Elliot laid out the cards in the spread. "I usually flip everything before I interpret," he said, by way of warning Mr. Zabini. He felt a soft thrum in his hands as he revealed the cards — Elliot had never known if this was the anticipation normal people had when reading tarot, or if it was an area where his Sight was joining him once again.
He scanned the cards during Zabini's next question. The Ten of Wands, upright; Death, reversed; the hermit, upright. The first two combined felt particularly ominous to Elliot — he'd given enough readings, and Seen enough terrible things, that the only betrayal of it on his face was an arch of one eyebrow. The last card — Zabini's spirit — was an upright hermit, and felt warmer, to Elliot.
The interpretation came to his tongue, but he hesitated to give it right away. Elliot looked up at Mr. Zabini. "It would be unlike Miss Reid to tell you the pattern of my visions," he said. It was entirely possible that Zabini knew — Elliot's visions of death were not a kept secret — but he was foreign, and Temerita Reid did not reveal the truths of others. So maybe he didn't. "When I have visions, they're of death. And I kept having them in class, or around students. I couldn't prevent the visions from coming to me, or from coming true. So I — decided to leave."
It had been his decision — but he hadn't been sleeping, his teaching started to slip, and he'd felt as he had when he'd decided to leave the Ministry. So — he'd quit.
He scanned the cards during Zabini's next question. The Ten of Wands, upright; Death, reversed; the hermit, upright. The first two combined felt particularly ominous to Elliot — he'd given enough readings, and Seen enough terrible things, that the only betrayal of it on his face was an arch of one eyebrow. The last card — Zabini's spirit — was an upright hermit, and felt warmer, to Elliot.
The interpretation came to his tongue, but he hesitated to give it right away. Elliot looked up at Mr. Zabini. "It would be unlike Miss Reid to tell you the pattern of my visions," he said. It was entirely possible that Zabini knew — Elliot's visions of death were not a kept secret — but he was foreign, and Temerita Reid did not reveal the truths of others. So maybe he didn't. "When I have visions, they're of death. And I kept having them in class, or around students. I couldn't prevent the visions from coming to me, or from coming true. So I — decided to leave."
It had been his decision — but he hadn't been sleeping, his teaching started to slip, and he'd felt as he had when he'd decided to leave the Ministry. So — he'd quit.