As Maneater licked her drooling chops, Cyclops limped forward to join her. Again I spied something like confusion in his eye. The wounds I’d given him earlier still poured blood.
“We’re surrounded.” Joules opened his palm, but nothing appeared. He stared down at his hand in bafflement. “Tapped out? Never happened in me life.”
“Where’s the fecking Lord o’ Lightning?”
“I’ve never been starving before!” He made a fist. With a yell, he opened his hand again. Nothing.
As the wolves on both sides closed in, Joules and I stared at each other.
I needed the red witch; I needed rage. All I could manage were exhaustion and resignation.
Aric would never forgive himself for this. Never. He would somehow win the game—he always won—and he’d live as penance till we could be together again.
“Any last words, Empress?”
“Look on the bright side, Joules. You’re so prickly, they’ll choke on you.”
His lips curled into a gallows grin. “And you’ll poison ’em—”
Headlights beamed into our eyes.
11
A huge truck barreled along the ravine floor. Scarface whirled around, snarling at the new threat.
IMPACT. A deafening yelp sounded as he went somersaulting through the air. Joules and I dropped to the ground, dodging his claws.
The wolf collided with Maneater and Cyclops, a gigantic wrecking ball. They tangled into a heap of limbs.
The truck window rolled down. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I spied a man with intense eyes, a beret, and sigh-worthy cheekbones.
Kentarch! His tableau shimmered over him, a helmeted warrior driving a horse-drawn chariot—and it was right-side up. “Get in the back,” he commanded in a deep, accented voice.
Joules and I scrambled to the passenger door. I yanked on the handle. Locked.
“The far back,” he enunciated.
The Tower and I shared a look, then headed for the truck bed. He was still hauling me over the tailgate when Kentarch floored it, spraying snow. Ahead, the wolves leapt to their paws and darted out of his way.
The lights mounted on the cab roof illuminated a mass of animals swarming behind us. Kentarch raced the truck like a chariot, and the ride was just as smooth—in other words, not at all. We bounced along, the large tires airborne more often than not.
Canvas netting covered crates in the back; Joules and I clung to the net for dear life. Sweat and blood on my face began to freeze.
Joules muttered curses as he wrestled to hold on. “He’s the Chariot?”
I nodded. Aric called Kentarch the Centurion because of past games. But our cards did evolve—if we survived this wild ride, I’d never think of Kentarch as anything other than the Chariot.
“You know this bloke? Trust him?”
“I know of him. Never met him before. He allies with Aric.”
“And the Reaper wants you dead.”
I bit out, “Any suggestions?”
The back window whirred open. “What is happening at the castle?” Kentarch asked, sounding as calm as Aric had when chased by missiles. “I was invited there, yet a war zone greeted me.”
I released my handhold and crawled toward the window. “Death and the others have been brainwashed by the Hanged Man. I’ll tell you all about it. You mind if we climb inside?”
“Yes.” The window closed, leaving a slender gap.
Dick! It wasn’t as if I’d killed him in the past. Oh, wait.
Joules yelled, “We’ve got company!”
I jerked my head around. The wolves had regrouped, were tearing over the landscape. Scarface led the pack, closing in fast. He tensed like he was about to lunge for us. I cried, “Punch it!”
Kentarch gunned the engine; the wolf missed by inches, jaws slamming shut around air. SNAP.
As we sped faster, birds and bats dive-bombed the truck, splattering themselves across the windshield.
What was that up ahead? My foggy mind registered the sight: A bear had just tromped onto the narrow road through the ravine.
This was no normal bear—Lark must’ve fed it her blood when it was a cub. Which meant the thing had grown to be gargantuan, nearly as tall as Ogen.
She’d already had a bear. What else had she raised that she hadn’t told us about?
The beast reared up on its hind legs, stretching its arms wide, claws gouging both ravine walls. No way around it. No way to reverse.
Joules opened his free hand, willing another javelin to appear. “Bloody feck, mother, bloody feck.” When he came up empty, he yelled to Kentarch, “Ram it! If we can get past it, the road opens up.”
“Are you crazy?” I cried. “It’s way bigger than a wolf. It’ll crumble this truck.” Even if we survived the collision, the other beasts would just descend on us.
“I’d rather die in a crash than from fangs.”
Through the crack in the window, I thought I heard Kentarch calmly say, “This will hurt.”
I clutched the side of the truck, bracing for impact yet again. Sooner or later, my luck would run out. I was betting on now.
Even the birds must have sensed the impending collision—they eased off their assault, circling above the roadway.
Joules began reciting the Lord’s Prayer, then broke off to do a countdown: “Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . FECK!”
But the crash I expected didn’t happen. Shivers raced over me. Time seemed to slow. Suddenly we were surrounded by the bear—we were . . . inside the bear.
Its mighty heart thundered right before my eyes. Tha-thud. Tha-thud. Real or unreal? We moved past as if in slow motion.
Just as we started to clear the massive body, those shivers returned, and the truck solidified—while the tailgate was still in the bear.
It exploded from the pressure. Gore and chunks of fur spewed into the air. Blood splashed the back of the truck.
“Wh-what happened?”
“Boyo up there teleported this entire truck through the bear. And there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.”
I’d seen . . . its heart. Kentarch had moved the mass of this vehicle—through the mass of that bear. No wonder Aric had been so excited to have this ally joining him.
“Are we clear of them?” I asked.
“Nothin’ can catch us now.”
In front of us: a desolate road. Behind us: thwarted wolves. Maneater snapped at Scarface, and a scuffle broke out between them.
Joules bellowed into the night, “Get fecked, Fauna!”
I gazed away, my attention drawn to the top of a mountain in the distance. Aric. He was astride his warhorse Thanatos, illuminated by the yellow haze.
I drew back my whipping hair. He sheathed his swords.
The bastard had already retrieved them. Way to prioritize, Reaper.
For my own survival, I was being separated from my husband, the father of my kid. My only hope was for him to leave that sphere. I somehow managed to yell, “Come and get me, Death!” While inside, I was pleading, Please, Aric, please come and get me . . . .
12
When I could no longer stand the cold, I knocked on the icy rear window, wincing as pain stabbed through my bare knuckles. My teeth were chattering. “C-can we come inside?”
Kentarch glanced at the rearview mirror.
“Chariot, please. I’m freezing, injured, and powerless.”
“Why should I trust you?”