Arcana Rising (The Arcana Chronicles #4)(21)

Who? Sol had been in the game for a while.

He was right, though. I wasn’t able to call forth a vine. Even my regeneration stopped working.

A Bagger above me released his bite, but only to sink his teeth into unbroken skin at my waist. I cried out, powerless to stop it. The falcon went crazy.

Would I join Jack and my mom and Mel on some other plane? Or would I become a Bagman myself, cursed to walk the earth? “You’ll keep me around . . . like Bea and Joe?”

Had Sol flinched?

Despite the risk of turning, I should be glad of even the chance to join my loved ones. But I couldn’t stop imagining Death’s reaction to my horrific murder.

Had Aric believed me when I’d told him I loved him too?

Over the falcon’s furious cries, I heard another sound: swoop swoop swoop. Familiar, but so unexpected; I needed a few moments to place it. A . . . helicopter?

Hadn’t I heard one the night of the massacre? That’s how Richter had escaped Circe!

Did the Emperor approach now? The Sun must have been working with him all along!

Spotlights flared as a copter came into view. The lettering read COAST GUARD RESCUE. It circled overhead, a metal buzzard. If Richter was in there, I needed to bring it to the ground!

But I was helpless, Baggers continuing to drain me. My body would soon be a husk like Tess’s.

The copter landed in the field not twenty feet away, kicking up ash. The wind gusts sent the falcon tumbling away from my attackers.

I turned my gaze toward Sol. He mouthed something to me. I couldn’t be sure what.

The four Bagmen abruptly stopped drinking. They stood and moved back, their lips coated with my blood.

The rotors slowed. Not Richter—a girl climbed from the pilot’s seat and stepped down. Long, jet-black hair curled from her helmet. Behind her mic, her lips were bright red. She wore a green jumpsuit and gloves, and had a pistol holstered to one thigh and a long blade strapped to her other. To take my head?

She strode over to us, yanking off her helmet. Her eyes were vivid hazel, her expression livid. A tableau flickered over her. I saw a wheel spinning in a night sky with a sphinx running on top of it and a winged dragon dancing along the bottom. Ancient clay dice rained down.

The Fortune Card!

Was Lark seeing this? The falcon had taken to the air, circling overhead.

“Que porra é essa?” Fortune snapped at Sol.

“Good to see you too, Zara,” he grated. “And one more time: I don’t understand your Portuguese.” They had known each other all along—Sol and Zara. “Dios mío, that accent!”

“What the f*ck?” she said. “Why’d you summon a horde of Bagman freaks?”

Huh? There were only four besides Sol’s pets.

He shrugged. “I can’t help that they’re attracted to me.”

My head was splitting, my stomach churned, and those bites burned like acid. But I wanted answers. Why had Sol played along with me? He’d known who I was the instant my tableau had appeared in Olympus, maybe even sooner, if he could see through his Bagmen.

Sol asked her, “Where is Richter?”

“Kicked back, recharging for the big finale,” she said. “He doesn’t come out for B-team bullshit like her. Did you find out where Death’s lair is?”

Sol had used me to locate Aric’s? For the big finale.

How badly I needed to live, to warn Aric and Lark. But I’d lost so much blood, and the mutation weakened me even more.

Because I was already turning?

“The Empress seemed confident his place is somewhere around here,” Sol said. “Since we’re in the area, we should do a flyover.”

Zara shook her head. “Can’t. I’m on fuel reserves just to pick you up. My whirlybird’s stripped down.”

Sol rubbed the back of his neck. “We need to get airborne.” He pointed up at the falcon. “That’s one of Fauna’s scouts. She allies with the Empress.”

The falcon screeched and dove yet again. Zara snatched her pistol from her holster, trained her aim on the moving target, then fired. The falcon plummeted in a lifeless heap.

My eyes stung, but I reminded myself that the bird would regenerate.

“There. No more scouts.” Zara asked Sol, “Do your Baggers like poultry?”

“Bitch,” I sneered—or tried to. Only a wheeze crossed my lips.

Zara kicked my leg, asking Sol, “Is she contained?”

I couldn’t scream. Couldn’t die. I struggled to keep my eyes open.

“She’s been bitten enough.” Again, Sol didn’t sound proud or regretful. “She has tried to muster her powers, but can’t.”

Zara aimed her gun at my chest. “Just in case.” She fired.

Once. Twice. Three times.

Three shots—to the heart? I laughed at her, choking on blood. Bullets couldn’t hurt something that had already been destroyed.

“What a freak.” Zara holstered her weapon, shaking her head at me. “I can’t believe you have icons. The great Empress? You’re just a weak little girl.” She knelt beside me, pulling off one glove. “And you’re about to become a very unlucky one.” She reached for my face—

A wolf howled not far away, then another. Lark!

Zara shot to her feet, her gaze darting. “Fauna again?” She brandished her pistol once more, aiming it in all directions.