Out on the road with the guys, I could sometimes turn my mind from Evie for a moment here or there, but I missed her so bad it was like a wound that refused to heal.
As ever, I wondered how she was feeling. I’d bet she glowed with her pregnancy.
Though Domīnija updated me about her general health, asking for more details about his pregnant wife would be awkward. So we kept to business.
When I’d last checked in with him, he’d written: You have three Cards under your influence. You are a leader. Lead. Work with them. Their own powers are limited only by their imagination. Even with my plan, we need Richter weakened.
Leading had come easy to me, but after the loss of my army, I didn’t know if I was ready to take on that role again.
Still, Domīnija’s text had reminded me of a sunny afternoon before the Flash when I’d watched my half brother’s football practice at Sterling High. Brandon had been a talented quarterback, but he hadn’t connected with his teammates.
At one point the coach had taken aside his star player for a pep talk: “Son, a QB’s main job is to unify his team. You gotta take a pack of hopped-up teenagers and make them work as a cohesive unit, keeping them focused on the task and pushing them to give you a hundred and ten percent.”
I’d laughed at that advice. But lately I saw similarities between Brandon’s situation and mine. Maybe at the end of the world my job was to keep these Arcana focused on one task: fighting evil.
But if I’d been tapped for QB, Domīnija was the coach, calling the shots. He’d decreed that we were to retrieve him for a one-way trip if we did locate Richter. Didn’t know how I felt about that, me.
At a fork in the road, I eased to a stop. A battered road sign looked like it’d been sandblasted.
Kentarch glanced over at the odometer. “This is it.” He swept the spotlight. To the south was a fairly clean highway. To the west was more ash and fractures.
I put the truck in park and turned to the others. “This is our chance to hunt the Emperor. You guys with me?” At Joules’s strangled sound, I said, “I’m not talking about picking a fight.” Yet. “Just locating his lair and coming up with a game plan.”
“Hold on, boyo. Weren’t we supposed to set up a place for the Empress? Your new settlement?”
“That was plan B, if we couldn’t flush out Richter. We’ve already touched gloves with Sol, so I’m liking our odds.” In any case, I’d begun to doubt we could build something in Louisiana.
“I used to enjoy tweakin’ Richter’s tail now and then—before he turned atomic. But after the battle by the lake, I think our best play is to stay the feck away from that alliance.”
Though Kentarch had lost his hand in that skirmish, he said, “I vote to follow the ash.”
Joules scowled. “Because you want to die.”
The Chariot inclined his head. “True. Homesteading in Louisiana sounds . . . time-consuming.”
From the back, Gabe said, “The game is at work even now. Just when we are about to break free and put distance between us and other players, it pulls us back in. Arcana converge; we can do it by choice or by accident. If we take the offensive, we would at least have some control over our fate. I vote west.”
“My vote too.” I glanced at Joules. “Well?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Me mam always told me, ‘Paddy, don’t step into the ring unless you wanna box.’ I don’t. But it looks like I got outvoted.”
“Ouais. Then it’s decided.”
Kentarch said, “I’ll store the trailer at the supply cave for safe-keeping.” He teleported out of his seat, which never got old. Moments later, he’d stashed the trailer and returned. “Let’s commence.”
“You got it.” I put the Beast in drive and passed our turn-off. For better or worse, we were heading into the mouth of a volcano.
9
The Empress
“Get cleaned up and come to my study,” Aric ordered Lark after he’d assessed the creature and searched the menagerie for more. My authoritative knight was back, his eons of confidence at the fore. He turned from Lark and started back toward the castle.
I shared a look with her—it’ll be okay—then hurried after Aric.
But would it be okay?
She’d been resurrecting that creature from the bone she’d shown me in her room weeks ago, the one her wolves had snagged from a museum. I’d told her that a resurrection was a bad freaking idea.
Or, as Lark had proposed to call it, a T-Rexurrection.
I’d wondered if she could grow a dinosaur even bigger than it’d once been, like her war wolves and that bear. And, if so, could she control it?
Logistics like dino food and droppings notwithstanding, there was another issue. Bloodletting brought on the heat of battle—what if Lark succumbed to hers? Her scream that had drawn Aric and me to the barn had been primal.
I clumsily jogged to catch up with Aric’s long-legged stride, snow crunching beneath my boots. I felt sheepish, because I’d suspected Lark was up to something. She’d appeared ever more animalistic, her fangs, claws, and pointed ears growing.
I should have done something, but what? Forbidden her or flexed on her? A rift between us could widen so quickly.
Aric strode through the castle doors.
“Will you please wait for me?” I was huffing by the time I got close to him. “What are you going to do?”
Barely controlling his anger, he said over his shoulder, “We three allies, as you seem to think us, are going to have a meeting.”
“Can you just slow down?”
He whirled around on me. “What were you thinking?”
Probably not a great time to inform him that Lark had acted alone.
“You asked me to trust you, but you don’t trust my wisdom garnered over multiple games. I know Fauna better than she knows herself.”
“She’s not going to hurt us. All she wants to do is reunite with Finn.”
“If she longs for the Magician, then she also must crave the end of the game. The sooner it ends, the sooner another can begin, and they’ll be reincarnated. And how does the game end, Empress? Ah, yes, with our deaths.”
All except one—the unlucky winner. Not it. “She won’t hurt us,” I insisted again. But if the three of us were the only ones left, would she make a move to take out either me or Aric, and then herself?
“She is Fortitude. If she sets her mind on the end of the game, we could all be dead.” I parted my lips to argue, but he spoke over me. “She’s been creating an apex predator, the most apex of them all. We can’t ever let down our guard with her.”
“Let’s just hear her out, okay?” When we entered the study, I took one of the chairs fronting the desk and Aric sat behind it. He’d once used this desk as a divide between us. Apparently still did.
He retrieved a whetstone to sharpen his sword. Way to set the mood for a productive chat.
As we waited, I nervously traced my icons while he worked on his blade. I asked, “No vodka for you?” I hadn’t seen him drink since we’d returned.
Graaaate went the stone. “When you can have none? Also, I relish my clarity now that I’m not being mind-controlled.” Fair enough. “Did you condone Lark’s actions?”