Plans and divinations.

Chapter 5 – Lake House Vacation (continued)

“I already owe your ass a favor.” Heather reminded him.

“You do?” Alex asked.

“He unzipped me last weekend when I was a little drunk.” Heather explained, shrugging nonchalantly.

“Oh.” Alex worried her lower lip. Jason could tell she was mentally debating whether to voice her disapproval of Heather’s drinking, ultimately deciding against it. Then she met Jason’s gaze after glancing at the suntan lotion in his hand. “Hey, do me now?” She asked, as she moved to lay on her stomach.

“Sure.” Jason got up from sitting over Heather, set down her tube of lotion, and grabbed Alex’s sunscreen as his sister made herself comfortable.

“Don’t do any weird shit.” Heather admonished, cracking an eye open to watch the two of them. “What’s this favor you want?”

“It’s for Kate. She thinks making herself strong has made her unattractive. I want to prove her wrong.” He said as he began spreading lotion on the back of Alex’s neck and shoulders as she pulled her hair out of the way.

“How the piss you gonna do that?” Heather asked.

“My idea is to have you do something you think should turn me on, then pants me to reveal I’m not hard. Then I can confront Kate in a semi-compromising position and show her the evidence of my arousal.” He started on Alex’s shoulders with the sunscreen.

“That’s a shitty-ass idea. You just want an excuse to see us naked or some shit.” Heather accused.

“No, it doesn’t have to be full-on naked. And I’m sure you can be very sexy without taking a stitch off. Just think about it for a moment before you give me your answer. This is for Kate.” As he said it, he was getting lotion along the exposed parts of Alex’s back as she made quiet satisfied sounds.

“It’s a bit out there, but Kate is very stuck in her mindset, she may need something a little **** to convince her.” Alex suggested.

“You’re on his side on this?” Heather glared at Alex for a moment before settling back down, grumbling a bit before finally answering, “It’s not a very well thought out idea, but I think you’re right on the premise at least.”

“If you have some ideas to help refine it, I’d be willing to listen.” Jason assured her as he rubbed sunscreen along Alex’s hips and thighs. “But we can discuss it more later; Kate’s headed this way.”

“Are you not going to come swimming?” Kate asked as she approached them.

“I’ve been designated the sunscreen guy.” Jason explained, shrugging as he moved down Alex’s legs to her calves. “I’d be happy to swim with you once I’m done.”

“Don’t forget your own sunscreen.” Alex cautioned.

“I don’t think any of them bothered with sunscreen.” Kate pointed with her thumb at the four teens in the water, and two women hanging out on the docks nearby.

“Not sure if Tigerlily there needs it if she’s only going to be out there a short while, but we should try to make sure everyone gets some sunscreen, or else goes back inside soon.” Heather suggested.

“When I’m finished with Alex, I’ll go down there with a couple tubes of sunscreen.” Jason offered. “Then I can swim with you a bit if you want, Kate.”

She flashed him a grateful smile, but then picked up hers and Heather’s sunscreen before turning back towards the lake. “I’ll offer to help some of them with sunscreen in the meantime.” She said as she started away.

The three of them waited until Kate was out of earshot before Heather said, “Okay, I’ve got a dope idea. Let’s do a fucking movie night once the kids go to bed. I’m gonna put on True Lies.”

“Oh. You’ve always been critical of that dance scene.” Alex said, seeming to pick up on Heather’s idea.

Jason simply nodded, trusting the two girls that they knew what they were doing. “Alright, I should give you a signal when you’re ready so you’ll know that I’m successfully resisting getting hard before you pants me.” He added. “Alex, go ahead and turn over so I can do your front.”

“I can probably do my front myself, if you wanted to get down to help Kate and the others with the sunscreen.” Alex replied as she started to turn over.

“How about this shit, I’ll tap my thigh with two fingers when I’m ready to pants you, and you can make an okay symbol down by your side out of sight if you’re good to go, or a two finger cut motion if you need to abort your ass?”

“Sounds good to me.” Jason agreed, “Mind if I borrow this?” He asked as he picked up Alex’s sunscreen.

“Go right ahead.” His sister shrugged, and Jason headed off down to the beach with the borrowed sunscreen and his own bottle in his pocket. He saw that Kate had gotten Percy and Lucy started with sunscreen, so he headed to the docks where Lena and Chloe were still hanging out.

After their fun in the lake, everyone came back inside and changed back into regular clothes with a few of them taking showers, while others decided to wait. Jason and Alex helped Lena prepare dinner, which was nothing fancy, just ham sandwiches and a salad.

Then Percy decided it was time for him and Chloe to help her with her divinations as promised. “Alright, we said we would, didn’t we?” Jason agreed as the three of them went upstairs, only for Lucy to quickly catch up to them on the landing.

“I wanna watch.” The blonde girl explained.

“That’s fine.” Jason assured her.

The four of them filed into the lake room where Percy went to her bags, and started rummaging through them for her divination tools. “I didn’t bring the rune bones.” She admitted after she’d retrieved a pair of wiccan ritual books, her tarot cards, and a packet of instant green tea.

“I’ll get a mug of hot water.” Chloe offered, quickly heading back towards the door.

“It doesn’t need to be full.” Jason reminded her.

“Yeah I know.” She was then out the door and they could hear her footsteps retreating down the stairs.

“Alright, let’s review the spell instructions.” Jason suggested, reaching for the first of the books Percy had inherited from him, and opening the well-worn pages until he came to the two page instructions on how to set up a tea-leaf reading.

While he was reviewing that, Percy was shuffling the tarot cards.

“Let’s just use the major arcana.” Jason suggested. “I’ve never been great at tarot reading to begin with, so let’s keep it as simple as we can.”

“Um, okay, that might work better.” She turned the cards around and started separating the major arcana from the other cards.

Chloe returned shortly with a mug of steaming water in one hand, and a bowl in the other hand, “I figure if it’s too much, we can pour some of it out.” She said as she set both items on the nightstand.

“Okay.” Jason set the book down, “Percy, get your tea ready.”

“Can you finish separating the major arcana for me, Chloe?” She asked, handing the tarot cards to Jason’s best friend.

“Sure.” She agreed, and started sorting the cards while Jason gave instructions to Percy.

He had her tear open the tea bag and pour a portion of the crumbled leaves directly into the hot water. Then she swirled the mixture with both hands cupped around the mug.

“When it’s cool enough, take a sip. You need to ingest some, but not a lot. Lord knows, you don’t need the caffeine this late.”

Lucy chuckled, and Jason gave her a smile. They waited for a few minutes, and Jason encouraged his sister to be patient, though he could tell she wasn’t good at waiting.

But eventually, the mixture cooled, and Percy took a sip. She swished the drink in her mouth, then swallowed, then Jason held out the bowl for her to spit out a few flecks of the leaves that had made it into her mouth.

“Good, good.” He complimented her form. “Now, carefully drain off the remaining water into the bowl, leaving just enough that the tea leaves can still be moved around the bottom of the mug.”

With that step done, he watched as the 13-year-old rolled the mug around in her hands while staring down at the movement of the leaves inside. “Focus on your question.” Jason suggested. “Focus on Johnny, and his return home.”

“I think I’ve got something.” Percy gasped, “What does that look like to you?” She asked, tilting the cup towards Jason.

“Don’t show it to me, I’m not casting the spell. Just form a picture of it in your mind, and consult the book.” Jason told her, turning the book towards her and pushing it next to her.

She glanced back and forth between her mug and the book, occasionally turning a page, and fighting to keep the mug still. Finally, she said, “It kind of looks like this snakey thing, if it had a couple extra heads.”

“Snakes represent healing, or transformation. Not sure about the multiple heads thing. You sure it doesn’t resemble any other signs?”

“Maybe this one here about traveling a long road? Can’t you take a look at it?”

“Nothing about the time frame?” Chloe asked.

“Well, there is a shape that seems to repeat about five times. So that could be five years again.”

“I think you have about as clear an answer as you’re likely to get. We know he’s far away, so it’ll be a long journey for him to return in about five years, and he’ll be changed by his experiences, maybe healed in some way.” Jason suggested.

Lucy sighed and sat back. “That’s not very helpful.”

“Divination rarely is.” He shrugged.

“So, tarot cards now?” Lucy asked, thoroughly enthralled by the proceedings so far.

“Go for it.” Jason encouraged as Chloe handed the separated deck to Percy.

Meanwhile, Jason opened the second book, and flipped through the pages until he found descriptions of the card meanings. “Okay, spread the cards.” He instructed, and Percy expertly fanned her shuffled cards out in front of her. “Focus on what you’re trying to learn about. Focus on Johnny, and his journey home.” He paused as her face scrunched up in thought. “Now, find a card.”

Percy’s hand hovered over the cards, and finally she selected one and turned it over, “The Hanged Man.”

“Upright?” Jason asked.

“Yeah.”

“So sacrifice. He’s on deployment; that could be the start of his journey, where he is now. Find another card.”

Frowning, Percy set the card face up above the others, and hovered her hand over the spread once more. After a long moment she selected a second card. “This one’s the uh… Empress.” She said, turning her head to the side, “No wait, the High Priestess, she’s got the ankh.”

“Upright?”

“No, she’s upside down.”

“Let’s see.” Jason scanned the pages in front of him, “It means loss of center, or lack of direction.”

“But he’s got direction, he’s fighting for freedom, right?” Percy asked.

“Right now he is, but maybe when he’s done he’ll have trouble finding new purpose.” Chloe suggested.

“The three cards are meant to represent past present and future.” Jason reminded them. “So this could already be affecting him. Go ahead and find the third card, Percy.”

The brown-haired teen set the second card down face up, and held her hand once more over the remaining cards spread out over the blanket. She closed her eyes this time, and really concentrated. The rest of them were quiet, even Lucy, as they watched in rapt attention. Finally Percy’s hand descended, and landed on a single card. She took a deep breath and raised it up, but the corner of the card caught the card next to it and flipped it over in the process.

“Shit!” She set her first card down face up, and reached for the errant card.

“Hold on.” Jason stalled her, looking at the two cards now side by side. “You picked up the Hermit reversed, but also flipped over the Lovers sideways.”

“Does that mean something special?” Lucy asked.

“I don’t know. It could just be an accident, or it could be part of the telling. Let’s look at the book.”

Jason examined the pages for a moment, “Well, first off, the Hermit reversed indicates loneliness or becoming lost.” He read off. “And the Lovers can indicate finding a romantic connection, of course, but can also represent a duality, or if it’s reversed it could mean a disruption or imbalance.”

“What about sideways?” Lucy asked.

“Usually they don’t get drawn sideways. So assuming it means anything, maybe it means both are somehow true?”

“Well, I don’t like the idea of Johnny being lost or alone.” Percy muttered. “But I’m not sure an imbalanced or disrupted connection or duality is much better.”

“Well, that’s what your reading says. It’s up to you to interpret what it all means.” Jason said, leaning back a little. “Do you want to try meditation next, or perhaps you should get ready for bed then try your hand at lucid dreaming a little later?”

Percy sighed, and Lucy put a hand on her shoulder. “I guess I’ll do the dreaming. That didn’t work out so well for me last time, however.”

“If you want, you can come wake me up when you’re awake, and we can talk about it while it’s fresh in your mind.”

“Alright. Thanks, Jason.” She said, giving him a hug before getting up off the bed and putting his borrowed books away. “Now get out of here so we can change.”

“We’re going.” Chloe said as she tugged Jason out the door and down the hall into their shared room.

“Do you think any of that really worked?” The Navajo girl asked as soon as the door was closed.

“It’s hard to say. When I performed my ward and confirmed it was successful with the app, I couldn’t feel any difference before seeing it on the app. It mostly depends on whether or not Percy was doing it right. And whether the books were correct in their instructions.”

“That makes sense. And I guess it’s hard to even tell if the predictions are accurate.”

“Always is with divinations.” He agreed.

“So, what’re your plans for the rest of the evening?”

“Oh, that’s right. Let me tell you about the plan I made with Heather and Alex to try and convince Kate how attractive she is.”