The Den Read Online Free

decisions.” 
    Skyla’s eyes swept to the picture of a beautiful woman with flowing blond hair.  She focused on the word Temperance .
    Yvette spoke slowly.  “I can see in these last cards that someone is trying to get you back.”  Yvette waved her hand over the cards. 
    Skyla saw the one with a naked man and woman, “The Lovers.”  She saw the “High Priestess” sitting regally on a throne.  She could not see how Yvette could divine any meaning from them.
    Yvette warned, “Be careful around here.  The cemetery is too close.”
    “How would this ghost be able to hurt me anyway?” Skyla quickly asked.  “It’s just a ghost, right?” 
    “Hmmm?”  Yvette closed her eyes and was still as stone.
    A few minutes passed before Yvette spoke again.  “I taste poison on my tongue.  I fear the biggest danger will be a type of toxin.  Yes.  I can see you swallowing it.  I see one of your friends from your past connected to this. I sense male energy.  It is intertwined with the energy of at least one other man.  It isn’t as if one of these men wants to cause harm to you.  In his eyes he just wants you back.”  Yvette paused for a moment.  “I see the letter ‘R’ for a female’s name.  Maybe it’s Roberta, Rachel, or Rebecca.  That is all there is.”  Yvette nodded.  “Now, you will see me very clearly for the next few days.  I will be with you as a protector.  My words will linger very clearly.  Try to listen over and over again so that you may heed my warnings and learn from this reading.”   Yvette clapped her hands and said in a totally different, less ominous tone, “Now go get us both a large cup of water.  Then you can ask me some questions.”
    Later that night Skyla would reprimand herself for not asking the obvious follow-up question: How could a ghost feed her poison?  She suspected a possession was involved.  Maybe it was best that she did not know.
    Skyla got her bearings and spoke to Brooke. “I guess no more jogs around the neighborhood.  I don’t think it’s a great idea to run by the cemetery.”
    “Well, I think the part about ghosts coming for you is the scariest,” Brooke said.  She shifted and lay back in the grass.
    “Yes.  You are quite right.  Evidently, Yvette sees someone lurking around me now.  She can tell he is near.  I should keep aware.  Watch out for those watching me.”
    Brooke was always very matter-of-fact.  “Well, it isn’t the first time that someone said you were a witch.  I used to say it all the time.  Freaky things always happen around you, especially when we were younger.  So no big deal, right, Sky?  And the vampire thing is pretty cool.” 
    “Easy for you to say.  The psychic prophesied you were going to find everlasting love and become part of a large family, just like you always wanted.  Ooh, intense!  I just want to get out of here.  After graduation I am gone.  New England is creepy.”
    “Ha.  Some would say you were creepy.  Just kidding.  Where will you go?  To New York with me, right?”  Brooke sat straight up to pout at her friend.
    So Skyla Jane Judge would go to New York.  How could she not?  It figured that her one friend in the world was bent on living in a run-down one-bedroom apartment on Avenue C.  Well, at least Skyla would not be the strangest one in the neighborhood anymore. 

-Four-
    Restless
     
     
    New York City was definitely a breath of fresh air, figuratively speaking, of course.   Skyla could keep to herself while seated in a busy café surrounded by all different types of people.  She did not have to talk to them or pretend anymore.   Skyla’s father would financially support her for exactly one year.  This was against her mother’s strong objections.  Skyla’s mother wanted her to stay home. She was very lonely in the big house all by herself.  Skyla’s father had ignored her mother as usual but agreed that after the year, Skyla would have to “get a real