“I’m open to it.”

“You don’t have to tell me what decision you have to make. Just think about it.” Maris handed Izabel the deck of cards. “Think about the decision, and when you’re ready, hand the cards back to me.”

Izabel took the deck of cards, thought to herself, Should we leave?, and handed them back.

“Okay, are we done with that now?” Maris said.

“With what?”

“With you not being invested?”

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Do you think you would believe in this more if I wore a headscarf and had glitter all over this room? No, you’d have more reasons not to trust me. And normally I wouldn’t care, but I think you need something from this, so let’s do it.”

“Okay.”

“You’re ready?”

“I’m ready,” Izabel said. And she wasn’t sure if it was guilt or shame or only how much she disliked disappointing someone, but she did feel ready.

Maris handed her the cards again. “Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Think about the decision that’s before you. Imagine you are on a path and it’s splitting. To your left is one decision. To your right is the other. What does the left look like? What does the right look like? You are standing at the fork and you see both paths very clearly, but you don’t know which to take. That is your question. Put that question into the cards. And when you’re ready, hand them back to me.”

Izabel did as she was told and took her time. She could feel herself filling the cards and they began to feel heavy and hot. She almost dropped them. It felt like she had to get them out of her hands.

“That’s better,” Maris said. She cut the deck, restacked it, and then spread it out in front of Izabel. Every few cards, one tilted up. “Take eleven cards, and take as long as you need.”

Izabel started with every card that was tilted up. She was worried that Maris would stop her. That this wasn’t really Izabel picking the cards, but the cards picking her. But Maris was quiet. When Izabel finished picking the tilted ones, she had seven, and a few new cards were up now, having been disturbed. So she picked those. She had ten. The last card she picked because she felt she should, and she wondered where that feeling came from.