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“You can read people,” a wohts, their eift of insight — one of the rarest gifts that can ever be given But it must be cultivated Tempered with caution, and moderation”
Melody had been fourteen at the tie dark tent at the heart of the fairgrounds, surrounded by a thousand people enjoying the Renaissance Festival The “gypsy” woypsy at all She was a tarot card reader who, self-adrandiven Melody her money back She did it almost fearfully With reverence and respect
“Be very careful how you use your insight,” the woreat things… but also enormous sorrow”
She’d left the Oracle’s tent more confused than ever Up until that day, Melody always assuood intuition That everyone could read people the way she did, only maybe she was better than most She couldn’t see the future anylottery numbers, or tell when a plane crash was about to happen, or anything even reot was bits and pieces of the present Flashes of memory, of emotion and instinct, from the person she focused on at the time
Her friends had laughed at her story They cared little about her experience in the tent, and wanted to talk only about their own It was all silly stuff, too Boys School Love…
It wasn’t until she returned to the Oracle the next day, on her own, that Melody realized what she truly had At first the woman wasn’t too happy to see her She could feel it — no, even see it in her mind’s eye The Oracle feared what she could do, and the htened Melody as well By the end of their second encounter however, the wo toward Melody, which she needed, but also guided her in new directions
“Take this,” she’d said, opening a darkened drawer She pressed so cold into Melody’s hand — a thin token, carved from jade On one side it was intricately etched with a symbol On the other, an address had been scratched crudely with the head of a pin
“Contact theiven to you, and they ht help you”
Melody had no idea who ‘they’ were But the address on the back of the token — soed her life forever She began receiving letters at first, hand-writtenabout what she could do She described all of it, every last detail, listing encounters and exa, and after using her ‘gift’
A week later two people had come — a man and a woman They approached her cautiously and in secret, but with a warmth and openness that quickly eased her fears They could show her how to use her gift, they told her Teach her how to call upon it, to turn it off and on She was not to inform her parents Not to inform anyone If she did, there would be no e
Melody kept her promise
Shortly after her eighteenth birthday a car arrived for her It took her to the airport, where she was flown to New York on a private jet It was her first ti so far fro outside study rather than going straight to college Her parents would’ve objected outright, but an accident had taken them from her when she was only ten
Blackstone Manor was an all new place, where she began an all new life Xioreet her when she arrived The tiny African woht red robe anda stream of colorful but hilarious curse-words
Those doors were a lot like the ones Melody stood in front of right now Only these were a lot less war than the Blackstone
There was the heavy click of a latch, and one of the doors swung open A man appeared before theaunt, with sunken cheekbones and stark white hair He wore a so only a single word