The Dark Calling (The Arcana Chronicles #5)(23)

The tile cracked. I slipped.

To the sound of Aric’s laughter, I plummeted.





10





My feet . . . floated.

The Archangel had snagged me in midair! He gripped me under my arms, his razor-sharp talons poking through the ends of his gloves.

“Empress, are you all right?” Frost covered his long black hair and gaunt face. His lips had a bluish tint.

“Get us out of the yellow sphere. Hurry, Gabriel!”

He didn’t ask, just sped higher and higher. Old bullet holes in his black wings funneled little blasts of arctic air at my face.

When Aric roared with frustration, Gabriel tossed me upward, catching me against his side. “Hold on.”

I clung to his billowing coat as he banked sharply to the left. Then right. Two swords zoomed past us. Aric had hurled his precious weapons at me.

Birds and bats kept coming. Gabriel dodged them, bobbing and twirling. Winds gusted, flinging the other winged creatures away.

We were free. We were . . . falling?

More gusts sent Gabriel spinning in the air like a mimosa bloom. We were heading right for Circe’s ice shards! He groaned as he flared his bullet-riddled wings. I squeezed my eyes closed, bracing for impact.

Our trajectory shifted.

I peeked open my eyes. We’d missed the tips of those shards by inches. “That was close!”

“What is happening, Empress? Joules and I heard you screaming and the animals behaving erratically. Why would Fauna and the Reaper target you?”

“Our medic is the inactivated Arcana card. He’s brainwashed the others. Where’s Joules?” The Tower was never far from Gabriel and rarely out of the fray.

“I left him on the next mountain . . .” He trailed off. “How . . . what . . . ? Ah, my mind. My mind is so clear.”

Paul’s influence was affecting him. “Get out of the yellow haze. Fly past the boundary!”

The Archangel’s tableau flickered, then turned, like a slow roulette wheel. It clicked into place—in the reversed position.

Movement out of the corner of my watering eyes. Gabriel’s hand crept toward his dagger sheath.

“Don’t do this, Gabe. The Hanged Man is using his powers on you. You made a vow never to hurt me.”

He flashed his fangs. “Vows mean nothing to me.” Gabriel was usually forthright, principled, and loyal. The reverse of those traits didn’t bode well for me. “I was taught that you are one of my three archenemies, but I ignored my teachings to become your friend. Now I shall make good on a kill that should have happened months ago.” He yanked his blade free.

“No!” I somehow managed a vine to bind his wrist. “Snap out of this.” How could I fight him in the air? I thrashed to get loose. I might have a chance on the ground.

With a yell, Gabriel twisted free from the vine.

“Stop! I’m pregnant.”

His blade hesitated. What if Paul’s influence was limited by distance? Like a phone signal? We were closing in on the edge of that hazy yellow. “With this baby, we can end the game.”

Gabriel blinked his green eyes. Then narrowed them. “Memories arise in my mind. You once cut off my wings.” Paul must be feeding him information he’d stolen from my chronicles. “You decorated your home with them, displaying them over your mantel. Oh, Empress, I am going to make this last.”

I swiped my thorn claws at him. Couldn’t bring myself to use poison on him. Five blades sliced his layered clothing to reach his flesh. Blood gushed. He yelled, releasing me.

I plummeted again. Falling!

I landed . . . in a snowbank. My teeth clattered, but I was uninjured. The yellow haze ended just feet from me. I tripped forward, clearing the boundary. Would Gabriel pursue me? Paul might lose his power over the Angel.

Gabriel hovered in the air but wouldn’t cross the edge.

“I did cut off your wings, Angel. Come punish me for it.”

He remained in place, as if he were a tethered kite—with Paul pulling the string. “I want my mind clear. I need the Hanged Man’s knowledge, and he needs us to fuel his sphere.” Even now it was growing.

I backed up several steps. “You’re afraid of me,” I taunted. “I must’ve cut off your balls as well.”

“Classic Empress. You think to lure me away from my new alliance? Your time shall come.”

Howls sounded from the castle. The wolves readied to hunt.

Gabriel grinned, exposing his fangs. “That time is now.”

Lark’s animals would probably be able to leave Paul’s sphere. If so, my only shot at survival was getting to the Tower on the next mountain over. I turned— Sparking blinded me.

Joules! Not surprisingly, he’d made a beeline for the action. He was weighed down with winter gear, only his glittery face visible. “What the feck is happening over there?”

I’d never thought I’d be so happy to see his scrawny Irish self.

Gabriel called, “She attacked me when I tried to save her.” He drew aside his coat, revealing the bloody gashes I’d given him.

Joules’s eyes went wide. “You hurt my boyo?” He raised one of his silver lightning javelins.

Between breaths, I said, “Listen, Gabriel’s been brainwashed by a new card, the inactivated one. Any Arcana within that yellow sphere is under the Hanged Man’s control.” Wolves howled. “Joules, we don’t have time. Lark and Death are coming for me.”