"How come you get to wear pants?"
She looks down at her pants and frowns.
"What do you mean?"
"Penny said that I can't wear pants around royalty and I'm stuck wearing skirts in this freezing weather."
She shrugs as she takes a sip of her coffee.
"I don't think there are any official rules. I think that comes from old school dress etiquette."
"Well it's bloody freezing." I mutter.
"So put some pants on or get some tights."
"Yeah, I suppose that could work."
She grins at me, like it should have been clear to me. What happened to super smart Stephanie? Has she spent too long on her back to see the obvious?
"So, how's Alex?"
I shrug, looking down into my coffee.
"Moody, distracted then does a complete turnaround and becomes chatty and loving."
"He has a lot on his mind."
I nod. "Pain in the arse personal assistant doesn't help either."
She chuckles.
"Somehow I think you being a pain in the arse is the least of his problems."
Miranda giggles as she makes her way through every rack in the lingerie shop. I can hear the shop assistant clucking her tongue and muttering under her breath at Miranda. Jeez woman, if only you knew who she is. She pulls out a mass of little straps and bits of sheer material, all in a deep jade colour.
"Go try this on."
I think I must turn several shades of red as she grabs my hand and drags me into the change room.
"Hurry up."
She draws the curtain closed and I wrestle with the complicated piece of lingerie. Once I have managed to figure it out and put it on I hear a wolf whistle.
"Jeez girl, even I want to have sex with you."
"Miranda!" I gasp.
She gives me a wicked grin and pulls the curtain shut again.
After several hours of shopping and a lunch that was a gastronomic delight Miranda suggests we return to her apartment to finish the afternoon off with some cocktails. Their apartment is rather large; the lounge room overlooks the city but we are so high up that I can see the ocean. I hear the glasses clink onto the marble bench top as Miranda busies herself making the cocktails. Wandering into the kitchen she passes a glass to me.
"I want to try something, follow me."
I follow her down the hall to a smaller room, it is dark, the paint in this room is a deep, rich purple. She flicks on the light and gestures for me to sit at a tiny table. The table is a dark wood frame with a green felt insert. I sit down as she rummages through a set of draws on the wall beside the door. Sipping the drink, I nearly choke at how intense it is. Miranda laughs, closing the draw.
"It's a good one isn't it?"
"Oh yeah."
Miranda sits at the table opposite me, a soft leather pouch is in her hand, her drink in the other. She downs the drink in one large gulp and puts the glass on the table. Wow.
"Ok, drink up, then you can shuffle the cards."
She waits for me, watching me drink.
"Up end it Steph, you'll be fine."
I do as she says and again nearly choking, she grins as I put the glass down. She opens the pouch and pulls out a deck of cards, passing them to me.
"Shuffle them, I'll go and get a refill."
I cringe at the thought of another one of those drinks, she scurries out of the room. I look at the cards as I shuffle them, they are large, my fingers can barely hold them in my hand, they look like tarot cards. Less than a minute later she returns to the room, watching me as I shuffle the deck. One of the cards jumps out and she takes it from me, placing it face down on the felt. She sips her drink and gestures for me to continue. It happens two more times, Miranda tells me to stop shuffling.
"Is this tarot?"
She shakes her head.
"Similar but different, if that makes any sense."
No not really. She drinks the last of her drink and takes a deep breath, turning over the first card.
She grins at the picture of a woman, white cloth dress draped around her body. A ring of flowers, some coloured, some golden, vines twist in and around the flowers, it sits gently on her head. She stands in sandstone alcove, vines creeping up the walls, flowers under her feet. Her hands are bent outwards, one hand holds a gold chain, hanging on it is a red cross medallion, its edges framed in gold. The other hand holds a sceptre, the handle a gold cylinder, at the end sits a gold v that holds a rather large blood red ruby.
I slowly sip the drink as she turns the second card over. It is dark, a hooded figure holds a silver sickle in one hand, the other a long metal pole tapered to a point, his arms crossed over his chest, his head bowed so that you cannot see his face. He wears a long black cape, that flows to the ground, pooling at his feet. I can see Miranda's eyes have turned glassy, almost like the image is upsetting her. Should I be worried? She closes her eyes and turns over the last card, a much cheerier image than the last. It is almost the same as the first card, only it has two people in it, a man and a woman. He holds the hands of the woman; their bodies close to each other. They both have white robes, this time it has gold trim with a feint pattern in the material. They both wear wreaths on their heads, they both stand on a mass of flowers. She softly smiles at the image.
"Miranda?"
She looks at me and continues to smile.
"What do they mean?"
Just when she is about to say something we hear Terrance call out for her. She quickly scoops up the cards and bundles them back into the pouch, putting them into the draw. Terrance appears at the door and frowns at her. She follows him out of the room to the lounge room, I quietly walk along the hall, finding them have a quiet, heated discussion in the lounge.
"She did a reading." Terrance says, his tone quite annoyed.
"And?" Alex asks.
"I am not going to tell you all of it because that would be wrong, but, what I can tell you is to be careful, she could be in danger."
Danger?
"Miranda!" Terrance quietly hisses at her.
She sighs.
"Three cards jumped as expected, a past, present, future reading. I am not going to tell you about cards one and three, but card two was the concern. It was the death card."
I can hear Alex gasp.
"It obviously doesn't mean death because there was a future card, it would mean that she is in danger."
"So what do I do?"
"Stick on her like glue and keep Gerald close."
Gerald? Why Gerald?
Nothing about the cards is said during dinner, I can see them looking at each other as we eat the takeaway Chinese meal that Terrance and Alex brought back with them. I wish that I could ask her the meaning of the other two cards but I get the distinct impression that even if I do ask, she won't tell me.
You should tell her my mind whispers, a voice that sounds much like Terrance. She will freak out; she is not ready for that kind of information. Ok, that sounded like Alex. What the hell is going on? I resolve to try something. In my mind, clearly and in a raised tone I speak. Hey Terrance, Alex says you're a pretty good lay, care to explain how he knows that? Alex sputters his drink, choking on the wine, Terrance stares at me, his fork mid-air, stopped with shock. Miranda grins as she puts the fork in her mouth.
"I knew it." I mutter into my wine glass, sipping the last of the sweet red wine.
"Steph." Alex whispers.
I stare at him, squinting my eyes, almost daring him to continue his sentence. I put my cutlery onto the plate and get up from the table.
"When you are ready to explain yourself, feel free to actually speak to me, rather than having a conversation in your minds without me."
I pick up the plate and the empty wine glass.
"How rude and disrespectful." I hiss at him.
I didn't know what to make of it. They could talk in their minds. It was bizarre. But what was more bizarre was that I could hear them and talk to them too. What did it mean? Shortly after the meal, we say our goodbyes and return to Alex's apartment. He is quiet during the drive, but I guess that is because there is no privacy screen. I know he will be itching to ask about the other two cards. Should I tell him? Would he know their meaning?
It's not until we are in his apartment and the door is closed that he asks me.
"What were cards one and three?"
"So you do know how to speak to me."
"Stephanie!"
"How can you speak in your minds? How can you read mine?"
"It's rather complicated."
"Am I in danger?"
"You heard?"
I nod.
"I don't know. The cards aren't known for being wrong."
"Is it tarot?"
"No, they are phoenix cards."
"They're what?"
"Really hard to explain. What were cards one and three?"
"Do you know their meaning?"
"No."
"So why tell you?"
He becomes a little exasperated at my reluctance to tell him.
"Steph!"
"A woman and a man."
He frowns, clearly unsure of their meaning.
"I have to call father about the second card."
I nod wandering off into the bedroom, in desperate need of a shower.
When I get out of the shower, I can hear Alex still on the phone. I look at the bags on the floor, remembering that little piece of lingerie that Miranda made me try on. Pulling it out of the bag, I hold it up in the air, looking at it. I am angry at him, he is keeping something from me, something dark and sinister, but at this point in time, I don't think I care. I have a serious case of lust going on and I once again betray my emotions for a delightful romp with him. I quickly put on the jade coloured piece of lingerie and a silk wrap. He watches me as I languidly saunter over to him, pulling on the tie to the silk wrap, revealing the tiniest strip of what lies beneath. He tries to continue his conversation with his father, but clearly he is distracted. Taking the tie, he pulls it from my body, placing it on his lap. I slink the wrap over my shoulders and let it drop to the ground at my feet. He sits there speechless, in a second he snaps back to reality and stands up, holding the tie in one hand, the other props the phone on his shoulder. Turning me around he takes my hands, pulling them behind me, restraining me with the silk tie. As he ends the conversation with his father, my heart races with anticipation, knowing what is about to happen.
The flight back is rather boring; I stare out the window wondering what kind of danger I might be in. If I am in danger. Alex seemed pretty certain that the cards are real and to be taken seriously. So much so, that he had not left my side for a second. When we return to the manor house, he rushes off to find Gerald, obviously wanting to speak with him about the second card.
By the early evening, I haven't seen Alex. Tsar is at the window again.
"Hello my little kitty friend. I missed you, did you miss me?"
He meows at me as I close the window. The metal of the handle is cold; the glass has started to frost over. I pull the curtains shut, hoping to try and trap the heat. Tsar follows me around, never more than a few steps away. He wraps himself around my feet as I shower, when I eventually turn the gloriously warm water off, he looks like a drowned rat. I wrap a towel around me and wrap him in one, trying to dry him. He purrs as he rubs his wet fur all over me and the towel.
"Thanks Tsar. I think I need another shower now."
I sit on the bathroom floor, watching him clean himself.
"I wish I knew if the cards were real, am I in danger?"
I wrap my arms around my legs. My wet hair drips down my body.
"Did they kill Jake and Dax? And then there's that woman at Miranda and Terrance's. Does he care that he was just asking for trouble by going near her again? And why won't he tell me what the deal is? What was he doing if it wasn't sex?"
He stops cleaning himself and looks at me.
"I know; I expect an answer out of a cat."