Aaron chuckles. “I might’ve had too much cider for this, but I’ll give it a try.” He sets the card on his knee and shuts his eyes. Before I can decide if it’s rude of me to be watching him, he opens them again and scribbles something on the notepad Avery gave him. Silently, he passes her the card and, like he did, she closes her eyes as she holds it in her left hand. A moment later, she tears a sheet out of the notepad and writes down what she’s seen.
My turn. I clamp my lips to keep from qualifying an attempt I haven’t even made yet. My heartbeat thumps in my ears. I can do this. I’m in a safe place and I know what I’m walking into.
I glance at Leo.
“Go ahead,” he says, his eyes telling me,I’ve got you.
I lay a hand on the card and close my eyes. Nothing. Aaron and Avery read it so quickly and confidently. Maybe I’m in over my head. I take a deep breath and toss aside my self-consciousness. Listen for my intuition.
Put it over your heart.
I press the card to my chest and concentrate on its energy. Feelings come pouring in. The hardest part, it turns out, is finding the right words to describe them. Once I’m done making notes, I slap the pencil down and shudder off the card’s more unpleasant sensations.
Noticing, Leo lays a hand on my knee.
Aaron reports first. “I heard metal clanging.” He slides his paper into the middle of the table.
“Swords?” Avery wonders aloud. “Or armor? Oh! It could be the metal goblets. What sort of metal sound, Aaron?”
“I don’t know. It wasn’t a hollow clang like the cups would have. That’s all I can tell you.”
Avery tells us she saw water. “A pool or a lake.”
“Water’s associated with cups, isn’t it?” Leo asks her.
“Yeah, but it’s on some of the other cards too, especially Swords and the Major Arcana. I’m going to rule out Wands or Pentacles. I’m thinking armor or swords. Knight of Cups maybe?”
“Okay, Betts,” Aaron says. “Help us out.”
Leo asks me, “What did you feel?”
I peer down at the words I wrote. They make no sense, but here goes nothing. “Confused. Trapped. Rock and a hard place.” I look up at my friends, expecting disappointment or amusement.
Instead, Avery gasps, “It’s the Two of Swords!”
“You sure?” Leo’s hand hovers over the card, awaiting the signal to flip it over.
“Positive. It has the swords and they’re crossed, so there’s your clanging metal—” She counts off the points on her fingers. “The woman’s sitting in front of a lake. And…the Two of Swords is all about having to make hard decisions. The rock and the hard place.”
Leo hands me the card and lets me have first peek. One glance and my breath catches. I meet his eyes. And his smile. Pulse racing, I turn the card up so everyone can see.
The Two of Swords.
“Well, I’ll be,” Aaron whispers.
“Woo-hoo!” Avery fist-pumps. “Let’s do another one!”
My fingers have gone a little numb, and for some reason, I’m shaking.
“Hold on,” Leo says to Avery, but his eyes are on me.
Aaron rubs my back. “Breathe, Betts.” He gets up off the couch. “Here, Leo. Come sit beside her.”
Yes, please, because apparently I’m in shock. In my head, I know I’m psychic, but I guess my body hasn’t gotten the message yet.
Leo lowers himself down next to me and stretches a welcoming arm across my shoulders. I lean into him and feel his warmth. Breathe in his calming scent.
He whispers close to my ear, “You were the key. They never would’ve gotten it without you.”
