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6
I lean closer, trying to get a better look at my card, when Elodie grabs my shoulder and gasps, “The Wheel of Fortune!”
Though the image on the card is different from the one in my father’s deck, as I study the two-headed snakes coiled on each side, the golden wheel with the face of a clock that sits in the center, and the winged creature perched along the top, a sudden rush of chills crawls over my skin.
“It’s a good card, right?” Elodie asks.
“Good…bad… Change is what you make of it.” The reader sweeps the card back into the deck and motions for Elodie to take her turn.
Apparently Elodie’s not headed for great change. She chooses an entirely different card. Then again, her life is pretty awesome as it is, so that’s probably a relief.
“Two of Cups.” She grins as we walk deeper into the space. “A new love is coming my way. Or, at least for tonight. Shame you’re going to miss it.” She laughs.
I turn toward her, a wave of panic rolling through me. “Wait—what?”
“This is where we separate,” she says, as though that was the plan all along. If it was, she clearly forgot to tell me.
“But we came here together!” I whine, my cheeks filling with heat when I hear just how pathetic and needy I sound.
The last thing I want is to be left on my own. But Elodie’s already turned toward a guy who’s wearing a vintage suit. He’s handing out masks, and she asks him for two.
“Relax,” she says, returning to me. “It’s just a club—it’s meant to be fun. Besides, this way, it’ll be a lot more hilarious when we meet up later and swap stories. But for now…” She hands me a black velvet mask. “Just go through the door that’s marked with your card.”
“But what if I get lost and can’t find you? I don’t even have my—” I was about to remind her that I don’t have my phone, but before I can get to it, she’s already gone.
I stare in the direction she went. Then take a nervous look all around.
This place is weird. And even though it’s weird in kind of an interesting way, wandering around on my own is not at all what I thought I was in for when I agreed to ditch school.
Screw Arcana.
Screw Elodie.
I need to find my way back to the exit, reclaim my cell, and book a ride home. It’s obviously the safest, smartest way out of this mess.
But just as I’m about to head out, a nagging voice pipes up in my head.
Why not give it a chance?
What if that tarot reader is actually onto something?
I mean, I know it’s ridiculous, and while I’ve never given a shit about things like omens or signs or when Mercury goes into retrograde, my card did promise big change.
And it’s not like my life is so great I can risk staying the same.
With a sigh of surrender, I slip on the mask. Mumbling, “To the Wheel of Fortune!” in a half-hearted attempt to rally myself.
Then I pull in a slow, shaky breath, find the door with my card, and step inside a whole new world.
