Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone #1)(6)
Author: Alexandra Bracken
I turned over the pile of cards in my hand. “Bottom of the deck—the root of the situation—is Page of Wands reversed.”
I almost laughed. It was the card that always came up in her readings, signaling impatience and naïveté. If I actually believed in this tripe, it’d be pretty clear the universe was trying to send her a message.
“Well, that’s just the cards’ opinion,” Neve said. “Doesn’t mean it’s true. And besides, life wouldn’t be half as fun if we couldn’t prove people wrong.”
“Sure,” I agreed. The question was on the tip of my tongue. What exactly are you looking for?
“Now let’s do you,” Neve said, turning over the second row of cards. “And see the answer to whatever’s been on your mind.”
“No,” I protested, “really, that’s—”
She was already laying cards out: the Fool, the Tower, and the Seven of Swords.
“Oooh,” she said, all drama as she took my hands in hers. “An unforeseen event will liberate you to explore a new path, but you must watch out for a person who seeks to betray you! What question has been on your mind, hmm?”
“No question,” I said, extracting myself from her grip. “Except what I’m having for dinner.”
Neve laughed, pushing her chair back. I looked down at the timer.
“You still have another five minutes,” I told her.
“That’s all right, I got what I needed.” She freed her CD player from her atrocious fanny pack, hooking the earphones around her neck. “Hey, what are you doing tomorrow night?”
Money was money. Resigned, I reached for the leather-bound book beside me. “I’ll put you down for an appointment. What time?”
“No, I mean to hang out.” Seeing my blank look, Neve added, “To hang out, a phrase commonly used to suggest that people grab a meal together, or see a movie, or literally do anything that involves enjoyment.”
I froze. Maybe I’d read this situation completely wrong. My words were as awkward as they were stilted when I finally managed to get them out. “Oh . . . I’m sorry . . . I’m not into girls.”
Neve’s laugh was like chiming bells. “Tragic for you, but you’re not my type. I meant as friends.”
My hands curled under the velvet tablecloth. “I’m not allowed to be friends with clients.”
Her smile faded for a moment, and I knew she’d recognized the lie for what it was. “Okay, no problem.”
She lifted her old foam headphones over her ears as she turned to go. They did nothing to stop the reverberating bass and distorted whine of melancholic guitars from leaking out. A woman’s cosmic wailing flooded into the room, backed by a shuddering drumbeat that made me feel anxious just hearing it.
“What in thundering hell are you listening to?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Cocteau Twins,” Neve said, pushing up her headphones. Her eyes glittered with excitement. “Have you heard of them? They’re amazing—every song is like a dream.”
“They can’t be that amazing if I’ve never heard of them,” I said. “You should turn it down before you lose your hearing.”
She ignored me.
“Their songs are like different worlds.” Neve wound the headphone cord around the bulky device. “I know it seems silly, but when I listen to them, it pushes everything else away. Nothing else matters. You don’t have to feel anything but the music. Sorry, you probably don’t care.”
I didn’t, but guilt welled in me all the same. Neve made her way to the door just as Cabell opened it. He blinked at the sight of her before she brushed past.
“Bye!” Neve called, hurrying down the stairs. “Until we meet again, Oracle!”
“Another satisfied customer?” My brother lingered in the doorway, brows raised as he ran a hand through his shoulder-length black hair.
“But of course,” I said, throwing Myrtle’s shawl down. After scraping my tangled hair back into a ponytail, I gathered up the cards, neatening them into a pile. I reached for the small velvet bag I used to store them, only to stop when I saw what was at the top of the deck.
I had never liked the Moon card. It wasn’t anything I could explain, and that only made me hate it more. Every time I looked at it, it was like trying to tow a sinking memory back to the front of my mind, which had never forgotten anything before.
I drew the card closer, studying the image. It was impossible to tell if the moon’s luminous face was sleeping or merely contemplating the long path below. In the distance, misty blue hills waited, guarded by two stone towers, silent sentinels to whatever truth lay beyond the horizon.
A wolf and a hound, brothers in fear, one wild, the other tame, howled up at the glowing orb in the sky. Near their feet, a crayfish crawled from the edge of a pool.
My gaze drifted to the dark hound again, my stomach tightening.
“How did it go today?” Cabell asked, drawing my attention back to him.
After taking my cut of the day’s earnings and locking the rest in the safe, I held up two hundred-dollar bills.
“Hey, hey. Look who’s buying dinner tonight,” he said. “I await the fabled Lobster Larry’s Unlimited Seafood Tower.”
My brother was all lanky height and had little meat on his bones, but he looked perfectly comfortable in what I’d come to think of as the tried-and-true uniform of Hollowers: loose brown slacks and a belt laden with the tools of the trade, including a hand axe, crystals, and vials of fast-acting poison and antivenom.
All of which were needed if you wanted to empty the sorceress’s vault of the treasures she’d hoarded over the centuries and keep both life and limb.
“Why not just eat garbage from the dumpster out back instead?” I said. “You’ll get the same dining experience.”
“I take that to mean you want to stop by the library and try to drop in on some potential clients before we order pizza for the tenth night in a row,” he said.
“What happened with the key for the Sorceress Gaia’s job?” I asked, reaching for my bag. “Was there a match in the library’s collection, or did you have to go to the Bonecutter after all?”
To open a sealed Vein, one of the magic pathways the sorceresses created for themselves, we needed bone and blood from the one who created it, or her kin. The Bonecutter sourced and procured them.