Spiral (Spiral Series) (26 page)

I shrugged. “I guess my training is paying off.”

For years I had felt an empty ache inside my chest,
as if
something that was supposed to be there
was missing.
It was something that I had once had,
o
f that I was sure. I just wondered if I would ever find it again
. L
ike the feeling of a warm blanket covering cold limbs, it comforted and warmed me all at once
to think about how it would feel when I did
.

I knew it was silly, but thinking of Pierce was starting to give me that comfort and warmth.

I had never been so relieved to see Mrs. Tiger’s
cottage. A feeling of unease had settled over me
,
and instead of getting better once my birthday was over it was only getting worse.
I thought m
aybe it had something to do with the thing
that had been
sticking out of my head when I woke up this morning. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to Mrs. Tiger, but I felt better just getting near
er
to
her
house
.

Before I even reached
it,
the door swung open to reveal Mrs. Tiger
smiling at me
. I grinned
back
. She was draped in many layers of purple
, and
I couldn’t be sure if she wore very flowy pants or a big skirt, but either way
the color was unmistakable
. Her hair was like a bird’s nest at the top of her head. I felt sure that if someone tried to comb it out they might really find twigs.

I paused for a minute to admire the work that Pierce and I had done
in the yard
, avoiding looking at the flower beds that still overflowed with weeds. At least the City Council wouldn’t be harassing her again soon.

I had known Mrs. Tiger ever since I could remember. Everyone in town knew her. Of all the adults in Blueberry she was by far the most
e
ccent
r
ic - and the most fun. Mrs. Tiger was the woman everyone secretly wished was their aunt or grandmother. She was kind, friendly, and caring, but there was something else about her
, s
omething odd and hard to define. She kept to herself and rumors swirled of a dire past and a sad loss.

“Good to see you
,
Natalie,” she said. “I thought you
might
come by before this
.
”

 “Really?”

“Oh
,
yes,” she nodded sagely. “I
’
ve been wanting to tell your fortune for a while now. I know it has been worrying you.”

“More than you know,” I muttered, thinking of graduati
on
, my nightmares, my dad’s new life and
my hope of making
him proud. Now my best friend
was
acting strange, and stranger by the day. It was a lot for a girl to deal with.

“Come in, come in, don’t mind the cats
,
”
said Mrs. Tiger.
She was renowned around town for her cats, and
I was sure
that
if there was
a legal limit for owning cats,
Mrs. Tiger was over it. One of the town myths was that she magicked Pet Control not to notice them all.
Even m
ore sinister rumor
s
revolved around
her
seances.

I bent down to scratch the ears of a black and white
cat
as Mrs. Tiger made her way past me. I had never been inside her cottage before, but it looked about as I
would have
expected: crammed to the gil
l
s with stuff.

Slowly I worked my way
along
behind her to what at one time must have been the living room
,
but
that
now looked like a glorified storage area. Everywhere
there
were papers, worn books, weird
ly
shaped bowls and vases
,
and every other thing you could think of.

“So, you knew I was going to come?” I asked, taking a seat on a space
she cleared for me
on the sofa. A cloud of dust poofed arou
nd
me as I sat. At one point the couch might have been green, or even purple, but now it was a faded dust color
that
I couldn’t identify.

“Of course,” Mrs. Tiger said serenely. She had shockingly clear blue eyes that held my gaze
as
I squirmed uncomfortably.

After she had held the gaze to her satisfaction, she softened it and said,
“Now, you can ask me three questions about your life and I will answer them as honestly as I can.”

This wasn’t exactly what I
had been
expecting, but I would take it. “Okay,” I agreed.

The black and white cat jumped up to sit on my lap, purring happily. Absently, I stroked his ears as I tried to think of what I wanted to know most.

Mrs. Tiger sat back in her armchair, her hands clasped on her lap, waiting.

“Well, I guess my first question is
,
am I crazy?” I asked, my voice small
. E
ven with Mrs. Tiger, who was easily the oddest person I had ever met, saying that was hard.

Mrs. Tiger’s huge laugh went a long way to making me feel better. I looked at her in amazement.

“No, my dear, you are about as far from crazy as I am.”

Okay, so not all the way better, I thought a little ruefully.

“Next question?” Mrs. Tiger asked, moving right along as if her word was law.

“Am I going to disappoint my dad?” This question was
even
harder for me to ask. He had been through so much. I didn’t want to be the cause of any
more of his pain.

Mrs. Tiger’s eyes sparked. “That’s not the next question I expected you to ask, but then again, if you did as expected
.
. . .”
S
he let that dangle there, unfinished. “No,” said Mrs. Tiger, continuing, her voice going rough and distant. “
’
Ti
s
not what will happen.”

I felt my eyes widen in surprise. Before I knew what I was saying I blurted out
,
“What will happen?”

Mrs. Tiger smiled sadly. “Death, d
e
struction, discovery. Isn’t that always what happens?”

“I don’t know,” I muttered. “I just turned eighteen.”

Mrs. Tiger’s laugh cascaded out in a tinkle. “There are hardships in your near future that no one your age should have to face. Your friends will be an important support system. You must rely on them, as they will ground you, but you also must be careful. You cannot trust everyone you meet. There are those
who
would hurt you.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. Mrs. Tiger was definitely a drama queen. I mean, what had I ever done to anyone in my life? A whole lot of nothing. How could anyone want to harm me? There was Haley, but
even with her there was no proof that she was anything but a spoiled brat.

“I mean, I’ve had some bad dreams and stuff,” I said cautiously. “And there was that accident with Casey and Haley.” My mind flitted back to
the incident at the lake
, but I was no clearer on what had happened now than I had been at the time.

As I watched
,
Mrs. Tiger sank back into her chair, looking tired and gray in the early evening light.

“You should get home,” she said softly. “You have school tomorrow and I’m sure you
’
ll want to spend some time with your dad.”

I was surprised
to hear her
mention that. I did want to see my dad. Since the
marriage
we
hadn’t spent as much time
together as we had before, and I missed it
.

“Can I ask you one more thing?”

Mrs. Tiger gave me a knowing look. “Yes, he is your destiny. It will be hard to accept, but he is your only path forward. It is good to have a man love you so much he would rather be around you than sleep.”

I swallowed hard and stood up. Mrs
.
Tiger was as cryptic as ever, but she must have been talking about Pierce. I moved to give Mrs. Tiger a hug, whispering a thank you in her ear. She laughed softly and patted me on the head. “You’re a good girl with a good head on your shoulders. When times get tough
.
don’t forget that.”

I appreciated her comment, but all I could think was th
a
t she had confirmed what I feared.

Times were going to get tough.

As I walked home
,
the early evening slipped into darkness. A cool breeze blew over me and I felt a chill
and
shiver
ed
. Rubbing my arms for warmth
,
I
chided myself for
not having brought a jacket
. B
ut it shouldn’t
have been
th
at
cold
, so I had never thought of it
.

I knew this stretch of road by heart. There were no houses between mine and Mrs. Tiger’s
,
and the road was lined with trees. I had never thought about how creepy it
would be
at night. Shuddering, I walked faster.

The weird
,
creepy
sensation
I
had been feeling
in my dreams was starting to roll over me, but I pushed it away. I couldn’t fight against the bad feeling of the Snake Man when I slept, but I was determined not to let it win
when I was awake
.