Page 33 of A Ghost’s Guide to Haunting a Witch

But something was wrong with it.

“Theo?” she murmured.

“What?” he asked quickly.

She leaned closer. At some point — she had no idea when — most of what she’d typed had vanished. The blinking cursor now sat beside just two lonely fragments.

Theo Man

“That’s odd,” she said slowly. “I typed your full name out. I know I did.”

Theo stepped closer behind her, peering over her shoulder. “Maybe you hit backspace.”

“On both words?” she asked sceptically, her eyes lingering on the screen.

Theo Man, she read again, as something stirred at the back of her mind.

Theo.

Man.

The-o.

Her breath caught. “Like a noose,” she whispered. “The o. It’s like a noose.”

“What?” Theo asked.

Augustine turned towards him slowly, her pulse suddenly racing. “The Hanged Man. You . . . you’re the hanged man.”

Theo blinked. “What are you talking about? I was shot. I wasn’t hanged.”

“The tarot card,” she said faintly. “I did a quick, um, read when you left the other day. Asked the cards who you were. They said The Hanged Man.”

“They said?” Theo raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said the cards were just a gimmick. A trick.”

She coloured red but made no reply. Her gaze flicked back to the screen, where the cursor blinked. Theo Man. She swallowed.

I think the universe might be trying to get my attention.

Slowly, she looked back up at him. “What do you want me to do? How can I help you?”

He gazed at her steadily. “Consult your cards. Find out who she is.”

“She?” Augustine frowned. “Your girlfriend?”

He nodded once. “I told you I thought someone might be in trouble because of me — I think it’s her.” His voice softened. “It’s too late for me now, Augustine. But if I can help her — if we can help her — we should. Someone murdered me. I can’t let them get to her too.”

Again, a ‘no’ formed on her lips. She hadn’t done a full tarot read in . . . what had it been? Four years? Maybe five?

Ten, her mind reminded her. When you read Mum’s cards that final time. Remember what happened? That’s why you stopped. That’s why you had to stop.

She gazed at Theo intently. Even now, with the universe apparently throwing signs at her left, right and centre, uncertainty still sat deep in her bones.

Uranus is forming a tight opposition with Mercury, right as the veil is thinning. Celestine’s words abruptly came tumbling back into Augustine’s mind, and she hesitated. Secrets are coming out, she reminded herself.

Secrets she and her sisters needed badly to stay hidden.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just don’t know.”