by Kresley Cole
“I knew you’d use the Magician to find me,” Aric said. “Was your plan to kill solely me? Or the Empress and Fauna as well?”
Joules said, “We only got to the part where I electrocute you.”
Finn stuck his head out from the backseat, falcon in his arms. “What the hell, dudes?” He was genuinely wounded. “You guys were following me? Freaking harsh, man. Harsh. I thought we were friends.”
Aric cast me a look. See? Most Arcana couldn’t be trusted.
“Oi, Empress, I’ll be havin’ that javelin back,” Joules said. “Even if I have to fight you for it.”
“I do believe you gave your vow never to hurt her,” Aric said. “In any event, you’ll have to go through me.”
Joules turned to Gabriel. “What do you think, Gabe? Should I—” Joules hurled his next javelin at Aric with shocking speed—and a second one that I’d never seen from his other hand!
Aric caught one javelin, even as his sword flashed out to deflect the second strike.
Before I’d had time to blink.
From the truck, Finn breathed, “Duuude.”
Aric smirked. “Ever wonder where the phrase lightning-fast reflexes came from?” God, he was so cocky. I loved it.
I caught the baton this time. We’d scored a pair of javelins!
Joules gave a strangled yell. “I don’t care how long it takes. I will kill you!”
“Concentrate your minuscule talents on the Emperor and his allies. Or die.”
I told them, “We should all be concentrating on Richter. Where is he?”
Finn said, “He and his alliance have a lair, but we haven’t been able to find it. Especially now . . .”
“Why now?”
“Zara kind of scored the sickest military attack copter ever.” She’d traded up after the crash? “She and Sol fly in it. It’s tricked out with machine guns and even missiles.”
Fortune’s arsenal was growing more powerful, like Lark’s. I wondered if Zara had discovered the full extent of her luck manipulation. “Is Richter still with them?”
Joules’s dark eyes flashed. “Right with ’em. That fecker learned how to ride waves of lava.” Just as I’d read in my chronicles. “Even if we could target him with lightning, Zara’s always there to provide cover.”
Aric looked furious. “You allowed her to acquire an attack copter? After you’d been raiding them?”
In a blustering tone, Joules said, “I’ve struck and fried every sittin’ helicopter, at every base, every airport, and every hangar we’ve passed. Even parts of helicopters, so she couldn’t do repairs. But she’s been hidin’ this one.”
“That craft employs infrared vision,” Gabriel said quietly. His speech and accent were as old-timey as his suit, even as he spoke about infrared. “Such technology thwarts even the Magician’s illusions. And there are few heat signatures left in the world—no engines, scarce animals and humans—for us to blend with. No trees provide cover.” He unfurled a silky black wing. Multiple bullet holes riddled it. “How do you suggest we concentrate on them? You have wisdom, Endless Knight. Impart it. I will heed you.”
As much as I would love to fly, those wings truly were a weakness. He’d had a bullet hole in one the last time I’d seen him. And Aric had stabbed through one not too long ago.
“Step one,” Aric said, “do not lead them to the alliance that could actually stop them.”
“We broke clean from ’em,” Joules said.
“What about Bagmen?” I asked. “They scout for Sol.”
“Gabe would’ve scented any Baggers.” Joules waved off my concern. “Hell, I would have.”
Gabriel cocked his head. “Wait.”
“What do you hear, friend?” Joules murmured, producing another baton. Though he usually sounded like a streetwise bruiser, sometimes when he spoke to Gabriel, he seemed younger, not as coarse.
Made me wonder what the Lord of Lightning had been like before the apocalypse. Before Calanthe’s gruesome death.
“A . . . helicopter is, in fact, approaching us,” Gabriel told him. “Somehow, Zara has our location.”
“Leave me, Gabe.”
The Archangel shook his head. “If I had a dollar for every time you have said those words . . . And I give you my customary reply: Never.”
I frowned at my feet. A tremor? I heard the copter in the distance and . . . crackling asphalt? The need to fight and kill blistered me inside, the heat of battle burning as hot as the flames I’d nearly walked into four months ago. But without a plan and prep, we couldn’t take on a military copter and earthquakes.
Aric snapped, “Into the truck, sievā!”
I hurried toward it. Across the lot, fissures forked out like Joules’s lightning. My jaw dropped as Finn’s abandoned sedan plummeted into one. An explosion rocked the area.
I reeled, clutching the door handle. Aric appeared behind me to shove me into the truck. As he raced to his seat, the back door opened on my side.
Joules and Gabriel piled in! The falcon screeched when Joules elbowed Finn to move over.
Aric slid behind the wheel, his demeanor lethal. In a low tone, he said, “I’ve been known to grant Death wishes.”
Gabriel retracted his silky wings, but they were still huge in such a confined space. “We respectfully request a trues.” As Matthew had called an Arcana truce.
Another quake. More fissures snaked around our truck.
Four voices cried to Aric, “Go!”
With a muttered curse, he gunned the engine. “If we escape, I will be tossing you from this vehicle, and when I do, I’ll most likely slit your throats.”
46
Aric sped through the parking lot, his quick reflexes adjusting our course as quakes continued. He expertly veered toward the exit, then out onto the highway. The engine roared as the truck raced forward.
He narrowed his eyes at the rearview mirror, telling Joules, “One of Fortune’s missiles takes out five of us. Five. She will unleash everything in her arsenal to hit this truck.”
“Looks as if you drive like you do everything else. So don’t bloody let it take us out!”
Finn cast his former friends a glare, then turned from them, speaking to the falcon in a hushed voice.
Joules swiped a hand over his face. “How the feck did they find us? The Sun’s Baggers?”
“I didn’t scent any,” Gabriel said. “They have a very distinctive scent.”
Joules asked Aric, “Can the Sun disguise it?”
Aric glanced at me. “Empress?”
“Maybe. If he washed their skin. The slime is what stinks.”
“Oi, what makes her the expert?”
Eyes on the congested highway, Aric absently answered, “She spent several days in the Sun’s company.”
“Damn, Empress. You move fast.”
I stiffened.
Aric grated, “You do wish to die, Tower.”
A new crevasse opened up not two feet away from the truck. “Uh, Aric.” I stared down. “Fissure directly to our right.” It ripped along as fast as we drove.
He answered, “And one on my left.”
I craned my head around and got my first look at Zara’s terrifying new weapon. The helicopter’s shape was angular and sharp, with huge guns mounted beneath it. The painted nose looked like a dragon’s roaring mouth, fangs glinting.
Zara hovered above the fiery remains of Finn’s car. “She’s checking out the explosion. Maybe she’ll think some of us were in the car. . . .” My words trailed off.
The copter smoothly rotated in a controlled circle, like a roulette wheel. Where she stops, nobody knows.
Carousel. Roulette. Tourniquet.
Symbols. Waypoints . . .
The copter stopped swiveling, the creepy nose pointing straight at us. “Floor it!” I cried. “They’ve seen us.” The nose dipped down as the copter accelerated.
Gabriel’s black wings twitched. “What’s that sound?”
I blinked, disbelieving my eyes. “S
he’s fired a missile!”
“Hold on, sievā.” Aric’s intent look scared the hell out of me.
I faced forward. “Cars, Aric.” A pair of wrecks were too close to each other—no way he could squeeze through that tight opening. Yet he accelerated as he headed right for them. His expression was cold focus, his jaw clenched.
Oh. Shit.
“Out of me way!” Joules cried, scrambling for the door.
Falcon in his arms, Finn dove for the back.
Joules lengthened a javelin. Before I could warn him, he’d cracked open the back door and tried to lob a bolt—
Metal on metal shrieked. Side mirrors tore away. A shower of sparks lit the night, and the door slammed shut on Joules; his javelin recoiled and jabbed Gabriel’s wing.
Zara’s missile struck the wreck on the left, sending pieces high in the sky. Aric dodged a plummeting wheel. An axle.
From the third-row seat, Finn said, “Sick driving, dude!”
Joules sputtered, “You tryin’ to get me killed?” He collapsed his spear. “Gabe, you all right?”
“I will be fine anon.”
“Shut up and make yourself useful,” Aric told Joules. “What’s your range?”
Shoulders back, he replied, “Far enough.”
“Whatever it is, they’ll know the distance from your previous attacks—so she’ll never fly within that range. If she fires again, you’re going to have to hit the missile.” Aric pushed a button on the dash, and the extended moon roof opened above us. “Let it get close before you strike it.”
“Feck me, you want me to nail a speeding target? From a speeding target?”
Aric sighed. “Do try to get the javelin out of the vehicle this time.”
Joules’s eyes went wide, his face sparking with rage. “Oh, you bloody—”
“Tower, let us remain on point,” Gabriel interrupted.
Aric glanced back at Joules. “Give some to the Archangel.”
“Nobody but me can throw these and make them go boom.”
I said, “Actually . . .”
Joules shrugged and tossed Gabriel a couple of batons; then he popped up through the moon roof. “That’s right—give the Lord o’ Lightnin’ some room.” He created another javelin, then rolled his head on his neck.
Aric said, “Archangel, blast cars. Often. We need other heat targets.”
With a nod, Gabriel stood up in the backseat beside Joules, his furled wings fluttering.
When the copter jerked and smoke puffed from the bottom, I said, “I think she just—”
“—fired another!” Gabriel finished.
“Jaysus, incoming!”
Gabriel and Joules bombed every car we passed, but the missile was still on our ass and closing fast.
“Take it out, Tower,” Gabriel said. “Now!”
Joules hurled a javelin . . . it zoomed away . . . An explosion behind us! “Pegged that fecker!”
Even Aric appeared surprised.
Joules cackled with delight. “And I’ve still got time to moon her. You think me arse’ll show up on her infrared?” The streetwise bruiser was back.
“Missile!” Gabriel said.
Joules hurled another javelin . . . and took that one out as well! “I can do this all night, Fortune!”
If we could stay alive long enough, we might get her to blow her entire arsenal.
“Conserve some power,” Aric said. “She might send two next time.”
By the light of the fires, I could see the copter falling back. “Why’s she slowing down?”
“To give her missiles time to accelerate. The Tower won’t be able to hit them at full speed.” Aric caught my gaze. “When I give a signal, I want you to leap from this car.”
“No! If you go out, I go too. That was the deal. Tell Joules how to do that lightning field.”
Joules ducked down. “What lightning field?”
Aric gritted his teeth. “And when he wields that power against us?”
“Kick the can down the road, Aric! We’ll deal with that later.”
“Roll before you hit,” he told me. “Then run for water.”
“What are you talking about—”
He reached over me to yank open my door.
A vine shot out from my forefinger, and I lashed myself to the oh-shit handle. “Don’t even think about it!”
He slammed the door. “Stubborn woman!” He made a sound of frustration, then asked Joules, “Can you throw two javelins with accuracy?”
“In me sleep.”
“Throw a pair to land at the exact same time, about a hundred feet apart. Lightning will combust between them. If you are as accurate as you say.”
“No shite?” Joules got into position.
“You can do this,” Gabriel told him. “You must.”
The Tower took several rapid breaths, then lobbed a pair of javelins at the same time. . . . The bolts landed, but nothing unusual happened.
Aric veered around a motor home. “At the exact same time.”
Gabriel cocked his head again. “She’s fired. Two. Picking up speed!”
Joules let loose another pair. Two more strikes. No combustion.
Aric said, “You are capable of this, Tower. I have seen you do it before.”
Joules gave a yell and hurled two more. I held my breath. Could already see the pair of missiles streaking toward us.
A web of lightning exploded into the sky. Sizzling electricity unlike anything I’d ever seen.
The missiles exploded in the electric net.
“Oi, now we are cookin’ with gas!”
“That chick’s got to be out of missiles,” Finn said. “I only saw four last time.”
Aric maneuvered around more wrecks. “She hasn’t fired bul—”
Bullets bit into the highway on both sides of us. “Get inside!” I cried.
Joules and Gabriel dropped down.
Aric swerved, narrowly missing a convertible with two Baggers still seat-belted in. Another spray of bullets sent pieces of that car at us, but he evaded the debris. With his cold focus, he threaded two big rigs, then dodged a locomotive that had fallen off an overhead rail bridge.
Heart racing, I said, “And to think I once wondered if you’d ever driven a car.”
“I can’t outrun those bullets much longer.”
More pitted the ground inches away. Ricocheting pavement busted my window. “Shit!” Wind rushed into the truck. My hair whipped, my eyes watering.
“Are you hurt, sievā?”
“No, I’m good.” A Bagman on the side of the road caught my attention. As if in slow motion, I watched it . . . wave at me. Not good. Going crazy.
We passed a second one. It placed a slimy hand on its chest, as if making a pledge.
Either I was going insane . . . or Sol was screwing with us. Another Bagman up ahead raised its arm, indicating to the right—where there was a turnoff onto a smaller road.
Or was Sol helping us?
The Evie of old would swear she and Sol had shared a moment, that some kind of bond had formed. The Evie of late would say, “Trust no one. Kill first; ask later.” As Gran had repeatedly said, Arcana were all treacherous and disloyal killers. Aric too had little trust in other players.
Which Evie would I choose to be?
Just as the line of bullets veered toward us, I said, “Aric, take the next right!” Damn it, I would create my own symbols. I would fill in my own new slate.
He wheeled a hard right, and we skidded onto the smaller road. “Are you familiar with this area?”
I didn’t answer. At the next junction, another Bagger pointed left. “Go left.”
We fishtailed left, the line of fire stitching the pavement where we’d just been. The road began to curve through canyons. Bullets struck the rock walls, instead of us; I just prayed they wouldn’t ricochet the wrong way.
“Much better terrain, sievā. Is the Fool speaking to you?”
Gabriel said, “Will the calls return?”
<
br /> I shook my head. “Um, the Bagmen are directing us. I think Sol is using them to help us.”
Aric did a double take.
“Jaysus! The Empress has gone mental. As can happen when you’re diddlin’ Death.”
Gabriel laid a hand on my seat, his talons digging in to the leather. “If he is leading us anywhere, it will be into a trap—or off a cliff.”
“Why would he help his enemies?” Finn asked from the back.
Joules blustered: “Sol’s the one in the feckin’ helicopter shootin’ at us! He’s not goin’ to try to kill us and try to save us.”
Aric murmured to me, “I can’t disagree with their logic.”
“Sol has to make it look like he’s still allying with Zara.”
Joules turned to Aric. “You’re listenin’ to this?”
Finn added, “Eves, the Sun is not a good dude. He’s evil.”
Yes, at times. But I had been too. Now I was different. “He’s layered,” I said, using Sol’s word. “Up ahead, there’s another Bagman pointing left.”
Aric eyed me. “Are you sure? If you believe this is the right course, I will follow it.”
“You will?”
“I trust you with my life.”
I’d made so many mistakes, tragic ones, that I hardly trusted myself. Then I pictured Sol at the edge of the lava gravestone. He’d been conflicted. “I believe Sol is helping.”
Aric turned left at that Bagman.
Joules bit out another curse. “I understand she’s the only tart for you, but no piece is worth dyin’ over!”
Aric’s shoulders tensed. “And yet you keep risking Death because of the one you lost.”
Joules’s skin sparked anew, his hand dropping to his boot.
Did he have a knife stowed in there? “Don’t even think about hurting him, Joules! Or I’ll poison you where you sit.”
To our left was a tunnel. A Bagger pointed to our right. Aric went right.
“Look down there,” Gabriel said. “The canyon leads to a city, one with standing buildings.” That valley had mountain-to-mountain structures. Fires burned in places. Smoke billowed. Lots of things to confuse infrared vision.
Aric raised his brows at me. “Perhaps the Sun was aiding us. If we reach that city, we could lose Fortune.” He took my hand on the console.