Tethered 02 - Conjure (11 page)

She had been cheating. The picture made it obvious to me; it felt like needed proof somehow. My stomach flipped.

“So, do you want to get changed and head to my house for that Tea Reading?” Callie asked, breaking my concentration and pulling me from my thoughts.

“Sure.” I’d forgotten about that. I stood and walked my mug over to the sink. Dumping my prepackaged, store-bought tea bag into the garbage. I rinsed my cup out and cleared off my trash from the table.

“I’m not as good as my mom is at it, but I dabble,” Callie said.

“That’s awesome.” I smiled. “Let me change real quick and then we’ll go.”

Callie’s house was a cute little yellow cottage with a wide front porch tucked into a wooded lot. A pathway made of earth-colored stones curved from where we’d parked Callie’s little blue car all the way up to the first step of the porch. I climbed out once she cut the engine and stepped onto the stone path. Glancing around, I noticed the front yard was artfully landscaped to seem just on the verge of being labeled as untamed, while still looking beautifully colorful. We walked to the wide, wooden front door and Callie let us in.

The cottage held an open floor plan, which made it seem even more spacious inside. We first stepped into a cozily decorated living room with a coffee-colored suede wraparound couch and a honey-colored entertainment center. The dining room and kitchen were off to the right, both decorated in the same vibe as the living room—comfortable yet contemporary. Minimalistic clutter and walls mainly made up of windows seemed to be the theme.

“Have a seat and I’ll go get the cup and tea,” Callie insisted as she gestured to the couch.

I crossed the room to sit, glancing around as I went. There were still-shot pictures of the ocean hung up on the tiny sections of wall between the windows. Wind chimes hung from an invisible line in front of a few windows, blowing in the breeze and making a tinkling sound. I wondered if the Yateses always had their windows open.

“What type of question do you want to ask?” Callie asked from in the kitchen. “Or do you just want to do a general reading for your future?”

I thought about it for a moment before answering. “I guess just a general one for the future.”

“All right, those are the best anyway, more wiggle room.”

I shifted to sit sideways on the overstuffed couch so I could see her in the kitchen. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she carefully measured out an exact amount of tea leaves. They were a dark green in color and I wondered if they would taste bitter. I watched as she placed them in a square porcelain cup and then set it aside. Next, she measured water and poured it into a bowl and then placed it in the microwave. In just a few seconds it beeped, and she poured the water into the teacup and carefully brought it over to me as well as a saucer and a neatly folded napkin. Callie set the saucer down first on the coffee table and placed the napkin on top. Next came the steaming teacup.

“Okay, so here’s what you do,” she said as she got situated beside me on the couch. “Cup your hands and place them over the cup while focusing on wanting to glimpse your future, wanting to know it, until I tell you to stop. If you close your eyes, this part is a bit easier.”

I took in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and did as I was told. The warmth from the steam rose up to kiss my skin along the palms of my hands, and I thought instantly of Kace and how it felt to hold his hand in mine. I missed him today.

“Clear your mind and think only of wanting to see your future,” Callie instructed in a calm tone.

I cleared my mind of Kace and thought of glimpsing my future. Questions tumbled through my mind. Should I stay and become initiated? Would the tether between Theo and me ever be broken? Did I really want this life here in Soul Harbor? I began to worry my jumble of questions would distract the powers at be attempting to show me my future just as Callie told me to sit back and relax.

“Okay, now drink the tea until there’s only about a teaspoon left in the bottom of the cup.”

I picked up the cup and put it to my lips, hoping it didn’t taste too horrible, and tipped it back. Surprisingly, it was a smooth taste. Callie hadn’t put a lot of water into the cup, so thankfully there wasn’t much to drink. When there was only a small portion left, I held the cup out to her.

“Is that enough?” I asked.

She leaned forward to inspect the cup without touching it. “Yep. Now I need you to gently rotate the cup in a circular motion over the napkin, swirling the leftover liquid around, then tip it more and more until the water eventually drips out evenly, trying to keep the leaves in place.”

I gaped at her. “Are you serious?”

She nodded. “It’s not as hard as it sounds.”

“What if the leaves all fall out when I do that?”

Callie smiled reassuringly at me. “That never happens, just go slow.”

“Okay…” I dragged the word out. My hand shook as I began to swirl the leftover tea as she had directed first. Next, I slowly tipped the cup, while praying gravity was on my side, because I did not want to mess this up. The leaves slid and some did slip out, but mostly water was the only thing to fall onto the napkin.

“See, nothing to it,” Callie said.

I continued to invert the cup, hoping to get all the remaining water out like she’d said. Naturally, she’d jinxed me, and the entire clump of dark green tea leaves flopped out onto the napkin seconds after she’d spoken.

“Well, that can’t be a good sign, right?” I looked to her, still holding the cup in midair, shocked.

Her eyes were wide with disbelief. She blinked and then began laughing hysterically. It was infectious and soon, we were both a pair of hyenas in her living room, bellowing with laughter.

“Oh my God, that’s the first time that’s ever happened to me!” She swiped her finger beneath her eyes, wiping away her running mascara. “My mom said it happens sometimes, but I’ve never seen it.”

I gathered control over myself and glanced at the clump of leaves resting on top of the drenched napkin. “So, it doesn’t mean something horrible like imminent death?”

Callie glared at me. “What? No. It never really means that. Death can mean an ending to something and a new beginning to something else. Life is a series of doors, when one closes another opens.”

“Damn, you’re good at this,” I said. “You need a fortune teller tent on a street somewhere or something.”

“Whatever.” Callie grinned and rolled her eyes. “Let’s see what your leaves say…”

I leaned in as she did and began to inspect the leaves myself, even though I didn’t know what I was looking for.

“Okay, I think this here is sort of a cat. Don’t you?” She used a spoon she’d brought with her to point out the head, body, and tail.

“Yeah, it really does look like a cat,” I said, actually seeing the form. “What’s that mean?”

“It can mean a multitude of things…some kind of psychic development, a bond with the occult; it can also mean there’s a jealous enemy in your life right now.”

“Well, all of those fit at the moment,” I scoffed. I’d just found out I was an Elemental. I had been tethered to Theo—that part could also stand for the looming initiation—and I potentially had a jealous enemy lurking somewhere. “Next?”

“Next I see an…alligator.” Callie sat back for a moment. Her eyes shifted to meet mine and I thought I saw wariness swirl within them.

My stomach flipped. “What’s that mean? Why do you look so freaked out?”

“I don’t like the combination of the two,” she said. “Here’s the head, the body, and the long tail. An alligator stands for betrayal or deceit.”

“Okay, so someone’s lying to me?” I said. Wasn’t that sort of a given at this point?

“Yes, but…then there’s also a dagger,” Callie said as though I should know what it meant.

“And…?” I prompted.

“Well, with the way the leaves fell from the cup to begin with and then all of this…it doesn’t look good,” she said simply. “God, I’m sorry. I’m supposed to be spinning this to where it sounds at least a little bit less dramatic and scary, but I’ve just never seen one like this before.”

“Great.” I pursed my lips together. “Always love hearing that from a fortune teller. Seriously though, you said the leaves falling out of the cup didn’t mean anything.”

“It usually doesn’t, but when it’s accompanied by such ominous symbols it does.”

“So the dagger means something ill-omened, too?” Why was I even asking? Of course it did. When was a dagger ever a good symbol?

She nodded. “Yeah, it means danger or a scheming enemy.”

Awesome. More confirmation of someone trying to off me. I sat back on the couch and stared at the globs of wet tea leaves on the napkin while thinking of how each symbol connected with the things going on in my life again.

Callie tucked her hair behind her ears. “This is all stuff that
may
happen, not necessarily stuff that
will
.” She gathered up the napkin. I wasn’t sure if it was a reminder for herself or a reassurance to me. “Everyone holds the power to change the course of the events laid out during a Tea Reading. Nothing is concrete; everything shown is really just a
possible
outcome.”

“Sure.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I mean, that’s why people have readings done in the first place, right? So if they don’t like what they see they can change it?”

“Right.” She smiled brightly as though an idea had suddenly come to her. She stood to dispose of the leaves. “And that’s what you’re going to do…change it. The initiation will set you on the right track to doing just that. Maybe that’s why there was a cat—to show you that going through with it would save you from danger and a scheming enemy? A bond with the occult?”

I didn’t reply. She had a point, but she also didn’t know everything. The cat could also stand for my tether with Theo and how that might save me—again. There was no real way to find out. Just like anything else in the fortune telling area of spiritualism, it seemed to leave too many possible interpretations for a person to ponder.

I stared at a drop of tea that had been left on the coffee table, wondering when everyone was hoping for the initiation to take place. I knew it was set to happen during a waxing moon and on a Monday, but what I didn’t know was where we were in our current moon phase. How much time did I have to figure out this tether with Theo? How much time did I have until they all expected me to decide on whether I wanted to become initiated with them?