Tomorrows Child (32 page)

“Well, it gets
used now,” said Charity. “See how happy it feels in here? When we
arrived, the whole place had a really sad vibe. I’m glad I didn’t
go to school here.”

Charity was
right, the energy was fresh and happy. It had a really good vibe
now. I could feel the energy and was able to suck it up like a
vacuum, but I didn’t. I was starting to discern the different types
of energy, but most of it in the valley was the same: clean, fresh
and pure. I’d also never considered that the energy I felt to be
the vibe, but it fit.

I expected the
dinner to finish with a few rounds of an old camp song, but it
didn’t. Everyone just went off, doing really normal things. Some
read books and others played card games or board games. A few said
goodnight and went to bed. It was a lot more normal than my
life.

“Let me read
your cards,” said Charity.

“Like tarot
cards?” I shook my head, “I know way too much about my future
already.”

“Come on,
Psyche, she is really good,” said Ryzer “You too, Phoenix. Let it
be our way of saying thank you.”

We couldn’t
really say no now, it would seem ungrateful; but still, I’d had
enough of prophecies and future-telling dreams. It usually just
messed with my head.

“Okay, sure,” I
said. Phoenix just smiled and shook his head. He probably knew
where this was going. I just knew it was a mistake.

“I’ll do you
first, Psyche, and then Phoenix.” Charity pulled out a box filled
with an assortment of cards and pretty colourful boxes.

“This is going
to be fun; you both have this really funky aura,” she said. “I just
know it means something. I just can’t figure out what.” She picked
up a small box of cards and put them on the table. She handed me
the cards and pulled out another set. “Sometimes I only need one
set, but every now and again, I feel I need to use more to get the
reading right.”

She looked at
me and screwed up her nose, “You’re not really into new age stuff.
It’s okay, lots of people aren’t, but you’re going to love this.
Trust me.”

“You’d be
surprised at the things I’m into these days,” I said. Phoenix
reached out and took my hand; it was warm and comforting. It was
what I needed.

Charity laid
three cards out on the table and then another three from the other
deck. “Now pick a card from either deck. “That will be your card,
the one that represents you. It will show me how you will deal with
whatever the cards show me.”

I slipped a
card from one of the decks and as I did, another card flew out,
flipped upright and sat facing me on the table.

“Persephone,” I
said. I wasn’t surprised.

“Oh, you know
the goddesses! How cool! Well, when a card flies out like that, it
means that she has something important to tell you. It might come
out in the cards, but it could come as a sign. You will know it
when you see it,” said Charity.

“You picked
Diana. She is a warrior goddess and she is you for the moment,
okay? These cards are the past present and future; these are events
or situations. I’ll turn over some cards as I go and they will tell
us more.”

“These aren’t
tarot cards, are they?”

“No they’re
oracle cards, but the cards choose the reading, and I got nothing
from the tarot today.” Charity would fit right into life in the
valley. Ironic really, life here seemed a much better suited to
me.

“There has been
a lot of confusion, but something was causing it, holding you back.
But that is gone now and you’re free, like a bird really. You’re
flying for the first time and it scares you. But you are Diana,
you’re the warrior. You weren’t before, but you are now. Something
major changed you.

“You have
something really important to do, you have to reach into the past,
seek ancient wisdom and you will succeed. If you ignore it, you
will fail. Oh. You actually already have this wisdom, it’s already
a part of you, but you’re resisting. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s
because you were betrayed, but you will be betrayed again and it’s
not from the one you think. This is hidden from you and from
everyone. Also, you need to be careful because there is darkness
following you. See this card? This is the dark sorceress card, and
it crosses your path many times.” She paused then and bit her lip.
“I don’t know, the cards are telling me one thing, but I am seeing
something else, something different.”

“The cards can
tell you all this?” I asked.

“Sort of, but I
get pictures in my head, flashes of things that are important too.
I’ve learnt to trust it and just say what I see,” Charity smiled.
“Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t.”

“I’m impressed,
really!” I looked at Phoenix and shook my head. “Most of it is
stuff I already know, but there are a few things I don’t
understand.”

Charity began
to pack up the cards. She slipped one pack to the side as she
collected the cards with brightly painted pictures of the
goddesses. As she tried to slip the cards into their case, one flew
loose and flicked across the table. It was Persephone. Again.

“She really has
something important to tell you. But all I see is a blue light,
like this soft blue glow. She isn’t showing me anything, so this is
a message that you have to figure out on your own.”

“It’s okay, I
think I know what it means,” I smiled. “She’s just letting me know
that she is with me.”

“Really?” she
said. “Your turn, Phoenix.”

Charity kept a
set of cards on the table and chose another set from her wooden
box. These cards were covered in pictures of angels.

“Oh, you picked
Archangel Jeremiel. He represents you, like the goddess card Psyche
chose. This means that you choose to be a guardian first, putting
your charge before everything else, even yourself. It also tells me
you’re an old soul. See this one? It’s the same, it tells me you’re
an old soul too; so maybe it’s all just saying you’re a really old
soul. You only have one purpose in this life, to serve and protect.
Past, present and future, the cards say you are here to serve and
protect. So unless you’re a police officer, and I know you’re not,
you’re here to protect someone or something pretty important. And
Archangel Raziel, he is about magick and secrets, you seem to be
protecting these secrets. Oh, there’s love… but you have to do
what’s right… but you already know this, because maybe this is
someone else’s love.

“This is
confusing too. This is the soul mate card and it says you have
found perfect love, destiny. My guess is that it’s you, Psyche. You
two are linked together. But it’s also telling me there is a
choice, a secret. It just doesn’t make sense. Oh well, the cards
don’t always get it right,” she said. “It’s just for fun anyway.”
Charity began to pack away the cards.

“So, tell me
what you think, Phoenix?” Charity looked up at Phoenix and she
smiled. “You already knew all this. I didn’t say anything you
didn’t already know.”

“Pretty much,”
he said. “But Psyche is right, you are very good; you have a gift.
But you already know this. You have visions without the cards,
don’t you?”

“Hmm, something
like that,” she smiled then. “But don’t tell anyone, people get
suspicious if they think you know things about them.”

Many of the
schoolrooms were set up like dormitories. Some had beds, while
others had mattresses on the floor. Ryzer and Charity led us to
their private space. It was a room in one of the smaller
outbuildings of the school.

“Ryzer likes to
be close to the dairy, so he can get up early and squeeze a cup of
milk from those poor cows,” said Charity.

“This is really
nice,” I said. The room was cosy and smelt like rose and lavender.
They had chimes hanging and pictures on the wall. Little angel
ornaments sat on the window ledge and a giant fairy statue in the
corner. “But where did all this stuff come from?”

Both Ryzer and
Charity blushed red. “In town,” she said, “we felt guilty taking it
for a while, but there was no one there, all the houses are
empty.”

“Most of the
food had already been taken. We just took sheets and blankets and
clothes at first. Stuff we really needed. But then it was like a
treasure hunt. And we found all this really cool stuff, books and
games, things we didn’t really need, but they made our lives a bit
better,” said Ryzer.

“You don’t need
to feel guilty. I am sure the people that used to live there don’t
care anymore,” I smiled.

“Where did
everyone go? I never could figure out why the houses were just
abandoned. It’s like the place is frozen in time. It’s really
creepy,” said Ryzer.

“Early on, we
had a lot of sickness, over half the town died from one thing or
another. Some moved away to be with family or just to get out of
town. I didn’t realise that no one lived in town anymore, but it’s
hard to get water now because the houses are on the mains and the
yards aren’t really big enough for growing food, I guess,” Phoenix
said. He was the only one who had been here in the early days.

“I didn’t
realise so many people died,” I said. “You never talk about it,
neither does Libby.”

“It happened a
long time ago now. We were one of the first towns hit with the
green plague. The whole area was quarantined for weeks. As soon as
they lifted the quarantine, most of the locals left. Seemed like a
strange reaction, considering the area was free of the plague by
then.”

“You two can
sleep here.” Charity pointed to a mattress on the floor at the far
end of the room. It wasn’t private, but it looked comfortable.
“I’ll hang a sheet so you don’t feel so exposed, if you like.”

I felt a knot
of nervous tension build up and twist in my stomach at the idea of
really sharing a bed with Phoenix. I hadn’t released any energy for
a while and new feelings combined with my energy build-up was
dangerous. I ran from the room, stood at the edge of darkness, and
focused on the earth.

When I
returned, Charity and Ryzer looked at me as if I were a crazy
person. “Nature called,” I said. It wasn’t the type of call they
were thinking about, but it really was nature calling.

We woke up
early and left late. The last words Charity said were, “Peace, love
and sunshine.” This time, she meant it; it was honest and not
hidden behind a mask of grief. We promised we would return and stay
longer next time.

“Did you mean
it when you said we could come and stay?” I asked.

“Sure, when
things settle down, and you’re not in danger. We can do whatever we
like.”

“So I was
thinking about the cards…” I said, “and… I wondered about the
secrets and stuff and the thing about love.”

“You know there
are secrets, and you know I can’t tell you. As far as love goes, I
told you that you have a choice.”

“But what would
happen if you told me? What if you told me everything?”

“I don’t know.
Maybe they would create an accident or just take me home in the
middle of the night. Or they could make me stay here with the
fallen angels until the end of time.”

“Is that
possible? You could become immortal?”

“I hope not,
that would be the worst possible outcome. Stuck on earth until the
end of time? Can you imagine? You would be left waiting for me
forever. But it doesn’t matter, because I’m not telling you
anything.”

“Yeh, it
probably would be terrible.”

“Don’t you
think I’ve thought about it? Telling you everything would be so
much easier than watching you struggle every day. But I don’t know
everything. Some of the things that happen are as surprising to me
as they are to everyone else. My job is to protect you, keep you
out of danger. So far I’ve done a pretty bad job of that. If I knew
about Volante or the hellhounds, I would never have allowed you to
be hurt.”

“I know, it’s
just she was right about you being a book of secrets. You’re harder
to decipher than that old Book of Shadows.”

Thunder rumbled
overhead. The sky had grown dark and black and spread from horizon
to horizon. The smell of dust arrived on the breeze and I knew we
had just minutes to find cover.

“Come on,”
Phoenix grabbed my hand and we ran along the basalt that lined the
gorge near the waterfall. The rain fell in huge drops of icy water
and soaked us within seconds.

“This is where
we should have stayed last night.”

“I know.”

We came to a
cave carved into the gorge just before the basalt dropped away into
a pool of water below. The cave was dry and had obviously been used
by someone else, or maybe it still was. Dry firewood was piled in
the corner and a fire pit lay just inside the mouth of the
cave.

“We might be
here for a while,” said Phoenix. There was thunder and lightning
all around and I jumped every time the lightning cracked against
the basalt.

“This is bad.
There is too much energy in the air. It’s coming too fast, way too
fast.” I moved to the back of the cave into the shadows until the
air was dull and stale. It was easier there.

Fine sand lined
the bottom of the cave, “I should stay back here. I think standing
on the basalt makes it worse; it’s all connected. I can’t control
it.” The sand was different, loose and free; it acted like a buffer
against the energy of the storm.

Mum was right
to bind the magick. What would have happened if this began when I
was three or four? I don’t think I would have survived. There is no
way I would have understood it. I had enough trouble now.

As the storm
raged on outside, I lay on a bed of sand, avoiding the basalt,
surrounded by stale air and stale energy. But it was easier.

Water washed
over my feet, I felt the sand shift and watched the tide retreat
and return. Waves crashed on the ocean for a thousand miles that
stretched before me. Tiny white peaks barely visible against the
grey sky.