“Well then, cross my palm with a bit of silver, and I will look into your future.” Wanda gave the woman her money. “Now give me thy palm. Ah, yes. You, my dear, will have a long and lovely life.” Natti snorted, receiving a quick glare from the palm reader. “Have faith my dear. You are special though the days may not show it. And your role in this world is larger than it may seem. A role which will require protecting your friends.”
Wanda smiled and studied her palm before her. The woman turned to Kevin, took his money, and grasped his hand. “You, young man, may struggle. Times will be difficult, and the path may not always be clear, but the journey will be worth your heart’s desire.”
Natti shook her head, muttering, “Whatever.”
The woman shot her another nasty look before moving on to Jen, gathering up her hand. “Ah, I see here that you will remain the rebel of the group.”
“There’s a safe assumption,” Natti hissed under her breath.
“And you will see your cause succeed,” the woman told Jen, raising her voice to drown out Natti’s. “Your leadership and your unique perspective will be the key.”
The woman finally came to Natti. Her eyes narrow slits. “You are not a believer.”
“No, I am not,” Natti admitted.
“You’ve lost faith. You’ve lost faith in this world. Death has taken it from you. The death of a loved one, a parent?” Natti lowered her head. “Your mother! Oh, yes. It was your mother, wasn’t it?
“And now you see the world only with your eyes.” The woman shook her head slowly. “My dear, there are truths in this world your vision cannot detect. There are truths one cannot explain. I can help you take the first step. You just have to open your mind.”
The woman held out her hand. Natti eyed the woman, hesitantly placed her money on the table, and held out her palm. The woman took it. Her thin lips became a tight frown, her focus purely on studying the lines of Natti’s hand.
“Oh, dear. I’m afraid you are in grave danger even as we speak. The spider has built his web, weaving his sparking threads of false intensions. He looks to entice you with his charm and deception. To take you into his grasp, bleed you dry, and in the end, leave you withered and hollow. So do not allow yourself to be drawn into his trap, for it will surely be your doom.”
“Oh my God, that was so spooky,” Wanda said with a little too much enthusiasm.
“She had to be talking about Seth. I’m sure of it,” Kevin added.
“Oh, please!” Natti threw back her head. Seth was mysterious, but a ‘spider’ luring her into a web of false intensions? That was just plain ridiculous. Besides, he hadn’t even approached her since the day he carried her to the nurse’s office earlier that week.
“Actually, it makes sense.” Jen beamed. “He’s always luring girls into his web. Or was that his bed? And I told you he was a blood sucker!”
Natti laughed. “Maybe. I’ll admit there is something a little odd about him and his friends. But, come on. What that woman said was all nonsense!”
“You think she was making it up?” Wanda asked.
Natti thought back, trying to remember if there was any weight to the woman’s words. There wasn’t. She had spoken true during her so-called prophecy. Chills running down Natti’s spine, she responded, “No. Not from her point of view at least. But no one can really see the future. That’s just rubbish!”
“Yet, like she said, there are truths we cannot see.”
“And Seth is definitely hiding something,” Kevin growled.
Natti had to agree. The heat and tingling of his touch, that was more than strange. In some ways, it was still downright frightening. “Can we please drop it?” She whined, not wanting to dwell on the topic.
After a few more jives at Seth’s expense, the group fell into a peaceful silence. The sun was sinking toward the horizon, grazing the top of the town hall building. Kevin jumped up and pointed to the pyramid.
“Come on,” he said excitedly. “We have to walk through the Haunted Pyramid before we leave!”
“The Haunted Pyramid?” Natti asked, unnerving chills running through her system again.
“Actually, it’s the town attraction, a sixty-by-sixty-foot-based pyramid built next to the town hall.”
“The one that has ‘Welcome to Setemple’ inscribed on it?”
“Yeah! It’s usually closed year round, but for the festival, they open it up and turn it into a haunted house!”
“Oh, it’s great!” Jen bounded. “It’s fifteen minutes of walking through dark chambers, all of which are haunted by Egyptian ghosts and mummies! Well, they’re really people in a bunch of costumes looking to scare the living daylights out of you, but it is good fun!”
“Sounds like it.” Natti tried to sound enthusiastic.