Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles) (9 page)

I supposed I could help her with that—open a vein, coax a sapling to life—but I didn’t yet trust her enough to weaken myself just to make her stronger. And it wasn’t like I had a lot of juice on tap.

Just as Matthew had warned, my powers continued to deteriorate in this rain.

“Eventually, I will always run out of arrows. Then I have to depend on my enhanced speed, endurance, and grace.”

Rolling my eyes, I picked up the Devil Card. “So, this is Ogen, a.k.a., El Diablo. He allies with Death. He’s got horns and hooves like a goat man, but his body is all ogre—with superhuman strength. His call?
I’ll make a feast of your bones
.”

“Ogen, the ogre?” Finn raised his brows. “Really?”

I shrugged. “I don’t make the news, I just report it.” I picked up the Judgment Card next. “You guys have met Gabriel as well. He can strike like a missile from above.”

Selena added, “And he’s got animal senses. That’s why it’s so
dangerous that he’s hooked up with Joules. Gabriel can scent us even through Finn’s illusions, then Joules could just wait up on some vantage, pointing and shooting, picking us off.”

Strengths and weaknesses. I needed to ask Matthew what could take me out, besides the Touch of Death.

Finn sniffed to Selena, “Hide
you
with my illusions?”

I’d seen
Survivor
alliances tighter than mine.

He asked me, “What happens if one of us bites it due to natural causes?”

I didn’t remember the answer, so I waved to Selena.

“The Arcana closest to you gets your icon.”

“What happens to the losers?”

Selena answered him, “They’re reborn, with no memory of their past lives. Well, except for him.” She pointed at Matthew. “The Fool sees everything. That’s what makes him crazy.”

Matthew nodded happily at her.

Directing a scowl her way, I shuffled through some more cards, but Finn stayed my hand over one. “Wait, I’ve seen this guy.” His face paled.

“The Hierophant?” The image was of a robed figure giving a blessing to his kneeling followers. They all had milky white eyes. I handed Finn the card.

In a hushed tone, Matthew said, “Hierophant. He of the Dark Rites.”

I remembered Gran warning me about him:
He’s a charmer, Evie, a spellbinder. Never look him in the eyes. You are vulnerable to him. And he’s not the only one.
“My grandmother told me he can control your mind to make you commit monstrous acts. Once you do, you’ll be enslaved forever—even after his death, you’ll keep doing whatever it is he wanted from you. The monstrous acts vary each game.” Having been brainwashed in a nuthouse, I had a particular dread of mind control.

Eyes locked on the image in his shaking hand, Finn said, “He was with the cannibals. I think I can guess what the monstrous act is. He’s making people eat human flesh.”

“No one needs to force people to eat others.” Jackson was joining in
the conversation? “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s no food in these mountains. None.”

We were going on months of empty grocery stores and zero crops growing. Few animals were alive to be hunted.

His voice a whisper, Finn said, “These particular cannibals feed . . . on the living. Not just raw.
Living.
Monstrous enough for you?”

No. No way.

Finn looked at Matthew, his gaze haunted. “These Arcana are sick, and they aren’t just fighting each other. What the hell is the point of our existence?”

Matthew glanced up, startled. “Point? Cachet. We are champions of the gods!”

“Gods?” I croaked, peering up at the low ceiling. “Are there, like, deities running around, controlling the game?”

“They left—”

Suddenly Jackson yanked his crossbow over his back, aiming out the hut’s opening. “We got company.”

Selena had already risen to one knee, her bow and arrow aimed—a little too close to my head. “It’s a wolf,” she said just as I spied gleaming yellow eyes in the burned woods.

Big
yellow eyes.

Though Jackson relaxed his aim a fraction, Selena looked even more deadly. Before I could say a word, her arrow zoomed past my ear toward the animal.

When we heard the creature speeding away through the mud, Selena bit out a curse.

“Why would you kill it?” I demanded. “That might be the last of its kind on earth!”

Even Jackson—a seasoned hunter—was giving her a look that said,
Not cool.

“That was no ordinary wolf.” Selena looked uneasy. Selena
never
looked uneasy. “We’ve been scouted by the Strength Card. The Mistress of Fauna.”

I remembered that card, and Gran’s words:
Fauna can control animals, Evie, borrowing their senses and making them her familiars.

“Why didn’t we hear her call grow louder?” Finn said.

Selena had already strung one of her makeshift arrows. “Because she isn’t near us, not yet. Only her familiars.”

I scrambled out of the line of fire. “Why didn’t she sic the wolf on us?”

Selena shook her head. “I don’t know why, but Fauna just wanted a look-see. And I think . . .”

“What?”

“I think she wanted us to know she’s watching us. That wolf has been stalking us for days, but I never caught sight of it. Now it reveals itself?”

I swallowed, and Finn said, “What do you mean, watching us? And why would the Strength Card be involved with animals?”

I remembered this one—I’d had the same question eight years ago. “People only started calling her Strength in recent times. She used to be the Fortitude Card, referring to her single-minded purpose. She thinks the way animals do, like beasts on the hunt, with a sole, blood-driven resolve.”

I drew out her card, showing them a delicate girl in a white robe, holding the mouth of a ferocious lion. “Her card is one of the most literal. She can manipulate animals the same way I do plants. Like Gabriel, she has animal senses.”

Selena said, “Not only that—she can
tap into
the senses of nearby creatures.”

I nodded. “I remember that. If she wanted to spy on us, she could get a crow to fly over and see us through its eyes.” Even Jackson was listening intently to this. “And if she exchanges her blood with an animal, it becomes her familiar, connected to her forever. I don’t know how exactly. Selena?”

“Trade secret. Sometimes we don’t know all the powers. Though Matthew would.”

He cast her a mulish look. “Not
your
psychic.”

“Matthew, please,” I murmured, “can you tell us anything?”

He gazed down at his hand. Yet now he seemed to be looking for something there.

Or maybe my paranoia was spreading like kudzu. I asked Selena, “Do you ever ally with Fauna? Does her family chronicle?”

“Not normally. Each game she’s allied with different cards.”

Finn stared for long moments at the image. “She’s got an infinity symbol on her card. It’s right above her head. Like on mine.”

Those shared symbols. Death’s card had a waterfall like mine and a rose upon his flag. In essence, he carried a single white rose—as the Fool did on his card.
“. . . to be read like a map.”

Seeming to give himself an inner shake, Finn said, “So, to recap, we’ve got zombies on our trail and cannibal mines nearby, and now we’ve got another Arcana on our ass.”

“Look on the bright side,” I said. “How many animals can still be alive? This game, it would suck to be the Mistress of Fauna.” No sooner had the words left my mouth than a wolf howled in the distance.

With plaintive calls, two more answered.

8

Blood spilling from my mouth and wound, I writhe on Death’s sword.

Please
. The word is on my lips, but I am too proud to utter it.

Though I want to live, I will never beg!

The Reaper removes his gauntlet, revealing a hand covered with icons. He must have nine kills.

Soon to harvest five more.

He reaches for me with that bared hand, a weapon in itself. I shudder with fear and agony. The more I shake, the more his sword slices at my entrails and raps against my spine. Tears blur my vision, spilling down my cheeks.

In the distance, a lion roars.

“This will hurt for nary a moment more,” he promises, his eyes intent on mine.

All the things I wish I’d done. At least my family will pass on to future Empresses what knowledge I’ve garnered. I made sure of that.

He’s so close I can perceive his breaths on my face, cooling my tears.

I am looking upon Death, as his hand inches closer. . . .

I shot awake, swiping my palm over my cheek, stunned that there weren’t tears streaming down, stunned that Death wasn’t right beside me. As I blinked my eyes, I probed, realizing his presence was gone.

It was dark in the hut, but my shirt was riding up, revealing a glowing glyph. It cast enough light to see Matthew’s sleeping form nearby. Selena and Finn were asleep as well.

Jackson was awake, seated across from me—and staring at the glyph. It reflected in his gray gaze.

In a low tone, he said, “Can you feel them things, you?” There was no rage in his voice.

“They’re like shivers.” I admitted, “It’s comforting to feel them.” Because they represented my arsenal, and I believed that somehow, someway, they were all that stood between me and Death.

Jackson’s gaze flickered over my face, studying. Always studying. “What’s it feel like when you change completely?”

Amazing. No room for uncertainty, just sizzling power. “It’s definitely different.”

“You were like a . . . a
divinité
.”

I sat up. Still his words could thrill me. Still I was one heartbeat away from telling him how much I—

“You ain’t human, no?”

The thrill flared out, leaving cold ash. Though the statement was fair, it still stung. How to answer? “Both my parents were. You know my mom was.” Jackson had met her the night before she died, giving her enough time to get to know him, to rest assured that he could keep me safe. “I never wanted to deceive you, Jack. I was just getting used to this stuff myself. Didn’t know my way around it.”

He scrubbed a hand over his tired face. “Why didn’t you tell me about all this shit?”

“I was warned against confiding in others.”
Arcana means secrets
, as Matthew had said.

“
Coo-yôn
must’ve told you that!”

Selena sighed without rousing. Finn smacked his lips and muttered, “Mom, how long I gotta stay there?”

Without a word, Jack collected his gear and stormed out into the mist, taking a seat on a nearby shelf of rock.

Though uninvited, I joined him.

“You listened to
coo-yôn
, trusting him over me?”

“Yes, Jackson, the psychic I trust with my life told me not to tell anyone. You know, the kid who predicted the end of the world and saved me from the Flash. Besides, you and I had a deal: I’d tell you my secrets once you got me to my grandmother’s.”

“Like you would’ve told me then. You wrote me a note and took off from Finn’s without a word because you knew how I’d react.”

“That’s not true. After our fight, I decided that you deserved to know the truth, warning or no. I was coming to reveal everything when I saw you and Selena—”

“Not
me
.”

“Not you,” I whispered.

He fell silent.
Talk to me
, I wanted to scream.
Tell me what you’re thinking.

“You told me I quieted the voices.” The Arcana calls I’d heard but hadn’t understood. “Seems like you’d need to hear them now.”

“For some reason, you quiet the buzz of all of them. But if one came close enough I’d still hear it, just as I did Selena’s call.”

“Does it scare you, knowing these people want to kill you?”

I nodded. “I’ve known for months that Death has some kind of sick interest in me. I don’t know why, but he does.” I thought of my dream. Apparently, he always had. “Matthew’s shown me visions of his skill, his lack of mercy.” And Death had said I wouldn’t last this week. “But I try not to dwell on it, try to think about other things.”

“Like what?”

Like wishing I were normal and we were back together. “I think about you a lot.”

“Why’s that? You doan need a protector anymore.”

Debatable. And maybe we needed to protect each other. Besides . . . “That’s not the reason I liked you.”

“Oh, this I gotta hear.” His tone was snide.

“Just forget it. It doesn’t matter. Why should I explain anything to you?
You’re going to leave as soon as we get to the next town. That’s clear.”

“Is it?”

“It’s for the best anyway. You’ll be safer once we separate.” Separate. A life without Jackson Deveaux. The mere idea sent my emotions spiraling.

My skin began to glow anew, and even through my T-shirt, the glyphs shone as they wound along my arms, across my chest. I knew my face was casting off light as well.

He stared at the changes in me.

“Look at you, Jack! You’re disgusted.”

“Not used to you.” He got up on his knees before me, wary, like a mongoose sidling around a serpent. “Just let me do this, okay?”