Hybrid Luna

4. Arcana Reading

Elaris

Despite Mama’s constant nagging and scolding, she was the only motherly figure I had around to compensate for my real mother’s absence. She was like a sh*tty aunt that didn’t spoil me like normal aunts do.

But she had this grounding effect that actually managed to calm my nerves and made me stop from breaking people’s bones.

As soon as I stepped inside her office, Bram, the familiar crow of the witch, squawked in a high-pitched craw.

“Elai! Elai!” He announced, agitating his wings and sending feathers all over the place. “Wolfie, wolfie!”

“For the Goddess, Elaris, you really are a magnet for trouble.” Mirelda mused without glancing up from her accounting books. She was obsessed with money.

From behind, I heard Tharion getting out from the infirmary, calling my name in a yell.

“Elaris, come back!” I saw him strolling towards us with big steps.

But before he could even get any closer, the door was slammed shut and I flinched by the loud noise.

“This kind of trouble has never happened to me before today.” I sighed, slumping on one of the sofas that smelled like dust and old leather.

“But you resolved it on the same way as everything. Breaking noses.” She said with irony coating her words. I blushed a bit, ashamed just enough of always being the first to strike. “At least this time Tharion actually deserved it. I didn’t think he’d be that dense, rude or reactive.”

It took me a moment to really understand her words, and my ears perked up at the comment. “You thought? You knew he was going to… do whatever that was?” I couldn’t say ‘propose’ out loud. It was a really shameful attempt.

“Oh, I suspected it.” She answered while writing. “And then he came looking for advice, my blessing for some unknown reason and I just told him to do it already. I couldn’t fathom another day of his puppy eyes and romantic sighs.”

I frowned, crossing my arms with annoyance.

“Another day? And you gave him your blessing? And what exactly made you do that, Mama?” I asked in a higher pitch than I intended.

She let out a long sigh before dropping her pen and finally look up at me. Her eyes, being her own witchy signature, always had an eerie feeling. They were completely black, with no irises or sclera. Just pure darkness, but you could feel her piercing gaze anyway.

“Did you know that having a mate and being part of a pack is the best solution to avoid being feral, Elaris? I mean, you should know. Is werewolf nature 101.” She said with sarcasm, and I scoffed. “That would be the natural cure for your growing lack of control. You are turning feral each passing day, Eli. You cannot avoid the truth for much longer. And I don’t think your mother would like to have another wolf in her forest.” She added with a serious tone, and I flinched to those words. “Let alone her own daughter now.”

“And having a mate would be the best solution, you say?” I asked in a mocking voice. “I already tried once. Didn’t work, remember? That’s why I’m here in the first place.”

When I got rejected by that weakling as Aelun called him, I entered in a deep depression like a black hole from which I could not escape. Mom did everything she could, but between adapting herself to keep father contained, having depression herself, being a mother and trying to get me up again, she was overwhelmed. Her only option was to send me to one of her oldest friends from her old coven: Mirelda.

She straightened me with fire, work and purpose alright. She sent me to war to be a medic, and to help mom to find a cure for my father’s mind.

I don’t know if that was the best course of action, but it worked and I was here alive, fighting and creating trouble because of her.

But the idea of finding a mate and being a thrashy Luna? Nope. Off the table, thank you.

“That was years ago, and you were just an immature pup. Now you’ve grown into a fine grown-ass woman that punches males for sport.” She declared, and I inevitably laughed. Maybe auntie Mirelda was actually a thing. “Look. I know it’s your decision to choose a mate or trying the impossible with that cure of yours, but think about what you really are going to do first and act accordingly. And own the consequences like the adult you are. And don’t let foolish males to get under your skin ever again.”

I smiled to that old hag, finally having my mood lifted by some good old woman pep talk.

“Foolish males! Foolish!” Bram squawked in his perch, looking at us with his three eyes.

Suddenly, Mirelda perked up.

“Oh! And why don’t you ask your precious tarot?” She chimed, and I facepalmed myself.

“Right, I have that. I’m a failure as a tarotist, really.” I whined. In my defense, I hadn’t been one for more than a year. I tended to forget I could read my own future and questions.

I got my cards from my bag, hearing the joyful whispers coming from the deck. Two readings in one night was delightful for the Arcana.

I placed the cards on the coffee table, and I linked my magic to them. They began shuffling in the air without me touching them, and before I could even organize my thoughts to make a coherent question, I was surprised to get three cards ready for me in line.

I blinked a bit confused, glancing once at Mirelda looking for answers from the bigger witch in the room. She just shrugged.

“Maybe you already have a destiny waiting for you. And it’s not like you hadn’t already an idea in mind.”

She was right on that matter. Brushing aside my lingering uneasiness, I flipped the first card: the problem at hand.

I inhaled sharply at the sight of The Tower, reversed.

“Well, well, even the Arcana knows you are turning looney.” I directed her an annoyed look, but I didn’t say anything, closing my eyes trying to understand the card’s words. Their whispers sometimes came as literal meanings, and sometimes came as riddles.

Between the gibberish I heard from it and what it actually lined up with my magic, I managed to piece things together.

“It’s not only me.” I said in a voice that wasn’t fully mine. “Two people are falling… shot down by… divine retribution. They don’t have much time… and one could be the undoing of the other.”

I opened my eyes with a startle, for a thunder suddenly cracked outside the windows, making them vibrate. I felt goosebumps crawling all over my skin when a light rain started, and even Mirelda looked at the sky with mistrust.

“That can’t be a good omen.” She murmured under her breath. For once, Bram didn’t croak a thing.

“Should I stop?” I asked in a meek voice, glad that no one besides Mirelda was there to witness my sudden fear.

“Even if you do, the wheels of destiny will continue to spin. Better to have all the weapons at your disposition.” She nodded once, and I gulped once before turning the next card.

“Nine of swords.”

The card featured a person waking up from a nightmare or just crying to his hands on a bed. Nine swords were at his back, like prison bars or just like reminders of the nightmare. I felt another chill running through my body, listening and translating the cards' words.

“Fear and insecurity, mistrust and doubt. They are destiny’s daggers, fate’s obstacles. Let them end you or get over them.” I said with that cavernous voice, making me shiver. That was the card of the so-called solution… but I didn’t fully understand it.

And finally, I flipped the last card. That was the position for a future warning or maybe a helper, depending on the card. And what I saw… well, left me speechless for a moment.

“Two of cups.” It was a less powerful card than the lovers, but the meaning was very similar. The words for this card didn’t come to me, so it practically told me that it was literal.

“So… you actually will have someone by your side.” Mirelda said with an amused tone. “Maybe you’ll have a hard time to accept him because it’s not the Lover’s card, but it will definitely make you hesitate.” She practically voiced my thoughts.

“I’m not gonna accept Tharion’s proposal.” I snapped, with all previous fear and uneasiness vanished. “Not in a million years.”

“Maybe it’s not him.” She countered, and for a fraction of a second, she seemed distracted for a moment. “You should check up on your pup friend.” She said suddenly, turning her head to the window that was trembling under the growing rain. “Didn’t he asked you to keep him hidden from someone?”

Cold chills crept up from my spine, feeling uneasy now.

“Mama… is something wrong?” I asked in a low whisper, turning my head to the office door where the silence now was deafening.

“We have company.” She stood up from her desk, grabbing the hanger where Bram was perched, only for it to morph into a mighty staff with a blood red gem in the center of the half-moon carved wood. Bram itself suddenly looked more menacing, and I thought I was tripping when I saw him getting bigger… but he was. And he was dripping something as black as ink to the ground, that hissed when it landed. “Unwelcomed company. Get your friend out through the back door. Take the carriage.”

She tossed me her ‘carriage’ keys and I caught them mid-air. In that single blink, she disappeared with her familiar, and I felt a surge of adrenaline when a dreadful smell coated the air.

‘Demons.’ Growled Aelun, recognizing the scent. ‘Infirmitatis demons.’