"… Maybe we should've done this for our exams. Not that I condone cheating, of course."

"It doesn't sound like it does anything... concrete enough for exams."

"Maybe we could have at least prioritised which exams to study for better?" shrugs Theo. "I have no idea how it works – 'provides different perspectives but doesn't stack' sounds weird."

"That's why we test it."

"Sounds good," agrees Theo. "So, do we look for disasters, large-scale badness, in case there are cards yet to show up that will cause havoc?"

"...I was thinking we look for what James Randi will think of us showing him magic but sure that too."

"Both of those are probably a good idea," he responds. "I think catastrophe first though. How does it work?"

"What spread do you want first?"

"Three cards, I think? Look at the state of the world, if it's gonna be horribly apocalypse, that sort of thing?"

"Okay! So the way you have to do it is pile all your cards in a deck and enter a trance, then shuffle the cards with your left hand. You have to divide the deck in two, then turn one of the halves upside down, many times, until you feel like the answer is there. Then you set the deck down, and use your right hand to put three cards in front of you, one beside the other. Then you turn them one by one."

"… Okay," he says.

So he does in fact try to do this! He assumes it's like the meditation trance.

"You have to think of a specific question to ask."

"'Is there likely to be a catastrophe?' Or should I phrase it differently, I could probably just do this a few times with different ones?"

"It gives very general answers, asking general questions might not give you a lot of information."

"Ask about horror and/or large quantities of death caused by magic, then?"

"Could work!"

He tries that, then!

Shuffle, cut, revert, shuffle, repeat until he feels the answer... There it is. Three cards, one after the other. The first one, reflecting himself: the Shadow. "The Shadow represents the unknown," Kero explains, "the reason for and solution to a problem, a mystery or a prophecy, hidden depths and characteristics."

Theo feels... something, when Kero explains this. Unknown, yes, and prophecy. There is another hand at work, here, and this was known before.

"… It seems like it's telling me 'yes there is going to be a catastrophe and you already knew about it'. Which. Well, yeah."

Second card, reflecting the world: the Libra, reversed. "This means lies, imbalance, chaos, a loss of control, or incorrect judgement." Imbalance, chaos, and loss of control are particularly resonant for Theo.

He mentions as such.

Third card, the problem: the Create, reversed. "This represents rules and binds in your mind and actions, an unexpected disaster, destruction."

Yeah all of this.

"Yup. Apparently."

"Wait, though, what does 'rules and binds in your mind and actions' even mean in this case? Will we be—limited in how we can affect it or what?"

Shrug.