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“You have a question before your question?” He grins at me.
“Who are you?”
“Why, The Owner of this establishment, of course.”
I scowl.
“I thought you were working on asking the right questions, young one.”
Meaning it’s too broad of a question, I figure—and he definitely knows more than he would ever admit. I need to get specific, so first, I say, “You're not normal.”
He quirks an eyebrow at me, still shuffling, now with one of those perfect arcs of the cards passing from hand to hand through the air like a bridge.
“I just mean, you're something else. Something maybe not even… human. Because this place, it really is magic, isn't it?”
“You are in The Magic Shop.” He smiles again, cryptically as ever.
I guess asking the right questions is harder than I thought, which is exactly the problem. “If you do a reading for me, can it help me find the right questions?”
“Yes. But how will be up to you. Is that your question for the cards? How to find the right questions to ask?” He places the deck face-down in front of me.
“Or, if we can maybe not be cryptic for two seconds,” I say, “how do I help Odai escape from his punishment?”
The Owner doesn’t comment on my choice of question but nods and taps the top of the deck. “Cut it once.”
I do.
He picks up the deck again and deals three cards face-down, centered between us. “I will read the cards as they are in relation to you. Past.” He taps the one farthest left from my perspective and continues right. “Present. And finally, Future.” He flips over the first card.
My past is the Eight of Swords, upright with how it faces me. Given this card shows someone tied up and bound, I get chills from how much it is clearly meant to represent Odai.
“A past of imprisonment,” The Owner confirms.
He flips over the next card.
My present is The Lovers card but upside down. The woman on this card looks like Persephone again, like the woman from The High Priestess card, and her lover has long dark hair that makes me think of Hades.
“Upside down is... bad?”
“Not necessarily,” he says. “There is a disconnect in this case. A present filled with imbalance.”
Because Odai serves me. We can't really be equals.
I hold my breath as The Owner reaches to flip the final card.
“Hey.” It’s my card, as in that same High Priestess card, upright like the Eight of Swords. The rest of the deck matches it because this is its deck. This is Mattie's deck!
“The deck was missing a card previously,” The Owner says. “Hence its value to me.”
He didn’t swindle me exactly, but it still somehow feels like he did. “Fine, whatever. You said it meant intuition, right? And… duality?”
“Embracing duality. To achieve the future you seek, young one, you must find yourself first. You must trust in yourself and in your subconscious mind.” The Owner sweeps the cards up and returns them to the deck.
“That's it? That's not specific enough!” I lean forward with hands poised on the tabletop. “That is just as vague as everything else, and… and finding myself or trusting in any part of me, isn’t easy.”
“I see.” He waves his hands, and the deck disappears behind them as if it never existed. “I would work on that then.”
“You said—”
