Shuffled: When the Cards Talk You Must Listen

Chapter 12 The Dark Lady

Upright: Unconscious power and wisdom, Rituals, Mysteries, Secrets

Reversed: Resisting profound change

Sunday went by in a blur. My mother stayed in her room, and Aunt Teenie had to go to the diner for something so I stayed at home and did homework.
It was hard to concentrate because my eyes just kept flickering to the two little books sitting on my bedside table.

They called to me like a siren calls a sailor. Eventually I gave up on my home work and went and made a cup of tea.

Although I've been alone for a lot of my life, today the world seemed empty and silent. It felt strange. I felt strange, like I was walking through dreams or clouds.

I meandered through the house looking for some kind of distraction, something to do that didn't involve reading. I needed to move around. I felt restless and yet amiless. I know I should have unpacked and organized more but with Aunt Teenie around Mom seems to have actually been motivated to do a lot of it already.

Eventually I gave up on that as well and climbed the stairs back to my room and curled up in the window seat. The temptation to pick up one of the books was just too much my fingers itched to touch them, to explore them with all of my senses. I gently ran my hands softly over worn leather, so old it was as soft as a lambs ear. I opened one book and rubbed the page between my for-finger and my thumb. The pages were not thin and brittle like I would have expected from books this old would be. These were thick pages, written by hand in a flowing script. I buried my face in the crease of the purple one and inhaled deeply. I can't help it. I love the smell of old books. These seemed almost magical. Like my examination of them was me introducing myself to the books, and they to me. I felt a bond form. It didn't make any sense. I know it didn't but I still felt it.

Sipping my tea, I stared at the two books. I wondered which I should read first. Was there an order that they should be read in? I shrugged my shoulders and held my hands out above the books like I was asking them which I should read first. I don't know it just seemed right to ask their opinion. Like I needed to get their permission before reading them. Again it was odd because I kinda took them without permission.

Finally I picked the purple one. Purple had always been my favorite color. My heart beat wildly in my chest. I felt like I was embarking on a long, glorious, dangerous journey. Like when I opened the first Harry Potter Book. You just knew that you were going on an adventure. Then with the last book it felt odd, and sad and scary because you knew that was the last one and the journey was ending.
This book felt like the beginning of a journey and I was scared, excited, curious, and apprehensive all at the same time.

It took me a few moments to get used to reading the swirly script, and to understand the flow of the archaic writing but it wasn't that hard. I liked Shakespear, and the Catholic School I went to only used the King James Version of the Bible and Latin. I've got to say it really helped me in later English classes because I understood the plays and poems we had to read and interprit.

Soon I sunk into a world of fire and ice. There was so much diplomatic intrigue and espionage. There were huge courts set up between the different factions. The Dragons and the Fae were continually walking on the edge of a knife of alliance and antagonism, sometimes downright hostile. It wasn't just the dragons and the fae. Though with the sheer numbers of kinds of fae it could have been. No, this went between all levels of beings and not just humans.

Everything was real, vampires, werewolves, unicorns, mermaids, everything. The most difficult part of it all was that you could never quite know who or what you were dealing with because they could all transform, or 'shift' into human forms. All had at least one enemy and one ally but sometimes what looked like a friend was really a foe.

Most of the time the humans never knew who they were dealing with. The cultures were so interwoven that you could barely see where one stopped and the other started. The story was simply amazing! I was completely sucked in. I didn't notice when the sky grew dark. I didn't notice when people gathered by a tree just outside my window. I didn't notice when my Aunt came home. That is until she knocked on my door. I jumped a foot or more at least, dropping the book in the process.

She chuckled, it was a light uninhibited laugh and somehow calmed me down. Before she could walk over to me I quickly swooped up the book, as I made a fuss to 'refold' the throw blanket and pillows, in an effort to hide the books. I felt guilty about hiding things, I've never done that before to anyone. This was a new feeling. I'm not sure if I like it.. Still I don't want to show Aunt Teenie about them just yet.

"So" she said, interrupting my thoughts. "How was today? Get all your homework done?"

She asked me as she flipped the switch of my bedroom lights on. I hadn't even realized that it had gotten that dark in my room. My eyes squinted and watered automatically. Man that was bright. I can't believe I was reading all that time in the dark. Weird.

"Umm Ya, it wasn't that hard. I've covered a decent amount of the material in other schools. I'm just applying it to this new system. The only classes that are holding me up are Algebra, and there is no surprise there, and World History. It's just a lot of material and homework that I have to catch up one. I know a lot of it already but she still wants it done."

"That's good. I'm sure your mom is proud of you."

"Hey speaking of mom, I didn't check on her this morning, how is she doing?"

"Oh ya well......." She kinda stalled. "I think she is having a total mental breakdown."

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped open in suprise.

"Are you actually serious! She was totally fine before we moved here! And we've only been here for like three days? Why is this happening now?"

"Honestly I'm surprised she waited this long to have that break down. I think she just held out until she felt that you were in a safe place. I've called in a few favors and she is going to go to an inpatient facility for anxiety and depression. She has been dealing with too much and I think her brain just broke. It's like she knew she was safe; knew you were safe and the wave of everything just crashed down on her and she broke. I've seen it happen before. She will be alright after a bit of rest."

"Oh" it was all I could think to say. Suddenly the house felt empty. I know it sounds ridiculous. I'm here. Aunty Teenie is here. Mom has left me alone plenty of times, but I always knew she would be back. It might have taken a few days but she would be back. Now I didn't know how long she was going to be back home. What was wrong with her?