Page 66 of In Somnis

I watch the blur of images until my stomach does a weird little flip. “Stop.”

He stops immediately and pulls the top card, turning it over. “Oh.”

“What oh?”

“I’m… really sorry.”

Not helpful. “What does it say?”

Jasper turns the card toward me. It’s a tower split by lightning, fire everywhere, and people falling through the air. At the bottom, it says, The Tower.

“That card means that your past was…” he winces, “… kind of a nuclear implosion? Everything you thought was stable just…” he makes an exploding gesture with his hands, “… fell apart all at once.”

My eyes widen. Maybe this isn’t nonsense after all.

“I’m right?” he asks, studying my face.

“Unfortunately,” I say, exhaling. “Yeah.”

“I’m right.” A slow grin spreads across his face. “Oh my God, I’m right.” He laughs, startled and delighted at the same time. “Wow.”

“You need to work on your delivery.”

“Wait.” He starts shuffling again, way too eager for my liking. “Let me see if I can get more detail on that.”

“I don’t need to know the details, I lived⁠—”

He shushes me and pulls two cards without waiting for me this time, laying each out on his knee.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah.” He nods sagely. “That tracks.”

“Can you maybe translate out loud?”

He turns the first card toward me. A cloaked figure stands hunched over three spilled cups with two still upright behind them. It says, Five of Cups.

“This one says you’ve lost something important, and that the grief is almost overwhelming.”

Shit.

“It wasn’t something.” I swallow. “It was someone. I lost my mom.”

“Damn.” He sobers instantly. “I’m so sorry.”

My vision blurs as my nose starts to sting. I rub at the bridge of it, willing the threat of tears away. “Can we just… not talk about that?”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” He nods quickly, then straightens. “We can absolutely pivot.”

He taps the second card—three swords piercing a heart. Three of Swords.

“This one says your love life was absolute trash.” His eyebrow quirks beneath his curls as he looks up at me expectantly. “Am I right again?”

I sniff, then huff out a weak laugh. “Wow. Emotional whiplash.”

“What happened there?”

“It wasn’t even dramatic. Everything was fine, but then my mom got sick, and I quit my job to take care of her, and somewhere in those months, he just… stopped showing up. Barely called. Only answered when I called first.” I shrug. “But to be fair, I didn’t call much either. I was busy keeping my mom alive.”

Jasper’s mouth tightens, but he stays silent.