Katerina made her way to the Tesco Express that took up one corner of the glittering glass and marble, brick and steel palace that was St Pancras. The station was filling up as the morning tide of commuters swept in from the platforms and out through the high gothic arches of the doors and early travellers poured in on their way South to France and Brussels and North to Leeds and Scotland. The air seemed to shimmer with the accumulated battering of sound that vibrated through it: trains, voices, tanoy announcements, clicking heels and shrilling children. Katerina felt safe now. Hidden by crowds and camouflaged by activity. She spent her money on a croissant, a small carton of orange juice and an apple and ate them at one of the caféteria tables that had just been set out. No one chased her away. When she had finished, she took a small package wrapped in green silk out of the backpack. A waitress had been waiting for the moment and immediately came and sat in the chair opposite her. "Will you tell me if this is the one, Katerina?" she said. Katerina held out her hand and the waitress eagerly pressed a two pound coin into it. The coin was round and golden and glittering, newly minted. It passed between them like a wish and Katerina immediately put it in her pocket out of sight as if leaving it for a moment on the table might instantly tarnish it.
     A horseshoe of seven cards materialised on the square of green silk. It was an extraordinary spread: three minor arcana cards, two upright and one reversed, flanking four major arcana cards all reversed. "He's not the one," said Katerina without pausing to interpret more carefully. Her querent looked a little crestfallen. "You feel a strong spark of energy between you," said Katerina. "Not just physical but creative as well…"
     "Yes," agreed the girl eagerly. "He makes me feel like I can do things."
     "But it won't last," said Katerina sympathetically. "You already feel dependent and you have known him only a short time. Temperance means to be moderate, to compromise, but here it shows a tendency to cling and defer. He will overwhelm you. The gardens that he leads you through will not reveal their true mysteries but each, the sun, the moon and the star, will be a labyrinth of illusions that will leave you feeling lost and emotionally adrift. The promise of creativity shown at the beginning by the Ace of Wands will devolve into a loss of reality, false hopes. Only the ace of pentacles promises the protection of financial independence but this path will not lead you to emotional stability." Katerina finished and waited patiently for her client to respond. When she didn't Katerina said, "They are only cards, you know. I read what is there but it doesn't mean it's true." The young woman looked sad. "No, it is true," she said. "I kind of knew already. I could feel that there was no real substance to his compliments, that he was just leading me on, but, you know, you want to believe stuff."