Chapter 12

She picked up the Tarot deck and flicked through the cards. The illustrations were less erotic and more medieval-looking than her own, but the names on them were the same. After a few moments’ thought, she separated out the major arcana—the ones with the evocative names—and placed them on the table. The minor arcana—the four suits of numbered cards—she hid away carefully out of sight. There was no point making life more complicated than it needed to be.

After a few minutes the tent flap rustled and her first customer came in. This was a chubby, rather nervous-looking girl of about eighteen.

“Please be seated.” Tara adopted a deeper tone than her normal speaking voice, since she felt it was demanded by her role as a mystic visionary. “Now, tell me your problem.”

The girl chewed on her fingertips for a moment, then mumbled hesitantly. “Um, it’s about Jake. I want him to, um, care about me, but it’s like he doesn’t even know I exist.”