Malina Tamayo Townsend wasn’t really an oracle, although she would claim otherwise if someone would question the authenticity of her profession. She knew that people like her (augurs, fortune-tellers, and seers) were all just charlatans. Lying and deceiving people for money. However, Malina didn’t have any problems sleeping knowing that fact. A lot of people that came to her knew she was a fraud, but that didn’t stop them from flocking to her tent. Many people wanted, no, needed to hear comforting words. She’d tell them how their loved ones abroad were safe, their late family members were proud, and how their decisions, whatever they might be, were the right ones. When she was done, customers were happy and content and Malina got a few coins to buy some food (and whiskey).
Church-goers didn’t agree with her, though. Especially priests and religious old hags who didn’t dare wear two different types of textile at the same moment. The latter gave her trouble from time to time. Malina thought that the old hags would rather have her burned at the stake, much more than the clergy. The churchmen could be bribed if anything. Old religious hags couldn’t.
Another thing that gave her more trouble than she deserved was her ethnicity. Malina was Roma, or a gipsy, as others called her. Although she was proud of her origin, others, especially religious old hags, found it… distasteful. Malina never met her parents and was raised by her grandmother. She was an old hag too who liked to drink and tell fortunes.
Malina Tamayo Townsend wasn’t an atheist, despite her stance on her profession. She was spiritual, although not in a religious way. There were forces in this world she didn’t understand or even comprehend, but she accepted them. If she believed otherwise, her life would turn out to be a lot more depressing. Malina wasn’t fond of being depressed, although the world repeatedly tried to make her feel that way. Someone above sees all was the closest thing she got to a prayer. And she wanted to make that Someone proud.
However, that all changed on the second of April, 1922. Her life-long friend was visiting her. Valerie, together with a few of her companions, was living what could be called a nomadic style of life. Always jumping from town to town. The last time Malina had seen her was some five months before. In the meantime, Valerie managed to get herself pregnant. Surprise, surprise, Malina thought, as she prepared coffee for both of them. She poured some coffee into two handleless cups. “Sugar?”, she asked.
“Yes, please. A spoonful!”, Valerie said. Malina was turned with her back to her guest as she stirred the coffee. Carefully, she pulled out a flask from the inside pocket of her robe, opened it, and poured a bit into her coffee. Fortunately, Valerie didn’t notice. Pregnant women can’t drink, she thought to herself. She wasn’t stingy, no, she was mindful and caring for her friend, Yes, she cared for the baby. Whiskey ain’t cheap no more, she admitted.
Malina placed the two smouldering cups on a tray and carefully carried them to the other side of her trailer. There was a small table with four lavish cushions around it. On one of them, Valerie sat. She leaned back slightly, allowing her giant belly some space.
“Oh, thank you very much, Mal!”, Valerie said, eagerly clasping the mug for its warmth. Despite the slow-coming spring, it was still chilly. Malina got herself comfortable on the cushion opposing Valerie. She was sitting with her legs crossed.
“So, how’ve you been?”, Valerie broke the silence.
“Eh, ever the same. People come, I say a bunch of things they want to hear, and then they go away.” Malina shrugged, bringing the cup close to her mouth.
“Umm… still no man around?”, Valerie asked, frowning. She took a sip and then cringed. “What-“
“Oh, I must have mixed them up!”, Malina quickly took her cup. “Mine is without sugar, you know.”
Valerie coughed. “That’s some awful taste. I don’t get how you can drink that.”
Malina smiled, taking a sip. She didn’t cringe at the alcohol inside.
“Anyway”, Valerie continued, “How come you still haven’t found a man?”
“Eh, what can I say… Men don’t seem to like me that much.” More like I don’t seem to like them.
“Oh, that’s horse shit, and you know it”, Valerie waved her hand vigorously, and her belly jiggled. “You just need to put yourself out more, like…”, Valerie gestured to Malina’s robe, “I’m sure that does wonders to your image as a… fortune-teller, but as a woman…”, Valerie shrugged.
“What’s wrong with my robe?!”, Malina asked, feeling slightly insulted. She was wearing a dark red robe over her shirt, slightly ragged, but it still had a certain mystical flair Malina liked. “It’s my nonna’s!”
Valerie looked at her and smiled.
“Oh, I see”…
“There you go, dear”, Valerie took a sip of her coffee and placed her hand on the belly button.
“So…”, Malina shifted in her seat, “Who’s the lucky father?”
“Oh… I think it’s Zonedlo.”
Malina nearly spat her coffee. “You think?!”
“Oh, don’t give me that face!”, Valerie protested. “I’ve been travelling for a long while. Both Zondelo and Angelo looked after me. So… One of them, I think.”
Malina was out of words. She finished her coffee, grateful for the little kick whiskey gave her.
“Do you love either one of them?”
“I do… I think.” Valerie set down her cup. “I don’t know, Mal. But they love me. And they’ll love the baby no matter whose it is!” Valerie said optimistically. Then she reached back, snatching her rucksack. “I have a little something you might like.”
“Oh?”, Malina straightened her back, trying to catch a glimpse.
“In Dedwich we stumbled upon a gipsy travelling group. One thing led to another and we decided to camp together.” Valerie stopped talking, carefully pulling a box out of her rucksack. “Turns out Nadya was with them for a while?”
“Nadya? My Nadya? My nonna?!”, Malina gasped.
“One and only!”, Valerie pulled a pile of cloth from the box. Carefully, she removed them revealing a…
Crystal sphere. An oracle’s crystal sphere.
Malina nearly dropped her coffee cup. “What on earth…” She carefully took the sphere from Valerie’s hands. Her friend continued talking about something, but Malina’s eyes were chained to the sphere. It was a little smaller than the one she had, but it was pristine and high-quality. Unlike Malina’s, which was completely see-through, this one had a small round purple sphere inside the big one, giving the entire crystal a purple-blue hue, depending on how much light there was in the room. At the bottom was a small wooden pedestal, which held the crystal in one place, and on it, something was engraved. Nadya’s Orbuculum. Don’t fucking touch!
“I can’t believe this!”, Malina said, cutting off Valerie. “What did they ask for this?”
Valerie looked left, awkwardly fixing her hair. “There might be a third candidate for the father…”
“Oh, for God’s sake…”
“I didn’t do it for you!”, Valerie protested. “It was more like a… a bonus, you know!”
“How much?”, Malina asked.
“How much what?”
“For the sphere, Valerie!”
“Oh, immediately to business, I see…”, Valerie trailed off. “Well, you see, I thought about giving it to you freely, but…”, she touched her belly. “I’ve got some company on the way.”
“Say a number”, Malina said, still transfixed on the ball.
“Fine. Fifteen.”
“Fifteen what!?”
“Big ones. Dineros. Bacon.” Valerie smiled. “Fifteen dollars, sweetie.”
“You’re out of your mind”, Malina quickly laid the sphere down, acting uninterested.
“Oh, come on, Mal! Twelve!”
“Pfft! You’re still out of your mind.”
“Oh well”, Valerie shrugged, reaching for the sphere, “I guess the guys in Temisland might think otherwise.”
“Ten!”, Malina quickly grabbed the sphere. “Ten dollars!” There was something about the crystal. It connected to her momentarily.
Valerie laughed. “Honestly, I thought I’d have to struggle more. But a deal is a deal! The damn thing’s yours now!”
For possibly the first time in her life, Malina didn’t regret overpaying for something. She still had the sphere in her hands, caressing it as if it was a child. “Is it really my nonna’s?”, Malina asked.
“Oh, even I’m not that nasty. I wouldn’t go as low as to write your grandma’s name on it.” She shifted on her cushion. “Is it your Nadya…? That I don’t know.”
Malina frowned. Then she smiled. “I’m gonna think that it is nonna’s!”
“Hey, whatever floats your boat, right? Those ten greens are certainly gonna float my boat”, Valerie chuckled. “Wanna try it out?”, she asked.
“The sphere? Right now?”
Valerie nodded, caressing her stomach. “Tell me if it’s a boy or a girl. Oooh, even better, tell me who the father is!”
Malina smirked. “Sure”, she said.
The round table had a runner with a drawn circle in the middle; a spot for the sphere. Malina gently placed the Orbuculum in the middle. “I need to dim the lights”, she said, acting out the role. She pulled the drapes shut, the dancing tassels allowing hesitant shimmering light. Malina lit three large candles with a matchstick that stood next to the door of her carnival trailer. The door could easily be nudged open with a slight tremor, like a customer jumping, which allowed a slight draft to extinguish the candles. It did wonders for dramatic purposes. Malina also placed a small candle on two sides of the crystal, which reflected the light stunningly. With the uncommon purple round object inside, the whole room was covered in shifting tones of purple.
“Beautiful…”, Valerie whispered, looking around the room. “I should’ve asked for a lot more…”
Malina allowed herself a moment to enjoy the lightshow. Then she clapped her hands, startling Valerie, but drawing her attention.
“You ready?”, she asked.
Displaying a faint hint of nervousness Malina often noticed in her customers, Valerie nodded.
“Oh, spirits of the beyond!”, she called, giving herself completely to the act. Malina knew Valerie knew she was a fake. That fact allowed Malina to be carefree, knowing there wasn’t a chance the customer would call her act. It was great practice, as well.
“Oh, inhabitants of the nether! Prisoners of Limbo!”, Malina waved her arms theatrically and closed her eyes. “Grant me your insight! Present thyselves to me!” Malina placed her hands on the Orbuculum.
However, the moment she touched the crystal, she felt a strange cold rush through her arms. She cringed, surprised, but still in the act. Malina forced her hands to remain on the sphere. The coldness was gone now. Had she imagined it?
Valerie was sitting opposite her, with her eyes closed as well.
“A woman covers humbly in your presence. Give them your name!”, Malina bellowed.
Suppressing a smirk, Valerie uttered. “Valerie Gorgoza. My name is Valerie Gorg-“
A loud thump cut Malina off. Startled, she opened her eyes.
Malina was still sitting on her cushion and her hands were still on the Orbuculum. However, she wasn’t in her trailer anymore. Shaking at the realisation, she tried to stand up, only to find out that she, together with the table and the cushion, were on a wooden board, drifting on a black sea.
Screaming in terror, she knelt back in fear of overturning the raft. The small table trembled, and the crystal started rolling towards her, unhinged off the small wooden pedestal. Instinctively, Malina opened her arms, but when the orb landed in her hands, the crystal turned to dust, leaving only the inner purple round object in her palms.
The purple object wasn’t made of crystal, as she previously thought. It was made of some unusually light stone material. Mesmerised to the point of forgetting her surroundings, she brought her palms to her face, studying the structure. It wasn’t perfectly smooth either. It had small vein-like ripples.
One of them shifted.
Malina screamed and dropped the purple object.
Malina fell from her cushion. The Orbuculum was still on the table, the same as before.
Valerie looked at her, terrified. Then she smiled.
“Oh, you sneaky little fox!”, she chuckled. “You had me! You had me!!! Oh, you’re good.”
Malina gasped for air, looking around. She was back in her trailer. Everything was the same, apart from the candles by the door being extinguished. The door opened slightly when she fell.
“Your mumbling and seizures… It looked so genuine. I nearly called for help”, Valerie continued, still smiling. “Damn, you’ve gotten real good while I was gone!”
“Umm… W-wait…”, Malina stuttered, getting up. Was it real? The sea, the raft…
She glanced at the crystal sphere on the table. It shone purple, reflecting the light of the candles.
Was that real?
“Oh, you can drop the act now, dear. You fooled me, I admit!”
Malina looked at Valerie. How could she explain? “Can you go?”, she asked abruptly.
Valerie stopped, her smile turning into a frown. “What do you…”
“Just… go. Please. I just realised I remembered-“
“Are you planning to cheat your way out of paying me?!”, she flushed.
“What? No… Wait!” Malina rushed to her cabinet where she held her stash. She dug it out from a pile of stockings and socks, not caring that she revealed her money-hiding spot to Valerie. Malina counted ten bills and tossed them onto the table.
Valerie looked at her, confused. Then she snatched the money and placed it into a pocket on the inside of her unbuttoned jacket. “Are you…”
“Go”, Malina cut her off. “I’ll explain later.” She didn’t have a clue how to explain anything that had just happened to her.
Confused, but happy about the money, Valerie stood up and went for the door. “You still haven’t told me who the father-“
Malina slammed the door. She practically ran to the cabinet again, snatching a small leather pouch from a different drawer. She walked over to the round table, carefully eyeing the Orbuculum. A part of her expected the purple round sphere inside to burst open; the other part thought she acted crazy. But on the other hand, the vision, or dream, seemed so real. She shivered anxiously.
Someone above sees all.
Malina opened the small leather satchel and emptied it, letting all of its contents fall onto the table. A pin, a few earrings, one from real gold, a pearl she stole when she was a child and a dried buttercup flower enclosed in two small glass panels fell onto the table. Lastly, with a strong shake, a deck of purple-blue cards bound by a string fell onto the table as well. An eye was drawn on the back of the card which was on the top of the deck. A purple eye with a black iris.
Malina shivered again, although not from the chilly weather. The eye was the same shade of purple as the inner sphere of the Orbuculum.
From her grandmother, Nadya, Malina inherited only two things: the oracle’s vibrant robe and a deck of tarot cards. Now she had the Orbuculum to add to her collection. Somehow she knew that the crystal sphere was her grandmother’s. Nonna, what have you done with this? she thought, removing the string.
Carefully, she touched the cards. It wasn’t cold. It was room temperature. Just plain paper. She smiled forcefully, feeling dumb. They’re just cards. I’ve read them before.
Malina rarely read tarot cards to her customers, but she knew how to do it. Nonna had taught her. Although she felt she was doing a better job with the crystal sphere.
She picked up the deck and started shuffling. A tarot reading would usually begin with the customer saying their question aloud. She knew that part was meaningless, but, considering what she’d just experienced, she decided to play by the rules. Just in case.
“The thing I just saw… was it real?”, Malina asked, her voice echoing in the empty trailer.
She cut the deck and placed three cards facing down on the table. The eyes on the back covers seemed to be looking directly at her. Malina knew they were drawn that way, but it still made her nervous.
She flipped the first card. It was an upright Star card. There was a girl kneeling in a lake drawn on it, with a blazing star above her.
Malina pondered for a moment, looking at the girl in the lake. ‘The Star’ card meant one needed more faith. Do I need to believe the dream was real?
Malina flipped the second card. An upright Judgement card. Again, a girl kneeling in the lake was drawn on it. This time, she was looking up, where something was looking down at her. That something was an eye, identical to the one on the back of the card, surrounded by a flutter of white wings.
The card meant that one would soon be judged for their actions. What actions? What have I done? The Judgement card also represented forthcoming rebirth.
Shrugging, Malina flipped the last card.
She gasped.
It was a reversed Tower card. A stone medieval-looking tower was drawn. There was that same eye at the top, in the sky, casting a lightning bolt at the tower. Two people were depicted falling from the tower, a woman in a white dress and a man with a crown on his head.
Malina closed her eyes, trying to think. The reversed Tower card meant that one needed to undergo a personal transformation in order to achieve their destiny. What’s my destiny? she thought, massaging her temple. The reversed Tower card also meant that there was a way to avert the coming danger. Danger? What danger?
“This means nothing”, she whispered hesitantly, taking back the cards. She started shuffling the cards again. Malina glanced at the Orbuculum. She was slightly afraid of it, but also curious. Was she beginning to believe in the mysticism of her profession?
“Let’s try again”, she said and cleared her throat. “What should I do now?”
Malina cut the deck and placed three cards again on the table. With trembling fingers, she turned the first card.
An upright Devil card.
Malina shrieked. An eyeless goat’s head was smiling at her. It was a bad omen, for sure, but it didn’t show her any guidance on what to do next.
Shaking her head, Malina turned the second card.
A reversed Hanged-Man card. A man was hanging from the tree, chained by his ankle. He had bloodshot eyes and a red halo around his head.
It meant she was resisting something. Or someone.
Malina sighed, looking at the man on the card. She remembered Valerie and her travels. Malina was supposed to join her group as well, but she declined at the last moment. Do I need to go somewhere? Should I have gone with them?
Malina flipped the last card.
She stopped.
The card depicted an empty boat, drifting on the black sea. There were ten purple eyes in the cloudy sky of the same colour.
“What the hell…”, she whispered, picking the card up. She didn’t know what the card represented. Or what it was called. It was the first time she had seen that card.
The Orbuculum buzzed. Malina looked up, dropping the card. There seemed to be a faint buzzing sound originating from the crystal sphere. No, Malina thought. It was coming from the inner purple object.
She glanced back at the unknown card. Malina paled. The sea around the boat. It was the same as the sea in her dream.
“Shit”, she uttered, petrified.
She returned the card to the deck and pulled a new one out. Beads of sweat started rolling down her temples.
Malina flipped the card. A reversed Hermit card. “Isolation”, she said, “Loneliness. Getting lost.”
Someone above sees all.
She flipped another card. Death card.
Malina shrieked, pulling another card.
A Fool. It was the Fool card. “Beginnings”, she mouthed, absent-mindedly. “New beginnings. Travel, no, a journey. Do I need to go on a journey?”, she asked.
Malina flipped another card. She stopped breathing. Another Fool card. She stared at the two identical cards. This can’t be, her mind raced. There was only a single copy of every card in her deck.
She pulled another card. Another Fool.
The fourth card was also the fool card.
Malina’s breathing quickened. “Where do I need to go?”, she asked, her voice trembling.
Malina pulled a card. The Emperor card.
Someone opened the door. Malina startled, jumping on her feet. In the doorway, a man stood.
“Oh, Jack, you scared me”, she said, trying to calm herself down.
A young man, barely in his twenties, took a step into her trailer. He carefully looked around. “I’ve just seen Valerie runoff. Is everything okay?”
Malina nodded, gathering the cards on the table. Curiously, there was only one copy of the Fool, unlike what she’d seen a moment before. Malina tied the deck with a string and placed it back into the satchel, together with other contents.
“What are you doing?”, Jack asked again, sounding worried.
Malina looked at him. “I think I’m going on a journey.”
