Curse of the Phoenix by Dan Willis

Author:Dan Willis [Willis, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-25T22:00:00+00:00

Sherry watched them go until the door was closed, then she sat down at her desk and pulled a bandaid out of the bottom drawer. Wincing, she wrapped the little bit of adhesive fabric around the wound. It wasn’t the cut that made her wince, however, it was the numb ache that suffused her thumb and tried to crawl up into her hand and forearm.

Something was very wrong with that little bit of green rock.

She took several deep breaths, trying to calm the feeling of dread that accompanied the throbbing chill in her thumb. She’d only touched the stone for a moment, but that had been enough for a dozen images to wash across her mind’s eye. It happened so quickly that she hadn’t been able to understand what she’d seen, but two things were perfectly clear from the vision; blood and death would follow that stone wherever it went.

Her eyes darted up to the closed door leading to the back offices.

It had taken Sherry a long time to trust Alex, after she’d come to work for him. On the surface he was a lovable cad, a wisecracking private detective making his way in the world by his considerable wits. Sherry dismissed that image right after meeting him. Alex was highly skilled as a runewright, beyond anyone of whom she knew in this time. In addition to that, he had a way of attracting power to himself. Sorcerers, politicians, and industrialists seemed drawn to him, through no action or even desire of his own.

The first time she’d done a reading for him, she’d drawn two cards to represent him, the Emperor and the Magician.

That reading had terrified her.

The Emperor represented authority and control, everything her former boss had been, and the Emperor inverted represented tyranny. In her experience it wasn’t that hard for people to flip to the worst version of their nature.

The Magician wasn’t a bad card on its own; it represented willpower and creation. Paired with the Emperor, however, it foreshadowed the kind of man who, given enough power and time, could rule the world. To people in this time, that might sound fantastic, but Sherry had lived in a world like that, a world controlled by the accumulated power and indomitable will of one man.

Ironically, what had eventually convinced Sherry that Alex was one of the good guys, was the connections he made. He accumulated men and women of power, it was true, but he also accumulated people like Danny. Sherry had done readings for all of Alex’s associates, looking for potential weak links that might try to corrupt him. When she read Danny, only one card came up for him, Justice. The card represented clarity and truth. As long as Alex had Danny in his life, Sherry was certain he wouldn’t fall to the darkness that waited hungrily to consume all-powerful men.

Sherry stared at the closed door, as if the act alone could compel the solid wood to become transparent and let her see into the rooms beyond.

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