The Web of Allyngrood — Francesca Chimenti

Closing her eyes, Gypsy breathed deeply several times, turned over three tarots, then bent them in intent examination. She raised her head, brows meeting portentously, and with significance, her look went straight inside my own.

“There is a man, a man who limps. And there is a man with eyes of yellow. They will cross each other for you…and there is another -- dark and evil. He is full of evil.”

“Where -- where are these men?” I coughed, took a swallow of tea, premonitory fear tingling along my spine.
Flicking over another card from one of her three piles to the right, her talon tapped it several times while her lips moved soundlessly. Finally: “A house -- a large house…a cross and benches…an altar…and many, many windows brightly hued…a church house. Very ancient. A house of hate…”
I shuddered. Allyngrood Abbey. It could be none other…

She had pulled out a card from the bottom of a group of six. Carefully, and very slowly, she turned it over. She shrank back against her chair. “Do not go. Do not make this journey…A web…It is being spun. And the spider sits waiting in the center. One-eyed and hungry…

Also published as: The Web of Deception