Free Sorceress' Blood by Carl Purcell Page B

cards and set down the deck, then turned the top card face
up and placed it down beside the deck. “Now what we do is try
to get cards with numbers that add up to twenty-one. Can you do
that?” Ashley nodded as she looked intently at her cards,
counting the numbers one by one in her head. “We take it in
turns drawing cards until we have a number close to twenty-one. But
if you draw a card and it takes you over twenty-one, you lose. When
we’re both done drawing, we compare our cards and the one with
the highest number wins.”
    “What’s that card for?” Ashley pointed to the one
Rebecca set face up.
    “That one is another imaginary player called the dealer. We
have to beat it as well.”
    “Why is there an imaginary player?”
    “I’m not sure. But there is.” Ashley looked at
Rebecca the way you look at a crazy woman talking in tongues. “You’ll
understand once we start playing.”
    “What about this card?” Ashley showed Rebecca a king.
    “Oh that one is called a king. That counts as ten.”
    “Okay.” Ashley went quiet and counted in her head. “So
I have eleven! Now what?”
    “Eleven?” Realisation dawned on Rebecca. “What’s
your other card?” She asked. Ashley showed her the ace she was
holding.
    “This one.”
    “That’s called an ace. If you have an ace and a card with
a picture on it like your king then you get to say ‘Go Fish’
and you win.”
    “So that’s why it’s called Go Fish?” Ashley
put down both her cards, face up.
    “Right. That ace card is worth either one or eleven. Whichever
you like. So your ace and your king is worth twenty-one. That means
you win this hand.”
    “Can we play again?” Ashley’s lip curled slightly
into a smile for a second. Just as quickly it was gone again. Rebecca
noticed it though, and instantly that contagious smile spread to her.
Rebecca had only seen Ashley smile a few times. They were still
small, few and rare but they were smiles, alright. A brief sign of
happiness. Neither of them knew what was coming but right now they
were out of reach of the world. They were drifting easily through
clear blue skies with no trouble in sight. Somewhere off in the
distance were new dangers and the threat of the unknown but for now
everything was okay. They were just two girls playing cards.
    Rebecca dealt again. She walked Ashley through the steps. This time
they got further and Ashley learned how to get cards if she didn’t
start with twenty-one. Then she won again. Ashley won twice more,
despite not really understanding the game. When she finally lost, it
was because she went bust after drawing another card when she had
eighteen. Then she won another game. Rebecca was amazed by the little
girl’s luck and it crossed her mind that Ashley may be
magically altering the cards. But more likely, she was just lucky.
    “When you’re eighteen I have to take you to a casino.
We’ll be rich by the end of the night,” Rebecca said
offhand as she dealt the cards again. Ashley smiled. It was a hopeful
smile. The biggest she'd smiled, yet. Rebecca didn't see it.
    Eventually they got hungry and Rebecca began rummaging through
shelves and cabinets at the front of the plane. She found some
pre-packaged sandwiches and chocolate bars. The chocolate was old and
the sandwiches were stale but they still came as no less a relief.
    By the end of dinner, the sky outside their window was dark. Ashley
yawned and settled down to sleep while Rebecca flicked through a
magazine to pass the time until sleep found her. The magazine was
ancient, full of gossip that had been news months ago. Between pages
she glanced over at Ashley, just to make sure she was still there.
Sitting there, seeing Ashley like that, Rebecca's mind began to
wander. She began to think of things she hadn't thought about in a
long time. They were things she never thought of willingly and now
those tragic memories were forcing their way to the surface. How many
years had it been? Not a decade yet but