Kentarch’s gaze took in the icons on my hand before he faced the snowy road again. “You said the Hanged Man brainwashed Death. Who is this new player?”
According to Paul, brainwashed wasn’t the right word, but I didn’t have a better one right now. Once my teeth stopped chattering, I said, “The Hanged Man, a.k.a. the Traitor, is a medic who lived in the castle. Goes by Paul. We had no idea he was the inactivated card.”
Joules said, “I thought that player had to drop another one to get juiced up.” His face fell. “Oh, yeah. The Magician.”
“Paul killed my grandmother, a Tarasova, priming his powers. Today he took out Finn. The Magician was immune to his influence, so Paul poisoned him, then blamed me.”
Joules punched the passenger window. “I’m goin’ to fry him.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Get in line.”
Kentarch glanced at his side mirror, clocking the area. “What is that yellow haze?”
“Paul calls it his sphere of clarity. It reverses cards, changing their personalities. You can actually see their tableaux turning upside down.”
Joules raked his thin fingers through his brown hair. “No wonder Gabe was such an arsehole to me.”
Kentarch cursed under his breath. “I finally reached that place to recruit help, and there’s none to be found.”
Would he jettison us now? The Chariot had one mission, and neither the Empress nor the Tower could assist him. “But there will be help. If we free everyone in the castle, Lark can locate your wife as planned.” If Issa still lived. “Fauna’s animals found the Magician out in the Ash.”
And now I wished they hadn’t.
Joules asked Kentarch, “So you’re really an ally of Death’s?” Demonstrating his lack of a filter, he added, “Know that I plot his downfall most minutes of every day.”
I turned to him. “Enough!” Don’t give Kentarch another reason to ditch us. “If you want Gabriel back, we’re all going to have to work together to defeat the Hanged Man.”
“All of us, is it?” Joules gave a harsh laugh. “We’re just a trio, and you’re up the duff. Up the flue. Up the pole.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re pregnant! What are you goin’ to defeat that card with? Your swollen ankles?”
I glanced at Kentarch to see if he was surprised by this news.
He shrugged. “Death told me about the baby. You’re almost three months along?”
“Two and a half or so.” Would this pregnancy survive snake venom, an avalanche, a spearing, and a truck ride from hell?
“I canna believe Gabe and me have been out here starving, while you got knocked up with another mouth to feed. Much less the Reaper’s bastard.”
“First of all, my baby isn’t a bastard. Technically, Aric and I are married.” At least before he crushed his ring and forsook me. “And secondly, I didn’t do this on purpose. Paul gave me a shot, telling me it was a contraceptive. He knew how much I didn’t want to have a kid. He knew Aric would. Paul was trying to drive a wedge between us.”
“Death wants a tyke?” Joules asked. “Mind blown.”
Kentarch said, “The Reaper believes a child between two Arcana can upend the game.”
Joules grew uncharacteristically grave. “Can it?” His best friend was an Arcana; Joules wanted to play this screwed-up game as much as I did. Not at all.
I exhaled. “Look, I just work here. But maybe? Circe thinks this kid will ring in a new world. If the entire planet is Tar Ro, our playing field, then the gods might bring it back. All I know for certain is that nothing like this has ever happened. Aric has lived through three games, and he’s never heard of it.”
Joules grudgingly said, “It wasn’t in Cally’s chronicles either.”
My brows rose with my interest. “You have them?” Want them.
Joules jutted his pointy chin. “I might.”
“What’s your plan now?” Kentarch asked.
I let the subject of chronicles drop. “I doubt Paul will ever leave the castle, so we’ve got to get inside to kill him.” Easier said than done. Probably best to hold off telling them how invincible he was. “Which means you two will need some kind of protection against his influence.”
“Gabe likes to roam,” Joules said. “He might fly the coop and leave that sphere. Then my problems are over.”
I shook my head. “They don’t want to leave.” On that mountain, Aric had been poised at the very edge, but he hadn’t crossed to pursue us. “I think that’s part of Paul’s hold over them.”
Kentarch narrowed his gaze. “Why couldn’t the Hanged Man control you? Were you immune like the Magician?”
In general, some cards were unaffected by specific Arcana powers. I vividly recalled poisoning Ogen to no effect. But according to the Hanged Man, I didn’t possess an innate immunity to his abilities. Though I trusted little of what he’d said, I hadn’t felt as if I were a foil to him, a secret weakness. And at first, I had been swayed a touch. “I don’t think brainwashing affects me anymore, not after I shucked off the Hierophant’s mind control.”
Joules said, “Oh, yeah, you ganked him.”
Kentarch glanced at my icons again, and I felt my cheeks heating.
Joules pointed at his scrawny chest. “Maybe I’m immune like Finn.”
“There’s only one way to find out. Are either of you willing to bet your life?”
That got Joules to shut up.
Kentarch checked the mirrors again. “Then how do we fight this new enemy?”
“The Priestess. Circe is a witch, so I’m hoping she can do a spell.” I recalled the sight of those towering ice shards. She’d been trying to get to me—but I wasn’t sure why. I took a steadying breath, deciding to believe in her. “She’s probably unaffected by the Hanged Man since she’s still safe in her abyss. I think she was trying to help with my escape.”
Kentarch’s demeanor turned contemplative. “Strange that she and I were allies throughout the games, but I have no memories of her.”
“She was always loyal to you.” To me as well. I just hadn’t returned that loyalty until this game. “We can try to contact her. She’s a friend of mine.” Surely she’d know how to defeat Paul, a player I hadn’t even been able to scratch.
“Friend?” Joules snorted. “We heard she attacked you outside of Fort Arcana.”
“Only a little. She didn’t commit to it.”
Joules rolled his eyes. “Oh, well, in that case . . .”
“If anyone has any better ideas, I’m open to hearing them.”
“How will we summon this witch?” Kentarch asked, making it sound like we were summoning the kraken.
Circe would get a kick out of that. I imagined us chuckling together. Then reality returned. My husband wanted to murder me, and Finn was dead. Laughter was a long way away, not even a glimmer on the horizon. “I usually just make a lot of noise and bat at the water. Doesn’t often work.”
Kentarch raised his brows. “I’d anticipated something more . . . formal.”
“We’ll have to find a body of water not trapped in ice. The larger the better. Preferably as close to the Bermuda Triangle as possible.”
“I can only teleport to places I’ve already been, and this is as far south as I’ve traveled in this country. We could drive to the nearest coast.”
“That would put us in the Outer Banks.” Right where my grandmother had been locked up. Seemed I’d always been fated to go there—except Jack was supposed to have taken me; that had been our plan. “We’ll contact Circe from the Atlantic.”
The idea of even more distance between me and Aric made my chest ache, but my MacGuffin awaited. What would I find? Probably something I’d been meant to discover since the beginning.
Glancing from the road to the GPS map, Kentarch said, “If our way is clear, we should make it in less than a week.”
“That long?” The man I loved was under the sway of an Arcana killer who betrayed for kicks.
“Yes,
we must be vigilant against threats.”
“Whoa, hold up on our route,” Joules said. “We suspected that one of Richter’s lairs is between these mountains and the coast. And if Circe is under the influence, she could use the ocean to swamp us.”
I turned to Kentarch. “Not if the Chariot can teleport us out of the way.”
He nodded. “I will need time to recuperate.”
Impatience hammered at me. “Paul’s influence will probably keep spreading. And Aric and the others will be sitting ducks against Richter if we’re not all united.”
Joules asked, “Won’t Richter just get brainwashed too?”
“He might know what that yellow haze is and avoid it entirely. Plus, he and Zara don’t have to get close; they can strike the castle from afar. We need to get moving on this.”
Kentarch shrugged his broad shoulders. “Without food, I tire very easily.”
“You and me both.” Joules investigated a camo pouch. “You got any scraps in this truck?”
“Nothing. I haven’t eaten in days. With luck, we will meet other travelers. My hearing is acute, so I will know of anyone’s approach in advance.”
“To roll them?” To steal whatever supplies were keeping them alive?
“That’s right, Empress,” Joules said. “Some of us haven’t been living in that warm and holy castle. Out here, it’s dog eat dog. Survival of the fittest.”
“Don’t lecture me, choirboy. After Richter’s massacre, I was out on the road alone—with one freaking arm—rolling folks.” Of course, I’d reasoned that my robbing the innocent hadn’t counted, because I’d intended to go back in time and change the future. My thefts would never have occurred. The best-laid plans and all that . . . .
Kentarch said, “I prefer not to harm others, but I will do anything to reunite with Issa.”
I had to sigh. “You really love her.”
His voice dropped an octave. “Unreservedly.”
Without reservations. Aric had loved me, but he’d clearly had reservations.
“I feel as if time is running out.” Kentarch gripped the steering wheel harder. “The pressure to find her has been immense.”
Sooner or later, would Kentarch ditch us for Paul’s alliance?
As if reading my mind, Joules said, “If you returned to the castle, they could still help you. Brainwashed or not, Lark or Gabriel could pick up your wife’s scent.”
I shot Joules a look. Stop putting ideas into his head! I hastily told Kentarch, “If you joined them, Paul wouldn’t allow you or anyone else to leave his sphere in order to look for her. He’d probably make you believe that he saw her dead body or that she no longer wanted you.”
Kentarch said, “All my life I’ve strived for absolute mastery over myself and my fate. Again and again, I’ve wrenched victory from certain defeat.” Woe to the bloody vanquished. “The idea of surrendering my free will to another man, especially a craven murderer, strikes me as a descent into hell.”
“Then we’re on the same page,” I said. “Understand me: there’s no scenario where Paul helps you above himself.”
Joules’s stomach growled loudly. “I’m dying here.” He elbowed me. “You can make fruit. How about something for the road?”
“I’d expend as many calories as it would provide. If not more. And I don’t have a lot of reserves.”
He eyed me. “How come you’re skinny? You’re pregnant, and you’ve had all the food in the world.”
I shrugged. Ah, now the pain in my shoulder returned. “Can’t keep it down.”
“So what happens when we kill the Hanged Man? Gabe and I are still screwed. Death will never let us live in his lair. I say we gank Paul and the Reaper, then take over the whole place.”
“Really, Joules?”
“How’re you goin’ to get back together with Death after what he did?”
“Because I’ve felt how consuming Arcana mind control can be. The Hierophant nearly made me eat part of a man I’d just met. I can’t even explain how strong the pull was. Paul’s influence turned Aric’s card.”
Voicing my worst fear, Joules said, “I canna help but think the Reaper was reverting to form.”
According to Paul, that was exactly what’d happened. The look in Aric’s eyes . . . the way he’d crushed his ring . . . Could hatred that strong be manufactured by another?
If not, then Aric’s rage had always been there, simmering. The factory setting. Had he been conscious of it?
Even if I saved him, what kind of future would we have if a part of him harbored such animosity?
I inhaled for calm. “Aric is a good man.” When free of Paul. “I hope one day you can see that. But no matter what, we’re going to need every Arcana we can round up to fight Richter.”
Kentarch said, “She’s right about the Emperor. Besides, I will protect the Reaper as long as I’m able. He helped me after the Flash hit.”
“Fine.” Joules grumbled. “But I vow to you, Empress—once Richter’s gone, all bets are off with Death.”
I’d have to handle this later. Kick the can down the road. Jack used to say that. With each mile, was I getting closer to him or farther away? Of course, he might be dead.
“What’s all this gear?” Joules pointed to the dash.
“Equipment I’ve sourced since Issa and I first came to this continent and found this truck.”
Joules reached for a sort of joystick control, fiddling with it. A roof-mounted spotlight beamed over our surroundings. “Get the hell out!” He was like a kid with a toy, shooting that beam all around. “What is this? A thousand lumens?”
“It’s three thousand lumens. And it is critical equipment.”
“I’ll use it critically.”
Kentarch seemed obsessive about his chariot, so I was surprised Joules didn’t get his mouthy mouth popped.
“Folks must try to boost this rig all the time.”
Kentarch said, “I have an ignition sequence that must be entered to start the engine.” I’d noticed a row of tiny rocker switches under the steering wheel. “Also a hidden lever locks the axles, making it impossible to move. So if either of you thought to overwhelm me and take the truck, you wouldn’t get very far.”
I frowned. “Overwhelm you?”
“It’s difficult to imagine someone like you killing.” You haven’t met the red witch. “But your icons remind me.”
“I acted in self-defense in both cases. This guy”—I pointed out the Hermit’s lantern icon—“liked to kidnap girls for sadistic experiments. I found the remains of a previous subject congealing in the chains he’d made her wear. This guy”—I tapped the Hierophant’s two-finger icon—“was the leader of a horde of cannibal miners. He kept victims in his belowground ‘pantry,’ carving on them bit by bit while they were still alive to keep the ‘meat’ fresh.” I met Kentarch’s gaze with my chin up. “How you like me now?”
“It makes me wonder what I did to merit your wrath. Right after the Flash, Death told me to beware of you, that you’d killed me before.”
“I did. But I’m different now.” As long as I could keep a leash on the red witch. That no longer seemed much of a concern—she hadn’t so much as stirred when I’d been on the wolves’ meal plan. “Aric just hadn’t realized it yet.”
Kentarch looked unconvinced.
Joules asked him, “How’d you and the Reaper hook up?”
“He sent me a sat phone before the Flash. After the apocalypse, I contacted him. He answered many questions about my abilities and invited us to this country.”
Joules spotlighted a bridge. Then a burned-out car. “You teleported over?”
“Yes. The plains in Africa had little protection from the Flash. I knew our only shot at survival was to find the mysterious Death. But I’d been to the United States just once, for a tech seminar in Washington, DC.”
I said, “And you can only teleport to places you’ve been.”
“Precisely. I can ghost anytime—”
“Ghos
t?” Each Arcana seemed to have his or her own lingo. The glowing markings on my skin were glyphs. Vines and trees were my soldiers.
“Make myself and other objects intangible, walking through walls and such.”
Joules said, “Or exploding bears. Too grand, that was.”
Kentarch shrugged modestly. “But teleportation must have an endpoint. Though we had no idea what we would find on a different continent, I gathered as much strength as I could, then we took a leap of faith.”
Joules murmured, “Jumping off into nothing.”
I added, “With no wings.” The Tower and I shared a look. Both imagining Gabriel’s leap?
Kentarch nodded. “We materialized to Washington. Barely. Long distances and great weights are equally difficult to teleport or ghost.” So what had ghosting this ginormous truck done to him tonight? “Once we arrived, finding enough fuel and water for the trip from DC to the mountains proved nearly impossible. Then I got separated from Issa. She must have been taken from me.”
Joules said, “Seems to me that no one could take a damned thing from you.”
Kentarch merely stared out at the road. Lost in memories?
I nudged him. “What happened?”
He blinked. “Keeping her safe from Bagmen and marauders as I sourced strained the limits of my ability. Finally I took her to an empty penthouse. I cleared the building of threats, then teleported debris to block the stairwell—after all, we’d never need the steps. Once I felt she was protected in her refuge above the city, I went farther afield for supplies. Water was our most pressing concern back then. One day, I located a well. I returned to her, intending to celebrate. But she was gone.”
“Who could have gotten to her?” I asked.
“That’s what has tormented me. Who? I’ve questioned survivors for months but have hit a true dead end.”
“Maybe your old lady dumped you.” Prickly, prickly Joules.
“Never. And even if she had decided to leave me, how could she have? My impenetrable barricade remained in place.”
“It sounds like a magic trick,” I said, reminded of Finn. My God, I was going to miss him. Even during the apocalypse, he’d retained his happy-go-lucky attitude. His words drifted through my mind: I’ve never been more stoked about life than I have been over the last two weeks.
The Dark Calling Page 9