Lucifer's Daughter. V. J. Banis

they got nearer, Elizabeth frowned in genuine concern. “Julie. You’re as white as a ghost. You shouldn’t have gone on that thing.”

      Julia gave a little toss of her head. “I’m fine, Liz; really I am.” She forced a smile. “It was wild.”

      “It was certainly that,” Allyson agreed. She glanced at Julia. “In case you didn’t know, Julie, you’re supposed to scream your head off when you go down those dips. They say it helps get rid of your inhibitions.”

      “It would take more than screaming on a roller coaster to get rid of all my inhibitions,” Julia said pleasantly enough.

      “I’ll buy that,” Margaret interjected, with more than just a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

      Julia threw her sidelong glance. She bit down on her lip and said nothing in spite of the voice inside her which was goading her to be unpleasant.

      “Speaking of inhibitions,” Elizabeth said, pointing to a drab little tent sitting next to a penny arcade, “there’s a fortune teller over there. Let’s go find out about ourselves.”

      “Oh, Elizabeth,” Margaret said. “Surely you don’t believe in fortune tellers.”

      Elizabeth laughed. “I believe in anyone or anything that will get me a husband.”

      The girls laughed gaily and started toward the tent. Julia went along, but not as eagerly as the others. There was something about the sagging, neglected little tent that seemed to warn her to stay away. But Elizabeth was pulling her along, forcing her to come with them. Julia’s legs felt shaky from the unnerving effects of the roller coaster. Her head was throbbing, yet there was a lightness inside her that caused her heart to beat faster as though half expecting something wonderful and exciting to happen. She was afraid, but anxious at the same time. She felt strange, as though she was suspended between the two worlds of pleasure and pain, doubtful as to which she would be dropped into. The brooding shadow that had always followed her seemed suddenly less brooding. She knew she should stay away from the tent and the dark-complexioned gypsy woman seated before it, her hands folded contentedly in her lap, but Julia found she could not. She blamed it all on Elizabeth’s firm grip on her arm. They were forcing her to go into the tent and there was nothing she could do about it.

      The old gypsy’s weather-beaten face turned on them as they approached. A trace of a smile tickled the mouth, but the eyes weren’t smiling. The eyes were cold and dark and the color of death. She greeted the girls, letting her eyes take each of them in as they came to stand before her. Julia was standing slightly behind Elizabeth. The old gypsy’s eyes widened as though in recognition when she looked deep into Julia’s face, but the woman said nothing. Then, with an obvious move to compose herself, the gypsy got slowly to her feet, carefully avoiding looking at Julia again.

      What had she seen? Julia wondered. She seemed to recognize me from somewhere, but Julia had never laid eyes on the woman in her life.

      The gypsy cleared her throat in a nervous gesture and said, “Well, my pretty things, can I tell you what man lurks in each of your futures?” Her eyes traveled from face to face again, but did not venture as far as Julia’s face.

      “How much do you charge?” Margaret wanted to know.

      “Private readings are five dollars.”

      “Five dollars. Oh, wow, that’s too much,” Allyson complained.

      The old gypsy chuckled. “However, if you don’t mind knowing each other’s secrets, I can do a group reading for eight.”

      Allyson, Margaret, and Elizabeth went into a hurried conference. Again Julia felt unwanted. They had automatically assumed that she had no intention of including herself in their adventure. She felt perturbed, but did not push herself into their whispered discussion. The girls agreed that eight dollars was reasonable enough.

      Then Elizabeth turned to Julia. “Do you want to be included? It’ll only cost you two dollars.”

      “Yes, come on, Julia. Don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud,” Margaret insisted.

      So that was it, Julia told herself. They weren’t all that interested in including her except one more added to the group session would bring the price down.

      However, it wasn’t spite alone that tempted her to refuse them. For reasons she could not explain, she didn’t want to learn about her future. She felt she had no future...not even a future manufactured from the experienced imagination of an old gypsy woman. Ever since she could remember, the future seemed to be meant for everyone else but her.

      Strange, now that she thought of it, how unimportant the coming years seemed. Nothing had ever lain in store for her. The present was all that had ever existed and all that would ever continue to exist. She lived from day to day, never for tomorrow, because there were no tomorrows. Time was a dimension that mattered little. She lived in a vacuum. Only emptiness lay behind her; nothing lay ahead. Looking back over everything, she seemed to have spent her life waiting for something to complete her existence. What she waited for she did not know, but she felt she must wait. There was no place for her in the lives of others, and she had no desire to clutter up her own life with friendships she knew she could not afford.

      Why she had bothered to come with Allyson, Elizabeth, and Margaret she didn’t know. It had been a drastic mistake. She should have known better. Whenever she made a spur-of-the-moment decision, it always proved wrong. She was sorry she’d come. She wanted to go back to her little furnished apartment in the city where she could be alone with her troubled thoughts and the unnerving voices that constantly talked to her.

      She stood there deep in her own thoughts, oblivious of the three girls who were trying to coax her to join them. Elizabeth gave her arm a hard tug. It brought Julia back to the present. She saw the old gypsy woman looking at her again. She remembered the woman’s first look of astonishment, of recognition. Perhaps the gypsy really did know something about Julia that would benefit her. Despite all her resolve to refuse the others, she found herself giving in. She let Elizabeth pull her inside the tent.

      Once inside, Julia saw another expression pass over the gypsy’s face. It was one of disapproval. The old woman looked none too pleased with Julia for having joined the others. Julia found herself tossing back a look of defiance and seated herself with the girls around a draped table, in the center of which sat a crystal ball.

      The gypsy did not take her place at the table until the matter of payment was dispensed with. Each girl contributed her share, which the old woman collected. She carried the bills into a deeper recess of the eerily lighted tent. She reappeared a moment later.

      “Well,” the old gypsy said with a heavy sigh as she settled herself opposite the girls. She leaned over the crystal ball which glowed with a strange light.

      The gypsy looked again from one to the other of the girls, giving Julia only the briefest glance. “I must explain,” the old woman started. “In group readings, it is necessary for me to put myself into a trance from which I cannot emerge until all the readings are completed. After I have passed over into my hypnotic state, each of you will take turns placing your hands, palms down, on the table, extended toward the crystal ball. Above all else, do not touch the crystal ball, just put your hands close enough to it for it to pick up the heat of your body. Whatever I say will be directed to the person whose hands are on the table. Only one pair of hands must be on the table at a time, otherwise the powers of darkness will become confused and the communication muddied and garbled. Do you understand? Good. Then we can begin.” The old woman closed her eyes and tilted her head back. Her lips moved, but emitted no sounds. Slowly her wrinkled and bony hands raised up, as though in supplication, and the woman began to speak.

      “Hear me, great powers from beyond this world. Tell me what is in store for this young beauty.”

      The tent suddenly dropped into darkness. The girls all tittered and looked around. After a moment they settled themselves and Allyson placed her hands palms down on the table, extending them close to the glowing crystal ball.

      The