Page 80 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
“Does Adi have a studio like this, too?” Nori asked, biting into hers.
“Just the one at home,” Anita replied. “He’s a bit of a hermit.” Then her expression turned somber. “Thank you, Nori. For helping Vir.”
“Not you, too.” Nori shook her head. “I’m just doing my job.”
Anita reached across the table to squeeze her hand, mouthing another “thank you”. As her fingers began to lift, a static-like tingle went through Nori’s skin, making her jump.
“Oh.” Anita’s delicate, perfectly shaped eyebrows shot up.
“Static?” Nori laughed nervously. The weather was too humid for static.
“Nori…” Anita looked amused. “Would you mind if I do a reading for you?”
“Reading?”
“Tarot. Runes. Maybe both. I strongly feel like I’m supposed to tell you something.”
“I don’t understand. Tell me what?”
“How about we find out?”
Nori pursed her lips. She didn’t believe a bunch of symbols or cards could tell her anything about her life that she didn’t already know. But she didn’t want to offend Anita, either. They’d been hitting off really well before the woo-woo stuff.
Anita laughed. “You don’t have to believe anything you don’t want to. And don’t worry about offending me. Though it’d be fun to channel this thing out. I’m tingly all over.”
“How do you…?”
“A hunch.” Anita shrugged.
“Alright.” Nori frowned. “Just for fun.”
“Let me get a deck. Ooh! Let me get four!” Anita padded away, visibly excited.
She reappeared a moment later with a rustic looking wooden box and took four different card decks out of it. She shuffled them in front of Nori, naming each one as she did—Archetype, Lenormand, Oracle, and Waite-Smith.
Once Nori was done picking her cards as instructed, she watched Anita’s hands flutter all over the table, swiftly arranging them intoa strange grid-like pattern.
“And three runes,” Anita added, holding out a small velvet pouch for her to pick from, then laid them out, too.
The runes, Nori noticed, were little pink stones with wobbly gold etchings on them. And one stood out. Algiz—same as Vir’s tattoo.
“Okay, a disclaimer first,” Anita said without yet looking at the table. “I rarely do these readings. But when I do, I don’t remember most of what I say, afterwards. Not unless I write it down as I’m channeling.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want me to get a notebook and pen?”
“No, I think we’re good. I’m listening.”
“Okay then. Let’s begin.” With a deep inhale, Anita finally looked at the spread.
A few moments passed in silence, where she neither moved nor blinked. Nori was about to ask her if everything was okay when she abruptly started talking.
“I’m getting messages from your current life—” she said, her tone flat, impassive. “—from past you and future you, and also from a very specific past life.”
Anita’s eyes shifted from the cards to Nori’s, and despite the far-off look in them, they still pierced right through her as clearly as if she were made of glass.
“You lost someone,” Anita continued in the same flat voice. “You were young—lovers. You vowed to protect him, but he ran out of time. And as you slowly watched him slip away, he, too, made you a promise: to find you in your next life, and to love you first.
