Episode 055

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            “Life is about creating yourself.”

                        George Bernard Shaw

 

 

            When Everett stepped through the doorway, he felt like he had passed into another world.  Waiting for him just beyond the veils was a warmly decorated room.  An arrangement of sitting pillows was laid out on the carpeted floor, while ornate tapestries hung over all the walls.  In the center of the room, a small table waited, a rectangle of red cloth draped over it and falling down over the sides.

            Behind the table, a middle-aged woman sat with a deck of cards in her hands.  Shuffling them absently, she stared down, in thought, as if waiting.  She wore a simple tan business suit and her dark brown hair was done up in a bun using two chopsticks.

            Everett waited at the doorway, unsure of where to move to.  As he looked around, the woman looked to him.  “You must be Everett,” she said in a firmly maternal voice.  “I’m Alison Kieri.  Please.”  She gestured to the largest pillow in front of her.

            “Not quite what I was expecting,” he confessed, sitting down where indicated.

            “You aren’t either,” she said.  “I have to admit, I was expecting someone darker.”

            Everett stopped halfway into sitting down.  “I beg your pardon.”

            “You’re more brown than black,” she said harmlessly, gesturing to her skin.  “When Marilyn told me about you, I have to say, I envisioned someone a bit darker.”

            He chuckled.  “That’s funny.  When Marilyn tells most people about me, they envision a white guy.”

            “The nature of the world, huh,” Kieri said with some remorse, going back to shuffling her cards.  “So what do you think?” she asked.  “I know you’re skeptical.”  He shrugged.  “Most psychics are charlatans; I make no illusions about that.  And I’ll be the first to tell you, I won’t be giving you any answers.”  Her candor cemented Everett’s attention.  “Psychics are like psychiatrists,” she explained with a smile.  “We aren’t there to tell the future to you, so that you can be a slave to it.  We’re there to help you see the path in front of you, and help you to make the right choices as you see them.  The only difference is that a psychologist does this with science and human behavior.  We do it with metaphysics and more other…unorthodox techniques.”

            “Like Tarot cards?” Everett asked, glancing at the cards.

            Kieri smiled and laid down five cards.

            Jack of Hearts

            Five of Spades

            Seven of Clubs

            Five of Diamonds

            Three of Diamonds

            “I’ve seen worse hands,” she said with a smile.  “Tarot cards are a tool, nothing more.  I prefer something a little bit more familiar.”

            “Playing cards can tell the future?” Everett asked.

            She smiled knowingly.  “Anything can be used to tell the future, if you know how to look at it right.”  She collected the cards and placed her hands on the table, looking squarely at Everett.  He looked back at her, letting her appraise him.  “You’re torn,” she said almost immediately.

            “Well, yeah,” he said.  “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”

            “You’re torn between two unknowns,” she went on.  “You’re torn between a familiar evil, and an uncertainty.  They might be evil, they might not be.  And you feel like the entire world is watching you, studying you, holding you up to see what you do.  And if you do the slightest thing wrong, you’re afraid the world will shatter.”

            Everett was quiet.

            “And you’ve got a shadow,” she said, looking confused.  “Something that’s a part of you, but not a part of you, that’s gotten loose, gotten away from you.  And it’s like a splinter in your paw.  You can’t do anything until you take care of it.”

            She leaned back, studying his face.  He was still, watching her closely.  “The weight of the world really is on your shoulders, sir knight,” she finally declared.  His eyes narrowed.  “What?” she asked.  “You think I haven’t been around this world enough times to know the purpose of a man in black and red, carrying a sword?”  Everett was quiet.  “I don’t know what you’re into, Everett,” she said, turning away to put her cards back in their box.  “But whatever it is, I suggest you get your house in order.  Take things one step at a time.  And whatever confrontation you want to avoid, you avoid it at all cost.  Otherwise, it will cost you everything.”

 

 

            The ringing of the hotel phone pierced the darkness.  With a loud click, the bedside light turned on and Erik flopped out from under the covers.  He snatched up the phone, his other hand on a Norwegian sword by his bed.  “Hello?” he asked into the phone, his accent unusually strong.

            “It’s Everett, Everett Kendall.”

            He sat up, swallowing.  He checked the clock, taking a moment to process the late hour.  “Good…morning, Everett.  What can I do for you?”

            “My team…my team will help you,” he said solemnly.  “We’ve got a plan that we hope will undermine Alan’s allure to the other knights, but it won’t involve a confrontation.”  Erik sat up, unsure what he was more uncomfortable with.  “In order to do it, though,” he said, “we’re going to need some information from you.”

            “Yeah,” Erik said.  “Anything.  What do you need?”

            “We can talk about it tomorrow,” Everett said.  “But you needed to know this tonight.”

            “What’s your plan?” the foreigner asked.  “How are you going to…stop Alan?”

            “We’re going to…”  His words trailed off.  “We’re going to side with you guys and make our move as public as possible, on Knightsnet and in person.”

“How?”

Everett sighed defeatedly.  “We’re going to adopt blue and silver in favor of red and black.”

 
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