On my way to a much-needed shower, after sword practice with Mr. Ryan, I was hailed from the little sitting room where Gran took her tea.
"Young Jack," Madame Gawina called.
She sounded strange, and even as I turned to look, I realised her voice was smoother and her accent had vanished. That was nothing compared to her physical transformation. The woman on the dusty-rose sofa was unquestionably Madame Gawina, but she looked so different that she could have been the daughter (or possibly the granddaughter) of the woman I'd met earlier.
The hair poking out of her silk scarf at dinner had been steel grey. Now thick, wavy black hair cascaded down her back and over her shoulders. Her wrinkles were mostly gone too, and I re-evaluated her age at thirty-something. A simple cotton dressing gown replaced the scarves and bangles, and an open book rested in her lap. I found I could only stare. Her bright blue eyes twinkled—no trace of the whitish haze remained.
"It's rude to stare," she said.
She smiled, and that smile made funny things happen inside me.
"Sorry," I said. "You look..."
Madame Gawina laughed.
"I've changed out of my work clothes. Now and then, it's nice to let your hair down."
"What do you do for work?"
"I am Madame Gawina, teller of fortunes and conduit to the next world," she said with the accent and huskier voice from earlier. "I came here directly from a client's, and I didn't have time to change before dinner."
"You really are a fortune-teller?" I blurted out. What were the odds?
"Do you believe in destiny, young Jack?" She smiled again as she said it, and it made me laugh.
"No," I said, returning her smile. She seemed nice and prettier by the minute.
"I see. Would you like me to tell you your fortune, anyway?"
I didn't believe in astrology, palm reading, or any of that junk, but she was very pretty.
"OK."
"Come and sit next to me." Madame Gawina patted the cushion beside her on the little sofa.
I only made it halfway across the room before Ivy's voice stopped me dead in my tracks.
"What are you doing?" Ivy asked from the doorway.
I looked back, feeling guilty, which was strange because I'd done nothing wrong.
"I was about to have my fortune told," I said. "For fun."
"Perhaps, the young lady wishes... to have her own fortune told?" Madame Gawina queried softly.
Ivy's face did a twitchy thing.
"I already know what my future holds," she said.
"People always think they know," Madame Gawina said. "But often, their fate resembles nothing of what they've imagined."
"It's not real," I said. "Why don't you have a try, just for fun?"
"You are an idiot, Jack." Ivy didn't look away from Madame Gawina as she said it.
"Where's the harm child?" Madame Gawina asked her. "If your future is set in stone, there's no reason not to let me see."
Ivy looked back and forth between us before moving to sit on the cushion next to Madame Gawina. Gently, the older woman took Ivy's little face in her hands and stared into her eyes.
YOU ARE READING
Ivy's Tangle (Legend of the White Sword - Book 1)
FantasíaFourteen-year-old Jack is a loner who knows little about his family--except that they're all cold-hearted jerks. When his parents send him to live at his grandmother's rooming house, life looks to be taking a turn for the better, until he discovers...
