She probablyought to be asking what would become ofher, but that might depend on when Cass would return and throw her out. Sam cut the pretty deck as directed. Amber’s ring-covered fingers lifted each pile as if they were precious gems, and spread three cards from each stack in three rows, facedown.
“The bottom row is your past.” She gestured at the line closest to her and flipped the first cardon her right. “A tightly bound sheaf of wheat could have many meanings. There’s an almost magical effect to the tie binding them, and the wheat stalks are very young.” She held up her palms and closed her eyes. “For you, I think it means that you were tightly controlled by family, circumstances, energies over which you had nopower.”
She flipped the next card, one with crushed leaves anda single untouched blossom. Sam wasn’t entirely certain what kind of flower it represented but it was pink and not completelyunfurled.
“Tragedy, I think. Did you lose your parents early?” Amber asked inconcern.
Sam couldn’t answer. She simply stared at the crushed plants. She prayed that didn’t represent her realpast.
Amber didn’t wait for her to answer but flipped thenext card and exclaimed softly. “Freedom, but the flowers are still just buds. You are reaching outside of your tight world but you’ve not fully blossomed, and the leaves are starting to wither, as if they’ve been without water or nourishment too long. That’s probably your college years. College can be pretty dry terrain if all you do is study. I don’t use this deck often, so you’re really influencingmy reading with yourpresence.”
Since the only thing Sam knew about herself was that she’d recently been a student, perhaps Ambercouldread minds a little. Considering the bleak picture she painted of her past, Sam hoped she was just good at guessing. She stayed silent, not feeding her anyinformation.
Amber started on the middle row, flipping the card on the right. “This line isyour present.” She exclaimed softly again, running her fingers over the gnarled old woman standing over what appeared to be a garden bed. “The High Priestess, that has to be Cass, casting a spell... over seedlings? Over the earth. Bringing youhere?”
Amber flipped the next card, not waiting for any response, although Sam felt the tug of truth. She was turning as mad as the people of thetown. Maybe it was something in thewater.
“Fire,” Amber whispered in horror, gazing at a card showing a charred landscape with only a small orange poppy unfurling its pretty bloom. “Scorched earth, change, wiping out the old to make room for the new. This could be disaster, or it could be a controlled burn, but it’s in your present, not the future. So perhaps it represents leaving theold behind and startingfresh?”
“That’s what it feels like,” Sam said with a little more confidence. She was definitely starting with a scorchedbrain.
Amber breathed a little easier and flipped the next card. Instead of flowers, two eccentrically garbed people faced each other. “Ah, the Earth Goddess! That’s you and the Magician. He must help you fight Judgment—that could be anyobstacle in your path. This is a card of power and control. There are forces tugging at you right now. The magician could even be Cass, if she’s working on you in somemanner.”
That part made utterly no sense, so Sam stayedsilent.
“Now, the future.” Amber flipped one of the three remaining cards and frowned at a large oak surrounded by agricultural images. “This card should interpretsimilarly to the World card. If this is your future... I may be wrong in interpreting the High Priestess, unless we think of you as the future one. This doesn’t seem to answer your question about Cass. It seems to be a spread about you and Hillvale. I’m seeing this scarecrow as Deputy Walker. In this deck, the scarecrow is the same as a knight errant. It could reflect his obsessive need toknow everything happening here. He already knows Cass, but he’s still searching formore.”
“Does that mean he’s worried about her?” Sam asked, notunderstanding.
“No, this line is your future. It means he’ll worry aboutyou. Turn the nextcard.”
Sam flipped the middle card and admired the tall sunflowers spilling around a fence. It made her even twitchier to think the deputymight someday worry about her, but she could only handle the present right now. The deputy would have to do what deputiesdid.
“More change,” Amber said, a frown forming above her nose. “Cass is opposed to change, but you might be the harbinger of change. The two of you are in opposition somehow, not enemies but on different sides. Turn the lastone.”
The final card showed funerallilies and a casket. Sam felt a strong urge to flee. “Someone is going todie?”
“No, the card doesn’t necessarily mean death. Or if it does, it can be death of a concept, death ofwealth.”
“Or dead flowers,” Sam said with relief. “I hope I don’t kill yourplanter.”
Amber deliberately set her mouth to a smile. “Of course. I’m being too serious today. I hope they discover thatskeleton was just some lost hiker from decades ago. We should think about making the world better withflowers.”
“None of this explains where Cass is,” Sam remindedher.
They both looked at the casket, until Amber scooped up the cards and shuffledthem.
