Maryann asked.
“Right. Or it's an actual medium actually making contact with the spirits. Maybe even summoning them, which would be a little worrying. I guess we can make sure everything's normal, or not,” Isabella said. “But there's nothing we can really do if this is just a con-artist, and probably less if this is an actual medium.”
“Yeah, but maybe you could talk to this person,” Dave said.
“What, convince them to turn from their evil ways and use necromancy for the greater good?” Leah asked.
He shrugged. “Whatever works for you guys.”
“Do you even know the name of this medium?”
He threw down a card.
“Wait a minute, if you got this card, it means your sister already thinks there's a con-artist at work,” Maryann said in an accusing tone.
“Half of being clever is making people think you're smarter than you are,” he said with a smile. “Yeah, she's pretty sure this is a con but the residents don't want to talk to her. They're either embarrassed or scared.”
Nora picked up the card. It was completely black with white lettering in a pseudo-gothic font and the motif of a black bird outlined in red. “'Curses, Hexes, and Potions Occult Store featuring Madame Crow Jinx, Psychic Medium and Fortune-teller.' That doesn't really roll off the tongue very well. I'm surprised she didn't call herself 'Raven.'”
“Surely someone with real talent wouldn't be so tacky,” Leah said.
Isabella shrugged. “I don't know. I think people start to expect certain things when they're poking into the paranormal. Would you go see, 'Agnes Jones; a person who can talk to dead people?'”
“Presentation is everything,” Nora agreed. “We don't wear costumes on stage for our health, after all. But if the card is anything to go by, she'll have a dark room with lots of curtains, a crystal ball, and ask us to cross her palm with silver.”
“So if she's real, what if she sees that Isabella's a medium too and it scares her?” Leah asked.
“Unlikely. I can usually tell if someone has a death aura, but that doesn't mean she's a medium,” Isabella answered. “So if she's got the same gift I do, then she probably can't tell either. I'd really need her to try to call on a spirit to know if she's for real.”
“I certainly don't want someone calling on the spirits of my dead relatives. Let them remain at peace,” Nora said.
“She can try to get my grandpa Charlie on the line,” Dave offered. “He was a World War II vet. He died when I was four, but he used to tell me the most hilarious and awful stories. Drank like a fish too.”
“Sounds like she'll regret calling him,” Leah said.
“Hey, if she's going to disturb the dead, she gets what she deserves,” Nora said.
“That's true,” she agreed.
“You sure you don't mind your dead relatives telling some random person all your dark secrets?” Maryann teased.
Dave shrugged. “Hey, if she wants to blackmail me, she can go right ahead. I don't have any money; just debt. Speaking of which, we better do this today. Can I use the wi-fi for my classes tomorrow?”
“No problem,” Nora answered. “But the card says 'by appointment only.'”
“That's pretentious,” Leah said.
“But it figures. Well, I'll see what I can do,” he said, and pulled out his phone. In a few minutes he hung up. “Good news, I guess. She's had a cancellation for this afternoon.”
They finished up lunch and reluctantly left the haven of the beach house for Miami traffic. Curses, Hexes, and Potions was located in a strip mall and looked like any other occult/metaphysical store the band had seen. They walked inside to find a half dozen elderly women milling about and looking somewhat embarrassed by it and a small pack of teenage girls milling around not looking embarrassed at all. There was a bored-looking teenage boy with a number of tattoos and piercings stationed by the cash register.
“Hi. We're looking for Madame Crow Jinx,” Maryann said brightly to the cashier.
He looked up from his copy of Voltaire. “You want the door over there,” he said, gesturing to the far wall. “But she's got a client in now.”
“Oh, that's fine,” she said, seeing the door on the far side of the shop. It had a black bird on it. “We'll wait.”
“Hey, man,” the kid said, addressing Dave. “Nice shirt.”
“Thanks.”
When they got to the door they could see the words “Madame Crow Jinx” written on it in sparkly pseudo-gothic font. They opened the door and found a small room with another door opposite the door to the shop. That door had been painted black. There were half a dozen chairs covered in brightly colored drop-clothes and a couple of tables with magazines with esoteric titles. Two old women were clearly waiting and talking to each other excitedly. The medium's fees were detailed on a poster hanging near the black door.
“Fifty bucks for a Tarot reading!” Leah said. “Fifty bucks for a half-hour spirit session! Ladies, we are in the wrong business.”
“Except we have standards,” Maryann countered.
“Damn. But do we have the cash?”
“Don't look at me,” Dave said. “You know I'm broke.”
“I'll take care of it,” Isabella sighed. “We can take it out of the petty cash fund.”
The band and Dave settled into wait. In ten minutes, two old women emerged from the black door. One seemed upset, and the other was comforting her.
They peered inside, but the light was dim they only got a glimpse of some shiny, hanging decorations before the door closed again.
The two waiting women looked puzzled, but resumed their gossip.
In five minutes, the door opened again and a female voice said, “Next.”
The two waiting women looked at the band, and then went inside.
Isabella started to lift up the drop-clothes and poke around the waiting room.
“What are you doing?” Nora asked.
Instead of answering, Isabella texted Nora a response. “Those two ladies were talking about their dead relatives. I want to find out if this medium has a microphone in here and uses that.”
“Good thinking,” Nora texted back. The others got the message and all started to poke around looking for cameras and/or microphones.
“Well, if the place is wired, the stuff is hidden really well,” Leah texted.
“Good; I'll cast a spirit sight spell,” Isabella texted. She just finished when two teenage girls walked into the waiting room.
The band quickly resumed doing nothing suspicious.
“Are you all here waiting?” one of the girls asked in dismay. Both were wearing a lot of black and spangled jewelry.
“Don't worry, I'm the only one who's going to get a reading,” Dave said. “They're my support group.”
“Oh,” she said, clearly relieved.
Now they took the time to look up Madame Crow Jinx on their various portable devices and favorite search engines.
“Tacky website - check,” Leah texted.
“Ugh; she's selling love spells? I hate it when people do that. It's so wrong,” Maryann replied.
“Not a lot of info on her, though,” Nora texted.
The door opened and the two women emerged. One looked very angry and the other looked puzzled.
“I never!” declared the angry one.
“I'm sure she was just a lucky guesser,” said the other.
The band didn't get to hear the rest of the conversation as they two left the waiting room.
“Remember to not react to anything you see unless she does,” Isabella sent. “She doesn't know you can all see spirits right now.”
“How do we know if a spirit has actually manifested or if it's just your spell?” Maryann asked.
“I'll say something first,” she replied.
In a few minutes, the door opened. “Next,” said the female voice.
They all walked in.
There was enough room to fit all
of them and the medium, but the room seemed small. There were, as predicted, a lot of beaded curtains hung up in the room and it was decorated with a lot of chimes and mobiles, many of which looked to be merchandise from the store next door. The room was only dimly lit by a number of fragrant candles which made it seem even smaller and made it stuffy. In the center was a round table with a long table cloth. In the center of the table was a crystal ball the size of a baseball that surprisingly for the cheap surroundings appeared to be real quartz crystal. The medium was not there, but emerged in a moment from one of the many curtains.
Madame Crow Jinx was about the same height and build as Isabella. Underneath the make-up, she appeared to be the same age. But her hair was jet black, probably dyed, and she was even paler than Isabella. She wore heavy eye-liner and had thick eyelashes, probably false. She had a black tattoo that resembled the skeleton of a snake going up her left arm. She was wearing a short-sleeved black gypsy-style blouse, a long crushed velvet black skirt, and a black bandana around her head with blacker roses. With Isabella's spirit sight spell, they saw an aura of death around her, but it was approximately the same strength as Isabella's.
“I would ask that you turn off your mobile devices,” she said. Her voice even sounded like Isabella's, only slightly deeper, but that may have been a deliberate attempt to sound more mysterious. “Such devices interfere with the etheric energies.”
They looked at each other, but shut off their devices as requested.
She took one of the two seats at the table. “You are Dave Rafel?”
“Yep.”
She gestured to the other chair.
He sat down.
“You need not have brought so many. I appreciate