Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 48: Eclipse

Professor Lal's eyes widened, then she nodded quickly. "I'll be back in a moment. I believe I have the book that goes with that deck in my office." Before Corrie or Roe could say anything, she had turned away and was walking smartly out of the room. It was a measure of how much the class respected her that the noise level in the room did not rise when the door shut behind her.

She was back quickly, but not before Corrie, Roe, and Dawn had pored through many of the other cards in the Incidental Tarot deck. Corrie liked the Empress card—it reminded her of her mother. Many of the cards were beautiful, and because it was a different kind of deck, it didn't have any of the swords that made her nervous. The quills were much more friendly and looked more relevant to her life besides—she might not really use quill pens, but she did a lot of writing for school.

When Professor Lal returned, she wasn't holding a book at all, but a small piece of paper. When she reached them she unfolded it, and Corrie saw that it was ordinary printer paper, just folded up small. The front of the page had meanings for all of the Major Arcana cards plus two extras. Professor Lal pointed to the entry for "Eclipse," right in the middle of the page.

According to the description, it was about introspection and change, and its key word was "surrender." Corrie shook her head in confusion, then looked at Roe, who seemed to be concentrating hard on the description.

They were all quiet for a moment, and then Professor Lal spoke. "Does this enlighten you regarding your vision, Roe?"

Roe sighed and shook her head. "No. Actually, it just makes me more confused."

"Ah, I suppose that is to be expected," said Professor Lal. "It may merely be a coincidence, you know. And it may simply come clear to us after the events of the vision have come to pass."

"That's what I'm afraid of," said Roe. "Though... actually, maybe it does make me feel a little better about that. I mean, this card is fairly benign. There are worse ones that could have shown up in my vision, right?"

"Certainly," said Professor Lal. "There's the Tower. Or..." She picked up the paper and held it to her own face. "The Phoenix, in this deck. Or the Chimaera, which is about obsession."

"And the idea that it's a tarot card, not an actual tree that's on fire like I thought it was, makes me feel better about it too. Huh." Roe spun the card between her fingers. "Maybe there are other visions I've had that were more symbolic than I thought, too. They mostly show real things that I see happen, but some of the ones that I didn't think came true, or that were changed..."

"Well, don't leave us in suspense," said Dawn. "I want to hear about this vision now."

"My curiosity is certainly piqued," said Professor Lal. "But first, I'd like Roe to look through all the cards in her deck, and for the two of you to find the Hanged Man cards in your own decks. Images can be powerful, and there may be something additional that will trigger Roe's memory."

But after they had gone through them all, there was nothing else that Roe said looked familiar. Professor Lal made a pass of the room to check on the other students while they were looking at the decks, then pulled her chair out from behind her own desk to sit with them.

Roe took a deep breath. "Okay. The vision kind of morphed from a dream, like they do sometimes, so I'm not really sure where it started exactly, but I know I was in a classroom during the dream. Then I was walking away from the classroom, toward the woods—the ones on the east side of campus, near Gilkey. I wasn't cold, but I don't remember wearing a coat or anything, so I don't know if that was part of the vision or still part of the dream."

"Does the weather usually form part of your visions?" asked Professor Lal.

"No, not really. I mean, I don't ever feel hot or cold in the visions. They're usually just what I can see."

Professor Lal nodded. "I did not mean to interrupt. Go on."

Roe smiled to show she wasn't upset, then said, "At some point, Corrie, Edie, Dawn, and Tom were walking in the woods with me."

"Were we all together, as a group?" Dawn asked. "Or were you just there observing us?"

"I think we were all together, because I couldn't see all of you, but I knew you were all there. We were walking toward some sparkly lights."

"The court faeries," said Corrie.

"Yeah," said Roe. "I think that was where we were going."