The Binding Witch and The Fortune Taker

Fortune Taker

I opened my eyes. Had it worked?

Indira stood over me, wringing her hands. "Are you okay, Kate?"

I considered her question and did a quick check. The nausea and fever were gone. I wasn't tired and my brain didn't feel cloudy. None of the previous symptoms had returned and overall, I felt pretty good.

"I think so." I said.

Miri lay motionless on the ground next to me. I felt the smooth metal of the talismans in my hand. They were heavy and tinged with an invitation to power. They wanted me to use them.

The wind had begun to pick up and the tall pines above us swayed. The stratocumulus clouds above the canopy lined up like fluffy rows of marching soldiers.

I sat up. What is a stratocumulus cloud?

Madame Miri stirred and sat up. She ran her hand through her hair and clumps of what remained came away in her fingers. "Well, that will teach me to take talismans from tall, handsome men." She sighed.

I made a face and my thoughts drifted to Lily and Ella and who knows how many other people she'd condemned to death. Even those idiots outside. "What about the others? Are you going to fix them, too?"

Indira shook her head. "Bad daayani."

"Judging by the way I feel, I just gave everyone's fortunes to you," Miri said. "Now it's your job to figure out how to fix them. Those things didn't come with instructions, you know."

"Crap," I said. "Is that why I know what stratocumulus clouds are?"

"Oh, that meteorologist guy's fortune?" she laughed. "Good luck with that one. What a waste."

I groaned. "Where did you get these talismans?" I needed to gather as much information about these stupid coins so my mother could reverse this. The collective fortunes of her (now my) victims swirled in my brain and they pulled me to draw on every single one of them. Math, music, welding, writing, architecture, ornithology and more. It was all there and it felt a little crowded. I hoped they faded after a few minutes like they did with Miri.

She looked at me sideways. "A man," she said. "I met him at the Michigan renaissance festival. He was very attractive. And big."

"And did the big, pretty man just give you magical talismans," I said, "out of the goodness of his heart?"

She glared at me. "He said I was chosen," she said. Her voice took on a hurt quality.

I grimaced at her naked vulnerability. Our empathy link faded and I threw up my walls. "Name?"

"I think he said his name was Liam or Leith something Irish-sounding like that." She looked up. "I was just a simple fortune-teller like your mom."

"You are nothing like my mother," I said.

"And you're not what you seem to be, either," Miri said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said. "I'm a hedge witch. Nothing more."

"I'm a hedge witch." Miri snorted. "I know the difference."

I glared at her and shoved the talismans in my pocket. "Are you talking about my empathy?"

"No, that was just a minor annoyance." She laughed and waved her hand. "I'm talking about the power." She pulled herself to her feet. "It's not like the other girls, the ones with fancy clothes. They had power, but it was weak, almost nothing. Yours was...formidable. How do you use it without doing," she gestured to herself, "this to yourself?" Her skin had grown paler as the red hue wore off and her eyes had lost their haunted look.

I looked at her drawn face. "Doing what?" I said. It felt like we were having two different conversations. A slow, creeping feeling advanced up my spine.

"Sucking every bit of your energy?" she said. "Driving you mad. You must have some kind of spell to recharge, right? To stay sane?"

"It's not me." I stared at her and tried to make sense of her words. "It has to be a side effect of the talisman," I said as a million ideas rushed my brain, each one vied for attention first. A refrain played throughout: I am a hedge witch with empathy. That's it.

"It's fine if you want to play it that way," she said. "I won't tell a soul."

I shook my head. The only thing that made sense was that the power she felt was a side effect of the talisman. It had to be. "I need to go home."

"I'm not stopping you," Miri said. "Thanks for taking that back...and not killing me." She stepped back as if what she said might trigger my primal rage beast or something.

I looked at her sideways. Weirdo! Why was she scared of me? But, since I couldn't have her sticking around to cut into our business, and because my mother would probably kill her when she found out what she did to me, I said in a hard voice, "Now get out of town. I never want to see you again."

"Absolutely," she said. "I'm gone tonight."

"Good." I said, and turned to Indira. "I need to go find my mom."

Miri ran into her tippy little car and started the engine.