Jack stood in front of me gripping my shoulders shaking me a little, "Evangeline, snap out of it."

I looked up at him, my face awash with tears. My voice was weak with tears when I whispered, "What have I done?"

I stood, dazed, envisioning the devastation of the future I had set in motion. My friends, all of my friends slowly starving to death, all my fault.

Jack stood in front of me gripping my shoulders shaking me a little, "Evangeline, snap out of it."

I looked up at him, my face awash with tears. My voice was weak with tears when I whispered, "What have I done?"

"Evie, bebe, calme-toi, it'll be alright. You told me you weren't even sure if it would happen tomorrow or next month or—"

"No! It's tomorrow night! I know it is! And all those people are gonna starve Jack, but they were gonna die and I couldn't just let them, not if I could do something…"

"It'll be alright. We'll figure something out." He was pacing around like a caged lion in spite of the huge space around us, and I was thinking I needed to know what to do now that I'd messed up everyone's future…future. I knew someone who knew thefuture.

Jack, I need to make a call. I'll be right back. I'm going to go to the barn. Wait here, alright?

"Evie, what—"

"I have an idea, just wait here and I'll run it by you when I get back."

I ran to the barn, dashing inside and closing the doors behind me. When I opened the door, the horses nickered a welcome. Well, all of them except for my sweet old nag Allegra—named before the allergy medicine had taken off; she snored.

I dashed through the wide center aisle to the office in the back. When I got there I closed that door too and checked my phone. Two AM. Too late to call Matthew.

Crap!

I yelled. "Matthew! Matthew! I've got to talk to you! Please!" My nose tingled. For once I was actually happy about the headache about to come on. I sagged against the post behind me as the barn office faded away into Matthew's basement Star War's playroom.

He smiled at me. "Empress called?" He sounded so pleased!

"Yes! Hi Matthew. Thanks!" I was so relieved, but still upset and now I had a headache too. "I think I messed up big time. I warned a bunch of friends to stay in their cellars tomorrow night, but now I'm worried they won't have enough food and I'll have to watch them all starve to death after the Flash. What can I do?"

Matthew…smiled?! What the hell? "Empress has a sense of humor this time." Uh, again…

"So if there's a joke, could you clue me in on it, because I'm kind of lost here." Not to mention my head hurt really bad. Ever try to take a test with a migraine? I was always glad to talk to Matthew these days, but the visions always hurt. Badly. Like an icepick being shoved into my head.

"Empress, what is my power?"

"You see the past, present, future and you can send visions."

"Empress, what is your power?"

"Um…plants…?" He cocked his head to the side, brows raised and looked at me as though waiting for a particularly stupid child to grasp an incredibly simple concept.

Plants. Food grew on plants. Oh my Empress card with food growing in abundance on it….I slapped my hand on my aching forehead, rubbing a little at the stabbing pain above my eye. I was stupid. Bless Matthew for putting up with me.

In my own defense, 24 out of 26 of my dreams had been evil red witch using plants to kill and/or torture people. 25 had been Death or other Arcana cards. 26 had actually been plants growing, but not a person growing plants, just plants growing on their own.

"So I can grow food for them after the flash? I can keep my friends from starving?"

He nodded, but he didn't smile. "Most important to develop arsenal, allies. Keep watch for foes."

"Thanks Matthew. You're the best!"

"Never fail you, Empress."

My eyes watered. Why was I his only friend. Why did I have his loyalty? "Matthew? I'll try to never let you down either. I know I'm just learning all this stuff, so I probably don't seem very smart, but I've got your back too. Okay?"

His eyes were bright. "Thank you Evie." He gave me a nod and a small smile but before he faded he told me seriously, "Arcana means secrets. Keep ours."

My nose was running. I wiped it. My tongue swiped my upper lip and I tasted iron. Nosebleed. I wiped my face with my hand and my chin was wet. How much of a mes was I? Darn it! Jackson was out there waiting and he was going to see this! I opened to door of the office, intending to go to the sink out in the main area of the barn…and ran into a hard chest.

Jackson. Shoot!

I kept my head down and wiped my face one more time. Still bleeding. Ugh. I held my hand to my nose.

"Evie. Who were you talking to? Who did you call?"

"Um…" I kept my head lowered and side stepped trying to move around him. He gripped my arms, ducking his head and stepping back a little, trying to look at my face. No, no, no. I averted my head, down and to the side, still covering my lower face with a hand.

"Evie, what's wrong?"

My voice came out muffled from my hand. "Um…I just need to wash up for a minute."

I couldn't really see him in the dark of the barn, which meant he couldn't see me either. Bonus! He dragged me over to the window inside the office and tore my hand away from my face. I dragged my feet but he wasn't playing around and I wasn't a match for his strength.

"Mon Dieu! Evangeline! What the hell! You're bleeding!" He tore his shirt off to hold it to my face, tilting my head back.

"I'll be fine!" I protested. "I just need to wash up. There's a sink in the main barn."

"Just shut up for a second. You can wash up when you're done bleeding like a stuck pig." He leaned my head back against his bicep which was propped up on the wall by the window and tilted my head back, holding his shirt to my nose with one hand. His body pinned mine to the wall by the window and his face frowned down into mine. I found it more comfortable to close my eyes, so I did. I couldn't help but admit to myself, he felt really nice. Warm. Hard but comfortable too. His shirt against my nose smelled really good and I liked the way my head nestled just right over his arm. What would it be like to lay that way all night, cradled in his arms?

Matthew's words echoed in my mind. Arcana means secrets. Keep ours. Which ones? I'd already spilled so many to Jackson, and to Mel. After telling Mom and how she'd acted, I was understandably cautious about telling her anything. Had Matthew had a similar experience? Did his Mom know something? Or did she know not enough? A suddenly horrifying though occurred to me. What if she didn't know at all? Matthew's cryptic warnings had been almost impossible for me to decipher, and that had been with pictures and with my own powers and dreams added on. How would a normal person react to cryptic warnings on their own?

Jackson's voice interrupted my thoughts. "You want to tell me who Matthew is and why he's the best?" He sounded pretty angry. Uh oh. That conversation had been pretty incriminating.

"How much did you hear?"

"I heard you yelling so I thought I'd come check things out. I got here in time to hear you tell him that. Just how many men are you stringing along fille?" Yeah, definitely angry.

I pushed away from Jackson. "I think the bleeding's stopped. I'm going to go wash up." As best as I could without turning on a light. I didn't want mom to know anyone was here. Even if I figured she was asleep, I wasn't taking any chances.

I had more than enough reasons to be paranoid where she was concerned.

"You goan to answer me?" His tone was belligerent as he followed. I spoke slowly, trying to say enough to answer his question, while still keeping Matthew's secrets. I may have told Jack my own secrets, and that was my choice, but Matthew didn't want Jack to know his, and that was his choice. I would honor that.

"You should know that I've never even met Matthew in person. It's not like that with us. We're more…phone buddies or pen pals. I only really spoke to him for the first time a few days ago."

"So why did you need to call him then? What was so important that you had to talk to him right now?"

"He knows stuff." I turned on the water and began scrubbing dried blood off my hands.

"He knows stuff?"

"Yeah."

"So what did he tell you then?"

"He just reminded me of what I already knew. I'd forgotten something. It's good now though."

"So what's your plan then?"

"We're a farm. We'll grow crops here after the flash. Mom and I have been working on a…fertilizer. Sort of a miriacle grow thing." I referred to the common fertilizer, hoping he'd think I was mentioning that, not a real miriacle. "We'll grow enough to feed anyone who comes. No one we warn will starve. So warn everyone you can tomorrow Jackson." I washed my face and chin.

"People can grow crops after the flash?"

"I don't know about other people. But our fertilizer looks promising, so I think we'll have a good shot."

I wiped water off my face and started scrubbing his shirt with cold water. Fortunately it was black. I used lots of soap. I grabbed one of the stiff brushes near by and used it too. Hopefully I could fix his shirt…

Jackson grabbed my hands. "Evie, forget the shirt. You sure this fertilizer will work?"

I firmed my voice and looked in his eyes, forcing confidence I didn't feel. "I'm sure." Bountiful crops covered my card. It couldn't be wrong, could it?

"Alright cher. Let's grab those blankets you wanted."

I wrung out his shirt and left it hanging in the sink to drain there, promising myself I'd wash and get it back to him tomorrow, then grabbed a couple horse blankets from the office. When I came back out I found Jack petting the nose of one of the friendlier horses in the barn, a black mare I'd named Midnight.

"That's Midnight. She's a friendly one."

"She is that." I showed him a few places she liked to be stroked and Jack obliged her. She wickered in appreciation, rubbing her head against his head and neck. He chuckled, talking to her low in Cajun French, telling her what a good girl she was, how he'd like to take her for a long ride someday, let her stretch her legs, feel the wind on her mane. She seemed to like his voice as much as I did. Her ears pricked forward, listening intently. Then he frowned and looked at me.

"This thing happens tomorrow like you say it will, your horses woan be safe in here. The windows'll let in the light."

I frowned. I hadn't considered this, but he was right. I looked at the barn trying to figure out what to do. "What can I do Jack? I can't tell Mom about this. I have to do it myself."

He looked around considering. "You got spare wood you can use to cover the windows? Blinders you can cover their eyes with, just in case the storm caves in the roof some where?"

I let him to back of the barn, where we kept extra materials and tools. "We have blinders for the horses, but not enough for all of them. I have some dark clothes and towels though. I could cut them up, use those."

He nodded, then found the ladder and hauled it over to the window for me and started moving the wood scraps. I helped, but they were really heavy. He chuckled at me trying to pick up the long board. "Make yourself useful, find a hammer and nails, p'tee fille." I rolled my eyes, which he couldn't see in the dark, and went to find what he'd asked. By the time I'd found them in the dark, he'd moved most of the wood.

When he started hammering I panicked. "You're gonna wake up Mom!"

"You think you can lift these boards by yourself tomorrow?" That shut me up, because there was no way I was going to be able to do that. "You go keep a lookout. I'll have this done inside of ten minutes." When I'd hesitated he told me sharply, "Go on, scat!"

He waited until I was outside and the door was closed before he got started again. He was right, with his powerful drives behind the hammer, he was done inside of ten minutes. Mom didn't wake up and I was shocked. When he met me outside, he told me, "Tomorrow, you feed and water the horses so your meredoan notice what we did."

"Thank you." I told him on a whisper, still a little shocked at how much his protecting our horses meant to me. He just shrugged and grabbed his bike from where he'd left it beside the barn door to walk it with us. We passed by Mom's silver Mercedes SUV that was parked out front.

As we walked back down to the oyster-shell drive. Before we left the house behind but Jackson turned and stood to look at it one more time. I did too, trying to look at it through his eyes. He'd visited during the day, but it looked different at night. The gaslights flickered over the twelve proud columns. Night-blooming jasmine ascended the many trellises, forever reaching for the grand old house as if with lust. Those majestic oaks had already caught it; they encircled the structure protectively.

"You know what I think?" he finally said. "I think you are just like this house, Evangeline. Rich and fine on the outside, but no one's got a clue what's going on inside."

"You've been inside our house a time or two Jack, and you've seen my sketches."

"Exactly. Folks would never guess at what you hide inside yourself, you hide it so well."

Not knowing what to make of that I shrugged it off and kept walking away, entering a dirt trail between the cane rows. If he knew what I really hid inside me, he probably wouldn't want anything to do with me. I'd never showed him the sketches of the Red Witch. He followed with his bike catching up.

"You're really planning to sleep out here in the fields tonight?"

"That's right."

When we came to the stop at a hidden dirt square between a patch of cane fields we stopped, both of us seeming to agree this looked like a good spot for me to camp out for the night. Mom wouldn't find me here. The paths of dirt were staggered like on a tile floor where large and small tiles mixed and we stood on the small square tile of dirt, the large tiles being the cane fields.

Jack parked his bike and I laid out the blankets, shaking them out to lay flat on the dirt. He walked closer, wrapping his arms around me again. "You're really not scared of being alone out here then?"

I liked being in his arms. He felt warm. "Really not scared. Maybe a little cold though. You're warm."

"He wrapped me up tighter, dropping a kiss on my head. "Want me to stay and keep you warm tonight Evie?"

"You'd do that? Stay out all night with a girl you barely know to keep her safe?"

"Depends on the girl. If the girl looks like you? Sans doute." Belly wosh. Unfortunately, also another tally mark in the Cajun player column.

"There are plenty of girls that look like me at school. There are even a couple other blond cheerleaders. Why not chase one of them? Why pick me to stare at, flirt with, and walk home with tonight?"

"C'est vrai." -That's true "There are plenty of other pretty blonds at school, some are even cheerleaders like you. You dance better than them. You understand me when I speak Francais Cadien. You were friendly to Clotile this week from day one, and all my other podna's, when most of the other coo-yon's at that rich school looked at us like something they'd like to scrape off their boots. You see visions out windows and in dreams and you look to me to help you figure out what that means when you doan even tell your mere or your best friend, who you told me was like a soeur to you." I softened toward him. Maybe he did like me for me after all, just a little.

"You are the biggest puzzle I ever come across belle fille, and I aim to figure you out."

I shivered with a sudden ominous foreboding. What if when Jack fit all the puzzle pieces together, he didn't like the final picture he'd put together? If I was the Empress, with rose thorn nails like the Red Witch of my nightmares, I might not like who I had to become one day either. I was turning into a freak, someone with powers that scared me, that horrified me. I didn't want to kill people.

Not to mention, that if Jack valued traits like those of Robinson Crusoe, I probably scored zero out of ten. I didn't know how to cook, sew, repair, hunt; in this brave new world we were headed into, my value was probably nil. The one value I did have I was going to have to disguise. A Catholic boy like Jack, he'd probably think I was possessed by a demon. He'd want nothing to do with a freak like me. I was totally sure of it.

I looked away across the fields frowning, suddenly filled with a sense of despair.

"Bebe, quoi y a?" Baby, what's wrong? He turned my face back to him, frowning down at me.

"Sometimes the puzzle pieces are interesting, but once you put it together…it's not a good picture."

"You got ugly secrets, cher?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"Ouais, but somehow I have a feeling that yours are a bit different than most."

Perceptive Jackson.

Deciding to change the subject, I looked down and said, "I think I'm ready to call it a night." It had to be after 2:30 or 3 by now. We were on the edge of a cane field where no one would see us come morning. I laid down between the blankets while Jack parked his bike closer beside the blanket. He came around to the other side forcing me between him and the bike so I was surrounded on three sides by the bike, the cane and Jackson. The narrow dirt lanes had cane on the other sides so really, all around, surrounded. Totally safe.

I laid down on my stomach and side, propping my head up on my elbow and hand to look over at Jackson. Was he just naturally protective or did he do this stuff on purpose? And why did it make my belly flutter when he was protective? Shouldn't I be more…self-reliant?

He propped himself up, mirroring me. "What're you thinking so hard about bebe?"

"The things you do, the way you act, with me."

His face turned inscrutable. "What about it, exactly?"

"You've parked your bike on one side of me, and you on the other with the cane on the third. Are you naturally protective or do you do these things on purpose?"

"If I'm with you tonight, then it's my responsibility to look out for you. Ain't nothin' goan to happen to you while you're with me Evie. That's a promise. I spent my whole life watchin' my six, so it's part instinct, ain't no one goan to get the drop on me. Ouais, you better believe I do that shit on purpose."

In spite of his rough language, I broke out in goose bumps. Nothing would happen to me while I was with him, and that was a promise. For a girl who had nightmares of Death threatening to kill her, who'd almost been killed by lightning tonight, those words struck a chord somewhere deep inside me.

I needed to kiss this boy, who made me feel safer than anyone ever had. Here, surrounded by my soldiers 10,000 strong, Jack still made me feel protected. I didn't know how I was supposed to control the soldiers. Jack had promised to protect me though. And didn't that deserve a kiss?

I moved to my stomach and elbows and edged closer, my face close to his, my hands brushing his chest and bicep of the arm holding him up. His eyes met mine. My tongue peeked out to wet my lips and his eyes fastened on it. I moved closer and gently touched my lips to his.

So not tired anymore. Heat and fire mixed as our lips met. He opened and his tongue came out to sweep into my mouth. I met him, welcoming him in, and as I did, his hand came behind my head and tilted my head for a better angle, pressing me closer at the same time.

He fell to his back, an arm around my waist pulling me with him, pressing me against his side as he made hot love to my mouth. His tongue seemed to mimic what I imagined sex to be, thrusting, parrying, sweeping. His teeth, made little nips at my lips before he sucked at them with his mouth, kissing them better. I moaned with delight. This was like a drug! I'd asked him to keep me warm, but I hadn't imagined catching on fire. I felt like I was flying.

My hands swept into his hair searching for an anchor, and the texture was heaven. Heavy silk glided between my fingers. I gently teased his scalp with my nails, combing his hair with my fingers. He moaned and shivered. Good. I just wished there was more hair for me to play with. It was so beautiful.

The hand on my waist swept long strokes, his hands splayed. He went under my shirt, his calloused, firm hands feeling the skin of my back, the side curves of my breasts where they were pressed against his chest. The underneath curve where they met my ribcage. Down to grip my ass, where he gripped me and shifted me fully on top of him, arranging my legs to fall on either side of him, then caressing my thighs in teasing strokes and circles. When I squirmed and wriggled away, shifting my legs more together because that was just too much, he brought his hands back up to my head, combing my hair, letting it fall over my bare shoulders. No wonder people loved halter tops. So sensual. His kisses were drugging. His fingers were at my nape.

Suddenly, he rolled us over, he was over me, between my legs, hard pressure there, grinding as he kissed me. I couldn't hold back the moans and I practically writhed beneath him, my hips arching into his. Now I could touch all of his hair, his shoulders, his back, arms. He was so strong.

"I can't believe you taste even sweeter than you smell. You're like a drug Evie. Your secrets, your perfume. Honey and honeysuckle. You drive me mad." He told in Cajun between kisses. He'd untied the halter pulling it away from my neck to lay nips and sucks on my jaw and throat. One hand reached down to pull my knee up…oh that was better, he ground again and it felt even better. How was it getting even better?

"Evie? I want to take this off. Do you want more?"

"What?" I felt like I must be stoned. I was nearly out of my mind.

He grinned, pleased about something. "Feeling good bebe?" He rolled his hips against me.

"Amazing!" I was flushed and grinding on him, breathing hard.

"I bet I could make you come just like this." His eyes were wicked. Calculating.

"Come?" So confused. Were we going somewhere? I wanted to stay here. I wanted more.

"Let me move your shirt down bebe. I promise I'll make you feel even better. Let me give you a little more." He kissed my neck, thrusting his hips, fingers teasing circles on my thigh. I was panting, dizzy.

"Jack!"

"Say yes bebe."

"Yes, Jack. Please!"

"Ma bonne fille." He pushed my shirt around my waist and his hands pushed my breasts up. "You're so gorgeous cher." His thumbs and fingers pinched the tips, rolling them lightly between his fingers. I nearly shrieked, my hips jerking against his. His head dipped down, pulling one into his mouth, sucking hard, nipping, sucking, lapping while his hand pulled, pinched and rolled the other.

Something inside me snapped, "Jack!" My fingers gripped his shoulders as I tensed, pleasure shooting throughout me, before I relaxed beneath him, weightless. "Jack." I whispered, stunned.

His hands gentled on me, hand covering my breast possessively instead of pinching now, his head rising to stare fiercely into my face. He kissed me with a hunger that nearly dwarfed his earlier kisses. "Your fire, your passion. I burn with wanting for you."

His hands moved on my breasts, pinching, pulling, teasing, rolling. His hips stroked mine. "Tell me you want more!"

There was more of this? More kisses? His hips rolling against mine made the fire inside me rise again. "More! Please!"

"Bien!" He pulled away. No! Cold. And then…was that a zipper? He came back holding up …a condom?! "I'm goan to take good care of you, bebe."

I'd planned to wait to have sex until I was 16 and in a committed relationship with my boyfriend. Then I realized that I should really try to add love and chemistry to that equation.

Jack and I only had chemistry. I might could fall in love with him, but I wasn't yet. I didn't even trust the boy or know for sure if he was playing me. We weren't in a relationship. I'd just gotten out of one. No way were we having sex tonight!

"I'm not having sex with you!" His head snapped to me and anger seared his expression.

"Why are you actin' like sex with me is such a fool idea? You said you wanted more!"

"More kisses, more…stuff. Not sex!"

He sat away from me, one leg cocked up and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. I pulled my knees up to my naked chest and wrapped my arms around them.

"So I'm good enough to fool around with, good enough to make you come for the first time, just not good enough to take all the way? Is that how it is? Why's that Evie?"

"Because I'm not just going to give my first time away to just anyone. It has to be someone special." The words burst from my throat because I'd said them a thousand times in my head, but only to late did I realize how that must have sounded to him.

"Right. Brandon would have been good enough because he was rich, and a quarterback and I'm not because I'm Cajun and poor. Is that it?"

I was stunned speechless. Is that how he saw me? That shallow? Was that how he saw himself? As not good enough? I spoke too late, "N…no."

"Forget it. I'm goan for a walk. Cool off. Go to sleep princess."

He stalked off, taking a deep drink from his flask. I pulled up my halter-top and retied it, then laid down and pulled the blanket over me thinking, "That could have gone better."

I wiped a few tears away and shivered in the cool night air. As I replayed what we'd said and done, I didn't understand how things had gone so quickly. Why had Jackson skipped over so many of the bases I'd thought to expect and jumped straight to sex? Maybe Mel would know. How had everything happened so quickly? And how had he made me feel so much so fast?

I drifted off before he came back, but in my sleep I felt warmth at my back. I woke a bit, realizing Jackson had come back. He was laying on his back, hands behind his head, his leather jacket a pillow. Why did I like this boy so much? Something about him called to me. He smelled like my wildest dreams, like the woods come to life, sheltering me, he was always so protective. Giving in to the impulse, since he was asleep and I didn't know when I'd ever have the chance again, I tentatively scooted closer, resting my head on his bicep and my arm around his bare chest. After a moment, I twined one leg around his, then moved the blanket a bit, making sure he was covered well too.