The Amazing Wolf Boy

Part 39 - My Visit to the Grandmaster

So just like that, I got my first look at a naturist resort. Part of it was like regular woods, and part was so beautifully landscaped with exotic plants it was like we were driving into Eden.

I saw only a few naked people along the way. My face went hot. They looked miserable and cold. I hated to tell them there was a reason people invented clothing.

Brittany pulled up to a white trailer with a redwood deck. A sign read Tarot Card Readers.

"A fortune teller?" I asked.

"Certified." Brittany got out of the car.

I circled around to stand beside her.

She looked at me. "She has an office in Palm Beach. This is her home."

"What do you hope to learn here?"

"I don't know. Let's find out."

With a double hold on my arm, she tugged me to the wooden deck. The door of the trailer opened before we reached it, showing a woman with frizzy red hair. She wore clothes. "Brittany, dear, how nice to see you again," she said. "Is this your friend?"

"Yes, Grandmaster. This is Cody."

"Ah, Cody Forester from Massachusetts, living with Bob Nowak."

"You're a psychic?" I asked.

"Not at all. I'm a gossip." She stepped aside to allow us to enter. "I'm told you punched Efrem Higgins in the nose."

"Nice place." I knew as soon as I spoke that I was rudely changing the subject, but actually, I was just surprised. It looked like a normal home. Regular furniture. A little cramped. I don't know what I expected.

"Come in. Have a seat." She walked to the dining area and sat at a round wooden table. "I usually throw from a Thoth deck in a standard Celtic Cross formation, but I'm open. Do you have a preference?"

"No. That's fine." I sat across from her feeling out of place. "I've never done this before."

"Ooh," they both crooned, exchanging smiles.

I knew then I'd walked into some kind of trap.

"Well, you're in for a treat, dear boy." The grandmaster reached for a bundle wrapped in a white silk scarf. The Tarot cards. "I want you to shuffle these. Don't frill the edges, just move them slowly in your hands. Caress them. As you do, think of the question foremost on your mind."

I shied from the stack. It occurred to me that if the grandmaster was as powerful as Brittany believed, she might be able to discern my secret. "I don't know if this is a good idea."

"Come on, Cody," Brittany cooed, leaning toward me. "Everybody's waiting. Shuffle the cards."

Since the whole operation was to please her, I picked up the deck. It's crazy, but they felt warm. Like they were alive. For a moment, I wondered if the grandmaster had popped them into the microwave, trying for an eerie effect.

I cut the deck several times and mixed the cards thoroughly. The two women stared at my hands as if expecting me to tuck a card up my sleeve. I tried not to think about being a werewolf. I told myself that the important question was whether Brittany liked me. But the wolf kept creeping into my thoughts until I realized it might be risky to keep handling the things.

"Done." I set the stack in the center of the table.

"Excellent," the woman said. "The Tarot knows your heart better than you yourself. But do not place too much emphasis on a single card. You must look at the reading as a whole, because each image is modified by its brethren. Now we begin. The first position is the Present." She flipped over a card. "The Hermit, which represents introspection and virginity."

"Great." Embarrassment made me squirm.

Brittany chuckled.

"Now, now. Virginity merely means the beginning or untried. It is modified by your Immediate Challenge." She placed another card crosswise over the first. "The Tower. Shocking revelation."

"That sounds ominous." Brittany sat literally on the edge of her seat.

I winced. The darn cards must have picked up on my inner wolf.

"The third illuminates your Distant Past, the foundation from which you spring. The Moon."

Of course.

She frowned. "Often The Moon brings illusions, visions, but in this position it means madness."

"I'm insane?"

"No, dear boy. I believe you are unduly affected by the phases of the moon. In fact, the double blue moon in January and March of the year 1999 was particularly eventful for you." She looked at me as if expecting me to expand upon that.

"I was eight years old." I pulled a face. "The most that happened to me was I came down with a fever and was out of school for a couple months."

As I said it, I realized the wolf was shaping my life even then. I didn't want to think about that, didn't want to know, and I didn't want to hear more of what the grandmaster had to say.

She placed another card. Something about desire. Brittany slid her hand over mine. It felt comforting. I gazed at her and traced her perfect nose with my eyes. She had a few freckles. I hadn't noticed them before.

Another card.

Brittany gasped. "Death."

"Meaning transformation. Very ambiguous. I cannot see if you will transform into something more or revert to something less. Let us look further into your Immediate Future. The Hierophant. Worldly problems." She sat back, a thoughtful expression upon her face.

"What does it mean?" Brittany asked.

"It means your friend is not concerned about himself. None of this." She gestured at the pattern of cards. "None of it is about him. He senses evil and wants to stop it."

"Evil?" What was this about? I wasn't worried about evil. Except maybe the murders of those poor women.

"It's closer than you think." The grandmaster leaned over the images. "Madness. Shocking revelation. I fear you are in danger. No, not you. Someone you care for."

"What?" I stiffened.

She added to the pattern. "Inner Feelings. Represented by Temperance. Moderation. But External Influences draws The Devil, signifying pleasure and abandon. The evil is not within you. It is tracking you. It enjoys the game."

"Can we get back to someone I care about being in danger?" I asked.

"Your Hope and Fear." She turned the card theatrically.

"The High Priestess," Brittany said. "Knowledge."

"You want to know but are afraid of what you might learn."

"Know what?" I said.

"What the evil is," said Brittany.

"Or whom." The grandmaster looked at each of us in turn. She whispered, "The Final Outcome," and turned a card.

"Oh, no," cried Brittany.

"The Hanged Man. A time of Trial and Sacrifice. You must release something dear to you, for it can hurt you in ways you cannot expect. Dangerous. Let us draw three more for clarification. Judgment meaning rebirth or resurrection. The Fool giving us Infinite Possibilities. And the final card. The Chariot. War, Struggle, and Victory." She smiled. "So, you have a difficult time ahead, but in the end you will win."

"Okay, but what did you mean by dangerous?"

"Danger can mean anything from being kidnapped by a mass murderer to making poor life choices."

I pointed. "This one means sacrifice?"

"As previously mentioned, please do not dwell on a single card. Look at the reading as a whole. I believe that while you face a period of turmoil and revelation, you will prevail."

I glared. Not if it meant sacrificing Brittany.