Adelaide Confused Read Online Free PDF

arrived. Small but stately, she carried a velvet bag.
Its contents she spread across the paper shrouded table. I
recognized a few measuring tools and the magnifying
glass.
    “ My name is Eclipsys.” I
wanted to comment on that, but held my peace. “What is your name
and the exact date of your birth?”
    “ My name is Francesca
Black, but it wasn’t always that. Does that matter?” Eclipsys shook
her head and Francesca continued babbling on about her
birthday.
    Eclipsys went to work with
her charade. Bending over her papers, she shuffled through,
mumbling, measuring, and checking. The magnifying glass went well
with the image she was trying to establish.
    I couldn’t feel any real
interest or effort on her part. She was what I considered
‘emotionally silent’ at the moment. Francesca was a bubble of
excitement, but that would be obvious to anyone with all her
fidgeting. I was both bored and amused, a contradictory mix. But
that was the thing I’d learned about emotions, they were
nonsensical and often conflicting.
    Eclipsys stood slowly, as
if her mind was elsewhere, and wandered absently to the chair. She
was a very good actress. “I see freedom and power within you, a
unique ability to live passionately, but without the turmoil of
regret. You easily draw what many covet, a gift, and the center of
your power, but it staunches your potential. A balance is missing
in your life, something essential you’ll need to progress.” She
paused, blinking, as if coming out of a trance.
    Francesca let out the breath she’d been
holding.
    I continued to keep quiet.
Barely.
    “ What’s the thing I need?”
Francesca asked. Becoming slightly frantic, “What’s the thing I
need? Is it a guy? Can’t you look a little more? Maybe you missed
something, it’s really important. I need the details, remember, I
mentioned it’s dire.”
    Eclipsys held up her hand,
stalling any further protest. “I saw nothing that indicated dire
intervention. The paths we take are long and winding. You need not
worry, self-discovery is a precious journey.”
    Francesca was irritated
now, causing me to suppress a Puckish smirk. I must have made a
noise or something because Eclipsys glanced at me. I had somehow
stirred her interest. As she twisted to face me her body went
rigid, she gasped before a spasm shook her. Her eyes were unseeing
when she said, “You will meet with death.”
    It was creepy, and I would
have been freaking out with Francesca if I hadn’t known she was
faking—which she was. I hadn’t felt a rising panic, no hysteria,
not even distress from the astrologist. She’d been cool as a
cucumber throughout the entire performance.
    Eyes bugging and
bewildered, Francesca asked, “Does that mean she’s going to
die?”
    Eclipsys shook her head
while staring at me, pretending to look on in mute
fascination.
    “What is this,” I asked calmly, “revenge on
the skeptic?” I didn’t wait for a response. I left that small dark
place, wood planks creaking beneath my feet as I went.
    My car didn’t do air
conditioning, so I had the windows rolled down when Francesca
climbed in. “It cost over fifty dollars to learn you’re going to
die,” she complained.
    “ What a ripoff,” I
commiserated.

Chapter 5
     
    “ Sterling’s Motel, how may
I help you?” I asked with the phone pressed to my ear.
    “ Oh good, you’re still
alive.”
    “ It hasn’t even been a day,
Francesca. Some things take time.”
    “I’m just not satisfied,” she huffed.
    “That I’m still alive?”
    “ No, not everything is
about you, Adelaide. I’m not satisfied with my reading.”
    “What were you hoping to hear?” I asked,
honestly curious.
    She hesitated, then, “I
think I’m in love.”
    “ Is this about that nancy
Reed Wallace?” I asked, with no small amount of
exasperation.
    “ If you ever bothered to
pay attention to the news, you’d know he’s the most eligible
bachelor this island’s ever seen. He’s like—the