Cartomancy by Kristin Cook

“We really
weren’t aware that there were such people, but that’s nonsense. You
can buy Tarot cards at the mall for goodness sake. We’re just
having some fun, that’s all.” Once again Waverly saved the day.
“There you have it Ladies and Gentlemen; it’s all harmless fun, now
back to the studio for your weekend weather.” Miss Haven removed
her microphone and stood up. The crew people were already packing
up the lights and equipment. “Thank you girls, you did a great job.
Please tell your parents that I said thank you as well, won’t you
Astrid?” Astrid just nodded. She wasn’t sure how all this was going
to turn out. Waverly stuck her hand out to shake Miss Haven’s. “We
really appreciate you coming all the way down here. Do you have any
idea when this might be on the news?” Miss Haven texted her
producer who was already in the van. “If all goes well, it’ll be on
tonight at eleven o’clock, thanks again girls.” Miss Haven got in
the news van and they drove off. As Astrid watched them driving
down the street, she noticed someone standing at the edge of her
neighbors hedge trying to hide. “Uh-oh” Astrid said to Waverly
pointing to the hedge. “There’s no way this can be anything
good.
     

Chapter 19
     
    “Hey girls, get down here, you’re on TV!”
Astrid’s father waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs
expecting the girls to come bouncing out of Astrid’s room at any
minute. “Girls!” He yelled again. But nothing happened, so he went
up and knocked on the door. Still nothing. He was sure they were in
there, so he closed his eyes and opened the door. “I’m not
looking…I’m coming inside…take cover, if you need to…” he laughed.
Quiet. Not a creature was stirring. He halfway squinted and opened
one eye. There they were: Waverly on her bed staring at her tablet
with headphones plugged in, and Astrid on the floor, with cards
spread out before her WHILE texting someone, also with headphones
on. An atomic bomb could go off and the world could be covered with
zombies and it’d be days before these two figured it out he
thought. He snuck up behind Astrid and grabbed her shoulders. She
screamed and removed the headphones, her heart making a loud
swooshy sound in her chest. “Hey! Thanks for scaring me papa bear,
I almost died…for real.” He twisted her hair around his hand and
kissed her forehead. “That may be a tad dramatic my love, anyway I
came to tell you guys that you’re on TV right now.” Astrid found
her remote under her bed and turned on the TV. “OMG Wave, check it
out!” They squealed in unison. “No. Way.” Both girls immediately
began texting everyone they knew. Astrid’s father just laughed and
went back downstairs to the living room where Astrid’s mother was
working on her laptop. “Our daughter is quite a hit.” She said
smiling to her husband. Astrid’s father peered over his shoulder at
the computer screen. Within five minutes, the video of Astrid and
Waverly on the news had already been uploaded to various social
networking sites and the video was going viral right before their
very eyes. “Ahh…the awesome power of the inner-webs” Astrid’s
father said mostly joking. Her mom was not so sure. “We may have to
amend the amount of time they spend daily on fortune-telling after
everyone sees this.” She said staring at the computer screen.
“Well, let’s just wait and see what happens, my dear. Let’s let
this play itself out, I’m sure it will die down soon… like any
other fad.” Astrid was watching the video again online, when her
phone began to vibrate. “Meet me out in your back yard.” Hey Wave,
check out this text I just got.” Waverly looked at the phone. “What
the heck? Who is it from?” Astrid shrugged “It’s from an unknown
number, what should we do?” Waverly rolled her eyes. “By all means,
we should totally go outside….at midnight….to meet a stranger…who
will kill us….then you’ll get your