The Third Journal

Pages 91+92

The Palm Reader

C was clearly having the time of her life. She had just bet on a pig race and one first prize by using advanced probability calculations.

I noticed a "palm reader" and was galled to see how long the line was to this obvious charade. The dim intellect of the citizens of this town continues to astound. But I was bored, and since C had wandered off on her own and the "Palm Reader" was free, I figured I might as well give it a try.

I walked into a darkly lit tent smelling of incense. A strange gnarled crone waited at a rickety table. He seemed to have a collection of severed hands in a cage, but it may have just been the light playing tricks on me.

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When I sat down, he quickly grabbed my hands and said, "What took you so long, Dipper?" I felt a chill run down my back. How he knew my name (which had been a childhood nickname given to me because of my birthmark) was beyond me. Before I could muster a response, he opened a back of tarot cards and lined them up on the table.

When he saw the results, he shrieked and looked at me with a great and pained sympathy.

"Someone very close to you is deceiving you. You have chosen the wrong allies. You will live two lives and both of them too short... unless you change now."

He handed me a strange blue ring.

Ring

"When this is blue, you may pull through. When this is black, you can't turn back."