Link knew the situation was going from bad to worse, and fast. Begging had never done him much good when Amma was alive—in fact, begging and bragging were the twin sons of the Devil, according to her—but it was all he had left. “I know how you feel about Rid, Amma, and I know she’s done a lot a bad things. But she helped save Lena, and she saved Ethan’s life out in the woods when Hunting Ravenwood’s Blood Pack attacked us. She also helped us get Ethan back after he … you know.”
Died.
Link still couldn’t say it—not on a good day, and definitely not to the woman who loved Ethan most. “Ridley’s not all bad, and good or bad, Light or Dark, I’m in love with her. So if you don’t wanna do it for her, or Lena and Ethan, then I’m down on my knees beggin’ you to do it for me.”
Amma raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t look that way to me.”
Link dropped down on his knees.
She sniffed. “That’s more like it.”
The Seer patted her sides where the pockets of her apron would’ve been if she were alive and wearing it, which meant she was either searching for the One-Eyed Menace—the wooden spoon she wielded like a weapon—or a handkerchief. With Amma, it was hard to tell until it was too late.
She shook her head. “I’ll consider helpin’ you, Wesley Lincoln. On one condition, and one condition only.”
Link stood up and stumbled toward Amma, almost knocking over the candles, and stopped just short of throwing his arms around her. “Anythin’. You name it.”
Necro pointed at him, and Link could practically see Amma’s bony finger. “You don’t involve my boy Ethan in whatever mess it is you’ve gotten yourself into. You clean it up without him. He’s had enough heartache in the last year for two lifetimes. He doesn’t need you draggin’ him down the dirty side a the drain with you. Those are my terms.”
“You have my word,” Link said. “I won’t tell Ethan anythin’. I don’t want him to get hurt, either. That’s why I haven’t called him about this.”
She crossed her arms. “Then what is it you want from me?”
Liv spoke up. “We think Silas has Ridley somewhere in the labs, behind Abraham Ravenwood’s old house. But we have no idea how to get there.”
“But I do.” Angelique waved her fingers at Amma from where she was leaning, lounging in her spot around the circle.
Amma stared at Angelique for a long moment. “You remind me of someone.”
“Oh?” Angelique looked bored.
“Someone I didn’t like,” Amma added.
“Angelique says she’ll show us the way to the labs,” Link said. “But we don’t know if we can trust her.”
Amma gave him the Look again. “I’m waitin’ for the part that involves me.”
“Link wants you to read her cards.” John pointed at the tarot deck on the floor.
“Of course he does.” Amma eyed the deck disapprovingly and turned back to Link. “I don’t like readin’ from somebody else’s deck. It’s almost as bad as bakin’ from another person’s recipe.”
“Are you going to read my cards or what?” Angelique asked. “I have places to burn down.”
Amma pointed at the candles. “Move those things outta the way so I have somewhere to lay out the spread.” She watched as Floyd and Sampson rushed to move them, then looked at Magnolia Blue. “I reckon I’m gonna need that deck.”
Magnolia Blue pushed the tarot deck across the floor in front of her and nodded respectfully.
Link rushed forward to hug the old lady he loved more than his own grandmother. “Thanks, Amma.”
Amma stopped him just shy of reaching her. “Don’t thank me yet. The cards reveal what they want to tell us, not necessarily what we want them to.” She sat down cross-legged in the center of the circle and wagged a finger at Angelique. “Come on over here.”
The Cataclyst scooted forward until she was sitting in front of Amma. “This should be fun. The fortune-tellers at the carnival were always my favorite.”
Liv sucked in a sharp breath, as if she knew what was coming. Calling a Seer a fortune-teller was like calling a lawyer an ambulance chaser.
“I. Am. Not. A. Fortune-teller.” Amma enunciated each word like she wanted to bite Angelique’s head off with every one. “Now shuffle.”
Angelique seemed amused, but within seconds, the cards were flying between her hands like she was a Vegas blackjack dealer. Everyone watched in silence as Amma fanned out the deck and the Cataclyst chose her cards. Then Amma flipped them over one by one, her eyes widening. “The Tower, the Devil, the Hermit, the Moon—”
The Seer glanced at Magnolia Blue, who looked equally shocked, and continued. When she turned the final card, Link recognized it—the Death card.
“Does that mean she’s gonna die, or she’s gonna kill us?” Link asked.
Amma sniffed. “Neither. Death card’s about transformation, a new cycle.”
“That’s good, right?” Sampson asked.
“Depends on the position in the spread.” Amma shook her head. “But this spread doesn’t make any sense.”
“Do tell.” Angelique perked up, suddenly interested. “I love a good mystery.”
Amma studied the images staring back from the floor—a horned beast, a gray tower, a knight riding a white horse—then turned her gaze back to the Cataclyst. “There’s somethin’ familiar about you and this spread.”