The Passengers and their Roles

"Don't worry, I'm just taking the Criminal for questioning," said the Cowboy, calming the train passengers.

"I didn't do anything!" said the Criminal, raising his hands and letting the newspaper fall.

"You are the Criminal, and you've done more than enough for me to put you away. Now let's go before I get nervous."

Not wanting to get shot, the Criminal reluctantly complied and went back with the Cowboy, with no one making an effort to stop them.

"What was that?" asked the Illusionist, picking up the newspaper curiously.

"Do you want to find out?" suggested the Cartomancer, pointing to her cards. With nothing better to do, he agreed.

While he waited for her to shuffle the deck, he read the main headline. An unknown vampire had killed an entire village. The people were found with bite marks on their necks and their blood changed somehow.

He didn't pay much attention to it and kept the newspaper to read the rest later.

"How will this work?" asked the Illusionist.

"I will draw a card for each of them, and with that, I think I can get a general idea of each one. Let's start with the Cowboy."

The first card she drew was Justice, but reversed.

"What does that mean? That he doesn't follow justice? Is he a criminal too?" the Illusionist asked playfully, as if it were a joke.

"Not necessarily. I feel that in this case, the injustice might be related to him trying to take justice into his own hands. He seemed pretty agitated."

The Illusionist agreed. The Cowboy had followed him just because of a station obstruction, and he seemed to be having exaggerated reactions.

She drew a card for the Criminal, another one reversed, but this time it was The Chariot.

"This doesn't directly speak about his character, but he is a Criminal anyway. Poor guy, he seems to be out of control, but there is also some opposition with something."

"Must be with the Cowboy, right?" the Illusionist questioned.

The Cartomancer didn't seem satisfied with that explanation, but she didn't have more directions to go with that card. Meanwhile, the Illusionist turned his attention to the rest of the passengers, curious about them.

"Can you do this for all the passengers?" he asked.

"Sure, let's go, let's do everyone who doesn't work on the train, starting with the Noble and the Lady," she said, pointing to the well-dressed couple at the other table.

"Do you know who they are?"

"Of course, the Noble is the owner of this train. It's good to know about the other people as well, but we'll get there. First, the card for the Noble: The Emperor, seems to fit. He's somewhat secure and stable, clearly with the amount of money he has."

"But just that? Nothing more... intriguing?"

"My cards don't tell the entire life story of a person. There are secrets and details about each one that would require a deeper reading and the person's presence."

The Illusionist didn't like the response, but he wanted to continue the game, so the Cartomancer drew the card for the Lady, revealing The Lovers, reversed.

"It seems that their romance isn't going so well, isn't it?" the young man asked.

"I have a book with descriptions of the cards. Do you want to read it before trying to guess what each card means? If we draw Death, it doesn't mean that person is going to die; it's not that literal."

"Sorry for my impatience! What does it mean, then?"

She analyzed for a moment before answering, "Mainly duality; I think she's feeling some doubt... or about to make a decision."

"Well, then their relationship might not be going well," the young man said, wanting to show that he wasn't completely wrong.

She just sighed and pointed her head to the other table.

"Shall we do the mobsters now?"

He turned around, surprised. "Mobsters? The Criminal and mobsters are on this train?" The Cartomancer enjoyed her companion's reactions.

"The previous Mobster died in the Heroes' War, and the mafia was left without leadership. Now we have the Old Mobster managing things until the Heiress comes of age to take over the family."

The Old Mobster at the table seemed pretty stern, and now that the Illusionist knew who he was, he had no intention of interacting with them. On the other hand, the young girl barely seemed to be sixteen and still showed all the innocence of youth.

"And the four next to them?" the Illusionist continued as the Cartomancer drew the next card.

"They are just henchmen, it was the 4 of Swords for them, a Minor Arcana; probably just meaning that they are four and serve for fighting."

None of the four henchmen drew much attention, and the Illusionist was more interested in the other two, the Old Mobster, and the Heiress.

The card drawn for the Heiress was The Star.

"Look at that, hope for the future; I'm just not sure if this means the mafia will improve with the Heiress or become even more dangerous."

"And the old man?" the Illusionist asked.

"Let's see, the last passenger," replied the Cartomancer, but she also accidentally drew an extra card, which fell on the floor. The Illusionist only managed to see the card that remained in her hand, The Devil.

The girl made a face, picked up the fallen card, and once again, it was The Tower.

"Two cards again? What does that mean?" he asked, "Does he have a split personality?"

But the Cartomancer wasn't confident.

"I have no idea. It was supposed to be one card per person, but..."

Realizing that even the Cartomancer wasn't satisfied with her reading, he tried to change the subject.

"And you, which card represents you?"

Still immersed in the meanings of the cards, she tried to respond to his question and drew a card from the deck without much excitement.

"The High Priestess, of course."

Despite her words, what the young man saw was quite different.

"The High Priestess looks a lot like The Hanged Man."

She quickly turned the card towards herself, seeing The Hanged Man.

"Good thing you taught me that the cards aren't literal, or else I might start to think you were going to be hanged." The Cartomancer wasn't in the mood for the Illusionist's jokes, so she shuffled the cards, drawing her own fortune.

She didn't let her companion see what she drew; all he managed to glimpse was the last card, which seemed to be a wheel and was reversed.

Despite the tension, she smiled and acted like everything was fine, but the Illusionist had used that kind of smile before, and he didn't know if he could trust it.

"It's all good. I think we're just on a train with a lot of special people. Nothing to worry about."

She had already shuffled her cards again, not giving the Illusionist a chance to see them.

"Yeah, right."

She inspected the surroundings carefully, still wearing her smile.

"I think I'm tired too. I'll go to bed now."

"Alright, see you tomorrow, Cartomancer."

She nodded, leaving the Illusionist with a bitter taste in his mouth.