Selena went into the hall but stopped at the stairs. "Those noises during dinner... Something is clearly going on upstairs. If I have to live here, I need to make sure I'm save.'
She touched her hand just below her elbow and reassured herself that the butter knife she stole while cleaning the table was still there. 'it might not be much, but at least it's somee sort of weapon.!
She climbed one step. But Selena immediately froze as she heard the floorboards on the second-floor squeak. 'Be brave.' She moved on, skipping every other step.
Selena held on tightly to the railing. 'This is too much.' The hallway was pitch-black. The few pathetic candles didn't do much goo's, and the moonlight only cast shadows on the walls.
Selena took a few steps forward.
Squeak.
"Who's there?" The floorboards creaked under someone's foot.
Squeak. Creak.
Selena grabbed the knife and slashed the air with it. "Show yourself!" She heard a horse drawn-out voice calling to her from the darkness, "Li- lith..."
Selena recoiled, pressed her back against the railing, almost tumbling down. The knife slipped out of her hands and fell. "Damn it! Who's there?"
She got desperate and shouted: "show yourself!"
The voice rang out again: "Li-lith..."
Selena rushed to the candle, took it off the wall chandelier. "Who's there?! Come out!"
She waved the candle as if it could scare away the evil spirit that lurked in the dark.
"Li-lith..."
Selena began to move forwards slowly. Fear and morbid curiosity to find out what is there merged into one. Now Selena couldn't run away even if she wanted to.
Squeak.
Selena froze. The candle flame trembled, about to go out.
Squeak.
Selena turned around.
"Boo!"
"Oh!" Selena jumped, almost dropping the candle.
"Ha, ha, ha! You're so funny when you're scared!" Prima laughed.
Selena wanted to strangle the little prankster, but she resisted. 'This damn place!' "Some jokes you have, kiddo."
Selena felt ashamed of her own fear. 'I don't have enough stress resistance. The business world is one thing, but this—this is something else altogether!
Josephine's voice was heard at the other end of the hallway: "Fooling around again, Prima? Why aren't you in bed yet?"
Prima pouted. "I'm coming." She theatrically hunched over and walked towards her room. "Sweet dreams."
Josephine watched Prima until she disappeared around the comer and then turned to Selena: "I need your help, and then you can go to bed." Josephine gently led Selena somewhere. "It's time to get used to it already, Lilith."
Selena followed her, still shaking after Prima's prank.
Josephine sat down at a coffee table with tons of letters on top of it. "Have a seat." Selena sat down across from her. "Help me sort these letters. Put those that are sealed here and those that are already open here. Got it?"
"You bet." Selena got to work. Her hands trembled a little but realizing that the "evil lurking in the dark" is just a little girl, helped her to calm down. 'Maybe this world isn't so crazy after all.'
They were both silent while sorting the letters. And there was something soothing about it. Selena didn't really read the addresses, but one letter caught her attention.
The name written on the envelope revealed the anxiety of the person who wrote it. Those sharp squigges almost seemed hysterical.
"Frederick Rosen.."
Josephine snatched the letter from Selena's hands. "I didn't ask you to look at them." Josephine started to move faster and wasn't so pedantic anymore about stacking the letters perfectly. It was as if she were afraid that Selena would get interested in other addresses.
Among the few scattered letters left on the table, Selena saw some Tarot cards. Her heart skipped a beat. She brushed away some letters and took two cards.
The first one had the number zero and the the word "Fool" On it. It depicted a queen sitting on a throne while watching a Jester who was kneeling on the floor.
The second has the number seven and the word 'The chariot' on it. It depicted a woman with crown on her head and wings on her back. Holding a stick with a grinning joker in her right hand and her left hand, holding the reins of two dark horses with white hair.
Josephine noticed how interested Selena was in those cards, how she clung to them as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Beautiful, aren't they?"
Selena slowly raised her eyes. "Do you read Tarot?"
"No, I wouldn't say so. But they are very entertaining! Each card has a special meaning... There is this legend. It says that people who live on Earth are incredibly young. They are like blind kittens that didn't yet gain sight. We are just discovering the world around us and ourselves in it. That's why we were given a book that reveals the secrets of the univers— the book of Tarot. Others call it the Book of the Dead, sent by the gods."
Selena eyes widened at this information. She took out of her pocket the card that the rider gave her. "What does this one mean?" Selena handed the card to Josephine. She just glanced at it.
"The Minor Arcana give advice, The Major Arcana demand that you pay attention. Your card is a Major Arcana."
"What should I pay attention to?"
Josephine looked at the card again and ran her hand over it. "Death in the Tarot, it means transformation, the rebirth of a person. It tells you it's time to change." But then the reverse side of the card caught her attention. "Where'd you get this?!"
Selena smiled wryly. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
Josephine turned her cards over to show Selena. "They're from the same deck! Where did you get them from?" Selena asked, surprised.
"Oh, a mysterious guest gave them to me many years ago." Josephine spoke of him with nostalgia. "He told me about the Tarot. He laid out the cards and predicted my future. A lot of things turned out to be true." She remembered something and smiled. "He asked for a portrait of him and said that Someday somebody will want to see it. That's how our collection of portraits started. He was the first one. Maybe he meant you? Maybe you are the one he wanted this portrait to be painted for?"
Josephine was amused by that thought: Selena wasn't laughing though. Her voice was ice-cold when she said: "Show me."
"Of course I'll gladly show it to you."
Selena followed Josephine. Although she was petrified, Selena hoped she was right, and her guess would be accurate. It would mean that she was on the right track.
Josephine climbed the stairs and stopped near the paintings. "Over there, see? The first portrait in our collection."
Selena raised her head. She stepped down a few steps to get a better look. 'It's him!'
Selena couldn't make out the details, but she knew for sure-the mysterious guest who presented Josephine with the cards was the Tarot reader. Although his face was obscured she could feel his gaze
It was as if he was saying to her. "I'll come for you!"