Endless Knight(50)

“Keep on, Evie—”


An entire shelf of rock landed behind me with so much force, the percussion was a punch to my stomach. A wave surged, whipping me up and toward the opposite shore. I felt weightless for a brief moment. . . .

“Ahhh!” I slammed into the shallowing water, the force flinging me forward, far into the shaft. The ground was a washboard of grit and rock scouring my face.

Over my heaving breaths and coughs, I heard Jack yelling from what sounded like miles away. The wave must’ve hurled him and Matthew in the other direction. The quakes kept rumbling. So dizzy. Wait, where was Lark?

—I’LL MAKE A FEAST OF YOUR BONES!—


Ogen’s call. Close. Panicked, I scrambled up; my arm bent at a weird angle. Broken? I collapsed right onto my wasted face.

Selena screamed, “Evie, they’re here! Watch your six!” To Finn, she snapped, “Light it up now, Magician, or she’s done!”


With a yell, Finn threw a beam of light from the opposite shore, illuminating the shaft in front of me. . . .

Death.

He was just there, terrifying in full black armor. I shrank back from him, knowing these were my last moments alive. His tableau—the mounted Reaper wielding a scythe—looked less horrific than his actual appearance.

Selena launched a volley of arrows, one after the other, what must have been an entire quiver.

He batted them away like flies. “Come with me, Empress, if you want them to live,” he said, his starry eyes aglow behind his visor. “Ogen’s striking the mountain, you see.” The Devil was causing the quakes? “If I do not stay him, this mine will collapse.”


I gazed over my shoulder. Jack had just caught sight of Death through the falling debris and spraying water.

“Nooo!” he bellowed, desperately trying to reach me while keeping Matthew’s head above water.

In a bored tone, Death said, “Sooner or later, the mortal will leave the Fool to drown. Anything to save you.”


I choked out, “What d-do you want?” Behind Death, I could see a cloudy dawn light streaming into the shaft. We’d been so close. Had he already murdered Lark?

“Come with me.” He offered his gloved hand. “And my allies and I will leave your . . . friends to their fates. Take my hand, and I vow they won’t be killed.”


Jack was getting closer. “Evie, goddamn it, doan you dare!”


I gazed into Jack’s tormented eyes. Rocks struck like missiles all around him. He was still swimming, but had to realize he’d never get to me in time. When a boulder nearly took him and Matthew both down into the depths, I knew I had to end this.

Even if it meant ending myself.

“Make the choice,” Death said. “Bend your will to mine. What wouldn’t you sacrifice for them to live?”


My right arm was broken. I had no poison, no arsenal. Didn’t matter. With my good arm, I reached for Death.

Even over the rumble of the quakes, I thought I heard Jack rasp, “Bébé??” Then louder: “Doan you do this!”


I gasped out, “T-take care of him, Jack—”


Death yanked me to him, sweeping me up in his arms. I fought him with any strength I had left, hyperventilating, dulling my claws on his armor, not even scratching it.

Death just laughed. When he turned to stride toward the light, Jack gave an agonized yell. Selena’s last arrow struck Death square in the back of his armor, shattering into splinters.

“Evie! EVIE!” Jack’s bellows grew fainter as the light brightened. “I’m comin’ for you! You know I will!”


We exited the mountain into pouring rain. Even the stormy day blinded me.

Nausea churned as Death carried me to his pale, red-eyed steed. I was shivering uncontrollably even before I saw the Reaper’s fearsome scythe in a saddle holster.

With me secured in his arms, he mounted. Why not just kill me?

“Wh-what did you do to Lark . . . ?” I trailed off, blinking in disbelief.

Lark, that bitch, was on a horse beside Death’s. And she was all smiles.

I cried, “H-how could you?”


“You’re too damn trusting, Evie.” The girl adjusted her conductor’s hat. “And now you’re looking at me like it’s my fault that I’m taking advantage of your failing?” Her falcon had returned to her; it perched on her shoulder, dining on one of the rats.

Her same three wolves surrounded her. Back from the dead? Familiars.

Off to the side stood monstrous Ogen, his body gigantic, over a dozen feet tall. His mottled torso was bared. Huge tattered pants were cinched at his waist.

Like Death, his tableau—a goat-man ogre leading tethered slaves—was less terrifying than his actual appearance.

His uneven horns twisted up from his misshapen head. What should have been the whites of his eyes were red and webbed with thick greenish-yellow veins, his black pupils slitted. With a grotesque smile, he pounded his meaty fists even harder against the mountain, rocking it.

“No!” I screamed, striking Death’s armor. Ogen would level the entire mine! “You swore you’d leave them alone! You swore.”


Death reined his mount around. “I’ll keep my vows to you as well as you did to me.”