Page 23 of The Monster of Darkspell Comics

She turns another card, and it is a figure holding a pair of swords.

She sets this on the table between us with the first card.

Coming here, you’ve arrived at a fork in your destiny.

There is a road that will lead back to the world you’ve always known, where you will be as safe as any other person in this world.

The other road...” she hesitates, her brow puckering, “is obscure.” Drawing a third card, she sets it to the left.

Six coins surround the central figure on the card.

“If you take the way back, you find that the generosity and kindness of others may help you establish a positive future for yourself where you will enjoy a long, happy, normal life.”

“Okay,” I say slowly, drawing the word out. So go back home and submit to whatever punishment and expectations my parents hold for me in order to win their approval and forgiveness for my unfilial behavior. Hard pass. “And if I take the other road?”

She sighs and turns another card over. The Devil.

She smiles tightly as she stares down at the card.

“Willingly bound and changed forever by it. You must carefully weigh what is in your own best interest. Many bindings lead to nothing but your own doom.” Her eyes slide to Pashar with a look of challenge.

The demon smiles coolly at her in return and stands, drawing me with him to my feet as he throws a tenner down on the table. “Thank you. Let’s go, Fanny.”

I nod mutely as I allow him to drag me away. What a fucking crazy experience. I’m pretty sure that she was trying to scare me, but if anything, it makes me even more certain that this crazy destiny is meant for me.

“I hope you know what you’re getting into by dallying with a demon, girl,” she calls after me, and I smile.

“Oh yes, and I hope it’s everything that I imagined it to be,” I reply as he pulls me away, the psychic’s gaze following us.

Her eyes are not the only ones following us. I see David Sweeney wading toward us through the crowd, but our route is clear, allowing us to quickly escape the crush of people before he can get to us. I don’t think the demon even sees him.

“Uh, Pashar,” as I twist slightly to look back over my shoulder.

“Give me a minute, Fanny,” he growls. “If I stop, I’m not going to be capable of keeping myself from going back there and ripping that self-righteous female’s throat out. You asked for a reading, not her damned interference.”

Eep. Okay. Never mind.

“Damned crazy humans,” Pashar growls as we return to the mall. “Even the ones who possess extra capabilities don’t seem to grasp the concept of just how low on the food chain they are.”

“She probably just thought she was helping,” I say in an attempt to restore his good humor.

He shakes his head. “None of her damned business and not what she was being paid to do. She was supposed to feed you some crock of shit about your future, not try to frighten you.”

I hug his arm. “You know I’m not afraid of you. I’m more afraid of that David Sweeney creep.” I really should at least say something about seeing him. “He was back there in the crowd,” I whisper.

He slows for a moment as he considers my question, but then he shakes his head again.

“There’s no use in going back. If he saw us first, that gives him the upper hand.

At that point, the only thing that we could really learn is whatever I could beat out of him.

And that will just piss off the powers that be around here.

To get around that, we need to catch him unaware so that we can follow him back to whatever hole he’s hiding in and collect information. ”

That makes sense. I pout a little, however, as we slip back into the shop, disappointed that the evening is over already. “So what now? Are we going home then?”

His eyes slide to me, and he nods. “I need a vacation from my vacation. And besides, there is somewhere else I want to take you.”

Ohhh. Okay, a change of plans. Although I wanted to explore the Halloween carnival, this is not a bad compromise.

So, I cling to his hand as we step through the mirror, leaving the human world behind.

We do not stop there, however. Pashar grins at me as he takes me over to a door that I had never even noticed before and pushes it open.

Fog rolls in a thick plume through the door, but he doesn’t give it even a second glance as he steps out into it and takes me with him.

A gray world closes around me, but the fog is strange.

It seems to glitter with soft, shifting light.

There is an eerie beauty to it as it shifts around us, uncurling from the ground with every step that we take.

Shadows of trees rise like tall gray spires, and hauntingly melodic sounds fill the vastness.

Anything could hunt us there, but with Pashar beside me, I’m not scared.

Instead, I feel as if I’m walking through a swirling magical cloud of glitter as the creatures of the nightmare realm sing and whisper to us.

Pashar doesn’t release my hand even once as we walk. His large hand swallows mine in a comfortable hold. “What do you think?” he rumbles. “Is this better than walking through the carnival?”

I nod in awe as he tucks me closer to his side, his wings and corethi sweeping protectively around me as something gray sails in an elegant dance through the fog over us.

It was probably something horrifying and incredibly deadly but, in that moment, walking hand in hand with Pashar, I see nothing but the incredible, haunting beauty of it.

“Oh yes,” I whisper as he leads me deeper, my heart beating in excitement as we stroll romantically through the glittering void of shadows.

It is only a brief stroll before we return, but it makes me hungry for more and even more certain that my current course is the correct one. The psychic might have thought she was saving me, but little did she know that she was far too late.

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