Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 31
© Denise Bossarte
Grace
was stepping out of the shower when she heard the doorbell ring, which she
ignored. She had stopped by the apartment for a quick shower and change of
clothes before her meeting with Eli. Whoever it was, they would need to come
back another time. She had way too much on her plate today to deal with anyone.
Grace wanted to get to the conversation
with Eli as soon as possible. She was sure he was keeping things from her. She
would get real answers from him, no matter how many readings it took.
She dried her hair and got dressed by the
time the doorbell rang again.
What is it with these people!
she groused as she hurried down the stairs to throw open the front door.
The open door revealed a startled Sophie
poised to push the doorbell one more time.
“Oh, Grace!” Sophie said in surprise. “I
wasn’t sure anyone was at home.”
“Yes, I am. But not for long,” Grace replied,
trying not to be short with her friend in her anxiousness to get to the
theater.
“I was stopping by to drop off some gifts,”
Sophie began in a bright voice, her natural lightheartedness coming to the
fore. “I spoke to Marcella, and she agreed I could bring these to you.” Sophie
held out several tissue paper wrapped bundles for Grace to see.
“Marcella?”
“She is the matriarch of our Paranorm
family,” Sophie explained, stepping inside the door around Grace. “Next to Eli,
she is the most important person you will need to deal with now you’ll be part
of the family.”
Grace sighed as she closed the door behind
Sophie. It looked like her trip to the theater would be delayed while she found
out what had Sophie all excited.
“Uh, part of the family?” Grace asked.
Sophie looked up from where she was laying
the bundles on the living room table.
“Of course!” she replied. “Once Eli makes
your Paranorm status official, Marcella will make you an honorary member of the
family. Anthony and I both spoke to her about it. She promised she would and
she always keeps her word.”
Grace watched Sophie who busied herself
with unwrapping the bundles, multiple competing thoughts racing through her
head. A member of Sophie’s family, even an honorary one? Sophie and Anthony
both spoke on her behalf? Eli needed to make it official? The questions swam in
her mind as she tried to wrap her brain around what Sophie was telling her.
“That would make us something like, um,
cousins?” she asked.
Sophie giggled.
“Yes, something like that. Come here and
help me with these,” she said as she gestured to what she brought with her.
Grace moved to the table and saw there were
several bundles of what appeared to be dried weeds held together with thin blue
satin ribbons. Some of the bundles even had tiny bells attached to the ends of
the ribbons.
“What are these for?” Grace asked.
“These are to put up around the house; in
the windows and at the front and back doors. The Norms know them as good luck
charms for the home and family. But the particular combination of plants,
ribbons, and bells show you are a friend of our Paranorm family.
The
family may give them to Norms who are particularly friendly to Paranorms. Even
if they are not aware it is recognition for their openness in dealing with
Paranorms. We tell them it is an old family tradition brought over from the
‘old country’ and they are happy to put them up in their homes and businesses.
It’s a way to let Paranorms know who supports the family and who the family
likes.”
“We aren’t announcing I’m a Paranorm with
these? We’re only saying I’m a decent person and the family likes me?” Grace
repeated to confirm her understanding.
“Yes, that’s it. I asked Marcella for
permission to bring other charms to show you are a Paranorm to the rest of the
family. They would also act as wards to keep Paranorms from entering the house
without your permission. But Marcella said we needed to wait for Eli’s official
acknowledgment of your status before you’re allowed to have them.”
“Wait! There are charms to keep Paranorms out
my home? Does it mean they might break in without them?” Grace was not happy
thinking about the consequences of what that could mean, particularly with the
Glamour still loose.
“Grace, Paranorms rarely go around
willy-nilly breaking into people’s homes. But in your situation, they might get
curious about who you are and not be as well-mannered as to leave you to your
privacy. These ‘friendship’ charms won’t ward your home, but they will be a
reminder to Paranorms to be on their best behavior and be polite about your
home and space.”
“And where do you get these charms? Do you
make them yourself?”
“It is an important part of the ritual of
sharing for a Paranorm to make the charms themselves. I made these for you and
Danny.”
Sophie paused for a moment before saying
“And the protection wards we get from The Family.”
“I take it you mean Eli’s family,” Grace
clarified.
“Yes,” Sophie said, uncomfortable with the
direction of the conversation.
“Do you have time before you go to help me
put these up in the house?” she asked changing the subject.
Grace forced the impatience arising from
Sophie’s request out of her mind. Her friend had spoken once again on her
behalf. The least she could do would be to help her put up the charms.
A few minutes delay would not make a big
difference in solving the problems she needed to discuss with Eli. It would
give her a chance to ask Sophie about something that was sitting in the back of
her mind since the last meeting with Eli. Something she thought it would be
safe for Sophie to talk about.
As they hung the charms, Grace began with a
preface to her question.
“You know the case I am working on with
Anthony?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry to hear what happened
to your friend. Anthony said he was staying with him for you while you kept working
on the case.”
Grace paused a few minutes before
continuing, distracted for a moment by thoughts of Billy and his condition. She
was confident Billy’s family and Anthony would call her as soon as his status
changed. She shouldn’t worry about missing out on updates. The doctors weren’t
expecting anything to shift for a few hours to days. That meant she could focus
on the tasks at hand and put her energy there rather than with Billy at the
hospital.
“My friend, DL, is the one who asked me to
take on the case. When I mentioned he was a tattoo artist, Eli said something
intriguing. He told me I should be careful about getting tattoos because they
carry special meanings to Paranorms. What did he mean?”
Sophie stopped in the middle of hanging a
charm, her eyes searching Grace’s face.
“Is that all he said, they hold special
meaning to us?”
“Yes,” Grace said, mentally crossing her
fingers behind her back. “That’s all he had time to say before our meeting
finished.”
“Ok. Since you’ll be part the family soon
enough, you should understand.”
Sophie stepped back from the charm she
finished hanging to give her full attention to Grace.
“Each Paranorm receives a tattoo when they
choose the person in The Family who will be their patron, for lack of a better
term.”
Sophie held up her hand when Grace tried to
interrupt with her next question, and Grace subsided to let her continue.
“Eli is only one member of The Family. A
Paranorm gets to choose for themselves which member of The Family they will
work with once they reach their 16th birthday. We call it the ‘scelta di vita’
or ‘life choice.’ This is a permanent alignment, and to represent the lifelong
relationship each Paranorm will receive a tattoo of their particular Family
member’s symbol. Eli’s symbol is the raven, and each Paranorm working for him
has a raven tattooed on their right shoulder.”
As she was describing this to Grace, Sophie
pulled down the collar of her shirt to expose her right shoulder and reveal a
small raven tattoo. This raven was about one quarter the size of Grace’s
tattoo, and it was of a bird in a standing pose instead of in flight.
“Are they all the like yours, these raven
tattoos?”
“No. There are three different types,”
Sophie elaborated as she released her shirt collar. “The tattoo I have is the one
you get when you make your ‘scelta di vita.’ Every Paranorm working for Eli has
this one.
The second tattoo is only for those
Paranorms who hold a special position or affiliation with The Family member
they serve. It is a position of honor and respect, and with it they receive a
change to their tattoo to add wings to put the raven in flight. We call it
‘ottenere le ali’ or ‘getting the wings.’”
Grace’s heart skipped a bit at hearing
this.
“Does anyone in your family have the
wings?”
“The only ones who do who are still living
and working for Eli are Marcella and Anthony’s father. Anthony is anxious to
earn a pair for himself, but he is still too young for it.”
“And the third tattoo?” Grace prompted.
“The third tattoo is a mystery for my
generation for the most part. The rumors are it is a flying raven carrying a
sacred scroll that is placed on the left shoulder. No one in my family’s
history ever had such a tattoo. At least Marcella won’t admit to such a thing.
Marcella and the other older members of the family are unwilling to talk about
what it means. That’s as much as I can tell you about the third tattoo.”
No
wonder Eli was curious about her tattoo then. It looked like she was already
claimed as his by the Paranorms’ definition. She
wasn’t sure how she felt about serendipity making that type of decision for
her. But now she had more information on her side than Eli suspected she knew.
Forewarned was better.
“Thanks for telling me about the tattoos,
Sophie. I guess I better not be getting a raven tattoos in the near future,
then.” Grace said.
Sophie laughed with Grace, not realizing
how ironic Grace’s humor was.
They
finished hanging all the charms in short order. Grace felt better knowing she
possessed an outward sign Sophie’s
family was behind her, even in this small way. As they said their goodbyes at
the door, Sophie stopped and bent down to pick something up from the steps.
“I almost forgot,” she said, handing Grace
a bouquet in a glass vase. “These were sitting there when I got here.”
“Thanks,” Grace said as she took the vase
and waved goodbye to Sophie.
As she set the vase down on the table, she
noticed a small envelope nestled in amongst the flowers. Curious, she pulled
the card out of the envelop, thinking maybe DL or Jennifer had sent her flowers
for what happened to Billy.
She froze when she read the inscription.
I am sorry your friend Billy is in the hospital. Take care of
him. Rest assured you are all on my mind and I will be watching over all of you
closely.
It was signed as: Your new friend.
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