"Benny, we need to talk," I said the next day after school. We were at his house, about to start a four-hour video game-a-thon because we hadn't gotten any homework that day.

"Oh, no," he said, horrified. "I hate those words. Please don't tell me that Skynet has become aware!"

"What? No, are you crazy? That'll never happen," I assured him, then remembered what I was going to say. "But that's not what I need to talk about."

"Okay, good," he said, sighing with relief and landing on the couch. "Then, what's up?"

"It's about Sarah," I started, sitting down beside him.

"Of course it is," he said nonchalantly.

I rolled my eyes. "You can't have any more slip-ups like you did yesterday," I said seriously. He gave me a confused look.

"In the kitchen?" I said, exasperated.

His eyes went wide. "So, you heard that, huh? Look, I'm sorry. It just slipped out, but I did try to backtrack. Why don't you want her to know anyway?"

"I think it's just better that way. For now, I mean."

"You wait too long, you're gonna get stuck in the 'Friend Zone'," he warned. "And trust me, that's way worse than any rejection could ever be."

"I know, I know," I said, rubbing my forehead. "I just need a little more time to get to know her is all."

"Time's running out, my friend," he said sadly with a sigh. "It's been almost four months, and Be A Man magazine says you have roughly six."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" I asked a little panicked.

"Oh, gee, I don't know…maybe tell her!" Benny said, almost spitting the words into my face.

"What if she gets all weird and stops hanging out with us because I freaked her out by asking?"

"Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

"No, not really," I said honestly.

"Then I'm afraid I can't help ya," he said, taking a big gulp of his soda. I sat back with an annoyed groan and let my head hit the sofa.

"If only there was a way to know for sure whether she likes me or not," I said, defeated.

"Aw, c'mon," Benny said, elbowing me in the ribs a little. "Rejection isn't so bad after the first few times. Take it from me! I am the king of getting rejected."

"Hello, boys," Grandma said as she walked into the room, startling both of us.

"Grandma!" Benny yelped. "When did you even get here?"

"A few seconds ago, when I walked into the room," she said as if it were obvious. "What, you didn't hear me come in?"

"How could I," he asked defensively. "You're, like, a Ninja Grandma."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said proudly, putting a huge bag down on the coffee table in front of us with a dull thud.

"What is all this?" I asked, poking the bag cautiously.

"Is it something that explodes?" Benny asked excitedly.

"No," she said patiently, opening the bag to reveal what had to be over twenty boxes of herbal tea.

"Dang!" Benny exclaimed, picking up a box to examine it. "They have a Super Sale on tea at the Quickie Mart or something?

"Actually, yes," she said, "but that's not the only reason I bought it."

"What are you going to do with all this?" I asked amazed.

"Well, I used to read tea leaves when I was your age, boys. It was one of my favorite hobbies, and I used to do readings for my friends. I figure, if I'm the one teaching you all about the supernatural, I might as well teach you tasseography."

"Oh, sweet!" Benny said, fist-pumping the air. "Just like Harry Potter!"

"Wait," I interrupted, holding up a hand. "I thought tea leaf reading was pretty unreliable."

"It is for most," Grandma agreed, taking the boxes out of the bag, "but it's actually very accurate when a supernatural performs it. Of course, nobody has to know that." She gave us a wink and walked out of the room with two of the boxes.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Benny said, almost shaking with anticipation.

"Yeah, it is," I agreed whole-heartedly. "Benny, what if I can find out whether or not Sarah really likes me with a tea leaf reading?"

Benny perked up. "That would be one heck of a bonus."

I nodded with a smile, more than ready to start this lesson.

"Now tap the bottom of the cup three times," Grandma instructed Benny. He did so, looking at her like she was crazy.

"This process makes no sense," he said frankly when he was done. Ignoring her grandson, she squinted at the bottom of the cup for a few moments.

"Aha!" she exclaimed suddenly, making us jump. "Just as I expected: an eye."

There was a stretch of silence. "I don't get it," Benny said with a frown.

"It means that you should be cautious," she said, washing out the cup. "The image was almost on the rim of the cup, which means it'll happen soon.

"What will happen?" Benny asked.

"Well, we don't know yet, dear," she explained.

"That's extremely vague," I pointed out.

"I never said it wouldn't be," she said with a smile.

"So, that's all there is to it?" Benny asked, shrugging his shoulders. She nodded. "Now what?"

"Well, the rest you have to interpret yourself," she explained, drying the cup. "It could me exercise caution in your finances, your friendships, your everyday activities...your love life-"

"Grandma!" Benny yelped. I put my head in my hand, trying so hard not to laugh.

"Well, that might be what it means," she said indignantly as she put the cup in the cupboard. "Would you like a reading, Ethan?"

"Uh, no thanks," I said hastily, looking down at my almost empty tea cup.

"Aw, come on, E," Benny prodded. "It's actually pretty cool. Besides, she's doing this for free."

"That's right, and next week I'll be charging," Grandma teased.

Hesitantly, I gave in. "Alright, I guess one couldn't hurt."

Grandma picked up my cup, turned it upside-down on a plate, and I tapped the bottom of the cup three times. As she picked up my cup to look inside, I couldn't help but think this was all pretty silly.

Then I saw Grandma's face. Her eyes were squinted, and then her expression contorted into worry. She looked up at me with all the sadness of the world in her eyes and placed the cup back down on the counter.

"Uh oh," Benny whispered.

"What?" I asked nervously. "It can't be that bad."

She passed the cup to me and I looked inside. On the side of the cup, close to the top, was a clump of coffee grounds in the shape of a gun.

"Well," I started, breaking into a cold sweat. "That's obvious."

The next day crawled at a snail's pace, because all I could think about was how I was in danger. Finally at home, I felt safe enough to discuss the issue.

"Are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with our normally dangerous activities?" I asked.

"I wish I could tell you for sure, dear," Grandma said as she handed Jane her teacup, "but tasseography is such a hazy practice. Like I told Benny, you have to determine what it means on your own."

"But you must have some idea of what it's talking about," I said in exasperation.

"Even if I did, I would not tell you."

"What? Why not?" I asked.

"It's never a good idea to know too much about you future, even if you're in danger," she said, raising her voice as my panic increased.

"Hey, everybody. It's me!" a voice called from the front door. Sarah. I had totally forgotten it was Friday! "And I brought some presents!" She walked into the kitchen with Benny, Erica, and Rory in tow.

"None of us had anything better to do tonight," Erica said sadly, her arms crossed.

"So we decided to crash here," Rory said with a smile.

"Figured we might as well hang out while things are calm and we're not trying to rid Whitechapel of supernatural evil," Sarah said nonchalantly.

"That's a great idea, guys," Grandma said. "I just introduced Benny and Ethan to the world of tea leaf reading yesterday. Would you like to try it?"

"Sure," Sarah said enthusiastically while Erica shrugged with a small smile.

"Sounds awesome," Rory said excitedly.

"Hey, where's Liz?" I asked. She'd gone everywhere we did for the last three weeks, so it was surprising not to see her then.

"She isn't feeling well," Benny explained glumly. "She doesn't know what's wrong, but she decided to stay home."

"Well, tell her I hope she feels better," I said, to which he nodded. Just then, Jane ran up to us with a smile on her face.

"I got a squirrel," Jane said, "and Grandma says that means I'll be getting some money soon. I guess you're gonna need me to cover for you again."

"You wish," I scoffed, to which she shrugged and went upstairs.

Since Erica seemed so bored, she went first. She gulped her tea, being careful not to swallow the grounds. Grandma swirled the bit of tea left three times, turned it upside-down, had Erica tap the bottom three times, then picked it up.

"Hmm," Grandma mused, scrunching up her lips in concentration. "This looks like a lion. That means that you have loyal friends and that they will be a big help to you soon."

Erica pondered this for a moment. "Good to know. Anything else?"

"Nope," Grandma said simply.

"Okay then," Erica said, getting up from the table in disappointment. She whispered something to Sarah, who just shrugged and patted her on the shoulder.

Rory went next, drinking his tea even faster that Erica had. Grandma followed the same process she had before, staring hard into the bottom of the cup.

"Ah," she breathed knowingly with a small smile. "You have a jester."

"No surprise there," Erica muttered.

"What does that mean?" Rory asked with wide eyes.

"It means that you will soon be invited to a gathering or a party."

"Booyah!" he exclaimed, fist pumping the air. "It's about time! But how is that life-changing?"

"Not all fortunes are," Grandma explained, "but you may be surprised."

Then it was Sarah's turn. She looked unsure about the whole thing, but agreed since everyone else had done it.

"Okay," Grandma said, picking up the cup after Sarah completed the process. She looked hard into the cup, turning it different ways, but finally looked up at Sarah with a big smile.

"Very interesting," she whispered. "This is definitely a moon."

Sarah looked at her critically. "What does that mean? Is it because I'm a vampire or something?"

"No," grandma said simply. "It means love."

Sarah's eyes got wide and she laughed nervously. "What?"

"It means that either you're in love or somebody is in love with you. And it looks like you're going to find out which one it is pretty soon."

Now it was my turn to get nervous. I was sure Grandma was about to out me.

"Well, it must be the second one, because you know I have no time to fall in love with someone," she said cheerily. Too cheerily.

Grandma just gazed at her, unconvinced. "I think that's enough fortune-telling for one night, dears. Let's find something else to do."

"I know!" Jane piped up. "Dance Dance Revolution!"

"Again?" Benny whined.

"Yes," Jane said assertively.

I leaned over to Benny. "I'd do what she says if I were you."

"You're probably right," Benny whispered back, a little scared. Everybody went into the living room, except Sarah. She was still sitting at the table, her head in her hands.

"Hey, Sarah, you okay?" I asked tentatively. She looked up quickly as if she had forgotten I was there.

"Oh...yeah, I'm fine," she said with a sigh. "I just need some time to think is all."

"Oh, okay." I leaned on the counter and looked around, then looked back at her.

She gave me a pitiful smile. "Alone, if you don't mind."

"Oh, yeah, sure," I said nervously, walking backwards out if the room. "Sorry-" I hit my back against the wall-"S-Sorry."-and rushed out, her laugh echoing in my mind. As soon as I was in the living room, Benny took me to the side.

"I just had the most brilliant idea, dude," Benny said excitedly. "I'm still grounded, but Grandma said I can still get Immortal Enemies 3 as long as I pay for it."

"Okay. Do you have sixty dollars?"

"I will soon," he said with a devious smile. "Once we learn how to read fortunes. Do you know how much money we could get from making people think we know the future?"

"I don't know if that's such a great idea," I said doubtfully. "I mean, it's the first rule of fortune-telling: don't mess around with the future. Plus, we shouldn't be fooling around with the supernatural."

"Too late for that, bud," he scoffed. "That's all we've been doing for the last four months."

"You know what I mean," I said, making sure nobody was listening. "We don't need to fool around with it anymore than we already do on a daily basis."

"Come on, Ethan," he sighed, "this is one of the biggest games of the year, and you can't tell me you don't wanna play it, too."

I sighed in defeat, unable to think of a rebuttal. "This is a bad idea."

"We'll see," he said as he walked back into the living room.

The next day at school, Benny was nowhere to be found. He hadn't been waiting outside his house like usual, and I didn't find him by his locker either.

Finally, on my way to first period, I saw Sarah.

"Hey, Sarah," I called after her, running to catch up. "I can't find Benny anywhere. Have you seen him today?"

"Surprisingly, no," she said, crossing her arms. "I can't believe you haven't seen him either."

"Well, believe it," I said, readjusting my backpack on my shoulder. "Usually, if I can't find him first thing in the morning, something's up."

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, staring straight ahead in shock. "Well, you're right about that."

"Why?" I asked, following her gaze. But she didn't have to answer. At the other end of the hall, Benny was sitting behind a decorated table wearing a turban and cloak.

"Oh, crud," I groaned.

"Behold!" Benny called to those passing by. "The amazing Bernardo!"

"This is going to be a long day," I said.