In the Cards

Henry pretty much had mapped out everything that would possibly be needed for the wedding, and even though Charlotte believed that waiting an additional year was a lot of time, he knew that it was actually good to give it some time to acquire everything. This way, they could save up for some of the expenses and also, probably actually plan a honeymoon of some sort. He also liked the idea of not having to be forcing a lot of details at the end of his college career, too. That additional year meant that he could focus more on his senior year things and less inb the wedding planning… though he was looking into some details about possibly opening at least an office in Junk N' Stuff where he could do wedding type things. "One more floor needs to be added and Junk N Stuff needs to be up there, and the wedding boutique down here," He was saying to Nate the Contractor. "Piper made some plans in drafting class."

Ray didn't care what Henry did with the store, as long as he didn't have to pay for any of it. He most certainly WOULD be paying for it, but Henry knew that he'd be able to make it back up with the actual revenue that he'd get for the business. He was a little bit nervous to try to begin this project after Adanna's reading. She had pulled a couple of cards that weren't really that great and explained them to him, trying to sound kind, but serious. One of them was the Devil, which he chuckled about and made a joke, "I know that Dude," and she informed him that this card meant that he had some type of toxic attachment and was possibly very comfortable in it and a little reckless about it. "Oh, it's you and Ray," Charlotte said and laughed. Henry furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. They weren't toxic, just misunderstood and didn't necessarily bring out the very best in each other. But, they were in tune and had been for a long time and would be for a long time, so Bite It, Devil.

The next card was the Death card, which… the name and photo alarmed everyone BUT her. She explained that it didn't necessarily mean that anybody was dying, but more than likely some type of life altering change (a bad one, probably). She pulled it in the present position, so it was either already in motion or at the start, at least (if he were to take stock in those cards), and it would be something that he couldn't stop or control.

When she pulled the last card, her whole countenance fell and Henry felt his heart sink. "Is somebody gonna die, now?" He asked, jokingly, but nervously.

The woman looked at him with soft eyes and said, "Hopefully not. It's just such a spread of strife that I feel deep empathy for you and your journey. This is the Ten of Wands. It means that you're suffering, or about to suffer." He looked at the guy on the card, carrying this bundle of sticks. Looked heavy… He was carrying a heavy load. "This card isn't generally okay, in any spread, but along with the Devil, and Death, well, I worry that you've got a long, hard journey in your near future and I worry that maybe you've had one for some time."

His eyes were damp. He certainly couldn't tell her about Kid Danger, but he knew that was probably what she was seeing in these cards… IF he was going to believe that there was any merit to this little trick… "Yeah, well… I work hard for a difficult man, but I can handle it," he said and forced a smile. She nodded, but got up to gather some things for him. She hadn't gathered things for the others, after their readings, so he was kinda worried, but he'd take whatever it was that she had.

"This is a mugwort and lavender smudge stick," she said, gathering a few of them and putting them in a see through bag with a little instruction card. "These are ritual baths…" She grabbed a box and set a few jars into it. She set it down and was going through cabinets and searching for things that she certainly knew where they were, but Henry got the feeling that she felt like he needed a lot of work… She pulled out a little doll and he smiled awkwardly. "This… you can take the things that trouble you and attach to it, then burn it." She handed it to him as his eyes went wide.

"This… is getting to be a lot."

"You have a lot in your past and a lot ahead of you," she said and grabbed another poppet, for good measure and put it into his box. "Anything beyond these little helps, I'll have to actually come to you and guide you through. I don't want to overload you with rituals and practices." She placed the bags and things into his box, added a few other items - tea, soaps, oils, and crystals, all with information cards attached or tied to them and she handed it to him.

"That's like hundreds of dollars worth of stuff!" Charlotte observed.

"What?" Henry asked and tried to give it back.

"I'm not charging you," Adanna said, avoiding the box. "It's a gift. For a friend of Jack Leigh's son. You'll need them more than I need the money for them."

.

And, so far, things hadn't been terrible or anything, as far as he noticed, but he had been worried about things since then. Charlotte was, too, at first. She would ask him questions almost everyday about how everything was going and how he was feeling. She'd made the time to text him everyday and ask about him. He worried a little more because of this and told her as much. So, she stopped, but would ask Jasper, "Did you talk to Henry today? Is he alright?" Then, she wouldn't even be satisfied when Jasper told her yes, because she presumed that he was probably assuming that Henry was alright and maybe that Henry was lying about it. Jasper had taken to just telling her all of the stuff that Henry did say when they spoke.

"You talk to Henry? Is he okay?"

"He said that he thinks he finally found a botanical garden that we might be able to rent out for the wedding. He and your mom are gonna go check it out this weekend."

Or

"You talk to Henry? Is he okay?"

"You'll never believe what he said that Piper managed to convince Ray to do...Put a JUICE AND SMOOTHIE BAR inside of Junk N' Stuff. Between her and Henry, that place is really gonna be somewhere that you can get all of the junk and all of the stuff."

She stopped asking and Henry and Jasper sincerely hoped that she'd stopped worrying. They both did, after she left the subject alone. She was getting much too busy anyway. Technically, this was the senior year for her first double degree. She was working in a lab, had a full load of classes, and was still "involved" in her extracurriculars on campus. She was neck and neck for the top of the class spot, after having averaged 3rd or 4th for a couple of years, and well… the other candidate was a little bit more involved with things outside of academia. Which, technically shouldn't count, but really did chap her hide.

So, whenever some things took place with Henry, he didn't want anyone to panic or anything and just tried to keep things to himself and not worry too much about it all. Piper was at the Man Cave pretty much every moment that she wasn't at school and he felt a way about it, but didn't question it much. She helped him to move into his "apartment," which was one of the clear Man Caves, in the living segment and he was shocked at how helpful she was being, but welcomed the help, because they hardly really hung out outside of work, and she didn't even work there, she had simply declared herself a part of the team and kept showing up. But, whenever she showed up on his elevator and came in with a few bags, he finally thought about the fact that she had not really been home very much lately and he was curious as to why, now.

"Mom officially left," she said, trying not to cry. "Dad is useless. Her new partner is not great with kids, not even his own and I just… Can I stay here for a little while? I can probably arrange something else, soon."

"Shut up and come in," he said.

They sat down at the couch and she dropped her things to the floor. "I didn't bring move in stuff. Just stuff for a few days. Hopefully that's long enough for him to stop crying. He's just like… wailing. All night and all day. I don't even think that he's gone to work, or know if he still has a job. I want to insult him and lash out at him and tell him this is one of the reasons that she left him… but… that would just be mean and wouldn't account for the fact that she left me too." Her voice was small. "Anyway, I haven't gotten a lot of sleep the last few days. Weeks, if I'm being more honest. I could tell that something was going on. She was disappearing a lot, even more than usual. He was trying to bond a lot more than usual. The whole atmosphere of the house was just off and I tried to avoid being there, but no matter when I came in, one of them was there being weird, or nobody was there and it just felt empty. What's it gonna be like when I go back in a few days?" She wondered.

Henry sighed and shook his head, "You don't have to go back to that. Get some sleep and when you're feeling better, I'll help you go get the rest of your stuff. You can stay here for however long you want."

"Thanks. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about what was happening. You['ve just seemed like you had a lot on your mind. You're in college. You're Kid Danger. You have no friends. I just didn't wanna be a burden anymore. I know that I was for a long time. You practically raised me. I didn't know who else to turn to. I have all these friends, but none of them understand it like I think you do."

Henry furrowed his eyebrows. "You've never been a burden. I mean, yeah, I hated having to watch you so much when I was a kid, but I was a kid. And… You're still a kid. ONE of them should be looking after you."

"They've never really been good at that."

"Well, hopefully I can do, in a pinch."

"You can do, on the regular. I was such a bratty and shitty kid… I sometimes wonder how much worse would I have been if you hadn't been here for me…"

"Okay, now I know you're tired. I'll bring your stuff into a bedroom. You need anything else?"

"No. I'm just gonna text Charlotte and let her know that everything's okay. She called earlier to check in and heard Dad in the background."

Henry gasped and said, "Hey! Maybe this is it! The toxic relationship could just as easily have been our parents, not necessarily RAY. This is a life altering change, for the Death card! And… maybe this burden will be helping pick up the pieces… only, that's not a burden for me, but I could see how it could be read that way. YES! Whew. I can stop worrying."

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about," she said. He just smiled, nodded and gave her a hug. "Okay. I know that I came to you, but this is more than I need," she said, but wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly, then started crying. She dropped her phone on the floor and sobbed. Henry looked at it. It didn't break or anything, but the fact that Piper was so upset that she hadn't even rushed to it said that helping her get over this might be harder than he initially thought. That didn't matter though. This was his sister. He loved her. He'd be here for whatever she needed while this stuff was going on.

.

Charlotte was searching frantically for her jewelry set. She had JUST seen it like five minutes ago! Piper walked into the room and wondered, "What are you looking for?"

"My jasper jewelry set that Adanna made me for graduation!" she said, in a panic.

Piper picked up a small red box and wondered, "Is it this?"

Charlotte looked up, sighed and smiled, "Thanks. I'm nervous. You'd think that I never graduated before, but I almost forgot how much I hate to have to give a speech in front of people. Thank you for helping me get ready."

"All I've done is helped you find a box and eat off of your fancy ice cream."

Charlotte winced, "Awww, Man… That was Jasper's fancy ice cream. Now, I'm gonna have to buy him some more."

"I'm sure he'll live."

"You've never lived with him while he's having a craving. He's a HUGE baby!" Charlotte said.

"He doesn't even live here…" Piper said, but looked around the room and definitely could see all the Jasper-ness in the place.

"He's here more than me," Charlotte offered. Then mumbled as she put on her jewelry set, "But, still won't move in or officially look for another apartment with me."

"You guys oughtta get a house, anyway. You work for Ridgemont Diagnostics. That's like working for Lexcorp."

"No! Evil Corporation is like working for Lexcorp. This is more like working for… Stark Industries… sort of. I mean… There's not a good comic book equivalent. We help the world."

"I meant fiscally. You have to be able to afford a house, right?"

"I probably could, but I think that Jasper wants to buy our first house," She checked her jewelry in the mirror. The set was an assortment of jaspers in rose gold - earrings, a necklace, a bracelet and a ring. She loved it. Jasper had some things to do before her graduation, so Piper was going to drive her there (Piper was coming into town to be at the graduation anyway and Charlotte hated driving, much more when she was nervous), and nervous, she was. But Piper broke into her nervous thoughts.

"And, just because he wants to, you're gonna wait on him to be able to, even though you already can? That seems… not like you."

"I mean… I've changed a lot. I make compromises. Jasper makes compromises. There's things far more important to me than buying a house." Charlotte packed her bag and grabbed her steamed and pressed graduation gown, then searched for her hat. Piper grabbed it and held it out to her, with a questioning face, although she was sure that was precisely what Charlotte was looking for. It was. She took it and laughed, "Let's go."

"Seriously… It's a good idea to go ahead and just have your own things, anyway. You can have a house on the side. If you just have to have Jasper buy your first house, I recommend still getting one for yourself, or at least some property. You never know. Sometimes, people drift apart. Sometimes, people just give up on each other. While I can't imagine Jasper ever doing that… I can't imagine you not realizing one day that you married Jasper Freakin' Dunlop." She laughed, but it was fake. Charlotte stared at her, but didn't argue. She saw that this wasn't about her and Jasper at all and Piper usually didn't want to talk about what happened with her parents a few months prior.

"I'll make sure that I take care of myself," Charlotte promised, then paused and wondered, "Are you taking care of yourself, Piper?"

Piper forced a smile, "Things don't really bother me like they used to. I'm okay." A lie, but Charlotte didn't feel like she had the right to push. For one thing - she couldn't even IMAGINE her parents suddenly breaking up, especially while she was still living there. For another, she unfortunately hadn't been as present in Piper's life as she probably should've to someone that she saw essentially as a little sister. Someone, who she'd gone to whenever she needed another girl to gab with. She'd… not been a good enough friend to try to press her now for something this serious.

"Well, in the event that you aren't, I'm here for you. OR in the event that you are. I let us drift apart whenever I came here and I'm sorry for that. But, I promise, that even if I'm busy, you can always come to me."

Piper wanted to say some things. She really, REALLY wanted to open up to Charlotte and tell her all of the things that she couldn't even tell Henry about how badly she was feeling, but Charlotte was about to graduate and receive not one, but TWO degrees, at once and her makeup was done and she was already flustered and losing everything not attached to her body. It would've been unfair to bother her with this stuff. She felt bad enough distracting Kid Danger with it all. "Thanks, but I'm fine."

.

Charlotte told herself not to look towards the crowd. She didn't want to be aware of how many people were there… or how many people weren't. Jasper had texted her several times to update her on where he was and whenever she was arriving at the center, he was saying that he was on his way to her. She sighed. She was early, so it was okay. She was in Piper's car, catching her breath and stuff when she heard Jasper's truck pulling in. She got really excited and really relaxed somehow, at the same time and jumped out of the car to meet him. He'd decorated his truck with congratulations, a banner of her smiling face and her title, degrees, and the date, and balloons floating, tied to the mirrors and long tinsels tied to the back. She gasped, "Jasper! What did you do?" She asked.

"It's to celebrate you!" He said, smiling, and reading her face to see if she was pleased with it or not. She smiled and gave him a kiss. She was pleased. Piper pulled out a metal little box and took a purple rolled cigarette out of it while Jasper said, "I pretty much lied about where I was all day, because I was trying to finish this and…" He opened the door of his truck… "This." He handed her a bouquet which was graduation teddy bears and flowers, with one Black Barbie doll with an afro in the middle, in her graduation outfit. "Had to sew her clothes myself because I couldn't find a doll with the color of your cap and gown! Sorry, I procrastinated…" She was crying and he gave her a hug and handed it to her. She hugged the bouquet to herself and then noticed that Piper was smoking on the other side of her car.

"Piper… You… You're smoking a cigarette?"

"Oh, don't worry. It's not one of those death sticks you get from the store. It's one of the smoke blends you can get from Jasper's mom," She said.

"My mom hates smoking," Jasper said.

"Not your mom, mom. The good one. The Black one," she said. Adanna. "It's basically just herbs and leaves. Rose, spearmint… something called hyssop and stuff. I don't know. I like them, though. This relaxes me."

Jasper whispered, "Is it okay for a 16 year old to smoke herbs?"

"I don't know, but I feel like I should protest, but don't have the right…"

"Piper, I don't think that a 16 year old should be smoking herbs," Jasper said.

"Noted," she told him and kept smoking. She'd gotten these from Henry. Adanna sent them to him whenever he called her to tell her about the situation and how he thought it might be his event from her card reading, and she'd asked for his address and began sending him gift baskets of some of her product every couple of weeks. She told him that something about him made her feel like he was often helping others, but had very little support. He definitely used some of it. He loved the burning things, whether it was one of those weird dolls or some fragrant plants, he always felt better afterwards. He set the smoke blend rolls aside and noticed when they went missing, but Piper had already claimed them and began using them by the time he asked her about them. He didn't raise a big deal. There were kids her age smoking cigarettes and weed. This was… at least… not exactly illegal? And, it seemed to help her out. "But, you better wait until you're 18 to try weed!" He said.

"What makes you think that I wanna try weed?" She wondered.

"I'm just telling you, IF you do…"

"I tried weed years ago. It has some kind of stupid adverse affect on me where it makes me feel anxiety. I'm not trying it again," she said and walked off. She dismissed a lot of their conversations by just walking off. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to pretend to be a parent, because he technically wasn't. Both of their parents were alive and they had asked her who she wanted to live with when they went into different homes. "I live with Henry, now."

But, they were bothered by this, because, as far as they knew, Henry lived in the junk shop. There was a little office in the back with a cot and a dresser and there was no way that they could both fit there. Like they had known where she was sleeping every night all of the nights that they rushed off and left her to be taken care of by a 13-19 year old boy, a 20-22 year old man who was barely at the house that he "lived in."

Now, she was always taking them as soon as one of the baskets came to Junk N Stuff, even though Henry reminded her several times that it was illegal to open his mail.

He was heading into town for Charlotte's graduation. His was the next day in Swellview, so after the ceremony and probably dinner, they were all going back that way so that they could make it to his and would be having a party in the Man Cave, afterwards. Charlotte's parents were going to throw her a little something, but she insisted that she needed to spend this time with her friends and reminded them that she was getting married in another year and they could throw her something then.

"You'd better at least come have breakfast or lunch or something with us. Nobody's playing with you, Little Girl," her mom said. She read that loud and clear.

"Jasper and I will be there after we wake up and get dressed," she promised.

Henry, Schwoz and Ray had come in the van and Charlotte realized that it was the first time in 4 years that either of them had visited there (Ray and Schwoz), so they wound up grabbing to go food and getting a little tour of the town, Jasper's frat house, which there was a HUGE graduation party happening at, Char's apartment, where she kept having to keep Ray from stealing her dogs, and their current workplaces.

Ray was very impressed with Jasper's life. He was a star athlete! Girls loved him! He had guys who followed his commands! He was internet famous and a local hero, of sorts? "Gee, Henry, maybe I should have had JASPER be my sidekick. He's clearly more successful," Ray said.

"Ummm… It's not a competition," Henry said, "And I also am successful, it's just different. I graduate tomorrow. I'm in the process of remodeling our entire store and making it a functional business with projected profits."

"So… You're not successful… YET," Ray pointed out.

Piper glared at him and reminded him, "You're not exactly successful yourself. The store is fake and your only skill is being indestructible, which was not only an accident, but says nothing about your merit. It's the only thing that you ever bring to the team. Meanwhile, Henry does the majority of the work, with absolutely no superpowers." Everyone was silent for a moment while Ray just scoffed, unable to find a retort. "Belay my last," she said and rolled her eyes, reaching for her cigarette holder. "So, has anybody been watching ROTC: In the Chiz? I could have sworn that one of the girls on there was Bianca, but they call everybody by last names, and I never learned hers…" She lit the thing and everyone awkwardly said that they didn't know or hadn't seen the show…

.

"Man… Piper's really kind of a buzzkill, right?" Ray asked Jasper and Charlotte while Henry and Piper were at her car, talking, before the drive back to Swellview.

Charlotte said, "She's been through a lot."

"She's been through what half of us have been through. You think that my mom was WITH my dad through this irresponsible scientist stuff? Jasper didn't meet his dad until last year or something! She's old enough to chill out."

"Or, she's much older than either of you were when your parents broke up, so it's affecting her harder," Charlotte said.

Jasper nodded his head and said, "She's doing her best, Ray. She feels like her mom left her when she left their dad. She probably is wondering if it's her fault or maybe she's depressed or something and there's no adult to enroll her into therapy. She just needs our support and you can be a little negative sometimes."

He scoffed again and said, "I'm the most positive person that either of you have ever met!"

"Such a lie," Charlotte said and Jasper had said, "That's incorrect, Man."

"Well, I didn't deserve to have her ruin the entire gathering at my expense, did I?"

"I mean.. She was harsh, but not necessarily wrong and you kinda were going a little rough on Henry there, Friend," Charlotte said.

"Hey, Guys, Piper's ready to drive back to Swellview, so I'm gonna ride with her," Henry called out, getting into the passenger's seat of Piper's SUV."

"What? No! We said that we were gonna circle back to the frat party as soon as the child of the group was gone!" Ray pouted.

"Dude.." Henry said.

"He's right," Piper told him. "You did make those plans."

"I did, but you just said that you're super tired and didn't feel up to driving," Henry reminded her.

"Yeah, and you're in the passenger's seat, so you might as well stay and party with your friends. You're a total loser. How many parties are you gonna get to go to, Bruh?" She laughed lightly and said, "If I have to kick you out of my car for you to have a good time, I will."

"Ugh. Well, drive safely you get tired, pull over at a rest stop or get a room or something and call me AS SOON AS you make it home."

"Jesus Haysues Christ. I know the routine, dude. We've been living together like a year. Go actually pretend that you know how to enjoy life or something," she said.

"I love you, Bye!"

"Have fun, Nerd," she said and pulled away.

"Guess I'm comin' to the party!" Henry said, running back to his friends.

.

Henry was exhausted by the time they got back into the van. He checked his phone and it was 3 am. Piper hadn't called or texted. He called her and she didn't answer. "Wow. Seriously. You're gonna leave a voicemail? I can assure you, I'm never checking it and I'm probably not gonna return your call. Text me like a normal person," her voicemail greeting said.

"Yeah, you were supposed to call me whenever you got home. You left before Midnight, so that should've been 30 minutes ago, unless you got a room or stopped at a rest stop. Either way, a text would've been nice, Dude. Now, I gotta wonder if you're okay until you call me back or don't and I have to wait until I'm home. I'm kinda pissed, Piper. Call me. Shit."

An hour into the drive home, he fell to sleep. Schwoz was driving and he and Ray were talking. Henry was asleep for about an hour longer, whenever his phone rang and it was Piper's ringtone. He jumped awake and answered it, "Piper! Goddamn it! You were supposed to call me whenever you got home!" He said.

"Hello, this is actually the police. We noticed that your number was the last and most frequent number in a phone that we located. Who does the phone I'm holding belong to?" The man on the other end of the phone asked. Henry's heart sank to his stomach and he felt a tear rolling down his face. Wherever this conversation was going, he knew that it couldn't be good.

"It's my little sister's phone. She drove out to see a family friend graduate and was heading back to Swellview when I last saw her at 11:30…"

"What are you talking about back there?" Ray wondered.

The policeman said, "Well, we found this phone at the site of an accident. One of the girls has been rushed to the hospital. The other will need someone to identify her, in Bordertown, where the wreck occurred."

Henry felt more tears falling now and he whispered, "I told her not to drive if she wasn't… Was… Was the… dead girl the one who was driving a charcoal SUV?"

"Sir, you should come to the Bordertown coroner and take a look…"

"No. NO. Look in the phone and call Siren of Jake Hart. Or Horrible Mom or Idiot Father… They… Let them be the ones to do this," he said.

"Okay. Thank you for your help. Try to enjoy the rest of your night."

"Yeah, I'm sure I will!" He hung up and covered his face.

"You okay kid?"

"Piper got into a wreck and I think she might be dead," Henry said.

"WHAT?" Schwoz and Ray both said.

Henry waved a hand and shook his head, "Just drive. No, pull over…" He got out of the van and Jasper's truck pulled over behind them. Charlotte was asleep, but Jasper got out of the truck and Henry told him as the other guys got out. "And he wouldn't just say that it wasn't the girl in the charcoal SUV that died. So, it's probably her, right? I mean… and if they found her phone at the site, what does that mean? Was it in the car? Was it on the scene because her body was tossed out? I never should have let her go by herself! She was tired. She was depressed. She was sleepy… I shouldn't have let her go…" Jasper collected him into a hug and calmed him down. By that time, Charlotte woke up and noticed that they were stopped and also that everybody else was outside of the vehicles. She got out and walked up, nervous about whatever she was seeing. Jasper repeated what happened to her and she sighed and put her hands on Henry's shoulders, "Hey… we'll find out, first… then, we'll do whatever we need to do to take care of you, okay?"

She went back to the truck to get her laptop, and she and Schwoz worked a little bit of magic to get into the hospital information in Bordertown. She took a deep breath and said, "Hen…" He turned to look at her, apprehensively. "It's not Piper. I'm sorry for that other family's loss, but Piper is the one that they brought to the hospital."

"Is she gonna be okay?" He wondered.

"She's still in surgery, but we can all just head there now. You ride with us." She took his hand and led him back to Jasper's truck. "Sit with him," she whispered to Jasper and kissed him on the cheek and got into the driver's seat. Schwoz and Ray got back into the van and they drove away again. Everybody felt a way about this. I should have done more… They all kept thinking.