Succubus

Chapter 37: Post-High School

Tara looked down into the crystal ball. The woman across from her waited with wide eyes. Candles flickered on the many shelves and threatened to light one of the decorative shawls on fire.

Vine stared back at Tara from inside the ball. "She's into suits, tell her she'll dream of a man wearing a suit. He'll have money, and he's an orphan so she'll never have to deal with his family."

Tara repeated the message, but played it up more. The woman nodded as though Tara had finally affirmed some long known hunch. Fifty dollars exchanged hands and the woman went away.

A few minutes later the back door of the van opened again as Tara was taking her mystic hat off. Barb stared back at her. The former student council president was dressed in flowy clothing.

"You get it?" she asked.

Tara held up the fifty. Barb took it and slid it through a cut they'd made in the van wall. Getting at the money would require lifting up the floor mat.

"Not a bad haul for a small town," Barb said.

"They're bored, and we've got real magic to show off."

Tara lifted up the crystal ball and shook it. The mist dissipated to reveal Vine's finger.

"I'm glad I didn't eat it," Tara said.

"Let me eat it then, I'd like a go at being the hottest person in the world."

Tara gave Barb the well worn "you're an idiot" look.

"Kidding," Barb said.

"Charles will be graduating soon, right?" Tara said. She thought back to her and Barb's own graduation. Charles had shown up, probably because Erlik told him to.

Barb checked her phone and frowned. "Damn, you're right. Four years flew right by."

"You want to go?"

Barb looked at Tara sideways. "Back to Bridgeton? You were dying to get out of there when you told me about your fortune teller plan."

Tara shrugged. "I know it's not permanent. Plus my parents would probably like to see me in person."

Barb stared at her for a moment before also shrugging. "Alright, let's do it. You drive for a while, I want to take a nap."

Long stretches of American highways were between them and Bridgeton. Tara made sure Barb was fast asleep before opening the glove box and putting on her trucker hat. She'd bought it as a joke at a rest stop, but for some reason she couldn't stop wearing it.

Days passed that way. Food from rest stations, and showers at the ones which offered them. Finding empty lots to pull over and sleep in. Occasionally, reading a fortune when money got tight.

The van arrived without a day to spare. They crossed the bridge and watched as the lanes of the highway narrowed. They almost missed their exit because the sign was so small, like it was ashamed to be there.

Tara parked in front of an empty lot. The building was long gone. The only thing left was a patch where the grass didn't grow.

"This was where that house you stayed in was, wasn't it?" Barb asked.

"Yeah, I hated it here." Tara looked at the bare patch on the lot. A sandwich had been left at the threshold.

They parked behind the pizza restaurant and began wandering to kill time. The graduation ceremony wasn't until later in the afternoon.

While passing by the Orthodox Church they ran into Peter. He was chatting with an old woman in Russian as they walked out the front doors. He paused when he saw Barb and Tara, then excused himself to the old lady.