“Ready Magician!”
I sat on the other bench. “I heard you took a header off a ridge.”
“H to the Azey. That army blows Baggers. My bear-trap injury never quite healed up. Didn’t take much to rebreak my leg. Selena was worse off, though. She broke her arm in two places, cracked her ribs, and fractured her collarbone.”
Just a week ago? I’d suspected she had accelerated healing.
“Somehow she dragged me back to the fort.”
For Selena to refrain from killing Arcana was one thing. Quite another for her to save another card. She’d shown loyalty to someone other than Jack.
I guessed she and Finn had smoothed over their animosity.
“Good thing I’m dying young,” Finn continued in a nonchalant tone, “or I’d be shit out of luck with this bum leg.”
“Dying young?” He wasn’t kidding.
“Made peace with it.” He shrugged. “Kind of think we all should.”
“Because of the game? We don’t know that yet.” As I spoke, another gust howled, drilling horizontal rain against the metal walls.
Finn looked up warily. “Not just because of the game.”
After three months of near constant downpours, the weather was shifting. Occasionally, we’d get hurricane-force winds—and a fog so thick it bordered on tangible. “Have you guys gotten snow here yet?” I thought I’d spied a single flake the night I’d left Aric.
“Not looking forward to that. SoCal surfer boy here, remember? Just think: if the snow comes down like the rain has . . .”
“Snowmageddon!” Matthew cried, cracking both of them up.
“Yeah, Matto, that groundhog came out to check for nuclear winter. But then a Bagger ate him!”
He almost had me laughing. As soon as I got Jack safe.
Finn’s demeanor turned serious again. “Eves . . .” He opened his mouth, closed it, then frowned at the wolf. He probably wanted to talk about Lark—without her overhearing.
I’d help him out. “There’s a medic who’s taking good care of her.”
He nodded, but a question lingered in his gaze. He peeled at a sticker of an orange tabby.
“She felt terrible about how everything went down,” I told him. “When she realized you’d survived the mine collapse, her entire face lit up. Her eyes watered. She was as into you as you were into her.”
“We’re here for a mission, people”—Selena swept inside—“not group therapy.”
Gabriel was right behind her, watching the Archer—like a hawk.
She assessed me. “You gonna have enough juice for this? Don’t see your glyphs.”
My Empress power gauge. “I’ll have enough.” Since emotions fueled my powers, I feared I’d have too much. “And you?”
Under her jacket, she wore a pistol holster; over it, an arm sling. A sword belt circled her narrow waist. “I got a Glock and a cutlass. Consider my swash buckled.”
Joules barged inside, his skin sparking with anger. AC/DC. “You’re really goin’ to do this?” he demanded of Gabriel. “Infiltrate an enemy camp with a bowless Archer—and an untrustworthy Empress? How do you know she won’t lose her shite and claw you to death?”
Dick.
“Selena has weapons,” Gabriel pointed out. “And I trust the Empress in this.”
Yes, I’d gotten more control of the vicious red witch; didn’t mean it was foolproof. If we failed tonight and I didn’t return with Jack, would she slip the leash?
Oh, man, I really hoped I didn’t murder Gabriel and Selena.
I cleared my throat. “You guys have your bandannas?” The wetted material would serve as a filter against my spores. I hoped.
Gabriel tugged one from his jacket pocket. “And I have Jack’s scent from his tent. But I need to lock on it over there before you deploy.”
“Just let me know you’re ready.” I was acting like I had total command over my powers. No matter how stressful, painful, or lethal the situation grew.
Joules created a spear in his palm, twirling it. “The other side of the river is out of my range, Gabe. You’re goin’ to be on your own. No cover, no backup.”
“I’ve already given my word that I will go.”
Joules sparked brighter. “And I told you I wouldn’t, not without payment.”
“Then we part ways here for a time,” Gabriel said gravely.
“Enough with the bromance!” Selena snapped. “Joules, this area is reserved for people about to do shit. So kindly remove your Oirish arse.”
“One day, Archer . . .” But he did turn to leave, passing Tess on her way in.
“Hey, guys.” She pulled off her hood, smoothing her long mousy brown hair back. “Can I go too?”
I shared a look with Selena, then asked, “Uh, why?”
“I can help you carry Jack if he’s been injured. Selena can only use one arm, and Gabe might be busy.”
When we remained unconvinced, she said, “I let you down before, Evie. I want to make up for it.”
Tess had balked when she’d had a chance to stab Death—but what if she hadn’t? I never would have known the real Aric.
Yet then, had I truly known him? The man behind the armor? “Tess, if you’d gone forward that day, you would’ve been too late. Death was already getting free. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I know I’m the laughingstock of the Arcana,” she quietly said. “But I can’t stop being that unless I do something meaningful. I’m asking. Please.”
Gabriel studied her expression. “She’s going,” he decided. “She can help. Do you have your bandanna?”
Tess nodded eagerly.
Selena raised her brows at the angel. “Do you know something about her powers that I don’t? As in, do they ever work?”
On the day I first met Tess, Matthew had listed some of her mind-blowing abilities. Teleportation, levitation, time manipulation, and more. She was the World Card, the great Quintessence. Unfortunately, she struggled with her gifts.
“She could surprise you, Archer.”
“So she goes.” Selena hiked her shoulders. “You’re in luck, Evie. If we get chased, she’ll be even slower than you are.” To Tess, she said, “You screw this rescue up, and I’ll skewer you with my new sword.” She unsheathed a few inches of it with a threatening look.
Gabriel frowned at that, fluttering his silky black wings. Again, he grimaced with the movement.