Chapter #25The Oracle of Saratoga Falls by: rugal b.   "What do you mean the book has an aura?"
That's certainly a shocking statement on her part. So shocking that you wonder once more if she's just jerking you around. But if she's just messing with you then you're not sure what she'd be getting out of it. Though Braydon's memories have already started to fade, there's still enough there to let you know that wrongheaded as she might be in his eyes, Ursula's interests have gone back for as far as the couple of years he's known her. That and though she's not totally humorless she's not the type for practical jokes either so amusement wouldn't really factor into it.
And if she has been messing with you then she better be part of the theater kids at Eastman because though what she's been explaining is couched in all sorts of qualifiers -- Priscilla said this or I read that or I think -- than firm definitives she says it with enough conviction to at least make you believe that she believes it which means that she's either a good enough actress to fool you, is completely deluded herself or she's telling the truth.
For the time being you're willing to lean on that last option.
"It's exactly what I just said," she states as she shifts uncomfortably. "When you showed me that book I could immediately sense... something, and then as I flipped through it was stronger. When I got to that ripped page it was clear as day. I was so surprised but it was unmistakable: that book has an aura."
"Okay," you say as you eye her cautiously waiting for any hint of the facade to drop, "so what are you saying then? That the book's alive? You just told me inanimate objects don't have these auras."
"They don't!" she exclaims defensively but quickly her tone changes to one that's less confident. "At least, I'm sure they don't. Everything I've read about divination, auras, life energy; everything that Priscilla's told me..." She continues to shift and her gaze turns away from you. "But I'm still a novice at all of this. Maybe I'm wrong, or I've been misreading things or reading bad books or maybe Priscilla's been keeping things from me. Maybe... maybe there is life in inanimate objects and she didn't think I needed to know that yet or..."
At this point your doubts about her sincerity are melting away. Whether or not she actually can see these auras you can tell that Ursula herself believes she can and that's good enough for you to at least cautiously trust her. But seeing that book and it's supposed aura seems to have triggered some kind of minor existential crisis in her
"Are you alright?" you ask her.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm... sorry," she mutters as she turns back to you. "But seeing something that goes against what I've been taught and what I've learned is enough to make my head swim."
"How long have you known about this? Divination and auras and all of it?" You figure that maybe talking about it, about herself, will be enough to get her back on track. It seems to be the right call because Ursula's body language, heavily guarded and tense, slackens just a bit.
"High school," she tells you. "Maybe ninth grade? That's when I first really started noticing things. I could see the auras and I could see where they led but it was like trying to walk down a small path in a dense forest blanketed in fog. Some times I could stumble across something and I could see someone's immediate future but a lot of times it was stumbling around blindly."
"What'd people think about it?"
"I didn't tell them of course," she replies and her tone is much lighter than it had been up to this point. "I sort of tried to forget it. But Eileen had these tarot cards as like a joke. We were messing with them and when I was using them, that fog started to lift a bit and the path was a little more clear. So I saw something, about her and a boy she liked and how it would turn out. We laughed about it but later in the week it turned out exactly like I said."
"So you started taking it more seriously at that point?" you ask.
"Mhm. Not immediately but gradually," she explains. "Tarot decks, zodiac signs, astrology and all of that. I really started getting absorbed into it and I'd wound up becoming the eccentric fortune teller girl before I actually realized what was happening."
You can feel the air growing less heavy so you press on. "So how long have you been with this Priscilla woman?" you ask her.
"Maybe about a month or two, since late in the summer," she tells you. "I'd gone into her shop to buy a tarot deck and we got to talking. I guess she liked what I'd said and the questions I'd asked because when I told her it was hard learning on my own she offered to teach me a little bit. But I'm really glad she did because it feels like I've learned more in two months than I did in two years."
Though her face retains the same sternness you've been seeing you think you can also see the faint hints of contentment as her gray eyes continue to size you up.
"So what about the book?" she asks. "Maybe we can look at it and try to puzzle some things out."
It's here that you want to face palm as you dig through the stuff you'd brought. "I think I left it with, uh, Braydon. The golem Braydon," you admit. "I guess I can call him up and have him bring it by. I'll need to be getting back under his mask anyway."
Ursula doesn't respond to that directly beyond a simple nod. Instead she stares straight ahead and is quiet until you're done with your call to the golem, made easy thanks to having Gillian's phone. "Thank you Will," she finally says. "Having someone to talk about that stuff with who actually takes it seriously or isn't Braydon is something that's been frustrating me."
"Oh, sure. No problem, I mean if we're going to be partners and all," you reply. "Speaking of, he's on his way."
"Okay. Well, I want to pay you back beyond just partnering with you on this book," she says as she hops up and rummages around inside a drawer. She pulls out a tarot deck and you notice that even the sternness has faded away from her face. "Let me show you a bit of what I can do."
* * * * *
You look at the cards laid before you. One, the major one, is certainly the spookiest and Ursula seems to notice your reaction. "It doesn't mean you're going to die. It represents great change, new ways of thinking. Big things are going to happen and the person that emerges won't be the same as the person who went in," she tells you.
"Take this one," she says as she points to the two of cups, "it represents intense bonding, new relationships."
"Like romance?" you ask.
"Maybe," she answers coyly, "or any two entities or groups... anything really." She then points to another, the page of swords. "This one, meanwhile, is all about curiosity and new ideas. It's also about finding new ways to express yourself, your ideas and your thoughts." Finally she points to three of pentacles. "Now this card is all about cooperation, that new things can be built and great things can be accomplished but only by working with others."
"So what's it all mean?"
"With your aura, the path it carves and with the tarot helping point the way... I can't give definitives, not yet anyway," she admits. "I'm not that good yet. But I can say that things will change for you considerably, more than they already have and that it's going to be through the new bonds you'll create, ones that will become closer than any you've had, and new discoveries that it'll be accomplished. That it's going to be very tough but in the end you'll be glad to have gone through it. Sorry if that all sounds like vague nonsense."
"No, it's fine. I guess I can see what it's talking about, new bonds and teamwork and all that," you admit. "I mean the two of us are going to be working together on the book right? And once I'm back in Braydon's mask and you're in Gillian's that'll solve the issue of us not going to the same school."
"I've been thinking about that actually," Ursula states which receives an inquisitive response. "Even if it's not really Braydon... I just really don't like him. Even if I can see your aura I'll still see his face and just... and doing it as Gillian too, having to canoodle and suck face with... eugh," she shivers.
"What are you saying?"
"When you got here, you commented that we lived surprisingly close," she states; and you do. Ursula's a bit southeast of your own neighborhood in Acheson, across State Avenue. "If you'd go back to being yourself then it'd be just as easy to get together and look at the book since we'd only be a couple of minutes away from each other."
"There's a lot of masks that would need to be switched around if that were the case," you tell her. "Plus the awkwardness of being at my house with a fake dad and all."
"I understand," she nods, "and I'm sorry. I'll help out with your dad too in any way that I can. But still," she trails off and is back to shifting uncomfortably. "I could find someone else for you to be. Someone that would allow us to talk regularly if you'd be willing to make another switch."
"Priscilla?"
"I don't know, maybe. I'd have to think," she says as she continues to shift. "Ugh but if you don't want to," she breathes in deeply, "I guess I can be Gillian. I'd rather not but it's your book and you're the one who showed me all of this. We don't know each other, not really but... if you feel like that's the best way to go I can try to suck it up. I'll show you a little bit of trust."   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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