A tarot reader aids a mysterious man who believes she is the only one who can help him return to his true home in the eerie Manaan caverns where they must fight the natural and supernatural to stay alive.
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Maxine Shepard is a tarot reader who h...
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I stared blankly at the spirals before me, trying to register that I had spoken to another version of myself. Keeping my gaze set on the cave wall, I thought aloud. "What is this place?"
"It's not Hell," Blamore assured. "But it'll lead us to where we belong."
My eyes remained fixed on the oddly shaped stone in the center of the spiraled carving. "How are you so sure?"
"Because I saw it." He turned to me, demanding my attention. The solitary light shined from the crack in the roof and lit up his stunning blue eyes. "Just like I saw you."
I rubbed my temple, thinking back to our first encounter in the tarot shop. "You saw me in a vision?"
He shook his head, slowly stepping forward, lessening the space between us. "I saw you in my memories. You see the future—"
"—and you see the past." I was fully aware that we hadn't known each other long enough to have established a past, let alone share a distant memory, but I was willing to listen. "What did you see in your memories?"
"You and I." He shifted and his arm gently brushed my shoulder. "We were preparing for something. Something big. I felt it in my gut how huge the moment was. We held hands and encouraged one another before starting our journey, leaving behind the shaded, blue place."
Frustrated, I huffed. "I don't understand."
His head bowed bashfully. "I know. I don't fully understand it either. All I know is I was with you and with you is where I was meant to be. And even though that part isn't clear, everything else in life seems like a dream. My home, my wife, everything I left outside of these walls ... they're artificial. Where we're headed is of true importance."
"The blue place?" I searched my memory for the vision I had when initially meeting Blamore. "Do you mean the place where it was twilight?"
"Yes." His gaze dropped, and he refused to look up as he spoke, as if he was ashamed or embarrassed. "Your friends were talking about the ancient drawing at the start of the cave, the Green Children of Woolpit. I think your friends were on the right track only they got a few things wrong."
I narrowed my eyes with interest. "So, you're aware of the folktale?"
"No, I'm only aware of the truth." He finally looked up, displaying a lost sadness in his unblemished face. "What I remember is a place more advanced than anything we've experienced. Where the entire land is forever cast in blue twilight. The people who inhabit this land honor the sacred wolf for its symbolism of mystery, solitude, survival, self-confidence, and pride."
"Yes," I encouraged, remembering the overcast blue scenery from my early vision. "I've heard the howl of a wolf in some of my visions. And I felt the presence of an animal near me in the tunnel."
His eyes widened with my confession. "Wolves are important in the twilight place. There are so many the entire place is like a pit of wolves. So, the story of the Green Children of Woolpit, should be called the Blue People of Wolf Pit."
