Chapter 22 - A bunny out of a hat

After Lizzie calmed down, Phoebe asked her for her date of birth and that of her husband. Then, she calculated the fate for the two. Things like marriage, death, children and big events were easy to see with the help of the skills the Saxon spirit had taught her. 

When she was finished making her deductions, she looked at the woman and sighed.

"There are children in your fate, or there should be. I can't see where the problem is coming from right now so all i can do is guess that it is a human fault, not supernatural." 

"Human..." the woman whispered. 

Her face morphed from despair to confusion at Phoebe's words. A spark of hope had been lit inside when Phoebe told her that she was destined to have children. But then, quickly, a bucket of cold water had been poured on her, dimming the spark. 

If the fault was human, then did this mean someone was deliberately harming her children immediately after birth? A myriad questions rolled through her mind, each without an answer. Why would someone be killing her children and who was it? What were they gaining from it? 

How could she stop them? 

She latched on to Phoebe's arm and cried out, "Little shaman, what do i do? You must save my baby, you have to."

Her grip was so tight that one of her medium length sharp light blue nails scratched Phoebe's hand. 

"Let go." Phoebe ordered. 

Lizzie was unwilling to do as phoebe commanded. Her desperation had taken control of her entirely and she did not intend to let go of Phoebe unless she agreed to help. 

Ancestor Saxon opened her mouth and blew air out of it. The air travelled straight to Lizzie Guzman and encased her. It was cold, freezing cold wind like that emitted from the inside of a refrigerator. 

Because it was summer, cold like this was unnatural and it became even more unnatural when frost appeared on the cup in front of Lizzie. Between the weird cold and sharp glint Phoebe was giving her, the woman's heart trembled and she let go of Phoebe.

The little shaman was actually scary and she had abnormal powers__, supernatural powers. 

Subserviently, Lizzie repeated her request. 

"Please, i need your help. I have searched for answers all these years but the doctors said it was natural causes. What you are saying means that there is more to my plight than meets the eye." She rubbed her hands along her arms because she was still feeling cold but the child in her belly was more important than the cold. 

"There is five million in there." She looked at the briefcase of cash. "I will pay five more if you can save my child. as long as you keep him alive, i will pay five million every other five years until he makes twenty five." She shook her head...."No, i will pay you until my son has his own child. Call it a retainer fee if you want. We retain lawyers all the time so i want to retain you as my personal shaman. Every year, i will pay you one million and this is outside of the five million." 

"Oh crap!" Ancestor Saxon muttered. 

The spirit could see that Phoebe was wavering and she was going to say yes. Money was her love language lately when it came to working with humans. 

She was right because Phoebe held her hand out and shook Lizzie Guzman's right one. 

"It's a deal." 

Eager to start working, Phoebe turned her head to Rosette. 

"Bring a talisman that wards off bad luck, a good luck charm bracelet, every supplement we have for pregnant women and the new beauty cream." 

She then turned to Lizzie Guzman with a broad welcoming smile on her face. 

"You can rest and leave everything to me. I will handle it all and make sure that the little master in your stomach dies at a ripe old age. Under my care, you will even have the chance to have another child if you desire, after all, your fate shows that you were meant to have five children.Three might be dead now but we can save two." 

Phoebe who had told Lizzie to let go of her hand voluntarily held the woman's hand now instead and she even patted it gently. 

"Madam, i will be by your side in the hospital on the day you give birth. In fact, i think it will be better if you give birth at a hospital or venue of my choosing. 

You have been using the same hospital, same doctors and doing the same thing which has also given you the same results, death of your child. It's time we switch things up. 

How do you feel about a home birth?" 

"She looks like she is going to swindle the poor woman?" Connie whispered to the Saxon spirit. 

Phoebe heard the teenager and she shot the girl a sharp glare. After glaring, she turned back to her big shot of a client who would be filling her pockets with millions for years to come. 

"We should notarize our business madam. There are things i am unwilling to do as a shaman. I will not be killing anyone for you through curses or physically, not unless someone is trying to kill you. 

Also, i am not your personal maid, assistant or anything of the sort so do not expect me to run errands for you. You cannot call on me to do petty magic tricks to entertain your friends at a party. I am not the pull a bunny out of a hat kind of magician." 

Connie leaned down towards Lizzie and said loudly for the woman to hear, "She can totally pull a bunny out of a hat for the right price."

Lizzie squealed and put a hand over her heart in fear and shock. 

"Connie i swear....." Phoebe groaned. 

The girl had a bad habit of getting on her nerves so often because she liked scaring the human clients.

The teenager whistled and shrugged before laughing as she backed away. 

"Ignore Connie please, she likes to make jokes." 

Lizzie looked around, searching for the owner of the voice but all she saw was empty space. How was she supposed to ignore something she couldn't even see? 

"So, as i was saying, we must both have rules before entering this kind of long term transaction. We should also put in place terms for exit. If either one of us violates those terms, we can end the contract without a big fuss. 

Think about what you expect of me when you get home and discuss it with your lawyers and i will do the same and discuss with mine. We can meet up again next week and make things official." 

Phoebe and Lizzie talked for a few more minutes before the woman left with all the items Rosset had prepared. 

As soon as the cafe door was closed, Phoebe opened the briefcase, picked up a bundle of money and sniffed it. 

"I am rich." she squealed. 

"If you call this rich then the whole world must be poor." the Saxon spirit mumbled. 

Of course, in the Saxon empire, this five million did not even cover weekly expenses. She put a damper on Phoebe's excitement. The spirit waved her hand, collected the money and vanished with it into the pendant. 

"Ho!" Phoebe exclaimed in surprise.