Page 111 of Clinically Bewitched
Freyja & Phoebe
Perfect timing!
The universe was always listening.
I answered, already grinning, already opening my mouth to babble.
“Athena,” Freyja said.
Just my name.
But something in her voice made me pause.
“Hey! I was just about to call you guys. I have so much to tell you. You won’t believe what happened this weekend—well, you probably will believe it because you both said the universe had plans and you wereright, you were so right. Julien finally—”
“Athena,” Freyja said again, firmer this time. “Stop.”
I stopped.
Freyja never interrupted me. Freyja was the oldest, the calmest, the one who let me ramble for hours while she listened with infinite patience. Freyja was earth to my air, grounded and steady.
“Something’s wrong,” she said.
The golden energy around me flickered.
“What? No, nothing’s wrong. Everything’sperfect. Julien and I—”
“I know about Julien,” Freyja said gently. “I can feel it. The shift in your energy. The alignment. It’s beautiful, Athena. It really is.”
“Then what?”
“Something else is coming,” Phoebe said, her voice tight. “Something big.”
I sat down on my meditation cushion, suddenly cold despite the candles.
“What do you mean?”
“The universe isn’t done with him yet,” Freyja said. “I’ve been getting signs all morning. Strong ones. The kind that wakes you up at 3 AM and won’t let you go back to sleep.”
“I pulled cards,” Phoebe added. “Three times. Same message every time.”
My hand moved automatically to my tarot deck, fingers brushing the worn edges.
“What message?”
“A test,” Freyja said. “A big one. Soon.”
“The Tower,” Phoebe whispered. “I keep pulling the Tower.”
My stomach dropped.
The Tower—Upheaval. Destruction. Everything I thought was solid was crumbling. The card that meant change was coming, whether I was ready or not.
“But—” I looked around the apartment, at the candles and crystals, at the golden light still trying to shine through the windows. “But everything just aligned. Julien and I—we just figured it out. We just—”
“I know,” Freyja said, and her voice was so gentle it made my chest ache. “I know, honey. But the universe doesn’t work on our timeline. And sometimes—” She paused. “Sometimes the biggest tests come right after the biggest breakthroughs.”
“To make sure it’s real,” Phoebe added. “To make sure the foundation is solid enough to hold.”
