The cards on the bottom of the stack, where the fan is thinnest, feel oddly warm. I run my index finger along them, waiting not-so-patiently for…what? It’s not until a distinct feeling of relief shoots through me that I realize my hand has frozen midair. I try to resume my trailing, but my fingers are reluctant to move, like they’re leaving behind a long-lost loved-one. I bring them back to the place where I felt that wave of peacefulness, and I choose that card.
Silently I hand it, still face-down, to Leo. His little half-smile says,Yes, that’s what I mean by concentrate.
“So, what’s the answer?” Aaron asks.
Leo places the card face-up on the coffee table. On it, three men in medieval dress stand under a vaulted church archway. “Three of Pentacles.”
Avery’s scowl melts before my eyes. “Well, damn.”
“You’d better surrender,” Aaron tells her.
Surrender? So the card is saying I’d win the fight? “What does it mean?”
Leo slides the card a little closer to me. “See how the men are working together? This card is all about cooperation and teamwork.”
I pick it up and study it closely. One man, presumably a laborer, stands on a bench as he converses with a friar and a nobleman. Three men of three different social classes, having a consultation. The friar’s expression is open and expectant as he looks up at the worker. None of them appears to be judging or lording their status over the others.
A chill tickles my spine. I couldn’t have gotten a more fitting answer to my question if I’d consulted a professional counselor. Or a wise old shaman on a mountaintop.
Is this fortune-telling thing legit? I stare at the card like it’s a living thing. No. It’s a piece of cardstock chosen at random. Hastily, I thrust it back at Leo.
Avery leans closer to me. “Why’d you pick that card?”
I hold up my hands. “I didn’t know what it was.”
I’m shocked to see her smiling. “Duh. I mean, what told you to pull that one card out of the whole deck?”
“Oh, um—” I glance nervously at Leo, but he looks just as interested in hearing my answer as Avery is. “I know this is gonna sound dumb, but…but it felt like it wanted me to pick it.”
“Felt?” Leo asks, and I realize this is almost, to the letter, the same response I gave him when he asked how I’d known about Jason before anyone else did.
Avery’s dark, penciled eyebrows shoot up as if my answer makes perfect sense. “Did it tickle you?”
I let out an awkward giggle. “Did thecardtickle me?”
“Yeah.”
“No.”
“Oh.” She shrugs. “The card I’m supposed to pull usually tickles me or tingles or something like that.”
Aaron interjects, “They whisper to me.”
What the hell? Are these people serious? Nervous laughter lodges itself in my throat. Is this some sort of parlor trick? Have I been invited to hang out with the David Blaine club?
“How about you?” I ask Leo, my mouth going dry. “What do the cards do to you?”
He smiles apologetically. “None of the above.”
“So if they don’t tickle you, then what do you mean by felt?” Avery asks. She may be acting delusional, but at least she’s not being mean to me. In fact, all her hostility is gone. Too bad I’m too spooked to answer.
Leo abruptly stands. “Avery, where’d you put the crackers?”
“Yeah, where are they?” Aaron echoes. “I’m hungry.”
Avery sighs and rises from the couch. “Hold on. I bought some Swiss cake rolls, too.”
“Yes!” Aaron fist-pumps and points at me. “You like Swiss cake rolls?”
