Arcana Rising (The Arcana Chronicles #4)(75)

Aric suddenly drew one of his swords. “We aren’t alone, sievā. Get into the car.”

Not likely. I shoved Finn into the back, then turned and readied for a fight. My thorn claws sharpened, and I bled vines into the broken pavement.

Out of the murk, a streak of light shot toward Aric. A javelin! “Aric, watch out—”

Like a blur, he’d . . . caught it with one hand—before I’d even finished my warning. I gaped at his speed.

“Obliged for this, Tower!” he called. “You can never have too many.” He spun the gleaming, silver javelin in his palm, and it retracted into a baton.

Holy shit! We’d scored another lightning javelin! My eyes went wide with realization, and I said, “You planned this.”

He winked at me, then gently tossed me the baton. I fumbled before dropping it. He grinned, as if he found my clumsiness endearing.

“Bite me,” I muttered, picking up the baton and slipping it into my coat pocket. “Hand-eye coordination is not my power.”

“Just so.” Expression gone cold, he yelled, “Show yourself, Tower!”

Joules swaggered out from the remains of a building, twirling another baton, his skin sparking with hostility. Gabriel descended in a dark rush of wings. He bowed formally to Aric and myself.

They looked like hell. They’d been missing meals too, and their clothing was ragged. Even Gabriel’s old-timey suit—normally so immaculate—was bloodstained and tattered.

I noticed Tess’s icon on the back of his hand. He noticed me noticing, and his face fell, his leaf-green eyes full of sadness.

“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.”