Phoenix in My Fortune (A Monster Haven Story Book 6) (6 page)

I shrugged. “I’m getting better at this. And you’re terrible at covering up your thoughts. What’s going on?”

“You sure you didn’t cheat and take a peek?” He smiled to let me know he was teasing. “I don’t peek at your aura, you know.”

“I would hope not. I
am
a lady.”

Milo stepped from my lap to Riley’s, turned in a circle to wrap himself in his fluffy tail, then collapsed in a furry heap.

“Guess I’m not going anywhere.” Riley rested one hand on the snoozing animal, a look of contentment on both their faces.

Andrew cradled his cup in his hands, and I wondered how he didn’t burn himself on the hot ceramic.

“We’re drowning,” he said. “Business has thoroughly sucked lately. Daniel’s been working extra hours at the retirement home, but he can’t support us on a nursing aide’s salary. Nor should he.”

I’d never seen the shop busy, exactly, but usually somebody would have come in by now.

Riley’s voice was low to keep from disturbing Milo. “Can we do a marketing blitz or something to get more customers in here?”

“What do you think the problem is?” I asked. “Your teas are fantastic. I’d probably be in a hospital by now if you hadn’t cured my empath headaches. You used to have customers. Where’d they all go?”

Andrew’s eyes were sad. “I don’t know. There are tea shops all over town now. And you can buy bulk herbs at the natural food stores. When I started this place, I was the only game in town. Now...” He shrugged. “I’m inconveniently located and an extra stop.”

Riley set his cup on the table. “I hate to see this place go, but I’m yours when you need a hand moving. Just say the word.”

I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw something. I wanted to tell Andrew to “buck up” and “hang in there,” even though I knew those were useless phrases. “What are you going to do?”

More than anything, I wanted to cover my ears before he could answer.

“I think I’ve got no choice. I have to close the shop.” He took a gulp of tea that surely must have scalded all the way down.

It felt like he’d shot a cannonball into my stomach. Why was everything changing? Moira was selling the bakery and moving to Florida. Sara and I were closing the business. Now Andrew’s herb shop was folding.

To be fair, I didn’t think he’d ever made a lot of money at it. He drove a station wagon that had seen better days decades ago. He lived in a two-bedroom houseboat that was in constant need of repairs.

I suspected what little money he did have went to the retirement home where his grandparents lived—the same one where he’d met his boyfriend, Daniel.

“Besides,” he said, “Daniel’s thinking about going back to school to finish his nursing degree. I need to get a real job and help him make that happen. It’s my turn, you know?”

Even with my filters slammed shut, Andrew’s sadness and regret pooled around him in sticky gray clouds.

He saw me looking at the spaces around him and smirked. “I knew you couldn’t resist peeking.”

I opened my mouth to object, but I was interrupted by the jingle of the door. Andrew rose from his chair and hurried toward the front to greet his rare customer. He returned a moment later, escorting a woman I recognized.

Madame Emilia the fortune teller spread her arms, the diaphanous material of her dress and cloak moving with her and making her seem larger than she was. Fake jewels, moons, stars and golden eyes covered the purple velvets and deep-blue silks.

“Miss Donovan, I must speak with you. The spirits have an urgent message.”

Chapter Six

Madame Emilia’s Fortunes was directly across the street from Andrew’s herb shop. I’d never been inside, but I’d been right outside after she fell through her plate glass window when the Leprechaun Mafia cursed her with bad luck.

The doctors had done an excellent job, and the scars on her face a year later were only noticeable because I’d seen the original damage close up—close enough that I’d been covered in her blood by the time Riley had pulled me away to make room for the other EMTs.

She’d come to see me shortly after she was healed enough to be up and around, to thank me for staying with her until help had arrived. Occasionally, we both happened to be visiting Andrew at the same time and had tea together.

Madame Emilia was a sweet lady. And because I knew her, I also knew the grand gestures and fancy costumes were part of her gimmick to satisfy customers. In real life, she drove a minivan, took her kids to soccer practice every Tuesday and handmade quilts she sold online.

Her name wasn’t Madame Emilia, either.

“Hi Sheila,” I said. “New kaftan?”

She grinned and spun around. “I made it myself. Too much?”

“Never too much. It’s exquisite.”

She plopped into an empty chair, the material billowing around her. “I saw you guys come in. Let’s see the ring.”

I stuck my hand out and let her ooh and aah over my sparkles. “I guess I haven’t seen you in a few months.”

She turned my hand side to side to catch the light at different angles. “Is it true he proposed on top of Mount Tamalpais?”

I glanced at Riley to catch him blush. He did that every time he heard me tell people about that night. He was adorable. “No, the midnight picnic was on top of Mount Tam. He convinced a sphinx to fly us up there.”

She gasped. “A sphinx. You’re joking.”

Riley took my hand and gave her a polite smile. “It wasn’t difficult. Sphinxes are the taxi drivers of the Hidden world.”

I knew that wasn’t true, not even a little bit. But I did know that Riley was uncomfortable with the conversation. For such an open guy, he was more private than people knew. But the picnic really had been wonderful. After the sphinx—his name was Ronald—had dropped us in a clearing on top of the mountain, Riley spread a blanket for us to sit under the stars, with another blanket for us to cuddle under. Mount Tam was covered in snow, yet that clearing didn’t have a flake in it.

Molly had loaned him a miniature picnic basket that looked like it could hold maybe one medium-sized orange. Yet both blankets came out of it, followed by a tall thermos of piping-hot spiced cider, three kinds of really good cheese, baguettes, chocolate truffles, caramel apple tarts. The basket was like my purse. It could handle anything he put into it and still not weigh an ounce more.

The absence of snow beneath us had been nice, but it didn’t keep it from being winter. We tasted a little of everything from the basket while keeping each other warm under the thick blanket. And when we were done eating, we made each other even warmer between those two blankets on top of a snowy mountain in the middle of winter.

I felt my cheeks get hot and glanced at Riley. Yeah. He was right. Time to change the subject.

I gave Sheila a look of disappointment. “So, no message from the spirit world?”

“No, actually, that part was true. I’ve been watching for you to show up all afternoon. They’re practically screaming in my head.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “What, seriously?” I’d been teasing. I hadn’t expected a message from beyond, or wherever it was she got her information.

She nodded and pulled a deck of cards from a hidden fold in her cloak. “Seriously. I have to give you a reading or I won’t get any peace.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. “I’m...I’m sorry. Does that happen often?”

She shuffled the cards with an expert hand. “Occasionally. Tell me when to stop shuffling.” As she shuffled, she tipped her head at Riley and Andrew. “You guys find something to do, if you don’t mind. We won’t be long.”

Riley hesitated, but Andrew was familiar with Sheila’s readings and signaled for Riley to follow him. “Come help me tally the two sales I’ve made today. My math is terrible.”

They moved away so Sheila could concentrate.

I watched the fake gems in her rings sparkle, hypnotic in their quick movements. A shiver went down my back. “Stop.”

Her movements fast and smooth, she dealt cards across the table in an arc.

She pointed to each card. “Past, present, future, a warning and a blessing.”

I groaned. “Ah, come on.”

She looked up, her face alarmed. “What?”

I tapped the card she’d indicated as my future card. A beautiful red bird surrounded by a halo of fire held its wings to the sky. “I kept getting the Phoenix card when Aggie did a reading for me.”

A lump formed in my throat at the thought of my lost friend. Aggie had pulled the Phoenix card for me. And a few days later, she’d come to say goodbye to us. She’d burst into flames, burned to ashes, then emerged as a phoenix, leaving behind what she’d told us was supposed to be the sacred Covenant between Hidden and humans.

The pages of the book had been blank, though. Completely worthless to us. We’d lost Aggie for nothing. Her loss still left an ache.

“So, that makes it all the more valid, don’t you think?” Sheila gave me a sideways look like I might be a little touched. “Do you want me to reshuffle?”

I gave her a slow nod. “Yeah. If you don’t mind.”

She mixed the cards again, this time stopping when she felt it, rather than when I did.

Past. Present. Future. The phoenix stared up at me from the glossy card.

“Dammit. One more time?” My heart fluttered in my chest. Why was I being such a baby about it? If I got it a third time, I’d sit back and let her read the stupid cards without a fuss.

She shuffled. I felt a shiver, waited a beat, then told her to stop. She laid the cards flat, and I didn’t think either of us was surprised to see the phoenix card in the future spot again, though each of the other cards had changed with every shuffle.

I took a deep breath, held it, let it out. “Okay. Tell me. No, wait. Can Riley come back?”

She shrugged and waved at the guys to come back. Riley settled in next to me, and Andrew stood off to the side with his arms folded.

Sheila eyed me carefully, then tapped the card that stood for the past. “The Lamb. Innocent, cared for—you took things at face value. Your hardships were those of other lambs. Money. Loss. Men.” She flinched and touched her head. “Definitely men.” She sucked air between her teeth. “Oh, honey, you’ve been through some shit, haven’t you?”

I snorted. “You could say that.”

“Well, it’s not quite over, but nearly so.”

Riley shifted in his seat. “Hey!”

She flipped her hand in his direction. “Not you, honey. Something from her past isn’t finished. Nothing major.”

My mouth went dry and I sipped my tea. “Great.” With everything else going on, the last thing I needed was a visit from my ex-husband, Brad. Or any of the other guys I’d had trouble getting rid of in the past.

She touched the surface of the card in the spot representing the present. “The Dragon.” She smiled, but the expression carried some sadness with it. “You’ve been fighting very hard. Your belly furnace burns strong and bright. But see how the dragon lies near its cave and the sun sets behind the mountain? The fight is almost over.”

“That’s a relief.” I set my mug on the table. “Okay. Let me have it. Tell me how the Phoenix card represents new beginnings, blah blah blah.”

Sheila chuckled. “Fine, Miss Smartypants. It’s all about rebirth and new beginnings.”

“I’ve already seen it happen, though. Aggie burned up and was reborn as a phoenix four months ago.”

“What, literally?” Sheila’s eyes grew round. “Holy crap.”

“No kidding. So, you can see why I’m not thrilled to still see that card.”

“No, I imagine you wouldn’t be. But there it is. And I have to remind you that before there can be rebirth, there must be death.”

“So much good news today.” My stomach burned with acid.

She reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Death isn’t always literal, Zoey. Keep that in mind.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Okay.” I wanted to believe the cards weren’t being literal, but I’d already lost a lot of people I loved. My gut wanted to take it literally. The gut usually won.

She sat up straighter. “So, a warning. That’s the Lion and the Unicorn. They’re locked in an epic battle. See how they both bleed? Sometimes the only way to win a fight is not to fight at all. Do you understand?”

I shook my head. “That sounds like giving up.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. I can only tell you what they want you to know. I don’t necessarily understand the advice I’m told to give. But
you
will understand when the time comes.”

Riley took my hand in his, and I felt a little steadier, though no less confused. “I think I could use that blessing now.”

Sheila pressed her finger against her lips as she examined the card in the last spot. The picture was of a black horse with red eyes rearing up on its hind legs.

“This one doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, and the voices in my head have gone maddeningly quiet.”

“It’s a demonic horse,” I said, trying to be helpful.

“No.” She tapped a blunt fingernail against the card. “It’s the Pooka card. But pookas are bad luck. I’ve certainly never seen this card land in the blessing spot before.” She stopped talking when she noticed me laughing. “How is bad luck a blessing? What am I missing?”

I wiped my eyes and tried to get my laughter under control. “Would you believe I’ve got a friend who’s a pooka?”

She glanced at the card, then back at me, her expression filled with doubt. “How are you not dead?”

Her question made me burst out in laughter again, remembering how close I really had come to dying while Silas the pooka had been in my house. I pulled myself together, took a deep breath and said, “Gargoyle snot.” Then I fell apart again, bent over laughing, trying to catch my breath.

“Is she okay?”

Riley rubbed his palm across my back. “Give her a minute. I think she’s hit her limit of ridiculous for the moment. She’ll be fine.”

I laughed hard enough that I was no longer sure if I was laughing or crying. There’s a dangerous line when there’s too much stress—one emotion can flip to the other between breaths. I wiped my face and sat up, wondering how the hell I was going to survive the days ahead without a complete loss of sanity.

“Sheila, I am so sorry.” I grabbed a few tissues from a box Andrew handed me. “You have no idea what’s been going on for the last year and a half. The pooka thing was too much. That guy drove me crazy. He refused to wear pants half the time.” I blew my nose and gave her a hard stare. “Pants, Sheila!”

She frowned. “Why would a horse wear pants?”

I stopped a giggle in the back of my throat and kept it from bubbling out. If I let myself go again, I might not be able to pull it together. It would be kind of hard to fight Shadow Man in a straightjacket. “Pookas only look like horses when they want to. He mostly looked like a very angry Danny DeVito.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Without pants.”

“Exactly.”

She looked appropriately appalled, and I felt better, knowing I’d managed to get my point across.

I groaned.

“What’s wrong?” Riley asked.

“If Silas is coming, we’re in trouble. I don’t have any more gargoyle snot.”

* * *

My emotional outburst left me exhausted, which was fortunate. It meant that when the vision hit me on the way home, I wasn’t the one driving my car.

The last time this had happened was over four months ago, during all the portal chaos. So when everything went dark and I found myself standing in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the sound of whooshing wings around me, I didn’t panic.

A pinprick of light pulsed before me, widening and allowing the shadowy shape of a great bird to form. The very first Hidden, the Simurgh, hadn’t shown herself before this, though seeing her shadow was only a small step toward actually seeing her. Still, it was better than the darkness I’d experienced before.

The shadow moved, its great wings the size of a small house.

“In one, there is hope,” she whispered. “In two, there is tragedy.”

“One what?” I tried to take a step forward but my foot wouldn’t leave the ground. “Two what? Please. No more riddles. We’re in a lot of trouble.”

The dark form shifted, shivering its wings. “I can say no more until two become one.”

“Do I have to get married? What?”

“The answers are in the book.”

“But the book is blank!”

“Indeed.”

Without warning, the setting sun was shining through the windshield, directly in my eyes. The Simurgh was gone, leaving me with more questions than I’d had before she’d spoken.

“Son of a bitch,” I said. My ribs itched, and I pulled an iridescent, rainbow-colored feather from my shirt. Impossibly, the feather was a good six feet long.

Riley glanced at me, then back at the road. “What’s wrong?”

I waved the top of the feather at him. “Another mystery message from the First Hidden.” I told him what the Simurgh had said.

He frowned. “Well, shit. That could mean anything.”

“That’s kind of what I said, but she didn’t seem inclined to explain further.”

As we pulled into my driveway, a patch of white flashed through the woods alongside the car. We came to a stop, and our resident yeti, Tashi, stepped out from across the yard.

Two little ones, half yeti and half skunk-ape, clung to the snowy fur of her shoulders. She lifted a giant hand to us in greeting, grinned, then disappeared into the forest. I’d worried about her for a long time after her mate, my friend Iris, had died. Until she’d discovered she was pregnant, I’d been afraid she might waste away with sadness. She looked so much better now—still a little sad sometimes, but mostly consumed with the joys of motherhood. Seeing her with her babies made me smile. That right there was what we were fighting for.

Because if Shadow Man got his way, Tashi and her babies—hell, every one of my Hidden family—would be forced to leave our world forever. As frightened as I was of Shadow Man trying to kill me, I was more frightened that he would change the world in a way I was unwilling to let it change. My friends belonged here. This was their home.