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Authors: Nancy Haddock
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our pastry chef for Maggie’s wedding, Daphne Dupree. We didn’t talk wedding shop at bridge club, though. Jenna held a grudge that she hadn’t been hired to sell Maggie’s condo.
The dress code is casual, so I wore black cargo pants and a white scoop neck T-shirt. We met at Kathy’s home in the Shores, socializing and admiring her new paintings from six thirty to seven then playing cards from seven until nine on the dot. About halfway into the evening, Maybelle and I both happened to be dummies and in the kitchen alone. I hesitated only a moment before I took the plunge.
“Millie told me you did an astrology chart for me last month.”
“Yes, for the anniversary of your coming out. I’d never run one quite so interesting.” She turned away to pour herself a cup of decaf coffee and motioned me closer. “I admit that the results surprised me enough that I consulted a more experienced astrologer I trust.”
“Millie said I disappeared from my own chart, but I don’t think that’s possible, is it?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking, but there is a rather major transit coming up for you.”
“Which means what?”
Maybelle leaned a hip against the granite countertop. “A transit is a transition. A crossroad, if you will. It’s a time when life challenges may change you so much that you’re nearly unrecognizable as the person you are now.”
The Void. Starrack. Maid of honor. Gee, pick a challenge. A shiver snaked up my spine.
Maybelle patted my arm. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, Cesca. Certainly, it’s no death knell. No more so than when the death card turns up in a tarot card reading.”
Death card? That wasn’t comforting.
“Maybelle, give it to me straight. Should I be concerned about this transit or not?”
She looked away and bit her lip, reflexive actions of a millisecond that took a dozen years off my afterlife.
“Transits can be tough, and this one could be a bear. You’ll have hard choices to make, and you should be careful in the next few weeks.”
That spine shiver became a full-body shudder. “But the transit will only affect me, right?”
The straw I grasped for dissolved when Maybelle grimaced.
“To be blunt, Cesca, I advise you to guard yourself and everyone around you. I may only be a dabbler, but my sense is that you’re in danger.”
Flipping pink flamingos. Like my life wasn’t complicated enough?
With that grand slam of cheery news, it was no wonder the next hour of bridge passed in a blur. Only Jenna bitched at me for making a bad play, but it was a good thing I’d be calling to cancel out of bridge for a few weeks. That would distance me from some of the people I cared about. I didn’t have specific plans to see Millie and the Jag Queens, so maybe they’d be out of the line of transit fire.
As for Maggie and Neil, I’d just have to do my best to keep them safe.
Then again, I doubted Starrack or the Void would be gunning for humans. Something to ask Cosmil next time I saw him.
I considered then rejected discussing Maybelle’s revelations with Saber. What could he say to reassure me? Nada. When the time came, I’d do my damnedest to protect everyone I loved.
Meantime, I detoured to Barnes and Noble en route home. The Kathys, Beth, and Brad were off for the night, but Jane helped me find an astrology-for-morons book, and I joked with Kristina as she checked me out.
I pulled onto the parking pad Maggie had included in the renovation plans. It wasn’t precisely a period-correct restoration touch, but Maggie’s property spanned two lots. She’d given up some side yard square footage to build a two-car garage and the additional parking space for me, melding the architecture so the small addition looked as if it had always been there.
As I trotted across the front yard toward the side gate, my vampire hearing picked up voices. Not Maggie and Neil, or even the neighbors. No, it wasn’t yet ten o’clock, but most of the neighborhood already slept
The dress code is casual, so I wore black cargo pants and a white scoop neck T-shirt. We met at Kathy’s home in the Shores, socializing and admiring her new paintings from six thirty to seven then playing cards from seven until nine on the dot. About halfway into the evening, Maybelle and I both happened to be dummies and in the kitchen alone. I hesitated only a moment before I took the plunge.
“Millie told me you did an astrology chart for me last month.”
“Yes, for the anniversary of your coming out. I’d never run one quite so interesting.” She turned away to pour herself a cup of decaf coffee and motioned me closer. “I admit that the results surprised me enough that I consulted a more experienced astrologer I trust.”
“Millie said I disappeared from my own chart, but I don’t think that’s possible, is it?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking, but there is a rather major transit coming up for you.”
“Which means what?”
Maybelle leaned a hip against the granite countertop. “A transit is a transition. A crossroad, if you will. It’s a time when life challenges may change you so much that you’re nearly unrecognizable as the person you are now.”
The Void. Starrack. Maid of honor. Gee, pick a challenge. A shiver snaked up my spine.
Maybelle patted my arm. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, Cesca. Certainly, it’s no death knell. No more so than when the death card turns up in a tarot card reading.”
Death card? That wasn’t comforting.
“Maybelle, give it to me straight. Should I be concerned about this transit or not?”
She looked away and bit her lip, reflexive actions of a millisecond that took a dozen years off my afterlife.
“Transits can be tough, and this one could be a bear. You’ll have hard choices to make, and you should be careful in the next few weeks.”
That spine shiver became a full-body shudder. “But the transit will only affect me, right?”
The straw I grasped for dissolved when Maybelle grimaced.
“To be blunt, Cesca, I advise you to guard yourself and everyone around you. I may only be a dabbler, but my sense is that you’re in danger.”
Flipping pink flamingos. Like my life wasn’t complicated enough?
With that grand slam of cheery news, it was no wonder the next hour of bridge passed in a blur. Only Jenna bitched at me for making a bad play, but it was a good thing I’d be calling to cancel out of bridge for a few weeks. That would distance me from some of the people I cared about. I didn’t have specific plans to see Millie and the Jag Queens, so maybe they’d be out of the line of transit fire.
As for Maggie and Neil, I’d just have to do my best to keep them safe.
Then again, I doubted Starrack or the Void would be gunning for humans. Something to ask Cosmil next time I saw him.
I considered then rejected discussing Maybelle’s revelations with Saber. What could he say to reassure me? Nada. When the time came, I’d do my damnedest to protect everyone I loved.
Meantime, I detoured to Barnes and Noble en route home. The Kathys, Beth, and Brad were off for the night, but Jane helped me find an astrology-for-morons book, and I joked with Kristina as she checked me out.
I pulled onto the parking pad Maggie had included in the renovation plans. It wasn’t precisely a period-correct restoration touch, but Maggie’s property spanned two lots. She’d given up some side yard square footage to build a two-car garage and the additional parking space for me, melding the architecture so the small addition looked as if it had always been there.
As I trotted across the front yard toward the side gate, my vampire hearing picked up voices. Not Maggie and Neil, or even the neighbors. No, it wasn’t yet ten o’clock, but most of the neighborhood already slept
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