Be Careful What You Wish For

Another boring and uneventful day goes back at school. Selene can’t wait until she graduates. If she could speed up time, she’d want to bring it here faster. Although... time needs to be on her side. She needs to find the answers about the ghost. With a sigh, she enters the building that she sadly lives in. It’s not that it’s a bad house itself, but this place has never felt like home. It’s not her home, and it never will be. The events of her life has made sure of that.
While going over to the kitchen to debate on having a snack, Selene finds no one. No one was in the living room over, and with a peek into the next room over, she sees that there is no one in the dining room as well. She goes over to the calendar that is hung up on the wall and finds the date.
Dinner and a Movie
That explains it. Of course neither of her guardians, if you could even call them that, told her that they would be out for the day. It looks like she will be having to make dinner for herself tonight. Now she’s not in the mood for a snack.
But then it hits her. They are out for the day... She could easily try to find answers in the attic without any hiding. Well, now she really does not mind having to fix up some pasta or soup. She quickly runs up to her room to put her bag away before she makes up way to the attic. Once she sets her back down, she almost walks out, but then she the picture of her mother catches her eye. Her face falls slightly at the sight of it. Selene can’t stop herself as she makes her way over to it and picks it up.
“Mom, I really wish you were here to help me sort this all out. You’d know what to do. I’m just a young witch with no idea what I’m doing. Is this all about my wish? Or are you-”
Selene stops speaking abruptly. She can feel it; a presence behind her. It’s the same one from before. She can tell. Knowing that looking will probably cause her head to pound, she doesn’t turn around. If only she knew who it was or what it wanted. She looks down at the picture in her hands. Is this her mom? The idea seems too good to be true, and she doesn’t know why it would appear this way or cause her pain if it was her mother. Still though, Selene hopes that this really is her.
Hoping to find answers, she puts the imagine down and makes her way up to the attic. The presence follows. It causes the hair on the back of her neck to stand up, but she carries on without a word as she makes her way over to the box that holds her mother’s old tools for divination. Using something from this box would probably be the easiest to find the answers and the less lightly to blow up in her face. The problem is that the answer isn’t going to be clear, and she has also never used any of these as well.
A string bag calls out to her, and she finds herself picking them up. Opening it reveals a deck of tarot cards. Tarot is a common way of divination, and there are calling out to her... Yes, this should work. Luckily Selene finds a book in the box as well that explains the meanings of the cards in the Rider-Waite system. Figuring that the deck follows that system, she takes the book and walks to the middle of the room and to the same spot that she cast that wishing spell. She makes sure to avoid looking at the presence that is still there hanging over her.
Now that she has the book and the cards, she needs to find a spread that could work. The third chapter is about different spreads, and Selene ends up deciding on using the classic Celtic Cross spread. It’s a large spread, but she knows nothing about what is happening to her, so more info should be useful. Now let’s see... She needs to shuffle the cards, divide them into three piles, and pick one to go on top using her left hand. The book also states that that is just an example of how you can shuffle, but since Selene has no idea what she is doing, she goes with it. Almost instantly, she drops the deck. A curse escapes her as she picks them back up. Some of the cards are now reversed, but Selene feels like this might have happened on purpose since they do hold another meaning when they are reversed. She continues on and lays out the spread.
This is it. She’s finally going to get some answers. Slowly she flips the cards over...
The Present: The Tower
The Challenge: The Moon
The Past: The Fool Reversed
The Future: The Lovers
Above: Death
Below: The Sun
Advice: King of Cups
External Influence: The Wheel of Fortune
Hopes and/or Fears: Three of Swords
Outcome: Two of Cups

Alright, but what does this all mean. She opens the book to find a page with meanings for each card. This may take some time... Ah, there is a section of keywords and... Selene finds notes taken by her mother. She takes a moment to touch her hand to page. While shaking her head, she starts to look at those and the key meanings. Let’s see...
The present is the tower which is a sudden change that cannot be avoided. There is also enlightenment because you can see all that you’ve built as it’s destroyed. Selene isn’t sure that her present would be to that point, but perhaps there is more going on than what she has felt and seen.
The challenge is the moon which deals with illusions, the subconscious, dreams, confusion, not seeing the picture... It also says that the moon could be showing an illusion or the real issue that needs you to decide on. That makes sense. She has no idea what is happening to her. Again though, she’s not sure if this shows the deeped truth than what she knows is happening. Dreams? Illusions? The subconscious? Where does that come from?
The past is the Fool reversed. Upright, he takes chances and takes a leap. He starts to new journey, and this is isn’t a bad thing, but when it’s reversed... He does it without thinking at all, and it’s not good. It also says that he’s doing this without thinking of the others around him. It’s irresponsible and not wise. Could this be talking about the spell that she cast?
The future is the Lovers... What? Is she going to find a boyfriend or something? Ah, this card is about partnership and doesn’t just mean boyfriends/girlfriends and husbands/wives. Her mom read is much more like this. The book also mentions that it can be about decisions as well. This is future..., but really? And this isn’t even the outcome.
Above, which is what she could want out of this, is Death. Yes, she agrees. She does want this to end or transform or something.
Then there is below which is the same thing, but it’s what she wants deep down. This is the Sun. Yeah, she would like things to work out and be all sunshine and rainbows.
The advice is from the King of Cups... Wow. That is a lot of notes and also a lot of print. She skims through it, and the part that she takes away from this is that she needs to follow her heart. Sounds like good advice.
External influences is the Wheel of Fortune. Great. Thanks fate. Thanks destiny. Hopefully this works out. Well, it is generally seen as being more good luck, so that’s a good sign.
Hopes and/or fears is the Three of Swords which is heartbreak, betrayal... Yeah, that is scarey...
Anyway, the last card is the outcome which is the Two of Cups. It seems that this is another “love” card. It’s also about partnerships, harmony, peace... So perhaps the Lovers card stuff will happen, and then this will deepen it? It says it can deepen an existing relationship.
Could this really mean that it was all about the spell she cast?
The presence starts to fade behind her. No, she must know why it is here and who it is. Is this her mom come to help her? Or is this presence somehow related to the spell. She wills herself to turn around. It hurts, but she manages to get a glimpse of the fading flames as she calls out,
“Don’t go.”

Notes

Ugh, my internet has been bad. I'm stuck using my computer (a desktop) out in the living room. And can I just say it feels weird writing while my brother is asleep on the chaise? lol.
Anyway, I haven't used the Celtic Cross myself yet, but the one in the story is from Biddy Tarot. There are a couple of different versions of it, but I thought this would be easier to make a spread with.Kind of weird coming up with the cards instead of drawing them. This is generally how I read those cards though. I went basic and didn't talk about what the deck looked like since Selene wouldn't know about interpretting the cards instead of just knowing the key meanings. (That's actually something that I'm working on myself. lol)