“This is the key,” I said in my most portentous voice. “It stands for sacrifice, giving up something held dear, to clear the way for greater gains in life. This is what I call a forked reading because you can see that the possible futures” - I tapped the Three of Swords and the Nine of Pentacles - “are wildly split. You’re at the crux of a situation. If you make the sacrifice, the road leads to the Nine. If you don’t, it leads to the Three.”

The Three shows three swords driven through a red heart, a card of sorrow and loss.

“I see,” she said softly. She swiveled in her chair and looked out the window. LuEllen rolled the crystal ball out of its velvet sack and passed it to her.

“Look inside, focus on yourself,” LuEllen said.

Dessusdelit rolled the heavy ball in her hands, moving it into the light from the window. “So much inside,” she said almost dreamily.

She sat like that for a moment, then turned and said, “Thank you.”

We were dismissed. “Is this meeting open?” I asked as we went out.

“Yes. All meetings are open. But I’m afraid it won’t be a happy one.”

By the time we left Dessusdelit’s office, a few minutes before ten o’clock, the council chambers were packed. We were standing in the hallway, looking over the heads of the crowd, when an argument blew up down the hallway. Carl Rebeck, wearing a suit and sunglasses and escorted by a state trooper, was standing nose to nose with Duane Hill. I hadn’t seen Hill come in, but he had apparently been waiting for Rebeck.

“What the fuck are you doin’, Carl?” Hill blurted. The trooper moved between the two men.

“I just wanna go vote and have it done with,” Rebeck said, staying in the shadow of the cop. The cop had one hand on Hill’s chest, but Hill kept peering around him.

“You gotta come talk to us, Carl. You don’t wanna be listening to a bunch of bullshit put out by these piss-ant state jerk-offs,” Hill said, his voice rising almost to a shout.

The state trooper, who wore mirrored glasses and had a face like the sharp side of a hatchet, said something to Hill and shoved. Hill gave a step, and Rebeck slid past with the cop.

“Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea, calling Rebeck,” LuEllen muttered.