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somewhere who had no doubt warned her about the evils of

divination as she packed her peanut butter and jelly

sandwiches in her lunch each day for school. That line of

thought only made Dani’s chest ache, so she cut off the less

charitable thoughts, tamped down the longing that she, as a

child who never had those things, often felt, and forced a

smile.

“Usually, you book a time, but I do have a spot free.” Andi,

the college student who Dani paid to work at the store part

time, was in the back unpacking the shipment that came in that

morning, but she could get her to watch the front while she

was doing a reading.

“Uh, like, right now?”

Dani stared down Summer just long enough that she noticed

the girl shift from one foot to the other. Her hands, which were

probably clammy, were tightly clasped together. Dani had the

strangest idea that if she took one of those palms, they’d have

some pretty intense lifelines going on. She had no idea why

she thought that. She didn’t even read palms and knew little

about it.

Suddenly, she did want to read cards for this stranger.

Maybe it was just a morbid sense of curiosity. Maybe it was

something more. Dani didn’t care to think the latter. She didn’t

like to think of things as something more. Most of the time,

things were actually less than what they appeared. People were

less than kind. They usually proved you wrong, even on the

odd time you were willing to give them the benefit of the

doubt. They might be kind on the outside, but that’s all it ever

was. On the outside. Inside, they were black and festering and

they did terrible things when they thought no one would ever