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She needed some prompting. “The Devil often represents greed, addiction, lust... sacrificing long-term happiness for short-term pleasure. The Devil also represents your shadow self – the darker, hidden parts of yourself that you don’t deal with.”
“Well, I’m not an addict.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
Obviously, the card represented selling her soul to Apollo. I knew it, Helli knew it from the look in her eyes – hell, even Apollo seemed to know it, as his eyes twinkled wickedly away in the backdrop of the reading.
“Let’s move on.” I continued to speak gently. If she didn’t want to acknowledge anything out loud, that was okay. Hopefully I’d made her think. “The next card represents your present situation.” I turned over the next card. “The Four of Pentacles, reversed. What do you see here?” I didn’t bother explaining the reversal of the card to Helli just yet. The explanation would be wasted on her.
The card pictured a man sitting miserably alone, clutching onto a coin. Particularly when reversed, it represented a strong desire for control and stability – one that could easily turn to greed.
“I don’t know.” Helli met my eyes. I could see some awareness there. She could see more in the cards than she was letting on.
“Let’s try your future, then.” I turned over the last card. Five of Cups.
The card pictured a figure in a long black cloak looking down at three cups that have been spilled. The figure is alone. Behind them, two still-standing cups go ignored. There’s some scenery in the background – a river, a bridge, a building amongst some trees on the hill.
She clearly wasn’t going to help herself here, so I decided to lay it out for her. “The Five of Cups traditionally symbolizes regret or disappointment, as well as being blinded to the positives of a situation. Does that resonate with you at all?”
“No. It’s supposed to be my future, right? So why would it resonate with me now?”
“We all have an inkling of our own futures. It’s called free will.”
Helli scoffed at ‘free will’, and stood up ready to depart. “Thanks for the reading.” She did not sound in any way grateful.
In the background, Apollo gave an elaborate one-man applause, despite the reading being one of the most underwhelming I’d ever given. “Bravo! Very interesting, wasn’t it, Helli?”
“Yes. Very illuminating. Shall I return to reception now?”
“Yes. Please. Take Ria down with you, will you? And Ria, I’ll see you again soon.”
I waved my goodbyes and walked down with Helli to the entrance. Neither of us spoke until we reached reception, when she reached out to shake my hand stiffly in farewell.
Something crinkled from her palm to mine – a scrap of paper. I clenched my palm around it when I retracted my hand. She gave me a single nod and retreated to her desk. The interaction was over.
In the back of Apollo’s car all the way home, I kept the note clenched tightly in my fist. It was burning there, willing me to read it, but of course, I was still being monitored.
Finally, in the safety of my bedroom, I unclenched my fist and read it. The scrawled handwriting read, simply:Burner phone in handbag.
I searched my handbag and found it – a simple, cheap cell phone with no contacts or messages. I supposed I would be contacted on it – by Helli, or someone she was acting as an agent for.
Interesting. Very interesting.
The phone still hadn’t rung by the time of my next meeting with Forest. I was excited by recent developments, and keen to share my progress. Maybe a career as a spy was well-suited for me, after all.
“I managed to get Apollo’s permission to give Helli a tarot card reading.”
Forest frowned disapprovingly. I wasn’t quite sure why. “What did you think you’d achieve with that?”
I shrugged. I didn’t see the problem. “Probably the same thing Apollo thought he’d achieve by sending me to you in the first place. I wanted to get a better read on her after hearing about their story from Jenni.”
He wasn’t yet convinced. “And did you?”
“I did. The cards were quite revealing, and she was trying not to react, but with the context of what I knew, I could tell it unsettled her.”
“So, what? She has doubts about her alliance with Apollo?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
