Mardi Gras Mambo by Greg Herren

Author:Greg Herren [Herren, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp
Published: 2006-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

King of Swords

a man with the power of life and death

I had just stuck my head under the shower jet when Colin said something I couldn’t hear.

I pulled my head back, wiping water out of my eyes, and said, “Huh? Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

The hot water felt incredibly good as it streamed over my body. The water pressure was almost strong enough to knock me down, tired as I was, but he was standing right behind me. I leaned back into him for just a moment before balancing on my own feet again. The water pooling in the bottom of the tub was gold with flecks of glitter floating on the surface. Colin was scrubbing my back with a bar of soap. It felt really good.

“I said, it’s really scary when you go into one of your trances,” he repeated, as he massaged soap into my butt cheeks. “I mean, you’re not out for very long—thirty seconds, maybe, tops—but it scares the piss out of me still, you know? Your whole body twitches, your eyes roll back in your head, and you mutter a lot. It’s almost like you’re having an epileptic fit. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”

“Really?” I hadn’t given it much thought. Of course, I’d never witnessed one of my trances, just experienced it. It’s been happening to me for almost ten years; I had the first one when I was nineteen. I was by myself when it happened, in my apartment in Nashville, when I was going to Vanderbilt. It had been scary for me; when I came out of it, I had no idea what was going on or what had caused it. I’d been reading the tarot cards for years, since a friend of my parents’ had told me I was psychic and had sent me a deck, but that was the first time I’d ever had a direct communication of any kind with the Goddess. For a while, I’d been afraid that I might have one of the trances in a public place, but the Goddess was far kinder than that. She always managed to wait to talk to me until I was either alone or in the company of friends or family.

This time had been different, though. It was the first time I’d ever gone into a trance and come out of it not remembering anything—but I felt a lot calmer. “I don’t foam at the mouth or anything, do I?” I asked. That would be all I needed.

This provoked a laugh. “No, you don’t.” He turned me around so the water was rinsing the soap off my back. “But it always gives me a jolt—I mean, what if something was seriously wrong with you and we just assumed it was another trance? How would we know?”

I’d never thought about that and shivered, despite the hot water. “I don’t know. . . . Everyone always says they last less than a minute, so if I’m ever out for longer than that, better get me to the emergency room.

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