"Gypsies and Witches"

He sighed heavily, "Alright. . .but keep in mind, we really don't know what's going on either"
"Well, it would still be nice to be caught up with everyone else" I said.

He nodded absently, and sat down in his desk chair. He spun the chair around to face me.
For a minute, he just stared at me, in a scrutinizing way. Like he was expecting to find some kind of difference in my appearance.

"What?" I asked.
He shook his head, "Oh, sorry, nothing. . . . Okay, so let's start with the basics. The first thing you should know is, that Alex is a psychic"

That would of surprised me about 10 minutes ago. Now, after seeing that little episode, I had expected as much.
"Okay. . . so, he what? Had a vision downstairs? About me?" I prompted.

He nodded and continued, "He had a vision of you getting the Collana Affascinata from the Prima Strega"
"Okay, is that even English?" I asked. Seriously, I was getting tired of everyone using words that I don't understand.

"Uh, no" he admited "It's Italian actually. The Azimon originated in Italy, so are native language has some Italian words in it. . ."
"Oh, well, would you mind translating then?" I asked.

"The Collana Affascinata is translated as, The Charmed Necklace. But, in English we just call it the Locket. And the Prima Strega, is the First Witch" he continued "The Prima Strega is the witch who had the vision about me. She's a psychic, like Alex. You see, the Prima Strega was on the First Council. She was a highly respected psychic, nobody ever questioned her visions. . .And when she had the vision, she swore it was going to change the world. . .So, of course everyone considered it a huge deal. Uh, remember how I described the prophecy to you that time? Well, I sorta left out some stuff. I didn't include most of the stuff about the Lost Witch, mostly because I didn't think it was important to the story. So, I'll just summarize that part now. Basically, she said that the Lost Witch was the only one who could use this sacred spell that turns off the blue fire. And the only person who knew the spell was the Prima Strega. She had it engraved into the inside of her locket. Lockets were never used to hold pictures back then. People would put poisons, ashes, locks of hair and stuff like that in them. Anyway, the Prima Strega said she would give the locket to the Lost Witch when she was born. Well, about 1,000 years ago, when the Azimon first colonized in America (long before the humans) King Zephuros (yes, the same one) ordered the locket to be burned. He didn't want anything to be able to stop the blue fire once it was discovered. So, it was burned" he shrugged.

"So, wait, now your telling me that the locket wasn'tburned?" I clarified.
He shrugged again, "According to Alex"

"So. . .you guys think I'm the Lost Witch?" I clarified.
He nodded, "We all thought the Lost Witch was eliminated from the equation. Because, without the locket, she was useless. But, if Alex was right, and the locket wasn't burned. . ."

"It's possible that it wasn't burned" I added "I mean, she could've given him the wrong locket"
"Yes, yes. . .that's very possible. Okay, now let me continue. This is where it gets interesting" Austin said.

"Oh, because so far it's been so dull and ordinary" I said sarcastically.
He rolled his eyes and continued, "Now, you said your mother's maiden name is Strega, right?"

I nodded numbly. I didn't like where this was going. . .
"Well, that means witch. And, I'm gonna take a lucky guess and say your maternal grandmother's name is Prima. Is that right?"

I nodded again. Oh my God. . .
"Well, I think we can conclude that your grandmother is the Prima Strega" Austin said.

"But isn't she like thousands of years old!" I blurted.
"Immortal, Becca, immortal" he reminded me.

"But, my mother's only 45! Why would the Prima Strega have children when she was thousands of years old? Why would she wait so long?" I reasoned.
Austin shrugged, "My parents are several hundred years old. And they waited too. . .what's the rush when your immortal?"

"I-I guess. . ." I allowed "But, isn't the Prima Strega like really important? Wouldn't she live in one of the Azimon and do Council stuff? My mother grew up in Buffalo"
"The Prima Strega hasn't been involved with Azimon affairs since the 1600's" Austin told me "She moved into the human world and nobody ever heard from her again"

"Ugh" I moaned "This is all so confusing!"
"I know" he sympathized.

"When" I asked abrutly. I needed to know. When was this gonna happen.
"When is what?" he asked.

"When is my grandmother gonna give me the locket" I elaborated.
He shrugged, "I don't know. . .you'll have to ask Alex"

"I should probably wait to ask him. . ." I mumbled.
"Yea, he's probably tired. . .those visions whipe him out" Austin agreed.

"Austin?" I asked timidly "How does somebody know if. . .if their psychic ?"
He didn't question why I asked, like I expected him too. He probably didn't even suspect. . .

"Well" he said, thoughtfully "With Alex he'd go into these trances, and have these dreams and nightmares. So, it was pretty obvious. But, I hear not all psychics are like that. Some of them, like Alex and Prima Strega, only get significant visions. They don't get them all the time, but when they do they're in a trance. Other people, get visions all the time. Quick short little visions of random, possibly unimportant, events. They get them all the time, but they don't disturb their life really. Those people can also see the future at will. Then of course, they're are some people (very few of these those) that have a mixture of both. Usually they'll get little quick visions, but occasionally they'll get these significant trance-inducing ones. . ."

"Oh. . . ." I said, starting to feel sick. My stomach was totally flipping.
"So, why did you wanna know?" he wondered curiously.

I gulped, "Because I think I'm psychic"
He didn't freak like I expected. He just tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I get these weird dreams. And these weird flashes. And there's this one. . .vision that I get all the time" I moaned miserably.
"What's it a vision of?" he asked curiously.

"It's of this baby. . .this little blonde baby. At first, the baby was really pale and had extremely blue eyes. But, over time his eyes got darker and now they're like black. And the baby's skin got tanner. It's like, a little tanner then mine now. Sometimes I see your mother singing to him. . .and sometimes I see him in his crib crying. . ." I spilled.

"Interesting. . .well, theres one way to know for sure" he said.
"Know what for sure?" I asked, semi-stupidly.

"If your psychic" he told me, spinning his chair around to face the desk. He grabbed a pen and a peice of paper and wrote something on it.
"What number did I just write down?" he asked.

"How is this a legitimate test?" I demanded.
He shrugged, "I think it's as good as any"

"Well, I want to do a more accurate test. Because, I know for a fact you wrote down the number 31" I said.
He did a double take, "Hmmmm. . .well, that proves it"

"That proves nothing" I insisted "31 is your birthday. . .of course you'd write that down. . . I want to really test this"
He sighed dramatically, "Oh fine, now I have to do all this spiritual shit. . ." he grumbled, getting up from his seat.

He went over to his closet, and grabbed some stuff off the shelf at the top. He placed the contents on the floor. I saw a weird deck of cards, a lighter, black candles, and some other stuff.
"Get the lights, will you?" he directed, lighting the black candles.

I got off the bed and flicked off the lights. Then went to sit cross-legged across from Austin. The candles added some light to the room. A creepy glow illuminating just us.
He took the candles and placed them around us, incircling us. Then he began to shuffle the cards.

"What are we doing" I asked him, I left the 'you freak' out but implied.
"You wanted a legitimate test. . .well, you got it" he said, still shuffling the cards, "Your lucky I descend from gypsies. . ."

"You do?" I asked, shocked. They didn't look like gypsies.
"Yea, on my mother's side" he said absently.

"Your mother doesn't look like a gypsy" I said matter-o-factly.
"Yea, she did when she was human, though. When she changed it changed her eyes and hair. That happens a lot. People change to match their creator" Austin explained.

"Why was she changed?" I wondered curiously.
"She was sentenced to burn under charges of witch craft" he elaborated "Ironic, I know"

"What happened?" I asked, intrigued.
"My father had already been turned into a vampire some hundred years before. He knew my mother wasn't a witch and thought it unfair that she burn. So, he turned her" he told me.

"Wow. . .interesting story" I said "But, seriously, what are we doing?"
"Tarot Cards" he told me.

"I don't know anything about Tarot Cards" I admitted.
"That's the point" he said, and smiled.

The smile made a chill go down my spine. Sitting in the dark with him, with his eyes flickering yellow in the candlelight, while he shuffled tarot cards. It made me see that he could easily be a gypsy. And if I still had any doubts, his next words dissolved those.

"Pick a card" he purred, spreading the cards on the floor in front of him.
Hesitatingly, I placed my hand on a card at random. I looked up at him questioningly, not sure whether to look at it or not.

"Now close your eyes and focus on that card" he directed.
I can't believe I'm doing this. . .

I focused on the card, visualizing it in my head. The first thing I saw in my head was a blue sky with clouds. Their were angels flying around something in the center. .. but I couldn't see what it was. So I focused harder, and the image in the center became less fuzzy. Then, I realized, it was a compass.

"Uh, I see. . .a sky, and clouds, and angels. Their flying around. . .something that looks like a compas" I said cautiously. Then, I hestitantly opened my eyes.
I looked to Austin to see if I was right. He just shrugged, "I'm not the psychic here. . . flip it over"

I flipped over the card, and saw the exact same image on the card. Exactly the same, creepingly so.
"The Wheel Of Fortune" he mumbled "Well, that proves it. Your psychic. Not only did you know the exact image, but the Wheel Of Fortune also stands for symbolic visions and twists of fate. If that's not proof enough for you, I don't know what is"

I took all that in for a minute while he organized the cards back into a deck. He got up and flicked the lights back on. Then he knelt down and blew out the candles.
Then, he gathered his supplies in his arms and put them back on the shelf.

"How do you know all this stuff about Tarot Cards anyway?" I asked randomly.
"I told you, my mother's a gypsy. She has this entire house stocked with Tarot Cards, and candles and dream catchers. . ." he said, shrugging.

"But how do you know what they mean?" I asked.
He shrugged again, "My mother likes to give people palm readings and tarot readings at random . . . you pick up on it"

I nodded numbly. I was unsuccessful in my attempt to distract myself. . .I had brought up the whole psychic thing so I wouldn't think to much about the lost witch thing. But, sadly, that had just brought up a whole new set of problems. Now, I was psychic and the lost witch. Oh God, I have a headache.

Austin sat down on the floor in front of me. "What's wrong?" he asked. He was acting oddly calm and collected right now, it was making me suspicious. . .
"It's just a lot to take in" I mumbled.

"Yea, I know. . ." he sympathized. He put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. He looked over my shoulder, and jumped to his feet.
"Oh shit. I have a Council Meeting today. . .God damnit, it's in like an hour. . .I gotta get going" he said rapidly.

"Oh, okay" I said sadly, rising to my feet. I ambled out of his room and headed downstairs.
The living room was clear. So, I avoided all members of the household.

And slipped out the backdoor.