Subj: PASSION ATE DARK SHADOWS Part Eleven
Date: 4/30/00 7:42:08 AM Central Daylight Time
From: N.E. Collins

Josette fretted and fussed as she hovered around her Aunt Natalie. After the dreadful ordeal of her unexplainable faint everyone had insisted that the Countess been seen by a doctor immediately. Natalie would have none of it. She refused to be "violated by some backwoods country witch doctor"! All the beggings and urgings of her niece fell on deaf ears. Natalie knew what was best for herself. All she needed was to consult her cards. Then everything would be made clear.

The two of them were alone in Natalie's private quarters in the East Wing of the great house. She all but ignored Josette as she finished the final shuffle of the deck. She drew the first card and laid it down. It was The Magician, the card that represented Barnabas Collins as in the very first reading she did when she arrived in Collinsport! But it was inverted!

"Barnabas Collins will be the same, but different. He will be maligned. What once was good about him will become evil."

"Poor Barnabas!" spoke Josette tenderly.

She laid the second card to cross the first. It was The Devil!

"The Father of all lies! He is behind this further decline on Barnabas Collins!"

"Is there no hope, aunt?"

"We must look further into the future." She laid down the next card. It was The Wicked Woman just as before! She wasted no time in crossing it with the next card which was Death!

"The witch will die! And perhaps Barnabas will be released from his horror?" She questioned no one in particular. She often spoke this way when engaging in the occult.

"So," spoke up Josette. "Phyliss Wicke will be hanged as a witch after all. I really did not believe she was the one, but now your cards have proven it! Tell me, aunt. Did you believe she was before now?"

Natalie did not answer right away and when she did she could not bring herself to look her niece in the eye. "No, I did not suspect the governess, but, as you say, here is the proof."

The next card was laid out. The High Priestess. This was Josette, and Natalie's hand shook slightly as she crossed it with the next card. When she saw what it was a chill went through her like stale frost! It was The Cliffs of Sorrow, a card which denoted nothing but sadness and sorrow. She told Josette that she would be sad for quite some time, and Josette said that was nothing she did not already know herself.

The next card was The Ace of Cups, the card of love! It was crossed by the Three of Swords, inverted which indicated the sudden loss of love. Natalie could not understand what these two cards meant so she laid out two final ones to see if she could scry their meaning. The second to the last card was The Empress, which she attributed to being herself. It was crossed by the final card, The Ace of Wands, which means a new beginning.