Darcy rose and helped her remove her purse and coat. She hung both on the hook for Mrs. MacAvoy. Then, together they walked to the table.
It took a little while for the woman to settle her old bones in the chair. When she was comfortable, Darcy walked around the table to her chair and sat. She looked at Mrs. MacAvoy and noticed something decidedly different about her today, though she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“Shall I read the cards now?” Darcy asked.
Mrs. MacAvoy always booked two hours. During that time Darcy would read the cards, but most of it was spent talking about whatever Mrs. MacAvoy wished.
“Not yet,” she replied and held out her hands.
Darcy took the woman’s hands as they had done from the first time Dorothy entered the shop. “All right. Have you had any more dreams of Mr. MacAvoy?”
“I’ll be joining him soon,” she said, her smile slipping.
Darcy was taken aback. She knew Mrs. MacAvoy’s life was counting down, but she’d never let her client know that. “What makes you think that?”
“I have one more task to complete, and then I can join my Rupert.” Mrs. MacAvoy squeezed Darcy’s hands. “Will you help me with my task?”
“Of course,” she replied without thinking about it. What could the old woman possibly need her to do that she wouldn’t accept?
Mrs. MacAvoy took a deep breath. “There was a wrong that happened thousands of years ago. It needs to be set right, Darcy. It’s important that it’s set right.”
Darcy blinked, suddenly wary. “There’s a lot of history that happens in thousands of years. What are you talking about?”
“You’ll know when the time comes.”
“I could use a little more information.”
Mrs. MacAvoy’s smile was a little sad. “We all have our destinies. I’ve known mine since I was a little girl. I think you know yours is important.”
“Why do you say that?” Darcy asked, becoming uncomfortable with the way the conversation had turned. Normally, Dorothy would talk of her husband and their children before Darcy read the cards.
“You came to Edinburgh, didn’t you?”
“How do you know I wasn’t born here?”
Mrs. MacAvoy chuckled. “You’ve the look of the isle about you, girl. There’s no mistaking that.”
Darcy swallowed, trying to figure out where Dorothy’s conversation was taking them. “You think I was brought to Edinburgh? I chose this city.”
“Fate likes to let us think we make our own decisions, but the big ones are already laid out before us.”
“I don’t believe that. We make our own fate.”
Mrs. MacAvoy tightened her fingers on Darcy’s. “You’ll discover the truth soon enough, my dear. We all do.”
The room spun around Darcy for a moment, causing her to squeeze her eyes closed. The lack of sleep was playing havoc with her. “I thought I was the one who read the future,” she said with a forced smile.
“Good luck with what’s coming, Darcy. You’re going to need it.”
Darcy could only sit there as Mrs. MacAvoy rose and put on her coat before she walked out of the shop without the cards being read.
It had been an incredibly strange morning, and much to her dismay, the day didn’t get any better. Not only did she feel drained, but she couldn’t focus. The day seemed to last forever. It was a rare thing indeed for Darcy to be glad to leave the shop.
She locked the shop and turned around. The city pulsed around her, and yet she felt utterly alone somehow. She blamed Ulrik and his mysterious words, but it went deeper than that.
It was almost as if the fates that Mrs. MacAvoy mentioned were involved, positioning things their way.
At the thought of the fates, Corann’s voice filled her head with one of his old sayings. “You always think such polite and good thoughts, Darcy. That’s no’ always a bad thing, lass, but you need to remember there is evil out there. You think it may be the fates, when in fact it is evil.”
She shoved her hands in her coat pockets. Evil. There was certainly enough out in the world. Every day the news held nothing but horrible stories of war, murder, rape, and other such crimes.
How could she forget there was evil when it fairly surrounded her? How na?ve she had been on Skye. There she and the other Druids were sheltered from the realities of the world.
There were times she truly missed those days of innocence.
But she chose to trade her innocence for freedom. Away from Corann and the rest of the elders of Skye, she was allowed to make her own way.
She hadn’t always done a good job. There were times she didn’t just stumble, but fell flat on her face. Yet, she picked herself up and tried again.
Darcy was proud of what she’d accomplished. Through all her decisions and failures, she hadn’t broken the code of a Skye Druid. She still had her magic. Corann could be pleased about that, if nothing else.
As she walked home, she found herself lured by the sound of music coming from a pub. She occasionally stopped there for dinner and a drink. After the day she’d had, she needed a drink.
Or two.