were here out of curiosity.

Jess watched as she reached for the stack of tarot cards sitting on the table, one of many props at her disposal. Others included a crystal ball and a box full of crystals in all shapes and colors. And there was a large gold handled bell. Jess determined that to be the most interesting object of all. This lady had gone all out to make her act as authentic as possible, Jess decided. She had expected a little palm reading, maybe the crystal ball, but nothing more. Not all this. She was so tempted to look underneath the table for buttons or gadgets. The kind used to make objects in the room move. But she wouldn't because she had promised to play along.

A shuffling of the cards brought Jess and Daniel to attention. Madame Zorda began laying cards out on the table, stopping only to study each one carefully. After a long silence, she looked up at them and finally turned her eyes to rest on Jess.

"Here, I see death in your lives. People have died. People very close to you." She pointed to a card with a skeleton.

Of course, she already mentioned to Missy and Deek about their parents, Jess analyzed. And who knows? The kids may have given her enough facts in their conversation beforehand that anyone could have guessed that information. She glanced at Daniel to see his reaction. No surprise. No confusion. He just looked calm and patient, waiting for Madame to continue.

"This card shows adventure. You both will go on to experience something exciting." Her eyes narrowed. "But also very dangerous. You must be careful."

Again, nothing to make either of them stand up and take notice. That one was too general. Taking a trip to the grocery store could turn out to be an adventure. The whole canned goods section could fall on you. That would be dangerous, Jess mused.

"And this one." She pointed to the last card laid out on the table. "This represents love. You will experience love and romance." She tilted her chin; a smile, though slight, formed her lips. "But not necessarily with each other."

Jess and Daniel both blushed from embarrassment, neither one dared to look at the other. Once more, anyone could have said this and have it apply to most everyone. No earthshaking news here.  Jess, again, felt disappointed. Of course, she hadn't really expected much, had she? Just for fun. Okay then, fun time was over. She began to rise from the chair.

"Thank you, Madame Zorda. That was very entertaining," she said politely and held out her hand to pay the lady, but the fortuneteller shook her head.

"Please, sit. I am not finished. I must read your palm."

"No. I think I've had enough for one day." Jess refused.

Yet Madame Zorda would not give up. "Then at least let me look at the crystal ball. I can see there is more for you. I see this in your eyes," she pleaded, ignoring Daniel now and only focusing her gaze on Jess.

Jess hesitated. She looked to Daniel for help, but he just shrugged his shoulders as if to say it was her call. So, reluctantly, she sat back down and watched as Madame Zorda placed both hands on the smoked glass dome, her fingers moving over it in rotating circles while she closed her eyes and hummed, an eerie non-melodic sound. Finally, her eyes popped open and her hands moved to either side of the crystal ball. She then stared deeply into what looked to Jess as black nothingness.

"I see a mountain and you are both climbing it." She looked at Jess and Daniel, then quickly back at the ball. "There is a cave with many other caves, but I see one big cave now." She scowled, straining her eyes to vision more. "There is …" she began, but stopped and shook her head, as if to clear it. Once she seemed more comfortable, she gazed into the darkness again. "There is drawing. Letters, pictures maybe? On the wall of the big cave. I'm not sure of what. It is too hazy." She gave them an apologetic smile, then went on. "Something is on the ground, near the wall. I don't know … something old, hmm … gone from this world? Something." Her eyes widened. "A coyote—blood—danger." She shivered and crossed her arms to rub her hands over them briskly, giving herself needed warmth. "I see danger for you here. Just you." Her words were directed at Jess. "I warn you again. Be careful. Watch for enemies who may be friends."

With that, Madame Zorda gave a sign she was done with her fortune telling. Jess and Daniel looked at each other speechless, but thoughts were racing through their minds. This last part of Madame's look into the future was indeed graphically detailed and definitely frightening. Neither probably would have put much stock into her vision, if it hadn't been for one tiny fact. The mountain. When they'd looked up the second set of land coordinates, it led them right to part of a mountain range. The very mountain they had nearly lost their lives driving through. And now Madame Zorda's vision? Seemed too coincidental, didn't it? Neither one of them wanted to lose his common sense over this though. Shouldn't they check it out? See if the caves exist? What if there was something, some connection to the mountain, the caves, and all they'd been trying to find out? They had exhausted every other clue or lead, ran into all those brick walls. Both knew they had nothing to lose.

"Madame Zorda," Daniel began. "Do you know of any such caves around here?"

She looked pensive, then said, "You have been close to them already. Go there again, to the top. You will see. It is off to the left of the road. You will see."

That's all she would say. But it was enough. Jess reflected on the visit as they walked away. Deek and Missy were waiting anxiously outside. Missy began jumping up and down again, excitement in her voice.

"Well? What did she say? Did she talk about mommy and daddy? Come on, Jess. Tell us!"

Of course, she wouldn't tell them everything. Jess didn't want to frighten Missy, though Deek would probably love all the danger Madame put into her prediction. Cautiously, she just explained a few things about the journey and visiting a cave with writing on the walls. "So we're going to make a trip up the mountain to see if we can find those caves. Right, Daniel?"

"You bet."

"Can we come along?" Deek asked, all excited about the cave exploring. He knew you could find a lot of neat things in caves. Bones and stuff.

"Nobody is goin' to visit any caves." The harsh words startled everyone, as Emma seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Miss Emma?" Jess looked at her questioningly.

"Bad stories go on about those caves. Been hearin' them since I was a kid," she explained. Seeing their looks of protest, she quickly added, "Stories or not, that's not a safe place to be traipsin’ around. Could get yourselves hurt. I won't have it. Too much has happened already."

They suspected her reaction had a lot to do with Fred's recent relapse. So, Jess and Daniel both knew better than to push the issue right now. After all, they still had Lucas to pursue. And they hadn't talked to that detective Higgins about the latest news Caleb had given them. Yes. The caves could wait.

"Awe, heck," Deek grumbled and kicked at some stones, then walked away.

"He'll get over it," Daniel said and suggested they all go get something cold to drink. The afternoon sun had brought on a temperature well up into the nineties. Ice cold lemonade sounded real good to all of them.