I ended up going back to my shop instead. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to go home. I needed to calm down and regroup before I faced Alexei. If I showed up distraught and overwrought like some weepy Old World heroine suffering the vapors, gods only knew how he would react.
Though it wasn’t technically closing time, Lotus had closed up shop, obviously deciding to give herself the rest of the sol off. Frankly, I didn’t blame her. Who would, given how unreliable I’d become—taking a week off without notifying anyone, closing the shop in the middle of the afternoon, rescheduling appointments multiple times. What did it say about the state of things if Lotus was suddenly the responsible one? If I got any flakier, I’d qualify as a breakfast pastry.
I let myself in and went to my reading room, locking the door and turning the lighting on to its lowest setting—just enough so I wasn’t sitting in the dark. I think I was stunned by the entire chain of events. How had my life had gone so sideways in such a short amount of time? How had I not seen this coming? When I felt my c-tex flutter on my wrist with a shim, I was tempted to ignore it. Gods knew I didn’t need anything more coming at me. The universe had already filled up my plate with a heaping portion of confusion; I didn’t need another scoop.
To my surprise, it was a shim from Novi Pazidor. Not what I expected, especially considering I’d see her tomorrow at the card reading party. Crap. She didn’t want to cancel, did she? I hoped not—not after I’d gone through all the hassle with Mannette and Lotus earlier.
Novi’s message was…gushing was the only word that came to mind. Gushing with excitement about tomorrow night, how she’d invited all her friends, and how things were so much better with her husband after she’d shared my advice with him. He’d gone to get help from his union rep and didn’t feel such resentment toward the new mine owners. He’d actually be home in a few weeks so he and Novi could work out the rest of their concerns.
I sent a quick reply letting her know how pleased I was for her and how I was looking forward to tomorrow night. But was I? I sat back in my chair, thinking about it. I couldn’t remember the exact details of the reading I’d done for her; I’d have to look up the transcript Lotus uploaded to her memory blocks for the specifics. But it was nice knowing I’d helped her and made a real difference in her life.
Still, Lotus didn’t trust Novi and I respected her feeling. Gods knew she was more together than I was lately. It almost made me want to cancel the party and reschedule for when I felt more like myself. But I couldn’t. How could I walk away if I was really helping Novi and her husband? She was counting on me. And if there were serious issues with the mines, I should try to find out what I could and let Alexei know. Maybe he didn’t want me to read the cards for him, but it would be irresponsible of me to overlook a legitimate concern. If I did nothing and something awful happened, I’d feel that much worse. For that reason alone, I’d go to Novi’s tomorrow regardless of how out of sorts I felt.
Just to be safe, I grabbed a random deck of cards from those I kept stashed in the drawer of my reading table. I shuffled, my hands going through the motions without me being consciously aware of what I was doing. Instead, I thought about what I wanted to know. It wouldn’t hurt to take a peek at what I could expect tomorrow night. A quick spread might help settle me.
A glance down showed me I’d grabbed my fairy deck. I stopped shuffling, chilled. Not good. The cards were cute and colorful, covered with adorable little winged creatures that danced from flower to flower. Each card was cuter than the last, the faces so glittery and vibrant, the deck practically dazzled my clients. It wasn’t a deck I used often, not because of the glitter but because it always predicted the darkest readings I’d ever seen come to pass. So dark, I often thought about throwing the deck away. But I figured that would be like a medic throwing away her tools. So I’d held on to it, but rarely used it. Until now.
Depending on what I wanted to know, there were endless variations on how I could lay a spread and the number of cards I’d use. If I was concerned about a relationship, I would use a different spread than I would for business questions. If I wanted a quick answer, I could use three, five, or seven cards. The more cards, the deeper the meaning, and depending on their placement, they gave hints of the past, present, or future.
I stopped after I’d dealt out nine cards, using a “should I or shouldn’t I?” spread. I lined them up carefully, feeling nothing but dread and foreboding with each card I’d set down. The four cards on the right showed what would happen if I stayed in the same situation. The four on the left showed what would happen if I changed the situation. The last card showed the hidden piece of information I needed to know in order to make the right decision—to do it, or not do it.
My gut was roiling and I felt sick to my stomach as I looked over my selection. It was as bad as I feared. I was looking at too many thorns and not enough daisies. Thorns meant conflict and strife; daisies meant love and friendship. Also absent were acorns. Those represented wealth, meaning I shouldn’t expect to make any lasting contacts tomorrow and there would be no future business from Novi’s friends. However, there were a few wings, which stood for hope and the potential to overcome. But there were wings on both sides and not enough of them to change the final outcome. Essentially, whatever choice I made, I failed. But the kicker was the final card; the Eight of Thorns, reversed. Treachery and opposition from an unexpected source. Someone I trusted would betray me. There would be a potentially fatal accident, coming from a direction I didn’t expect.
The hell? How could I prevent what the cards showed if no matter what I did, it was still coming? I couldn’t even tell what the cards were reacting to. Was it Novi and Lotus’s gut feeling? Was there an issue with the mines that could affect Alexei? Or was this in reaction to my meeting with Vieira? Or was it all because of Brody and that stupid, reckless kiss? I didn’t know, and the cards wouldn’t, or couldn’t, tell me. I was still locked in the same cycle of confusion, with the same unspecified gut feeling, with nothing any clearer. The only difference was instead of feeling vaguely worried, I could be definitely worried. I sighed, sinking back in my chair as I stared at the spread I’d laid. There was nothing to do but keep trudging forward. Bad things were on the move—end of story. And like fate, whatever was coming was inevitable. Nothing could get me out of its way. All I could do was hope to survive it.
I took an air-hack home, completely forgetting I had a flight-limo on standby. I think I may have even walked by my chain-breaker security without seeing them, such was the fog cluttering my head. Or at least, I didn’t recall seeing them. Ironically, even after it felt like I’d faced enough drama and activity for three different sols, I got home at around six in the evening—roughly the same time I would have reached my old condo after a normal workday.
My threatening headache had arrived as anticipated, bringing friends. I felt both sick to my stomach and sick at heart with what had happened. I hadn’t just committed one betrayal, I’d committed two. If Alexei knew what I’d been up to today, which I suspected he might, what would he do? What kind of scene could I expect at home because of my utter stupidity and the poor decisions I’d made? Maybe the Eight of Thorns was the fallout that came from betraying Alexei’s trust by throwing myself at Brody. If so, maybe I deserved whatever I got.
It was with utter humiliation that I went through the automated security check at the front gate of the house to confirm who I was, scanning my c-tex bracelet countless times so my damn citizenship chip would beep. Then I had to walk up the long drive to the house and let myself in with another swipe of my bracelet, which seemed to take another seventeen sols. By the time I made it into the house, I was carrying my shoes because they pinched my feet, my hair was unbraided because Brody had made a mess of it, and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.
The house was dark. I trudged to the front staircase, instructing the AI to turn on the minimal amount of lights. All I wanted to do was shower, take something for my headache, and go to bed. I paused at one of the rooms off the main hallway—a sitting room that didn’t get much use. A faint light shone from inside.
Alexei sat in a high-backed chair, head back, an empty glass in his hand. On the table beside him were a single lamp and a crystal decanter, nearly empty. He opened his eyes when he heard me, his face unreadable in the low light from the lamp.
“You didn’t take the flight-limo home,” he said. “I was worried.”
“Sorry. I forgot. I took an air-hack instead. It wasn’t a good day,” I said from the doorway, afraid to come closer. He didn’t look worried. He looked controlled and icily calm.
“Are you alright?”
I cringed. The way he said it made it sound like he merely asked out of courtesy because he already knew. “Not really,” I admitted. “Things happened today. Things I wish would go away and leave me alone.”
“Did you want to talk about it?”
Oh hell, no. “I don’t feel very well. I just want to lie down.”
He nodded. “We can talk when you’re feeling better.”
“Okay.” I turned, about to walked away, then paused. “Do you ever think about going back to Earth?”
He was silent so long, I gave up nonchalantly examining the door frame to look at him. He was watching me, his expression so inscrutable, it scared me. I toyed nervously with a strand of hair.
“Why are you asking me that?” He sounded puzzled, as if it had broken through the chill.
I shrugged. What did it matter what I did when everything was inevitable and couldn’t be changed? “It’s nothing. Forget I asked.”
“The Consortium is looking toward Jupiter and its moons,” he said, stopping me when I would have turned away again. “It’s easier to manage from Mars. I don’t think returning to Earth is an option in the foreseeable future.”
“Oh.” I think something wilted in me a little then, something I hadn’t analyzed yet. It felt like it may have been the tiny shred of hope I’d harbored that maybe this wasn’t all unraveling as I watched. “That makes sense. Why would you leave when everything you want is here?”
We both fell silent then, as if each of us waited for the other person to say something. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I stepped out into the hallway, feeling like I was dying and everything was broken and wrong.
“Speaking of Earth,” he said so I had to pause yet again, “I wanted to let you know we’ll have guests staying with us. Konstantin will be arriving with the other members of the Consortium in two sols. I want you with me to meet him when The Martian Princess docks.”
My breath caught and I felt chilled. There it was—my Eight of Thorns, blindsiding me senseless. Forget everything else; this was the event I’d been dreading and had never thought would happen. Konstantin Belikov was coming to Mars. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I’m telling you now. Isn’t that enough?” The way he said it made me flinch, like he purposely wanted to inflict the deepest cut. “He’s always wanted to visit Mars. Now’s his chance.”
So I nodded like this was actually good news, which was just another lie on top of the others. “How long will he be on Mars?”
“As long as he needs,” he said.
My hand went to my stomach, rubbing absently as if that would make all the bad feelings go away. I stopped when I saw him watching me, his eyes narrowing. What did he know? Should I confess to everything and tell him all his fears about me were justified, in addition to new ones he didn’t even know about yet? Would he even hear me if I tried to explain?
“I can’t wait,” I said instead. “Good night, if I don’t see you later.”
I’d almost reached the main staircase when I heard glass shattering. Not the sound of a dropped glass hitting the tile floor, but of a heavy crystal decanter being hurled into the wall and smashing into a million pieces on impact.
I froze, swallowing the sob in my throat. Once I’d mastered it, I called out because I couldn’t go to him. “Are you alright? Do you need help?”
“I’m fine. Just…go.”
And because I didn’t know how to handle the mess I’d made of everything, I went.
The next morning, all I had from Alexei was a shim saying he’d be unavailable for the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours, and it was unlikely I’d see him before we met Belikov at the space elevator. He then indicated I was never to use a public air-hack again and a flight-limo was available whenever I needed it. I could almost hear the chilling command in his voice. I bristled at that, annoyed he thought he could order me around like some Consortium lackey and I would jump to do his bidding.
If he knew about Brody, he wasn’t saying, though his actions made it clear he at least suspected. Was he waiting for me to come clean? If so, the longer I took, the worse things would be. And if I did say something, I was afraid of what might happen to us. Even if things were rocky between us, at least we were still together. Losing Alexei might be the most crippling blow of all. At some point, I knew I’d have to tell him about Vieira too. Funny how between Vieira and the kiss, telling him about my grandfather felt like the lesser of two evils. For now, I decided to focus on the card reading party and push everything else out of my mind.
At the shop, it was one of those sols where everything was unremarkable, and I wondered how long the calm before the storm would last. I had several appointments, but wasn’t invested in the clients. I had a feeling Lotus wanted to grill me about what she saw yesterday with Brody, but I managed to dodge her in between clients and finishing up my Russian homework for tomorrow night’s class. Of course, that was assuming I’d still be going to class after Belikov and the rest of the Consortium arrived. If not, that would make three in a row I’d missed. At this rate, I’d have to re-enroll next semester.
Eventually, it was closing time and Lotus went home. Mannette and company would meet me at my shop in an hour so I killed time by grabbing a bite to eat from the deli on the corner before getting ready back at the shop.
I debated how flamboyant I should be. I didn’t want to overwhelm these women. On the other hand, Mannette would expect a show for her CN-net series. In the end, I decided not to go overboard with the whole exotic Tarot card reader experience. I’d be entertaining, but not make anyone feel uncomfortable about participating. Plus Mannette had one of the most successful shows on the CN-net. These women would be broadcast as part of her series, and there were few people in the tri-system who wouldn’t get a kick out of being included.
I tied my hair back with a turquoise scarf and threw another one around my neck. I also wore a modest dress that reached my ankles and was supported by thin shoulder straps. It was aqua colored and patterned with what resembled gray storm clouds. It might have seemed dowdy to some, but I felt the dress was saved by the fact that the clouds perfectly accentuated all my curves. That, and the slit up the back that stopped short of baring my butt to the world. Then big earrings, lots of jingly bracelets, and a pair of lace-up sandals. Lastly, Granny G’s cards because no show was complete without them. The bracelets were a bit annoying because they kept tangling around my c-tex bracelet but I could make do for one night, provided I didn’t have to shim anyone.
A few minutes after I was ready, I heard tapping at the door. Outside were Mannette, two of her PVRs recording her every move as usual—different from the ones from yesterday—three other women I assumed were show-friends, and two bodyguards. Dark-skinned with hair in long dreadlocks, both were built like old-school battle cruisers going off to war. They gave off the same “don’t fuck with me” vibe that was universal to bodyguards.
Mannette didn’t disappoint. She wore a skintight black dress accented with large vertical rows of red diamonds. Her hair was tall enough that it added another foot in height, making her tower over me. The dress was slit almost to her waist and she wore shiny black crotch-brushing boots. She’d dressed her entourage to match her outfit, with even her bodyguards wearing suits covered in tiny red diamonds.
For a second, I just stared at her, not sure which of us was the Tarot card reader. “Wow,” I said finally. “You look…Wow.”
She bowed with false modesty. “We want to make it a night these ladies won’t forget, am I right?”
“No, you’re right,” I agreed, returning her grin and feeling something a little like excitement. Tonight would be fun. With Mannette there, how could it not?
“What about them?” she asked, gesturing to her flight-limo waiting curbside, then mine waiting behind it.
Annoyance speared me, the same burst I’d felt when Alexei ordered me to stay away from public air-hacks. Gods, did he think he controlled everything now that we lived together? Was he looking for incriminating evidence to see if I spent more time with Brody? “Ignore them. That’s what I plan on doing.”
“Your new friend isn’t going to join us?” she asked coyly after we’d arranged ourselves in our seats—one of the security detail with us, one up front, one of her PVRs with me and one with Mannette to record everything, and her show-friends spread between us. The flight-limo took off into low-street orbit, merging into the rest of the traffic.
“No,” I said firmly. I had to be careful. Everything I said and did would be broadcast over the CN-net. I would be scrutinized by the entire tri-system, who consumed gossip with an endless appetite. “He will most definitely not be joining us.”
She pouted. “Such a shame. We were just starting to get acquainted yesterday.”
“You could probably get in touch with him yourself.”
“I would, but he made it clear his interests lie elsewhere. Not sure I’d be able to turn his head, even if I used all of this.” She gestured to her body from breast to thigh.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Maybe you didn’t put in enough effort.”
“Oh, believe me, there was effort. The boy just didn’t seem into me, but I think I can wear him down.” Then she gave me a calculating look. “And did things go well with your grandfather?”
Oh shit. I wondered if Alexei was watching the broadcast. Even if he was up to his neck in alligators, he could still split his attention to see what I was doing.
“It went well enough.”
“Too bad I didn’t get a chance to meet him. Maybe some other time,” she said, arching an eyebrow. “Felicia Sevigny, no one surrounds themselves with as many fascinating people as you. It must be a gift.”
“Yeah, I’m lucky that way.” Time to steer this conversation in a less horrific direction. I whipped out my cards from their case and started to shuffle. Then I looked over Mannette and her crew, beaming at all of them because gods knew I wanted to look pretty for the whole damn CN-net to see. “Okay, who wants a demonstration on how this works?”
The rest of the ride passed with me reading cards for Mannette and friends. All made the appropriate noises in the appropriate places with one of the women squealing in delight when I told her she’d meet the love of her life within the next six to twelve months. The male PVR looked a little glum at that, making me wonder what unrequited feelings he harbored. Well, it wasn’t my job to ferret that out. I just read the cards, kept the people entertained, and tried to head off any awkward questions before anyone could ask them.
It didn’t take long before we were on the other side of Elysium City, in Davis District, aka Driller Dive. It was a poorer, dirtier section of the city, but I’d seen worse on Earth, so it barely fazed me. Growing up in near poverty and living on the edge of the largest slum in Africa could give you a different perspective on things. However, my companions gave horrified gasps and made snide comments about the sketchy-looking buildings. There was still enough daylight to see the graffiti, the piles of refuse, the homes that needed repair, and overgrown weed beds that passed as gardens.
One thing I did like, however, was that everyone lived in individual homes instead of apartments piled up on top of one another or trailers that never stayed in one place. These people had permanence. They had yards where kids could play and parks where people could gather. Even if it wasn’t in the best repair, it was nice, and I told them so.
Mannette laughed while her show-friends looked at me in horror. “Would you give up what you have now with the Russian and take all this instead?” she teased.
“I didn’t say that. Just that it would have been nice to grow up in a place where you actually had something to show for your efforts, and you belonged to a community. We moved around a lot when I was growing up, probably because someone was being chased out of town by the local One Gov officials.”
“Must be that gypsy blood,” one of the show-friends said, making me want to punch her for her thoughtless racial slur.
I smiled at her, though she probably had no idea of the less-than-friendly thoughts behind it. It made me wish I could predict something bad for her like she was about to fall off a cliff. “Yes, must be.” I turned away, pointedly cutting her out of the conversation. “Are we almost there yet?”
As soon as I asked the question, I felt the flight-limo descend, my stomach jerking in response. The door slid open and I climbed out to investigate my surroundings. I’d looked at the aerial-nav CN-net maps ahead of time so I could be familiar with the area, but the house I saw now wasn’t like the one on the maps.
While the single-family dwelling was the same, it was run-down and the yard overgrown. I would have said the house was abandoned, but the lights were on. Miners spent nine months on-site, with one month traveling back and forth, and two months’ paid leave to spend with their families. It wasn’t an ideal life, but I always thought the pay made up for its shortcomings. Apparently I was wrong, although who knew how many gold notes Novi’s husband transferred home each pay cycle and how many he kept.
I was also wrong about something else. As I gazed at the broken-down house in this shabbier than usual area of Driller Dive, my gut woke up, prodding at me in a way that demanded I pay attention or suffer the consequences. I frowned, studying the house, hearing Mannette come up beside me.
“Doesn’t look good,” she said softly.
“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed, agitation stirring in me. “I have this feeling…Maybe we shouldn’t be here.”
Mannette had this way of looking at you that made it seem like she was staring into your soul, probably because she was recording everything she saw so she wanted as much detail as possible. Even if that’s all it was, her gaze was penetrating and disturbing.
“You think we should leave?” she asked in that same soft tone. All hint of the party girl had vanished.
Had I misread events and this was my Eight of Thorns? Was I wrong about Belikov? Hard to say. I was so off course, it seemed not even my gut knew which direction to lead me. I had no idea if it was telling me the right thing to do now, but I’d made a commitment to Novi and I didn’t go back on my word. “You don’t have to, but I’m going in,” I answered, looking from her back to the house.
As if my words had summoned her, Novi appeared on the front porch, waving. There was a bright smile on her face as she gestured for us to come closer.
“Glad you made it. Everyone is waiting inside, excited to get started. Come on in!”
I pasted on a smile and made my way down the front sidewalk to the porch. Even as I walked, my gut protested each footstep, demanding I turn around and walk the other way. As I got closer, Novi slipped inside the house, disappearing behind the front door, leaving it slightly ajar. My footsteps slowed to a stop. Mannette kept walking with her show-friends, her PVRs in front of her, one facing her, one facing the house. Her security team was playing catch-up for some reason, taking up the rear when they should have been in front. Although maybe that was what Mannette demanded of her crew.
Suddenly, I wanted my own security detail to check every room in that house before I set one foot inside. I had zero desire to go into that building, commitment or not, but now Mannette’s people were on the front porch, almost to the door, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt my c-tex bracelet flutter on my wrist, but I couldn’t check it—not with all the other bracelets halfway up my arm.
“Maybe we should wait,” I called out, even as Mannette’s male PVR entered the brightly lit house. “Let’s have security check it out first.”
My gut jumped up another notch. I couldn’t just let them go in there. I needed to stop this. Swearing under my breath, I hurried up the sidewalk, the last to enter.
Inside looked just as neglected as outside, and I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would want to live in such conditions. It was dirty and squalid, with no pictures on the walls and no decorations of any kind.
“What a rattrap,” one of Mannette’s friends said, wrinkling her nose as she looked around. “Haven’t they ever heard of soap and water?”
I frowned. “Where’s Novi?” Not only that, where was everybody else, because it seemed like not only was there no party, we were the only people in the house.
I heard a door slam in back. Ignoring my gut, I raced down the hall on the warped floorboards, trying to keep up with the source. Had Novi just run out the back, ditching us? My c-tex vibrated again. Again, I ignored it. I couldn’t get to it—not now at any rate.
There were footsteps behind me. Mannette’s male PVR, keeping up with me as if I might be onto something interesting.
“You hear the door slam too?” I threw over my shoulder.
“Yup.”
Steps from the back door, I skidded to a halt in front of an open doorway, again ablaze with light. Weird. Nothing in the house, yet all the lights were on.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. This room had one piece of furniture in it. A cheap-looking baby crib, heaped with blankets. I stopped because I couldn’t help myself, paralyzed at the sight. Why had Novi left her child behind? Who the hell could leave their baby?
I took a step toward the crib, drawn like a moth to a flame. Had Novi known that? Had she noted my fascination with her baby and known I wouldn’t be able to stay away? My gut wanted me to get the fuck out, but the baby…I couldn’t leave a baby behind regardless of how messed up the situation might be.
Mannette’s PVR muscled past me, anxious to see what was in the crib, getting to it first. My c-tex was fluttering on my arm nonstop. Whoever wanted to get through was so desperate to reach me, my arm started to itch. I scratched at it absently through the layers of bracelets, watching the PVR approach the crib. I let him go, not sure what I was supposed to do. I was in full-blown panic mode now, my knees threatening to buckle in their desperation to run away, rebelling against the part of me wanting to stay.
I had the oddest sense of déjà vu, of other cribs and other babies back on Earth—of little clones rigged to explode if anyone so much as tried to leave the building with them. And I realized then there was no way in the world Novi would leave her child behind under a heap of blankets. Whatever was under those blankets wasn’t a baby.
I lurched into the room, smacking my hip against the door frame and knocking the travel case with my Tarot cards off my shoulder and to the floor. As the same time, the male PVR was lifting the blanket. I was close enough now to see it wasn’t a baby there after all.
“What am I looking at?” the PVR asked, sounding confused as he looked at the metallic cylinder with the flashing red lights in the crib.
Gods, how many damn disasters was a girl supposed to deal with in one lifetime? A year ago, I would have said my quota should be none. Now, I couldn’t even tally the list of nonsense and bullshit I’d had to wade through.
“Get out! It’s a fucking bomb!” I screamed, yanking him from the crib.
My momentum hurled him back against me. I collided into Mannette, who’d come in behind. And behind her was a virtual conga-line of idiots, all of us watching the cylinder’s lights flashing faster and faster.
“What’s happening?” Mannette demanded.
Then her security detail came in so we were all trapped and looking at the bomb like it was the most interesting object on Mars.
“Back up! Get out! Move!” I screamed, fighting my way through the horde and trying to bodily push everyone out by myself.
At that point, common sense and panic kicked in. Everyone made for the door, each trying to get through it first. The male PVR shoved me aside, knocking me over in his haste. I saw my travel case get kicked to the side, out of reach and impossible to nab as everyone fled. I felt arms snatch me around the waist and jerk me upright with enough force to knock the breath out of me. Then we were all moving as a group, down the hall, and to the back door. After that, I really wasn’t sure what happened because that was when the bomb exploded and sent us all reeling out of control, deaf and blind to the world.