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“A psychic? Let me get this straight. You want me . . . to go with you
. . . to see a psychic?” Lillie Corven abruptly stopped jogging and gulped down
deep breaths of the fresh sea air. She turned to see her friend face to face.
“I believe this California heat has fried your brain.”

“No, my brain is working better than ever, silly. It’s just that
vacations shouldn’t be boring, right?”

Grace Kendall raised her hands in the air and shrugged her shoulders.
Lillie slapped her hand on her own thigh and sniggered at her friend’s silly
declaration. Sweat dripped down her face so she glanced over at the ocean where
the palm trees blew in the wind. Despite her state of shock, she welcomed the
invasive odor of salt water into her nostrils.

“Boring is one thing. Wasting time is another. And your idea is a huge
waste of my precious time.”

Grace winked her right eye in her best friend’s direction and wolfed
down water from her pink bottle. Red curly-kinky hair framed her heart shaped
face perfectly, emphasizing the coyness of her radiant smile.

“Look. We’re here on vacation to relax. There’s no time to entertain
your silly new age fetish.” 

With Lillie’s hectic work schedule, she rarely had time to wind down,
so she decided to take full advantage of this opportunity. She’d planned water
excursions, massages, and other luxurious adventures for this vacation.
Supernatural visitations from the dark side weren’t part of the plan.

“Hey! Don’t hate me because I’m open to the spirit world.”

Grace, the quintessential flower child and free spirit, drove Lillie
bananas. She placed her right hand on her cocked hip and retorted, “Whatever!
Let’s finish this run so we can shower and get ready for our massages.”

 “Not so fast, sister. Sage does
readings in the comfort of her own home, which is just a little further down
the beach.”

“Sage?” Lillie screamed and as her mouth dropped her eyeballs bulged
out. “Humph! Only you would be on a first name basis with a clairvoyant beach
bum. I bet this was in your plan all along.”

 “Well, not exactly,” Grace
reached to scratch her nose and diverted her her attention to the ground. At
that point, Lillie knew she was lying.

“I’ve heard her visions are ninety-five percent accurate and since
we’re close to her home­­­­­­­­­­­­—”

“Shut the front door!” Lillie exclaimed. “She actually keeps track of
how many of her visions come to fruition?”

As an entrepreneur, Lillie understood the power of metrics. These
numbers tell a story for current clients and gave future clients an idea of
what her firm has to offer. Presenting a scorecard with strong measurements
separated her from other companies bidding on the same contracts. Sage did work
out of her home, so technically, she could be considered an entrepreneur, too.
Tracking success stories probably kept her in business. She’d almost convinced
herself that Sage’s practice was normal, and then she came back to her senses.
She’d seen too many exposés on psychics and wasn’t about to fall for this mess.
Several years ago, Miss Cleo, from the Psychic Friends Network took the world
by storm with her infomercials. Thank goodness droves of people exposed her
plethora of lies before she could rip anyone else off for her own financial
gain.

Lillie zeroed in on Grace, looked her dead square in the eye, and
shouted, “Do you really believe in this stuff?”

 “Oh, so just because her
business isn’t as straight laced as yours, it’s not real?” Grace challenged.

Lillie prided herself in being open to the perspective of others
without compromising her own beliefs. She couldn’t believe Grace had the nerve
to compare her legitimate business to Sage’s fake shenanigans.

“You know what? I’ll go with you, just to prove your Sage is a fraud
and a charlatan.”

 “Maybe you’ll convince her to
get saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost,” Grace jested, as she
dropped her head towards the ground and bucked her hips in the air, faking a
church lady shout.

 “Humph! We’ll see.”

“Her place is right by the flimsy looking T-shirt shack.”

Her eyes brightened as she pointed in the direction of their
destination.

“Down there by those crooked palm trees?”

“Um hm. It sure it. In fact, I’ll race you there.”

Before Lillie could respond, Grace took off running with a powerful,
cheetah-like stride that caught the attention of several onlookers. Standing in
Grace’s trail of sand, Lillie’s jaw dropped. Without hesitation, she jolted
into action, pumping her arms and legs with gazelle like intensity. Lillie
executed each stride with precision and speed. She welcomed the taste of
victory as she increased the pace.

Grace floated through the salt-flavored air like a slinky greyhound
sniffing out the finish line. At the foot of her friend’s heel, Lillie
continued to press towards the mark. At that moment, Grace lengthened her
stride and released an exponential dose of nitro, almost crashing into Sage’s
gate just to beat Lillie by one stride.

“Hah! Top that!”

Lillie swallowed the nasty taste of defeat while Grace danced circles
around her, belting out,    “I am the
champion! I am the champion!”

Onlookers who watched the race applauded and cheered while Lillie
stomped the ground, causing morsels of sand to invade her eyes. She rubbed them
with vigor, but the sandpapery feeling clouded her vision for a moment. 

“You know I would have won if you were woman enough to race me fair and
square.

 Now, they were face to face with
Sage’s tiny beach house. Lillie couldn’t help but take notice of the tide
rolling away while the seagulls dove through the cloudless sky. She wondered if
the briny oceanic scent attracted them to the sandy haven. Just then, a
shimmery chill filled the air in the midst of the California heat and the hair
on Lillie’s back rose. Her feet rooted to the ground as her confidence faded
and an ominous fear took over her psyche.

“Do you feel that?”

Grace didn’t respond so Lillie whipped her head around to see Grace’s
chest heave up and down to an erratic rhythm. Ironically, their capricious
heart palpitations seemed to be in harmony. Thump, thump! Thump! Thump, thump,
thump! Both women shivered, despite the fact they were in the midst of
ninety-degree heat. New beads of sweat formed on Lillie’s forehead and trickled
down into her ears.

As her anticipation grew, Lillie tried to shift her focus from her
emotional reaction to the tangible surroundings. To Lillie’s surprise, no neon
lights or marketing signs let those passing by know this was the home of a
psychic. Blue paint peeled off the wood that had given way to the abuse of the
corrosive sea air. Wild, unkempt trees with uneven branches and dried leaves
surrounded the perimeter of the home. The weed infested flower garden revealed
the heart of plants crying out for tender love and care. A beach house was
supposed to be synonymous with relaxation. This one didn’t meet that criterion.

Grace sauntered onto the porch and quickly rang the doorbell. Who
Lillie imagined would answer didn’t appear. Before her stood a portly older
woman, not the exotic strumpet she’d expected. She’d even envisioned Sage
wearing a purple hip scarf with gold coins dangling from the cloth. Instead,
this so-called psychic had all the trappings of an Amish grandmother.  

“Hi. I’m Sage. I’ve been expecting you two.”

Her voice rang sweetly like an old church mother who gave out
peppermints and hugs. Sage flashed a smile revealing a dental disaster that
could have been the catalyst for the war in Iraq. Tiny pieces of meat stuck in
between her tartar-encrusted teeth, dingy brown in color. When Sage opened her
mouth to speak, the stench almost knocked Lillie off her feet. She convulsed as
she felt bile in her stomach rise. The lethal stench that emanated from Sage’s
orifice was definitely a secret weapon for world domination. Disgusted, Lillie
turned away from Sage and focused on the disaster called a living room, filled
with a plethora of hideous, dated furniture, full of holes. This money pit was
a far cry from the psycadelic shack Lillie imagined for the beach diviner. In
fact, the room was void of any overt display of mystic paraphernalia. Despite
the need for a good old-fashioned cleaning, Lillie saw one redeeming quality -
the comfort of a cool sea breeze wafting through the unscreened windows.

Sage gestured for Lillie and Grace to follow her down the hall. When
they entered her workplace, the beach-filled aroma from the other room
transitioned to one of mothballs and cedar pine blocks. Grace immediately
turned her nose up in disgust. Unlike the entry room, this one reeked of the
typical paraphernalia she expected to see; tarot cards, crystals, candles,
statues of angels, and herbs. Sage plopped her bottom down on a dusty chair and
lit a murky green candle. The force of the flame meeting the wax resulted in
the emission of a vaguely familiar scent.

Sage welcomed her guests to sit in front of her workstation. She pulled
out a translucent crystal ball and gently set it on an ornate silver stand
fashioned out of entwined red-eyed cobras. Lillie prayed silently for divine
protection when she thought she saw their eyes shift. Sage closed her eyes for
a brief moment then reopened them to stare at some imaginary item over Lillie’s
shoulder. From the look of things, she appeared to be in a trance. Without
warning, her eyes moved in swift little circles then rolled back into her head.

Caught up in Sage’s web of deception, Grace twisted her fingertips. Not
as receptive to Sage’s mystical antics, Lillie crossed her arms and lodged her
feet in the ground like a tree planted by the rivers of water. She wanted
nothing to do with this pathetic charade. Without warning, Sage hummed like a
Buddhist monk, then, she blurted out, “You. Young lady, what’s your name?”

 “If you’re a psychic, shouldn’t
you know it already?”

An exasperated sigh escaped from Sage’s lips as she tapped her fingers
on the desk, waiting for a response. The resounding echo resembled ominous
claps of thunder on a stormy summer night; an audio cacophony created to make
even the fiercest linebacker to run for cover. Lillie’s initial level of
confidence dropped, as she tasted the salty beads of sweat slowly dribbling
down her face. 

“My. Name. Is. . . . Lil. . . Lillie.”

The tremors in her voice shook like a six point earthquake on the
Richter scale. Unable to control her own body, she shifted from one side of the
chair to the other. Lillie noticed the tiny hair on her arms rising. She rubbed
her arms for comfort, only to feel the formation of tiny goose bumps. Fear ran
rampant and Lillie didn’t know how to catch it, so she closed her eyes and
scrunched up her cheeks. Sage cackled like a crazy witch flying across the sky
in a shabby broom. Then she spoke sweetly, “Ah, a lily. What a deceptive
flower. So delicate, its beauty is often mistaken as weakness.” Sage stopped
for a moment and looked in Lillie’s eyes. “As I observe your aura, I see . . .”

“My what?” Lillie squirmed as a gust of cold air sent chills down her
spine. She vehemently shook her head and narrowed her glinting stare, leaning
in towards Sage’s bizarre presence. Sage sighed and rolled her eyes, placing
her hand over her forehead and shaking it vigorously.

“Your aura. You know, your energy field. Your life force. The color
around you that’s not visible to the carnal eye. Yours is indigo, or a deep
blue. You have visions, right?”

Grace’s mouth dropped as she stared at Lillie in disbelief. Even though
she and Grace were close, Lillie had never revealed this to her friend. She
couldn’t believe this crazy psychic would be privy to such information. Then
she remembered. God give some gifts prior to repentance.

“You don’t have to answer, Sage already knows,” she purred like a black
cat on Halloween.

“Why are you talking about yourself in third person?”

Lillie’s attempt at sarcasm was unsuccessful. She felt the invasion of
Sage peering into her soul. The depth of her scrutinizing gape was unbearable,
so Lillie looked at the ground to avoid further eye contact. Still unable to
get comfortable, she shuffled her feet back and forth.

“Well, the eyes are the window to the soul. Even though you’re trying
to block me, I’ve seen enough, so hold on for the ride. You’ll marry and bear
children with a powerful and influential man. The two of you will work together
in some capacity.”

Lillie choked on the water and spit the excess contents of her mouth
all over Sage’s grubby, linoleum floor. This psychic prophecy was so
overwhelming it seemed sacrilegious. Without warning, the room began to shake
and Sage chanted in an eerie, foreign language. Grace buried her head in her
lap and released a muffled scream. The scented candle that initially assaulted
Lillie’s nostrils was now more pungent. It reminded her of the spice her mother
used when seasoning poultry - sage. Just as quickly as it started, the room
stopped shaking and everything went back to normal. Almost as if, it never
really occurred at all. Sage opened her eyes and lifted her head to meet
Lillie’s eyes again. She narrowed her own and curled up her lips. Just as
Sage’s eyebrows rose, she blurted out, “Wait a minute, there’s more. Um, let me
see your palm, please. I need to be sure.”

Grace finally came up for air and laughed like a crazy hyena. Lillie
kicked her friend under the table to no avail. Sage reached for Lillie’s hand
and a young girl skipped out of the adjacent room, adorned in a dingy gingham
dress with a crusty looking mock apron. Her deep-set grey cat eyes caught Lillie’s
attention as she played in her stringy dishwater blond hair. Lillie cringed
when she heard the young girl butchering the notes of a familiar nursery rhyme.

“Hickory Dickory Dock. The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck
one. The mouse ran down. Hickory—”

The girl stopped in her tracks and gasped when she laid eyes on Lillie.
“Get away from here, you . . . you . . . you . . . ,” she screamed in anguish
and sprinted full speed out of the room leaving what seemed like a trail of
smoke behind her, as if she was on fire.

The piercing sound led Lillie to place her hands over her ears.
Offended by the child’s actions, she demanded of Sage, “What’s wrong with her?”

Sage shot Lillie an irritated glare and then let out a sinister laugh
that shook Lillie deep down within her soul. Grace plopped her head back down
in her lap again and let out the same muffled scream as before. Lillie couldn’t
help but jump in her seat when Sage slammed her fist on the table with
tumultuous force.

“There’s nothing wrong with her. She just confirmed what I thought. The
spirit of death is chasing you and you can’t outrun it no matter what you do.”

Overwhelmed by Sage’s revelation, Lillie tried to stand to her feet.
She had every intention of grabbing her friend and running as far from this
place as possible. On the contrary, she found herself unable to control her own
body and fell to the ground in a catatonic state. Against her better judgment,
Lillie surrendered to the void of her subconscious mind and in moments,
everything went . . . black.