Dark Awakening: Echoes of Destiny (The Children Of The Gods #88)

7. Jasmine

7

JASMINE

I n the bedroom, Jasmine pulled the velvet pouch with her tarot out of the drawer in the bedside table, loosened the string, and dropped the deck into her palm.

These cards had guided her before, had led her to Ell-rom, and now she hoped they would provide answers for Annani, but her heart was full of doubt, and that was not good for a reading.

She had to believe that she would find a clue in the spread, or it wouldn't show her what she needed.

Settling on the bed, Jasmine took a deep breath, centering herself. She closed her eyes, focusing her thoughts on the yearning in Annani's eyes when she'd talked about her lost husband.

The goddess's love had endured five thousand years of separation and that should count for something.

She offered a prayer to the Mother of All Life, beseeching her to help the goddess. "Annani has done nothing but good throughout her life. Without her relentless push against the forces of darkness, humans all over the world would still be living in horrendous poverty, and women would be subjugated and enslaved. If anyone on this Earth deserves a happy ending, it is Annani. Merciful Mother, please hear my prayer and offer me a hint. Is Khiann alive in stasis? And if so, where should we look for him?"

The familiar sensation of energy flowing through her hands accompanied each shuffle, but in the back of her head, doubt lingered. What if it was just magical thinking?

Jasmine shook her head. She'd proven to herself and others that her talent was real. She should not doubt it anymore.

She began to lay out the cards in a Celtic cross spread, her favorite for complex questions.

As she turned over each card, a frown began to form on her face. The spread before her was strange, to put it mildly. The Tower, reversed, in the position of the present. The Moon in the position of the challenge. The Hierophant, also reversed, indicated the root of the issue.

Jasmine studied the cards. They hinted at hidden knowledge, at secrets kept in the dark, but it wasn't clear if those secrets were protecting Khiann or endangering him.

The Two of Swords in the recent past position suggested a difficult choice made, while the King of Swords in the crown position hinted at a powerful figure holding crucial information. But who was this figure? And what was their connection to Khiann?

Most puzzling of all was the Ten of Wands in the outcome position. It spoke of burdens, of responsibilities carried alone. But whose burdens? Khiann's? Annani's? Or someone else's?

Unsatisfied with the cryptic nature of the reading, Jasmine gathered the cards and shuffled again. "Please, Merciful Mother, show me clearly. Is Khiann alive? Where is he?"

As she laid out the spread a second time, her heart sank. The same cards appeared in the same positions. The Tower, the Moon, the Hierophant—all telling the same confusing story.

"Maybe the cards need purification."

She should have done that before starting a new reading to clear any lingering energy. There were many ways to purify contaminated cards, but the simplest was to place the deck under the light of the full moon, preferably on a windowsill or outside. However, the full moon was still a few days away, so she would have to employ another method, like passing the tarot through the smoke of burning sage or placing cleansing crystals on top of the deck.

The problem was that she had none of those things on hand and would have to go shopping for them. A less effective method was to hold the deck and visualize a bright, white light surrounding and entering the cards, and she could do that right now.

After the cleansing, she shuffled the deck vigorously several times and then tried for the third time, but as she turned over the third spread, she let out a frustrated sigh.

Once again, the cards remained unchanged.

What were they trying to tell her? Someone important held Khiann's fate in their hands. That much seemed clear. But who? And why were they keeping it a secret?

The reversed Hierophant nagged at her. It spoke of challenging tradition, of secrets kept from institutions. Could it be that someone within the clan knew more than they were letting on?

And the Moon, with its imagery of illusion and hidden paths—was it suggesting that the way to Khiann was purposely hidden from view?

Jasmine rubbed her temples, feeling a headache forming. She had hoped for clarity, for a direction, but instead she was left with more questions than answers.

With a sigh she gathered the cards, returned them to their pouch, and placed them back in the drawer.

She couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something important, some crucial piece of the puzzle that would make everything clear.

As she returned to the living room, she found Ell-rom still engrossed in his English lesson, repeating words after the AI and pronouncing them surprisingly well.

Evidently, that superior hearing of his had its uses beyond the ability to eavesdrop on conversation a hundred feet away and more.

Come to think of it, Ell-rom should be a good singer. His pitch would be perfect. It might be fun to sing duets with him.

Ell-rom looked up, his eyes brightening. "You are smiling, so I assume the cards told you something useful?"

She motioned for him to put in his earpieces and sat on the couch next to him. "I was smiling because your English accent sounded so good. It got me thinking that you could probably be a great singer, and we could sing duets. I would love for us to do that."

He chuckled. "If you love it, I will make the effort to learn to sing."

"First, master the language, and then I will introduce you to the wonderful world of musicals. I bet you would be a great Phantom of the Opera."

He frowned. "A ghost in the theater?"

That was probably how his earpieces had translated the title, and it was close enough. Trying to explain would be just more confusing.

"Yeah, something like that." She leaned back against the overstuffed leather cushions.

"So, what did you see in the cards?" Ell-rom asked.

"They were strange. I might have to perform a serious cleanse to get them rejuvenated."

"What did they say?" he insisted. "Maybe I can help you decipher the message."

Jasmine took a deep breath. "I asked two simple questions. One, is Khiann alive and in stasis? Two, where should we look for him? But the answers I got were not to the questions I asked. They were cryptic, to say the least."

She described the spread, explaining the meaning behind each card and their unusual positions. "The thing is," she said, "I did the spread three times. And each time, it came out exactly the same. That almost never happens, which means that this is the correct answer, and it is up to me to decipher its meaning."

Ell-rom nodded. "What's your first take on that spread?"

"Secrets and hidden knowledge are the same things expressed in two different ways, so it obviously means that a piece of the puzzle is missing, but someone has it and that someone is a powerful figure."

"Could it be the Eternal King?"

Jasmine chuckled.

"As mighty as your grandfather is, I doubt he had anything to do with Khiann's death or stasis. If anyone had some secret knowledge, it would be your father, but regrettably, he took the secret to his grave. The other thing that's unclear is whether that secret information and that powerful figure will help us find Khiann or hinder the search. I can't tell."

Ell-rom was quiet for a moment. "Could it be someone within the clan? Someone who knows more than they're letting on?"

"As far as I know, the only two who were alive at the time were Annani and Toven. Annani obviously doesn't know, so that leaves Toven, but if he knew something, he would have told her."

"Perhaps he believes that he's protecting someone," Ell-rom suggested. "You said that one of the cards represented burdens carried alone, right?"

Jasmine nodded. "The Ten of Wands."

The puzzle pieces were there, but Jasmine just couldn't fit them together.

"You should tell Annani and Kian about this," Ell-rom said. "Even if you can't make sense of it, they might see something you are missing."

"You're right, but I would hate to disappoint Annani, and I don't have anything of substance to report."

Ell-rom took her hand. "You did what she asked you to do, and now you need to tell her exactly what you saw and what you think it meant. Annani will do with the information as she sees fit."