Hers

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

            “Lilly,” a female voice called to me.  “Focus on my voice, come to it.”

            I glanced around my surroundings.  Everything was a blur, like watching the world through water.  Things on the other side moved about normally.  I could hear many voices, all speaking at once, all blurring into one sound that made absolutely no sense.  I felt normal, emotionally and mentally, that is.  Physically, I felt like air was passing through me, pushing and pulling me towards the other side.

            “Lilly,” the voice called, anchoring me to the world of blurred colors and sounds.  “Come to me.”

            I turned.  The voice pulled me away from the veil of water separating me from the real world.  There before me, stood a woman.  She seemed ordinary enough, like any other human being, but there was a glow around her, a sense of peace that was anything but ordinary.

            “Sit down with me,” she said, speaking slowly and gesturing towards a table with chairs on either side.

            “What is this place?”  I asked as she took her seat.  I however, stayed rooted in place near the edge of the bubble.

            “Where we are, does not matter,” she answered and pulled a deck of cards from her coat.  “Sit, we don’t have much time.”

            I watched her for a moment, waiting for some sign that I should run, but nothing came.  I sat cautiously at the table and let my eyes roam the bubble like dome I was encased in.  Vaguely, I could make out the jet black of Ace’s hair and the dark blue of his eyes.  On the other side, I could see Sam’s form, sitting on the floor with my limp body lying on the couch.

            “Am I dead?”  I asked.  “Am I a ghost?”

            The woman laughed and spread the cards across the table, face down.  “No, dear.  Samael came to me and asked for a way to balance your energy.  I agreed, but in order to do so, he needed to separate your soul from your body.  Your vessel, is still very much alive, just in a deep sleep.”

            “Well, he’s asleep too.  Why isn’t he here?”  I asked, feeling my breaths quickening in panic.

            “He’s gone straight to the Tree.  I didn’t tell him that I would be meeting you, I’m sure he’s quite worried, but I hope you understand that it had to be done.”

            “What has to be done?”  I asked, my eyes flicking to the cards and back up to the woman who I now knew was a witch.

            “Pick three,” she said, gesturing to the cards.

            “What are they?”  I asked, scrunching my brow at the detailed artwork that was repeated on the back of each one.

            “Tarot cards,” she answered.  “Pull three of them out and line them up without flipping them over.”

            I pulled the first one from the line, then another, and another.  Lining them all up, I couldn’t help but look for Ace and Sam, but they had disappeared from the other side.

            “The first card represents your past,” the witch explained, tapping her finger on the card to the left.

            She flipped the card.  There, on the other side, was a heart with three swords going all the way through.  Behind the pierced heart, there were storm clouds that were pouring rain.