Pick A Card Report

General Summary

As Hilda and George walk away from their successful attempt to scare Derek Buford, George begins wandering along the edge of the street. He notices a townhouse up ahead with a bowlful of candy and a "take one" sign. Ever the Unseelie, George takes a fistful. He turns and his eyes alight on a red sports car parked on the street. The redcap grins as he gets an evil idea. He rings the doorbell on the house, and an older lady, drunk, and dressed as a sexy cat, opens the door. He asks who owns the car, and she squints at it before replying that it's "Jeremy's." When George asks if she can get him, the woman drunkenly acquiesces. As Jeremy steps outside, George asks if that is Jeremy's vehicle - much like the woman, Jeremy is pretty wasted. Which is why he tolerates two pretty awful poems from George about the car (bunks for Dragon's Ire). He does, however, get quite upset when George uses his Burning Thew strength to punch in the headlights on the sports car. Hilda, never one to miss an opportunity for mayhem, strikes the windshield with her ruler-but-also-a-sword, shattering it. As Jeremy yells in shock, George rips off his mask, exposing his true redcap face (as Skulde has yet to drop her invoking of the Wyrd from when they scared Derek). Jeremy screams and falls backward in his attempt to get away. George snarls that Jeremy should be grateful for all that the fae do for "them," for "good or evil." Then he replaces his mask and follows Skulde as she runs away, heading for Ashby Manor/ The four changeling children meet back at the manor, and as they loiter outside, George and Frank decide to have a mock duel. Though when they decide to take a second to eat some candy before hand, Skulde throws a tantrum. She wanted to see them fight now, and she even invokes her Sovereign to try and force the fight. Unfortunately it doesn't work, so instead she uses Winter to freeze Frank's clothes again. When they finally do fight, the stiff, rime-covered clothing gives George the advantage and he soundly beats the sidhe. Skulde sighs and leads the other children inside, where they are gifted masks made of paper mâché and robes made of rags - dressing them as members of mock royalty. There is also a feast, prepared by the boggan house members: fruit tarts, spinach-and-sausage quiches, apple cider, frothy hot chocolate, and many more. For the redcaps, a second more bloody feast is prepared. George wanders off to his own kind's table, while the others partake in the many beautiful dishes available to them. As they eat, Hilda gets a text from her friend Samantha Wise - who is at another Halloween party - asking where she is. On a spur of the moment decision, Hilda invites Samantha to Ashby Manor. After a bit of pleading, Samantha agrees, showing up soon after. Skulde wastes no time in enchanting her friend, who almost immediately has a panic attack as she sees all the wonderful things that were hidden from her mortal eyes. After calming Samantha down, Skulde suggests that she and Frank take Samantha on a tour. Frank readily agrees, and so the two sidhe take their new mortal friend to witness all the sights, delights, and scares of being a fairy. Meanwhile, Charles and George have wandered outside, where they see a figure draped in black wandering the grounds, their hands twisting and fingers shifting. At first cautious, the two approach to see that it is an eshu with a set of tarot cards. A quite dark and menacing looking eshu, but an eshu nonetheless. Both decide to have their fortunes read. For George, he receives The Magician, The Hanged Man, and The Lovers, with only the last card upside down. The eshu proclaims that George has come into power as of late, that he is brimming with resourcefulness and untapped potential. But he is in danger of stalling out and surrendering his power to someone or something. They warn that if they let the fear of change and transformation take hold, if George surrenders his power to prevent a transformation, he could stall out forever. For Charles, he receives Strength, The Tower, and Death. Only the second card is upside down. The eshu predicts that Charles is a person of great passion and strength. That he has great courage within him. Similar to George, they claim that Charles will soon face a crisis of change, like a chrysalis - a catalyst for some great transformation. The eshu predicts that if Charles fights against this change, that he will also become stagnant. Two very similar predictions, but one predicts surrender, the other conflict. Who's will come true? Are all things said by a changeling fortune teller fated to come to pass? Only time will tell, as inside the manor, Samantha, in her Halloween costume of a Russian princess, delicately presses her lips against the head of the frog-prince.