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The Aracle

She did not knohat the strange name meant, and unlike the other cards, this one did not appear to be violent The edges were covered in ornate swirls of old, and the center was silver like amiddle reflected Tella’s honey-blond curls and her round hazel eyes But when Tella looked closer, the i, and fat tears were running down her cheeks

Tella never cried Not even when her father used harsh words, or Felipe ignored her in favor of her older sister

“I wondered if I’d find you in here, my little love” Her mother’s soft soprano filled the roo today?”

As her mother bent toward the carpet where Tella sat, her hair fell around her clever face in elegant rivers Her mother’s locks were the same dark brown as Scarlett’s, but Tella shared her leah just then Tella watched her mother turn es of the Maiden Death and the Prince of Hearts

“Where did you find these?” Her mother’s sweet voice re Tella the i And while Tella often did things she wasn’t supposed to, usually her hter, or occasionally tell her how to get aith her little criered Her mother was the soft breath of air that blew out his sparks before they could ignite into flames But now her mother looked as if she wanted to start a fire and use the cards for kindling

“I found them in your jewelry box,” Tella said “I’m sorry I didn’t know they were bad”

“It’s all right” Her hten you But even I don’t like to touch these cards”

“Then why do you have them?”

Her own before setting the box on a high shelf by the bed, beyond Tella’s reach

Tella feared the conversation was over—as it undoubtedly would have been with her father But her hters Once the box was tucked safely away, her mother folded herself onto the carpet beside Tella

“I wish I’d never found these cards,” she whispered, “but I will tell you about them if you swear to never touch this deck, or another deck like this, again”

“I thought you told Scarlett and I never to swear”

“This is different” A corner of herlet in on a very special secret It was always this hen herattention on Tella alone, she made Tella feel as if she were a star and the world revolved around only her “What have I always told you about the future?”

“Every person has the power to write her own,” Tella said

“That’s right,” her mother said “Your future can be whatever you wish We all have the power to choose our own destiny But, ive the Fates pictured inside them the opportunity to shift your path People use Decks of Destiny, similar to the one you just touched, to predict the future, and once a future is foretold, that future beco itself about This is why I need you to never touch those cards again Do you understand?”

Tella nodded, though she didn’t truly understand; she was still at that tender age when the future seemed too far away to be real It also did not escape her notice that her mother never said where the cards cahter around the one still in her hand

In her haste to pick up the deck, Tella’s mother hadn’t noticed the third card Tella had turned over The one still in her possession The Aracle Tella carefully hid it beneath her crisscrossed legs as she said, “I swear to never touch a deck like this again”

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Tella was no longer floating