Kresley Cole: Endless Knight

I opened my palm, peering down at the three thorns that emerged from my skin. I tossed them into the air, watching the barbs multiply in the sky, forming a tornado.

“Rad-ick-ull!” Finn cried.

You haven’t seen anything . A few slashes of my claws across my forearms gave me blood to grow vines. I let it drip to my fingers, flinging drops across the ground. Greenery slithered to life. When I popped a crick in my neck, my two oaks whipped to attention.

“Now we’re talking, girl.” Selena strung her arrow, holding her bow at the ready. “Jungle this up!”

I surveyed my arsenal. Not as petrifying as the one I’d conjured last night, but . . . “It is what it is.”

We all took up positions on the porch. In this lull, my mind flashed to Jackson, and my chest ached. Don’t think about him, don’t think about him. He was obviously safer away from us. Right now, we were facing a possible supernatural battle.

Selena asked me, “You really think your good ole granny can help you exit the game?”

“She might be the last living chronicler.” Before, I’d needed to reach her to ask about my nightmares and hallucinations, about the physical changes taking place inside me. Now I needed her to help keep me from turning into a stone-cold killer, one who’d had the impulse to murder her friends. “She’ll have answers.”

Yes, Gran had once told me I’d have to “kill them all,” but she’d just been reciting ancient rules. The fact was that her granddaughter Empress hadn’t turned out right.

This Empress wanted nothing to do with the game.

“How could the cards find us here and so fast?” Finn asked. “Evie just toasted one of these freaks yesterday.”

Selena scanned the street. “We’re drawn to each other, seeking something that will bring us into the fray. They were probably close already.”

“Convergence,” Matthew said.

Finn wiped his sweating palms along his jeans. “What if some player had been in the Antarctic before the Flash? It isn’t like he could fly or take a boat now.”

A good guess, since there were no planes. Or oceans.

“Convergence,” Matthew repeated in an overly patient tone. “We are led. We lead. We follow MacGuffins! The Tower’s alliance arrives in twenty . . . nineteen . . . eighteen . . .”

As he continued his hushed countdown, Finn asked, “If the Tower is a heavy hitter, what’s this guy packing?”

I murmured, “Control over all electricity and straight-up lightning. He has these silver javelins that appear in his hand. Wherever he throws them, lightning strikes. Plus he can electrify his skin.”

“Fourteen . . . thirteen . . .”

Selena explained, “A direct strike could fry my insides, but I might survive. Evie would be stunned, maybe long enough for him to take her head. Finn, you and Matt die instantly.”

Finn scowled, wrinkling his freckled nose. “That’s not fair! Why are we so lame?”

“Matt should be able to foresee a strike, and you should elude it with your magic. But he’s crazy and you’re weak.”

“Eight . . . seven . . .”

Here we were: a mentally unstable Fool, an all but arrowless Archer, a magically challenged Magician, and me, running on fumes and anger.

What could possibly go wrong?

I reminded myself that today’s encounter might be step one in bringing down this ancient contest. I imagined the game as a machine with cogs and wheels grinding to life every few centuries. I wanted to jam a stick of dynamite into the cogs and laugh as it exploded forever.

“Shh.” Matthew covered his lips with his forefinger. “They’re here.”

When the three rounded the corner, two on foot and one in the air, my adrenaline surged. Yet then I noticed that our adversaries weren’t as intimidating as I’d expected. Gabriel, for one, flew in obvious pain, blood seeping from one silky black wing, staining his old-timey gray suit. Underneath hanks of jet hair, his face was pale.

As an Arcana, I could see his tableau , a brief superimposed picture, like a Tarot card. His was of an archangel carrying a staff and sword, flying over a mass of bodies.

Selena murmured, “He’s injured.”

“Death stabbed his wing,” I replied. “Right before he beheaded the Temperance Card.”

And the World? Tess Quinn was a chubby brunette with nervous eyes. She carried a battered staff. Presently she was biting the nails of her free hand to the quick. Hardly a seasoned killer.

I’d wager she had as little control over her powers as I used to. Her tableau was a bare-chested maiden with a swath of cloth around her hips, symbols of the four elements framing her.

But Joules looked malicious, his dark eyes flashing as sparks glittered over his skin. His tableau was the most terrifying—charred bodies plummeting from a lightning-struck tower.

When the three paused in front of the house, he called out, “Get a gander at all the vines! Empress must’ve spilled pints of blood to grow ’em!” His Irish accent was pronounced. “And the grand trees too? I’ll bet you’re right wasted. That tornado’s fierce-looking, but Gabe can fly circles around it.” He opened his right hand and a javelin appeared in it.

At this sign of aggression, my claws tingled anew, the heat rising. Come, Tower, touch, was on the tip of my tongue. Instead I inhaled for control and forced myself to say, “Hi, Joules, my name is Evie.”

Double take from the Tower.

“And I want you to know that I’m sorry about what happened to Calanthe. She was a brave fighter. She deserved better.”

In my head, Death tsked. —You wound me, creature.—

Ignoring him, I told Joules, “We want to join with you in an alliance to take out Death. Then we would be seven, gunning for him.”

Joules twirled his javelin with ease. It was a thing of beauty, gleaming, etched with ancient symbols. “Or I could end you all today, snag your icons and more power to take him on myself.”

Out of the side of her mouth, Selena muttered, “Told you, dumb-ass.”

“We don’t want any trouble with you,” I called.

“Too bad. ’Cause it’s trouble you’ll be gettin’.”

“What happened to the enemy of my enemy is my friend  ?”

“Death stole my lass from me. Now I’m going to steal what he’s hankerin’ for most: your demise.”

I was selling this as hard as I could, and it still looked like we were about to throw down. “It won’t happen, Joules. Our alliance is too powerful. Already the Fool has foreseen that we would win this fight and all three of you will die.” Bluffing. “We could’ve hidden ourselves with the Magician’s illusions and ambushed you, but I wanted to offer an alliance. We’re not playing this game. We refuse to kill any other player except for Death. We can make that vow to you today.”

Tess’s eyes widened, excitement in her expression. Hovering above us, Gabriel tilted his head, his face unreadable. Joules looked even more furious. “The vicious Empress is making promises? Problem is, you never keep them. Everybody knows you break your vows each game.”

Had I? I slanted Selena a questioning glance, but she had her laser focus locked on Joules.

“Well, then, this game is different. We refuse to kill.”

“Oh, is that so?” His hostility was palpable—and strengthening, for some reason.

“It is.” My hopes for an alliance were circling the drain. Now I just wanted to get out of here alive. I readied my army. I could bind them with vines, giving us time to escape.

“Liar!” Joules yelled. “You think I canna see your hand, bitch? You already killed!” Without warning, he heaved his javelin straight at me.

Like a blur, Selena loosed her arrow; it struck his javelin, sending it off course. The spear hit the neighboring house. Lightning exploded it, firing debris over us.