The Ambitious Card (An Eli Marks Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page B

prepared?”
    By the sudden buzz of excitement that broke out in the room, it was clear that this was, in fact, the portion of the evening that the audience had come to experience. As effects go, it was simplicity itself. Nova presented Grey with a large punch bowl, filled with small tan envelopes. Before the show, each audience member had written a question on a slip of paper, folded it and sealed it in one of the small envelopes.
    For the performance, Grey would then remove an envelope from the bowl, hold it to his forehead for a moment, then announce the question, the name of the questioner, and then provide an answer from the beyond for the hopeful participant.
    “One important note before we begin,” Grey said, pulling a match from his pocket and striking it on the table. “I should warn you that when the stream to the Other Side is opened, it is not entirely uncommon for an impatient spirit to jump his or her place in line,” he said as he lit a candle on the table. He moved it to the center of the table, adjusting the position of a large silver ashtray next to it.
    “When that happens,” he continued, “I will have no clue that a new spirit has stepped in and taken the place of the spirit I was communicating with. Consequently, the information I’m receiving may no longer be relevant to the person I’m talking to. I will need your help…all of you,” he said, spreading his hands wide to encompass the whole room.
    “If the information I’m providing to you is correct, please acknowledge it by saying ‘yes,’ loudly and clearly. And if you’re seated across the room and suddenly you feel that what I’m saying is applying to you, please let me know right away. Is that clear?” Like obedient students, the audience nodded at Grey as one.
    “Good. Let us begin,” he said as he pulled out the chair next to the table and sat. Lighting in the room shifted to increase the already moody ambiance and eerie organ music again began to echo throughout the cavern. He closed his eyes and reached into the bowl, taking out a single envelope and holding it up near his temple for a long moment.
    “Rene T.,” Grey said finally. “Rene, are you here?” A blonde woman in her late twenties stood in the crowd and meekly held her hand up. Grey turned his head in her direction as Nova moved through the crowd to her with the handheld microphone.
    “You are curious about a relationship, are you not?”
    Rene nodded, wringing her hands together nervously. Remembering Grey’s earlier instruction, she quickly added, “Yes. Yes.”
    Grey closed his eyes. “This is a relationship of long duration, am I right?”
    “Yes. A year and a half,” she said.
    “Rene, a year and a half is merely a blink in the eye of the universe. I’m seeing that this relationship has existed in this life and many previous incarnations. And that the two of you are working out issues now that have existed between you for millennia. You are arguing more now than usual, am I right?”
    Rene nodded again. “Yes, it feels like it.”
    “One of the reasons you’ve been brought together in this life is to continue to work on these differences. But make no mistake…this person is your soul mate and you will indeed make progress that will help not only in this life, but in future lives as well.”
    “Thank you,” Rene said as she sighed in relief and began to sit down again.
    Grey raised his right hand and closed his eyes for a moment. “Rene, I’m also getting that you have a work relationship that is beginning to come to a boiling point, does that make sense?”
    Rene cocked her head to one side, considering this. “I believe so, yes,” she said, beginning to nod in agreement.
    “Watch that closely for the next three weeks. Some changes are in order,” he instructed as he picked up his letter opener and ripped open the envelope he had been holding the entire time. He pulled out the slip of paper and read it aloud: “Can you tell me if I