Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2)(19)

Fifteen hours ago at dawn, Selena had run back and scouted. Her assessment? “There are more of them.”

I’d asked her, “Where are they going to spend the day?” Though drizzly, it’d still been bright. And we hadn’t passed a single house, just mile after mile of burned-out woods.

She’d hesitated, then said, “They’re burrowing. Into the muck. The good news is that if any Arcana think to follow us, they’ll be in for a hell of a surprise.”

Like a Bagman minefield. I’d shivered at the imagery. And for the rest of the day, I’d wondered with my every step if I was going to find a Bagmine.

Now Selena said, “I’m getting the same feeling as you two. Like we’re being stalked, as hunters do with deer.” Plucking her bowstring, she admitted, “I’m not used to being on this side of things.”

I gazed over at Jackson, sitting outside our circle near the open exit, on edge as well. He’d told me that nothing could get the drop on him, and for the past several weeks, nothing had.

Did he remain with us because we shared a mutual direction, or because he felt forced to keep that promise to my mother? Since he’d refused to talk to me, I couldn’t imagine how he was handling everything. Matthew had said he burned with curiosity. Tonight I could almost feel the intensity of it.

Though Jackson hadn’t asked a single question—not his party, I supposed—he was listening, learning. During the day, I’d caught him staring at me again and again, his expression ranging from enraged to . . . confused.

“Matthew, do you sense anything?”

In answer, he studied his hand. He was pensive about something too. I wished he would talk to me, even if I understood little of what he said.

I placed half of my Mayday bar in his hand, curling my gloved fingers around his until he held it on his own. Eventually he glanced down, appearing surprised to find it in his hand. But he ate it.

“Who could be watching us?” I asked.

“Not Bagmen,” Selena said. “They would just attack. Cannibals?”

Finn shook his head. “They don’t hunt far from home.”

We were coming up on one of the charred holes in Selena’s map. I almost got the sense that we were about to fall off the face of the earth, like it should read: Here be dragons!

But as long as we were edging away from those mines—and a horde of Bagmen—I was game to go on. “We’d hear other Arcana calls, right?”

Suddenly Finn jerked a glance over his shoulder. The rest of us tensed and stared out the open end of the hut in that same direction, all at the same time, like meerkats.

He muttered, “I wish whatever’s out there would nut up or shut up.”

“Hear, hear.” Needing to take my mind off my jitters, I turned to Selena. “If you’re so keen to be in an alliance with us, why don’t you tell us what you know?”

With a condescending smile, she opened her bag—and took out a deck of Tarot cards.

“You had a deck the whole time! At moments like this, I can see the appeal of the game.”

She shrugged, laying them out atop her silvery reflective heat blanket.

“If you were trying to get me into an alliance, why keep all this secret?” I persisted.

“Because of that whole I-don’t-remember-the-game line you’ve been feeding us. I thought you were lying.” She dealt the cards in a cross formation, much like Gran used to. As soon as I saw the Tarot images, memories came into focus, springing to life like poppies bursting through a layer of snow.

Trying to draw Matthew into our conversation, I said, “Look, here’s Matthew’s.” I pointed out his card; on it, a smiling young man with an oblivious expression walked a desolate land, carrying a rucksack and a single white rose. A yapping dog nipped at his heels.

Matthew tilted his head at the likeness. “In a place where nothing grows, I carry a flower. The memory of you.”

I smiled at him. “That is so sweet.”

He frowned. “That literally happened.”

“Oh.”

Finn said, “That’s just like the image I saw the first time we met. It flashed over him.”

I nodded. “We all have those. They’re called tableaux.”

Finn held the card up next to Matthew’s face, comparing the likeness. “You look stoned, Matto.”

Matthew sighed with contentment. “Thank you.”

I held up Selena’s card. “The Moon.” Hers depicted a glowing goddess of the hunt.

Finn’s expression darkened. “Not interested. Next.”

Selena glared at him.

I pulled another card. The lightning-struck tower. “You guys already know the Tower, that pleasant Irishman who was such a joy to meet. And here’s Death.” I pointed to his card. The Reaper was clad in that black armor, scythe at the ready, riding a pale horse with evil red eyes. He carried a black flag emblazoned with a white rose.

Finn muttered, “Jesus. That dude’s real?” He wadded up his Mayday wrapper, tossing it into the shadows. “So what are his powers?”

Everyone looked at me for an answer. Even Matthew, as if he were quizzing me.

“He’s a horseman and knight with supernatural speed and strength. He uses two swords and can strike with them so fast they’re a blur. His armor is impenetrable, even to my claws. He’s fearless. In one of Matthew’s visions, I saw him walk into Joules’s lightning shower like it was nothing.” Kind of the way I imagined Jackson had walked into a hail of militia bullets. “His touch is deadly.” And he’d been able to read my mind for weeks. Though not without detection; I felt him even now.