Wake Unto Me Read Online Free Page B

daughter. In more ways than one, I think.”
    Caitlyn looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?”
    Her mother’s lips twitched, and she shook her head. “If you don’t know by now, you’ll know soon enough.”
    Caitlyn frowned, thinking about the hints of depression they might both share. “Do you mean the heart in darkness?”
    A flicker of surprise raised her mother’s brows. “Do I?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Her mother laughed, the sound more anxious than cheery. “Then that makes two of us, for the moment at least. No, I thought I meant something else… .”
    Caitlyn shook her head, not following. “I don’t know in what other ways we are the same. I don’t predict the future, like you.”
    “What do you do?”
    Caitlyn shrugged, feeling her failure to excel in any particular area. “I draw a lot.”
    “Mmm.” Her mother looked at her expectantly. “But what do you do that’s more … unusual?”
    “Nothing, really,” she said, feeling that the answer was inadequate, and suddenly fearing that she was a disappointment to her mother. “Well, except that I have strange dreams, but Dad gets upset if I talk about them.”
    Her mother rolled her eyes. “He’s never been accepting of things outside his understanding. I mistook that for moral strength when I married him. It’s strange how you can love someone and not be right for him. You’ll figure that out for yourself someday.” She sighed. “Too bad I couldn’t figure it out for myself in time. But then, I never was any good at predicting my own future, only that of others.”
    “Is that what you’re doing?” Caitlyn asked, pointing to the tarot cards and coming closer. She wanted to reach out and touch her mother, but something in the situation held her back. It was her mother’s nonchalance, perhaps, or that hint of knowing wryness in her gaze. She offered Caitlyn no welcoming warmth.
    “Yes, I’m fortune-telling.”
    “Dad won’t let me buy a set of tarot cards. He says they’re evil.”
    Her mother laughed again. “They’re just pieces of paper and ink. The pictures help me give form to the future that I already know. The cards have no power of their own. But I see the future through many methods, not just the cards.” She gave Caitlyn a sly look and set down the deck. “Tell me where life has taken you, Caitlyn.”
    “You don’t know?”
    Her mother shrugged one shoulder. “In some ways, I do. But I’d rather hear it from you.”
    “Oh. Well … Life hasn’t really taken me anywhere, so far. But tomorrow I’m going to France. To boarding school.”
    Her mother’s eyes opened wide. “ Really? I didn’t see that coming.” She was silent a moment, as if unable to process the information, and then quirked a doubtful brow. “Really? France?”
    Caitlyn nodded.
    “I’ve always wanted to go to France,” her mother mused. “But boarding school?”
    “It’s called the Fortune School. It’s named after the castle that houses it, Château de la Fortune.”
    Her mother tilted her head, her gaze questioning. “You’re happy about going?”
    Caitlyn nodded. “Yes. A little scared, too,” she admitted. “It has to be better than Spring Creek, though, doesn’t it?” she asked hopefully.
    Her mother’s laugh was bitter. “It wouldn’t take much, would it?”
    Caitlyn chuckled, feeling a bond of like minds. She reached down to the TV tray and ran her fingertips over the cards that had been laid out, feeling curious and shy. “Could you do a reading for me?” she asked tentatively.
    In answer, her mother gathered all the cards together and started to shuffle. Caitlyn inched over to her mother’s side and perched with one hip on the arm of the easy chair, watching her manipulate the cards with practiced hands. And then, suddenly, everything began to fade into transparency. A dark blankness began to show through the scene, and a flush of panic went through Caitlyn. No, stay! her soul cried. Stay with Mom!
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