Endless Knight(8)

“Beg me for your life.”


I jut my chin, even as my lungs struggle for air. “I am the great Empress . . . the May Queen, a killer of the first order. . . . I will never beg.”


He gives me a grudging nod, as if he respects me for this. “You’ve earned an honorable death, creature.” He meets my gaze; his eyes begin to glow, as if filled with stars. I can’t look away. “This will not hurt for long.”


Without a sound, he thrusts his sword, stabbing me through. I shriek in pain, clutching the blade that pins me to the rock. My screams die when I begin to choke on blood.

There is no sympathy in Death’s starry eyes, nothing but resolve as he secures my wrists, pinning them with one gloved hand. He raises the other to his mouth, using his teeth to tug off the gauntlet.

To touch me.

And it is then that I know: this boy will win the entire game. . . .

4


DAY 247 A.F.

—I’m coming for you, Empress.—


I woke, shooting upright. Death was in my dreams and in my mind. It was as if I could sense his presence in my head, a heavy feeling.

Like being possessed.

That dream with him had been so vivid, I pressed my hands to my stomach, expecting to feel a sword.

The details of his handsome face floated at the edges of my memory. He’d looked younger in the dream than he was now, and his black armor had been different, appearing ancient. Was this some kind of vision from another, even earlier game?

Just as Death’s presence faded, a draft ghosted over me. I raised my head, gazing around with unease. I was alone in the lab? With the moldering corpse? Were my surroundings or my nightmare to blame for this ominous feeling I had—


“Get dressed, Evie,” Selena yelled as she bounded down the cellar steps, lobbing a waterproof pack to land right at my feet. “Quickly!”


“What’s going on?” I knelt beside the pack, digging in to find a navy parka, jeans, thick socks, T-shirts, even a supply of undergarments. Leather lace-up boots too. They looked to be about my size.

Under the clothes were Mayday bars, MREs, and energy gel packs—an apocalyptic lunchbox.

As I yanked off my ragged shirt, Selena filled me in. “Baggers are gone for the day, but Matthew foresaw Arcana company approaching. Cards following a kill, as I predicted,” she added in a superior tone.

“Which ones?”


“The Tower, Judgment, and the World.”


I’d seen the first two in battle in a vision Matthew had shown me. Even if I were eager to play the game, I wouldn’t want to tangle with them, especially when I was still so weakened from yesterday. “Have you heard their calls?” Had I slept right through them?

“Not yet. Think they’re still too far away. We were ransacking the Alchemist’s supplies—bastard had everything—when Matt started muttering about jamming the frequencies. Does that mean anything to you?”


I shook my head.

“He said these cards are coming in fast, that we have less than an hour.”


“So we can slip away?” I wondered if I would have time to drain the oaks, or would they be my parting gift to Requiem? At Selena’s nod, I said, “Why are you so keen to avoid a fight?”


She stared me down. “Because today we’d lose.”


Good reason.

She held up a laminated map of the Southeast, dappled with burnout holes. “I’m going to plan our exit out of this valley.” Like a gazelle, she bounded back up the steps.

I drew off what was left of my pants, relieved to see my skin had healed. After I yanked on the new jeans—too long in the legs, too tight in the ass: story o’ my life—I laced up the boots. At least those fit.

With one last glance around, I shouldered the pack and hurried upstairs. Even in the midst of this crisis, I realized I was nervous about seeing Jackson, wondering how he would act today. I wished I’d dreamed of him instead of Death.

In the morning’s dim light, the house looked even stranger, with Bagman slime everywhere and furniture tossed. Drizzle misted my hair through the gaping roof. Wispy clouds sped across the muted sun. After months of either blue skies or brutal dust storms, this gray haze was freaky.

Not to mention Matthew’s prediction that we’d be weak in the rain while our enemies grew stronger.

As Selena pored over the map, Finn helped Matthew stuff supplies into a pack. I noticed Matthew had on a new coat. A relief—he’d been in sore need of something warm to wear. Like most clothing we’d been seeing A.F., it had dark-ringed bullet holes in it, from the previous owner’s demise.

I suspected Finn had sourced it for him. Was the Magician being helpful to make up for his trick? Though pissed at him for his illusion, I did think the boy had a decent heart.

But where was Jackson? I had a moment of panic, wondering if he’d bailed. Surely, he wouldn’t leave me without a word. Not after all we’d been through. It’s you for me, peek?n.

Still, I was about to ask when Selena announced, “We’re in a valley with mountains on three sides. Two sides are too high to scale. The third leads to cannibal country.”


Finn swallowed hard. He’d seen the cannibals when he’d crossed the mountains in the past.

Sensing Finn’s distress, Matthew patted him on his head. “There, there.”