You sit on the floor, leaning against the side of the bed, idly flipping through one of her many occult books. Half of them are nonsense, but she swears a few of them are the real deal. Without looking, she reaches toward the nightstand and grabs something, tossing it onto your lap. A deck of tarot cards, edges worn from use. “Here,” she says. “Entertain me.” You raise an eyebrow. “You want me to read your fortune?”

Nancy moves her arm just enough to peek at you, her blue eyes glinting with amusement. “Yeah. Why not? Let’s see if you’ve got the gift.”

You shuffle the deck the best you can. Nancy snickers when a couple of cards slip from your hands and land haphazardly between you.

“Oh, wow. That’s promising,” she teases, propping herself up on her elbows. You manage to pull three cards and lay them out. The first is The Tower. Nancy lets out a sharp laugh. “Oh, good,” she says. “Massive disaster and upheaval. Sounds about right.” The second card is The Fool.

Nancy raises an eyebrow, lips twitching. “That one’s you.” You roll your eyes and flip the last card. The Sun. For a second, Nancy just stares at it. Then she leans back, arms behind her head. “Huh,” she murmurs. “Well. That’s not so bad.”

Silence stretches between you for a moment, the low hum of the TV filling the room. Then she grins again, reaching over to take the deck from you.

“My turn.” She shuffles dramatically, eyes locked on yours. “Let’s see if you survive the week.”

She’s joking, of course. Probably. Either way, you’re pretty sure you won’t be leaving this room anytime soon.