Voodoo Masters

Chapter 10

The room was freezing and Taylor reached out for Layla. She found her arm and laced hers through it.
"It's okay it's just part of the act," Layla whispered, calming Taylor down a bit. This whole thing still made her uncomfortable though.

Suddenly, light was visible from many yards in front of the girls. The room was way bigger than Taylor originally assumed. A curved wooden shelf lined the inside of a sort of room that was higher than the main floor. Candles of all shapes and sizes lit up the area and cast shadows on the wooden table in the middle of the circle. Liam was still no where to be seen, so Taylor couldn't help but wonder how every single candle came to life at once.

"Come on let's go," Layla whispered with a grin, tugging Taylor forward. The two walked slowly towards the lit area and Taylor cautiously looked around. On either side of them was a dimly lit wall which were lined with odd things. Old vases, pots, bags and jars, all empty. There were a few long pieces of fraying fabric, and even a few articles of ripped clothing. A human scull caught Taylor's eye and she literally shivered. But the thing that was most abundant was dolls. There were china dolls, fabric dolls, string dolls, and straw dolls. Creepy.

Taylor and Layla finally reached a set of three stairs that led up to the table so they set down their shopping bags and climbed up the wood carefully. Each step creaked when they placed any weight on it.
"Now we sit here," Layla whispered, tapping on the back of a chair for Taylor to sit in. She reluctantly pulled her arm out of Layla's and sat down in the large chair.

Looking around the lit area, Taylor couldn't help but notice that almost everything was made of wood. Everything also had small carvings. She ran her fingers over the small designs etched into the decaying table and was suddenly remixed of the ceiling in her bedroom. Some of these patterns were similar.

"Layla where is Liam? I just want to get out of here," Taylor said out loud, not bothering to whisper like Layla had earlier.
"Wow you just completely ruined the mood," Layla laughed. "He'll be here soon. He just likes to give people time to look around and be creeped out. I mean look at this place. It's creepy as hell." Taylor nodded and folded her hands on her lap. She looked around the room again and jumped when she saw masks lining the edge of the ceiling.
"Layla look at those," she whispered, pointing up. Layla's eyes followed Taylor's pointed finger and then grew wide.
"Those are new," she said softly.

Each mask was different, with different colors and shapes and sizes. The biggest one was directly above the stairs and was a dark red in color. The flickering candle light cast shadows around the gaping black eye holes. A smile was painted on with pure white paint which was peeling a bit around the edges of the grin. It was too wide to look natural. This mask was just plain creepy.

Suddenly, a hand fell on Taylor's shoulder and she shot up out of her chair. She spun around and absentmindedly grasped to the wrist attached to the hand. A deep laugh filled her ears and she was relieved to see it was only Liam. A smirk was smeared across his face and he seemed amused.
"A bit jumpy today Ms. Mire?" He sneered, his eyes darting between her eyes and her hand wrapped around his wrist.

Taylor suddenly noticed that she was still gripping Liam's wrist and that she was standing very close to him. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she sat down quickly and moved her chair closer to Layla's. Liam just smiled at her and chuckled, so Taylor focused her gaze at a carving on the table.

Liam walked around the table so he was sitting right across from the two girls in a large wooden chair. He leaned back casually against one of the arms and reached into his suit jacket, fishing around for something. His hand reemerged holding a normal deck of cards.
"So your 'voodoo' is card tricks?" Taylor bravely asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"This is only what I do for beginners ," Liam answered calmly with a smirk. "You'll have to come back again for all the exciting voodoo. But I do assure you these are special card tricks that you have never seen before."

"And how is that?" Taylor said as Liam carefully shuffled the deck. He then began to lay them face down one by one until all 52 of them were in perfect rows in the center of the table.
"Pick up three but do not look at them," Liam instructed, leaning back in his chair. Taylor and Layla both leaned forward and randomly slid three cards towards them.

When the girls had made their selections, Liam swiped his hand across the table and once it passed, every single card was gone. Taylor blinked to make sure it wasn't just her eyes playing tricks on her, but sure enough, the table was now empty except for her and Layla's cards.

Liam continued on as if nothing unusual had just happened and spread out all six of the cards across the table in front of the girls. He then crossed his arms across his chest and just stared at them for a few moments. Finally, he said,
"You first Layla." She grinned and
set her hands on the table anxiously.

Taylor let out a small sigh of relief. She would never admit this out loud, but knowing her future had always scared her. Most people didn't like not knowing what was to come but Taylor didn't mind it and wanted to keep the future a surprise. All of her high school friends used to take these online tests to determine certain parts of their future. Even though all of the outcomes were stupid and not likely to happen, Taylor always made up some excuse not to take the tests.

She knew that if something or someone told her about her future, that prediction would always be in her head, somehow squeezing it's way into her thoughts. Everything that she would do would be effected in order to avoid or lean towards whatever prediction she had been told. Taylor believed that the future was meant to be unknown and she intended to keep hers that way.

From the other side of the table, Liam reached out and and placed his fingers on the first card in front of Layla. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before a smile spread across his lips. His eyes opened and he slowly flipped over the card. To Taylor's surprise, it was not a regular card from a regular deck of cards. This one had pictures on it; drawings to be exact.

"Layla," Liam said with drooping eyelids and a smirk. "Do you remember that one night stand you had the other night?" Layla let out a gasp and placed her hands on her hips.
"How the hell do you know about that? I haven't told a soul!" She yelled. Liam tilted his head back and laughed before saying,
"You're forgetting that I predicted that affair months ago the first time we met. Anyway, look at this card. Tell me what you see."

Layla glared at Liam before looking down at the card to study it.
"I see a drawing of a 3D circle with a line touching the side. It looks like it's trying to break through into the circle. What does this have to do with Sam?" She said, looking very irritated. This was a new side to her that Taylor was interested in seeing. It was actually very comical.

"That means that Sam is not done with you. He will try to push himself back into your life. And he will succeed," Liam told her sternly. Layla looked a bit confused but then let out a long sigh. From then on she seemed a little distant and deep in thought.
"What else," she asked, sounding bored.

Liam showed her the other two cards and told her that she would soon run into trouble with her family, and that within the next few days she would be rewarded with a raise at work. Layla was ecstatic about earning more money but wasn't really bothered about her family. Her odd mood shift had gone away, and Taylor made a mental note to ask her about what happened with Sam later.

"Okay Taylor Mire," Liam said suddenly, turning to face her. "Your turn."