The Witch Of Agnesi Part 9

Keep your mouth shut, Bonnie. "That's nice, dear." "That's nice, dear."

Winston had left and now returned slurping a lol- lipop.

Although he existed at the opposite end of the mor-phology spectrum from the school counselor, Winston's lollipop brought that morning's meeting to mind. "I met with Mister Davenport this morning. I have some good news for you, Ali."

"Mister Davenport called here." Ali leaned an elbow on the ottoman. "Isn't it great about the schol-arship?"

Before Bonnie could answer just how great she thought Ali's good fortune actually was, Rhiannon said, "She'll win that scholarship."

She spoke with such conviction, Bonnie felt com-pelled to speak. "I hope so."

"I know she will. I did a Tarot spread this afternoon, and the cards confirmed Ali's ascension." Rhiannon squared her shoulders and squinted at Bonnie as if dar-ing her to voice disbelief.

Bonnie had seen that true believer look before, al-though from the other side of the religious continuum. She knew she had very little wiggle room. Rhiannon fully expected her to react with skepticism. Bonnie's Imp of the Perverse prodded her to do just that.

What the h.e.l.l, silence is just as bad. "The Tarot, you say?" Regardless of her intention, it came out sounding flip. "The Tarot, you say?" Regardless of her intention, it came out sounding flip.

"That's right. You have a problem with the Tarot?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. It's all over your face as plain as your nose."

Bonnie sat up to confront Rhiannon. She'd always been sensitive about her nose. "My nose is not all over my face."

"But your skepticism is." Rhiannon jammed her fists into her hips as if to say-Hah, come back from that.

"I'll have you know I've had lots of Tarot readings."

Rhiannon eyed her suspiciously. "Is that so?"

"You bet. I'm a regular." She could feel the loose earth tumbling beneath her feet with every foolish lie.

"Would you like one more? We have time to kill while waiting for Mister Callahan."

In for a penny.

"Sure, why not?"

"Ali, bring me my Rider's deck."

The girl returned with an oversized pack of cards and a folding card table. She handed the deck to her mother and set up the table.

"Ladies, I'm going to bed." Winston didn't wait for a response, just disappeared into kitchen.

"Good night, Uncle Winston," Ali called.

Uncle Winston?

Bonnie heard his footfalls grow faint. She won-dered what the sleeping arrangements were in this strange household.

Rhiannon handed Bonnie the cards. "Shuffle then cut the deck three times. We need the warmth of your hands and your own personal energy to enter the cards."

Bonnie awkwardly shuffled the oversized cards.

Rhiannon nodded toward the deck. "Tarot suits are different from spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds, but an old hand like you already knew that. You do remember the Tarot suits?"

"Don't be such a wicked witch, mother. Missus P is our guest." Ali offered Bonnie a warm smile. "The suits are wands, cups, pentacles, and swords."

"I knew that." Bonnie refused to meet Rhiannon's stare.

The elder witch cracked her knuckles. "Of course you did. I never doubted it."

Bonnie set the deck onto the card table and cut it three times as instructed. "Now what?" She regretted the ques-tion, thinking it showed her for the novice she was.

Rhiannon cupped the deck in her hands looking as if she were readying a card trick. "Now we decide what to ask the cards."

The answer came to Bonnie's mind as if it had been playing solitaire in some dark corner. "What's become of Peyton Newlin?"

Rhiannon riffled through the cards. "Interesting choice, both a person and an inquiry. We need a very specific Significator to represent this dual inquiry. Here we go."

She chose a card showing a young man holding a staff. He seemed to be battling six other animate staffs. "Seven of Wands, a young man under attack."

Rhiannon set down the remainder of the deck and tapped the top card. "This next card shall be what covers him."

Bonnie leaned forward. Despite the low wail of her bulls.h.i.t alarm, she found herself growing interested.

"What's that mean?"

"The main influence touching the person or inquiry, in your case both." She flipped over a card showing a red heart pierced by three intersecting swords. She laid it directly atop the first card. "Three of Swords." She leaned on the table and studied the card.

A heart pierced by swords didn't seem like it could be any kind of good thing, and Rhiannon's silence made Bonnie even edgier. "Well?"

Rhiannon waved her quiet. "Hold your water. The card indicates dispersion, absence, or in extreme cases forcible removal. That makes sense in light of what happened at Knowledge Bowl."

The meaning seemed too much of a coincidence.

"The card actually means that?"

Rhiannon frowned at her. "You think I'm making this stuff up?"

A shiver shot up Bonnie's spine. Get a grip, girl. Get a grip, girl. She told herself the shiver was probably an aftershock of her concussion. "Just go on." She told herself the shiver was probably an aftershock of her concussion. "Just go on."

Rhiannon turned over the next card and laid it per-pendicularly across the pierced heart. "What crosses him. The Knight of Cups reversed." The card showed a knight on a white steed holding a golden chalice.

"This represents obstacles facing the individual. Reversed, the Knight of Cups isn't the n.o.ble figure he ap-pears to be. He represents fraud, trickery, and deceit."

"Peyton is being deceived?"

Rhiannon shook her head. "Possibly, but not necessarily. There might be deception inherent in his dis- appearance. In which case, he would be the deceiver."

Before Bonnie could frame another question, Rhi-annon snapped another card onto the table in the s.p.a.ce above the three-card pile. "This crowns him. It repre-sents the aim of the individual." The card featured a crowned man in flowing red robes seated on a throne. In one hand he held a sword, in the other a balance. The word Justice was written across the bottom of the card.

"In extreme cases 'what crowns him' represents the last resort of the individual, the best he can hope for under present circ.u.mstances."

"I don't understand." She felt dense and resented Rhiannon for making her feel that way.

Rhiannon traded glances with her daughter.

Ali sat up and stretched. In that pose, she looked like a younger version of her mother. "Think of it this way, Missus P. Seeking justice may have been the reason Peyton took off, or the driving force of his desires at this very moment. Does that make sense?"

"I suppose."

Rhiannon flipped the next card. It went below the central three cards. "The Fool is beneath him." The card showed a vacuous young fop and his dog. Both were so absorbed in staring at the clouds and the sky they failed to notice they were about to step off a preci-pice. "This represents the basis of the matter."

"Basically, Peyton is gone because Peyton is a fool," Bonnie said.

Rhiannon shrugged. "That seems the most logical explanation."

She turned the next card and placed it to the right.

"The King of Swords." A stern man sat on a throne situated in a field. He held a sword in his hand as if he intended to use it.

"That which influenced the subject in the most re-cent past. It either refers to why Peyton may have run away, or what influenced the boy directly in other areas of his life."

This needed no explanation. The man seated on the throne even looked like Colonel Ralph Newlin, right down to the cruel turn of his lip.

The next card, which Rhiannon placed left, showed a woman sitting up in bed, her face buried in her hands in despair. Nine swords hung on a black wall behind her. "Nine of Swords is before him. This is what will in-fluence him in the near future. With this card, what you see is what you get-failure, despair, and hopelessness."

"Is it significant the figure is a woman?"

Rhiannon nodded. "The cards reflect and are in-fluenced by one another. Considering the mother was there the night the boy disappeared, I'd say gender is very significant."

She tapped the next card she intended to upturn. "This card will speak to the individual's actual att.i.tude in the present circ.u.mstances." She placed the card face-up to the far right. "Two of Pentacles reversed."

A young man danced on a beach while he held a sidewise eight, the symbol for infinity, in his out-stretched arms. In the background two ships sailed on a rolling sea. "Normally this card represents gaiety, but reversed it speaks of agitation, as if the youth is being forced to dance."

Being forced to dance with infinity. What the h.e.l.l is that supposed to mean?

Bonnie fell back into the wingback chair. Her head throbbed. A part of her wanted this whole Tarot thing done with. "How many more cards?"

Rhiannon stroked the top card of the deck with a di-amond encrusted nail. "Three. Do you want to quit?"

Might as well see it to the end. "Go on." "Go on."

"This is his house." The card showed a blindfolded woman holding two crossed swords. She sat on a stool. Behind her a sea full of rocks and shoals crashed onto the sh.o.r.e. "The two of Swords represents his environ-ment, the influence of the important people in his life."

When Rhiannon hesitated, Bonnie asked, "So what does the card say about Peyton's house?"

Rhiannon shook her head and smiled mischievously. "Impatient little b.u.g.g.e.r, aren't you? I thought you were tired of this game."

Bonnie stuck out her tongue. "Mainly, I'm tired of you. Would it help it I said please?"

"I wouldn't have you denigrate yourself so on Belt-ane. The card is a hoodwinked woman, conforming even when conforming is painful. Once again gender is important. Someone in Peyton's house is living a lie." She tapped the card. "An alternative interpretation is friendship. Someone in Peyton's house is reaching out in friendship even though it's against their nature."

Bonnie thought how she left things with Wendy Newlin. "Come back and see me. I think I'm going to need a friend over the next couple of months."

Two cards to go.

Rhiannon flipped the next and placed it with the last two. "The Wheel of Fortune represents his hopes and fears." A sphinx sat on an amber circle which con-tained runic symbols.

Bonnie stifled a giggle. Every fiber of her being wanted to shout, "Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel."

Her struggle must have shown on her face. Rhi-annon shot her a frown. "The card indicates Peyton worries about his destiny."

Or at least if he should give that big old wheel an-other spin. "Last Card?" "Last Card?"

"Yes, and not a moment too soon." She sighed.

"This card represents Peyton's destiny, or at least the end result of his disappearance. You and I need to con-centrate and bring to bear all our intuition." She shut her eyes.

Bonnie felt awkward sitting there like she had as a child in church when the praying congregation bowed their heads. She looked at Ali, but the girl had her eyes closed as well.

When Rhiannon opened hers, she said, "Ready?"

"Ready."

The card showed a skeleton in armor riding a red-eyed, white war horse. A bishop in full liturgical garb, including miter, stood before the horse. The bishop clasped his hands in abject supplication. On the ground around the horse's hooves people either swooned or lay prostrate. At the bottom of the card, a single word was printed.

Death.

CHAPTER 6.

ALL THOUGHTS OF PEYTON NEWLIN AND the Tarot flew out of Bonnie's mind. The room felt heavy with the dead presence of Stephanie Templeton.

A knock sounded on the front door, and Bonnie just about jumped out of her skin. "Jeeze, Louise." Her heart pounded.

At Rhiannon's nod, Ali got up to answer. She dis-appeared into the dark family room.

Rhiannon slid the card bearing the skeleton on horseback closer to Bonnie. "The 'Death' card isn't to be taken necessarily at face value. Certainly, death can mean just that, death, but the card can also indicate a major life change."