Mordred is going to read the ominous book.

[Content warning: body horror, unusually disturbing]

Mordred pauses reading three separate times to throw up.

Afterwards he feels like the book was interesting and he wants to study it more deeply. Mordred shoves the thing into a box and gives the box to Gale and asks him to hide it without telling him where.

Meanwhile--

Anemone has her cards and is doing this in a BRIGHTLY LIT room because the last thing they need right now is for anything here to be remotely creepy. Tarot doesn't have to be creepy. It can be creepy but right now she needs it to really really not be.

"I think this'll help. It usually helps me. Even when things are going really terribly. So - right tool for the job, right about now, given all the terrible."

"It always seemed kind of silly before, but. I think you might be onto something. How does this go?"

She lays the cards out. In the center is Judgement, crossed by the Emperor. Above it is the Ace of Cups, and below it is the Five of Pentacles. To the right is Strength, and to the left is the Ace of Pentacles. At the bottom of the staff is the Four of Wands, then the Page of Cups, then Justice, and at the top the Wheel of Fortune.

Zoe watches as each card comes out, uncertain what they mean.

"Is that good? What does it say?"

"Let's see - half the cards are major arcana, so they're very important. You’re in an important time right now. I guess that could be said for any of us. In the center we have Judgement, crossed by the Emperor. Judgement is associated with - making hard choices, and with rebirth, and with feeling one’s true calling. The Emperor is associated with rules, order, and authority. These are the heart of what is facing you now - having to rethink your understanding of the fundamental order of the universe, and your place in it, I think, and then - making a judgement about what to do about it. - do you know what you’re gonna do about it?”

"The choice seems pretty clear to me. The only way out is through."

Nod. "Your conscious mind is represented by the Ace of Cups, which represents emotional force. It suggests that you’re feeling things very deeply right now. I imagine there’s a lot to sort through there, between Carrie and Lacie and - everything. Your unconscious mind is represented by the Five of Pentacles, which represents hard times and a lack of resources. It suggests that you’re afraid that you might not have the resources you need to follow through with what needs to be done."

"Damn. Spot on."

“Your past is represented by the Ace of Pentacles, symbolizing practicality, prosperity, resources, and trust. It’s associated with safety and being grounded, and is saying that you can feel those things slipping away from you right now. But your future is good. Ahead of you is Strength. It’s associated with patience and endurance, with having the inner strength and calm necessary to deal with extreme hardship."

Zoe thinks of the circus and how alien it seems to her now. She's sad to lose that. But it's good to hear that there are good things ahead. Zoe likes to imagine she's strong enough.

“You yourself are represented by the Four of Wands, symbolizing freedom. It’s a good card for you. The others in your life are represented by the Page of Cups, which is an invitation for emotional investment. I guess I’d read it as - it might seem like this is a time to pull back from people, after losing a friend and failing to rescue a colleague. But - I think the cards are saying that that’s not the right thing, that actually this is a time when your emotional relationships are going to be very important to you. That you need to hold fast and keep getting invested in people. Need to keep yourself tied to the world. Does that make sense?”

Zoe remembers her date with Ralph, and how little she could talk about. She looks at Anemone doubtfully. "It sounds... hard."

"Yeah. I know. Lotta things are gonna be hard, for a while. This is definitely not a spread that indicates things being smooth sailing ahead. But it is one that speaks about someone who's able to rise to the challenge. Your hopes and fears are represented here by Justice. Could be - hoping that you’ll be able to see justice realized, and defeat the people who are doing these things. And being afraid that maybe you won’t be capable of seeing that done.”

"There's so much wrong that I wish I could make right. I want to do it. But I don't see how."

"Yeah. It's - really big. Big enough that we might feel like we can't do anything about it. But your ultimate future is represented by the Wheel of Fortune, here, symbolizing destiny and a dramatic turning point. It suggests that the events that you’re going to face in the future are going to be of dramatic importance, to you and to the larger world. That you’re embarking on something grand and glorious and purposeful, if you still have the courage to meet it. It's not a card that promises victory. But it does promise that the outcome of the things you're facing hasn't yet been decided. --That's all they have for you, right now."

Zoe exhales. "That's... sure something. I wasn't expecting it to go this far, when I got us into this. But here we are now, and it's bigger than I could have imagined. I'm gonna stick through it. We've got the stuff. It'll turn out okay. Just gotta hold tight and keep going til the end."

She smiles and nods. "I'm glad you're with us, Zoe. I guess maybe it'd be better for you if you weren't, but - for our sake, I'm glad you're with us."

"Yeah. I'm glad to be in this together. S'not the kind of thing someone could do alone."

A few days later--

Mordred shows up at Anemone's brightly lit room still not entirely sure he believes in tarot readings but down to hear whatever she has to say, and to generally spend time with her outside of desperate attempts to make bureaucracy work with them rather than against them and lying to cultists.

"Mordred, I think you are one of the only people I have ever met who wants to be told the truth, even when it’s scary or ugly or disturbing or inconvenient. Or just boring. Most people want it massaged just so, but I don’t think you do, I think you want to know exactly what’s going on. So I’ll be straight with you. There’s no magic in these cards, and there’s no magic in the reading of them. But the cards form a structure of prompts that we can use to explore what's going on with us, and to examine our reasons for feeling the way we do about it. It’s better, I think, to have something besides me that decides what to talk about. More objective, you might say. Keeps us from zeroing in on a single issue and avoiding any of the others, or from making snap judgments and then being sure that we’ve figured out exactly what the problem is. So I hope you’ll try the structure on and see if it helps you."  

She hands him the cards. "Shuffle 'em."

Huh. He shuffles them.

She lays his cards out in order. In the center there’s the Queen of Swords, crossed by the Eight of Cups. The Seven of Wands is above, the Nine of Wands is below, the Ten of Wands to the right, and the Queen of Cups to the left. The staff has the King of Wands on the bottom, and then the Hanged Man, the Nine of Pentacles, and finally, at the top, Death.

"The Queen of Swords represents honesty and an ability to speak the truth as appropriate. She’s in the center, meaning that the things she represents are the heart of the matter the rest of your spread is addressing today. She’s crossed by the Eight of Cups, which symbolizes the pursuit or discovery of deep meaning, and sometimes symbolizes weariness or a loss of hope. The thing they suggest together is a contrast between these things - a desire to know and to speak the truth, contrasted against the weariness that a more complete understanding of the situation has brought you."