“But these particular cards . . .” She went to the drawer and randomly pulled five cards that had different backs, which meant they were from different decks. She turned them over and lined them up above the first three cards. “Do you see? These are from different decks of cards—some reveal the natural world and some are illustrations of human or urban things. Even though they’re different, they complement each other. Do you see?”
Vlad came around to her side of the table. He picked up the deck of game cards and fanned them to see more of the images. “So you want a deck of cards with these images but done in a style that would fit in with the rest of the decks you’re currently using?”
“Yes.” Eventually she would have to pare down the number of cards that would become the Trailblazer deck of prophecy cards, but for now she didn’t want to limit possibilities while she was still exploring what the cassandra sangue might be able to do with this way of seeing visions.
“Could the Hope pup draw those?” Simon asked, cocking his head.
Meg felt something run over her skin. Not strong enough to be pins and needles or prickles, but definitely a response to the question. “I don’t know. Could we ask her?”
“We can get a message to Jackson.”
“Could you purchase another deck of these?” Vlad asked, waggling the fanned cards. “Hope would need the images for reference.”
Meg said she would see about getting another deck. She didn’t mention that she was going to ask Eve Denby where to buy one.
“That was an easy favor,” Simon said.
Of course, there was no guarantee that the cards would be available. With people now considering what they needed instead of what they would like to have, a children’s card game wouldn’t be a high priority when companies had to choose what to ship by truck or train.
“What’s the second favor?” Simon asked.
“Could you find a job for Harry, the deliveryman? He quit his job at Everywhere Delivery because the company became Everywhere Human Delivery. But he still needs to work.” Sensing resistance, Meg hurried on. “You wouldn’t have to find a place for Harry and his wife to live. If he could use one of our vans, he could be the Courtyard’s deliveryman and pick up orders we place with companies in Lakeside. Or maybe you could talk to Jerry Sledgeman about hiring Harry to work for him and make deliveries between Lakeside and the River Road Community.”
“Meg . . .” Simon sighed. “We can’t keep taking in strays. On top of the human pack, we’re already letting Officer Debany’s parents shop in the Market Square. Same with Officer MacDonald’s parents. And Captain Burke. And Commander Gresh and his mate and young. When a pack gets too big, it needs to split so that part of it finds new territory and new prey. We’re looking after a lot of humans now. And Merri Lee and Ruthie will have pups, and they’ll need food too, after they’re weaned.”
“They’re not having pups yet,” Meg muttered. But Simon had a point. After promising to give her a daily summary of what was happening in Lakeside and the rest of Thaisia, her friends urged her to avoid the news and the newspaper until things calmed down. Since just looking out the front windows and watching the cars drive by on Main Street made her skin buzz viciously, she didn’t think she would be able to resist the razor if she had more contact with the world outside of the Courtyard.
“Just two more?” she pleaded. “Just Harry and his wife?”
Simon and Vlad looked at each other.
“Everyone has to earn their part of the meat,” Simon finally said. “Everyone in a pack has a job, and that has to include any humans who want part of the food we have here or can bring in.”
“Harry and his wife, but no more,” Vlad said. “We’re helping to support the River Road Community too. Don’t forget that.”
They wouldn’t be trying to support any of those humans if they hadn’t taken her in and accepted her as one of them. “No more.” She hesitated, and wondered if it was cowardly not to give the message directly. “Could you tell Captain Burke something?”
Vlad nodded.
Meg tapped the question-mark card on the table. “This card came up once before, when I wondered about Lakeside’s future.”
“I remember,” Simon said. “Future undecided.”
“I overheard Agent O’Sullivan say he and Captain Burke had an appointment with the mayor, and I asked myself what Captain Burke should tell the mayor about Lakeside.”
Vlad drew in a slow breath. “Future undecided?”
She nodded.
“You should make the call,” Simon told Vlad. “Burke owes you one or two favors.”
“He owes you too, but I’ll call him.”
After Vlad left, Simon rested his forearms on the table, his arm lightly brushing against hers.
“Talk to the human pack about paper for writing letters,” he said. “Not just paper the females like, but paper that won’t cause the males to cough up hairballs if they have to use it.”
“People don’t write that many letters. They use e-mail . . . Oh. Electronic mail stays within a region now.”
“There are ways to send messages between the regions, like we’re going to do to send a message to Jackson, but those messages aren’t private anymore. The Intuits or terra indigene manning the communications cabins will see them. Humans aren’t going to be able to attack again like they did under the HFL.”
“Simon? Did a lot of places disappear?”
“Here in Thaisia? I don’t know. It’s hard to tell right now if the places—and the humans who lived there—are gone, or if a place isn’t under human control anymore and that’s why it’s not being counted among the human places.” He thought for a moment. “You gave Vlad a message for Captain Burke. Anything I should tell Lieutenant Montgomery?”
Scooping up the cards that were on the table, Meg returned them to the drawer that held the prophecy cards.
What should Simon tell Lieutenant Montgomery about Lakeside?
At first there was nothing. Then the prickles began. Meg closed her eyes and let her fingers search for the answer. When she chose three cards that produced the strongest prickles, she brought them back to the table and turned them over.
Wolf card. The telephone/telegraph key card. And a card that showed heavy surf striking the shore.
“I don’t know what this means,” Meg said. Then Water walked in from the back room, leaving wet footsteps on the floor.
The Elemental said, “I have a message for the Wolfgard.”
“Give me a minute,” Simon replied.
Water nodded and left.
“I guess Water is supposed to give you the message,” Meg said.
“Huh.” Simon studied the cards. “You’re getting pretty good with those things. Do the prickles go away after you choose the ones that answer a question?”
She nodded. “Unless there is more that can’t be seen with the cards.”
“So you don’t have to cut anymore.”
If he believed that, he would be more upset when she did cut. “Using the cards doesn’t produce the euphoria.”
“They also don’t cause pain or leave a scar,” he countered.
The new scar along her jaw bothered all of the terra indigene more than the other scars she’d added since living in the Courtyard. The cards released prophecies but did nothing for the craving that was entwined with the addiction to cut. Still, she had resisted using the razor for almost four weeks.
“Don’t keep Water waiting,” she said.
When he went outside to talk to the Elemental, Meg returned the cards to the drawer.
No, the cards didn’t help with the craving for the euphoria. Nothing but cutting could satisfy that.
Prickles filled her fingers. She ran her hands over the cards in the drawer until she found the one she needed to see.
She studied the card. Studied it and studied it.
A man and woman, standing close together in a garden under a full moon. Except the moon was shaped like the symbol for a heart.
Uneasy, Meg put the card back in the drawer. Romance? No. Men . . . Bad things had happened in the compound, things that were veiled in her memory but remembered by her body. So that couldn’t produce anything like the euphoria.
Could it?
She closed the drawer and tried to ignore the light prickles that felt more like fingertips brushing the skin on the inside of her thighs.