“Do it,” said Odessa.

The counter woman looked at the old woman, who looked across at Blackwood. Reluctantly, she shuffled the Tarot deck, more deliberately this time.

Blackwood sat preternaturally still, his hands in his lap. Odessa’s anger subsided just enough for her to become aware of an eerie energy in the room now, like an invisible dome over the table. For a moment, she regretted her action, fearing she had forced an encounter that should not have occurred.

The old woman looked at Blackwood with reluctant eyes, as though viewing him from deep within herself. The deck sat ready before her, but she was reluctant to turn over the top card. She shook her head, looking at the counter woman, refusing to go any further.

The counter woman looked concerned. “Mother?” she said, as though confused by the old woman’s reluctance.

After a painfully long and tense moment, Blackwood reached across the table and picked the first card off the top. Without looking at it himself, he showed it to her.

The old woman tried to speak. She opened her mouth but no words came out. She simply covered her eyes and turned away, weakened, slouching.

Blackwood stood from the table. “My apologies,” he said, though neither woman heard his words. The counter woman held her headdress with one hand, herself now spooked by the British gentleman’s presence. He nodded to them and left the room.

Odessa was still catching her breath. The old woman was sitting upright, looking around the room as though having woken from a deep sleep. Odessa felt responsible—reading Blackwood’s fortune was her smart idea—and was relieved to see her coming back around. Odessa wanted to get out of there, but before she did, she reached for the top card off the deck, needing to see what it showed.

It was the image of a Magi, holding a wand or perhaps a baton, his hat brim curved in the shape of the symbol for infinity.

Back near the burnt-out pay phone, Odessa grabbed Blackwood’s arm to stop him. Shocked at how thin he felt inside his suit sleeve, she pulled her hand back fast.

“What are you? Some kind of mesmerist?”

“All I did was turn over the card she herself dealt.”

“What was that card?” Odessa asked. “The Magi. What does that mean?”

“I believe the Magi symbolizes immanence.”

“Okay. I’m not going to pretend I know what immanence means.”

“It means the quality of being immanent, or inherent.”

“But what would it mean to her?”

“Hard to say.” Blackwood’s gaze was unflinching. “Some religious faiths and metaphysical theories hold that the spiritual world permeates the mundane. Whereas transcendence implies a divine presence existing on a plane outside and beyond the everyday world, immanence expresses a quality of the otherworldly extant in the world around us.”

Odessa said, “She saw that in you?”