“What the hell, Evie?” Selena cried.
She and Gabriel would have no idea why Tess was in this condition. For them, only an instant had passed.
“She used her power?” Gabriel demanded, his disguise faltering.
“Just take her back! Get her warm, and help her. Make sure she survives.”
“I go anon.” He cradled her slight weight and took to the sky.
As her illusion faded to nothing, Selena narrowed her gaze. “You and Tess don’t have disguises. You’re bleeding and soaking wet. Portal to another dimension? Or did you go back in time?”
“Violet is here. We have to save Jack in the next few minutes or he loses his eyes—”
“How many minutes?” Selena was already hastening toward the camp. She fiddled with a hi-tech sports watch on her sling arm.
I scrambled to catch up. “Enough time for Tess and me to run to the water’s edge, then fight off the Priestess.”
Selena raised her brows at that. Then she returned her concentration to the mission. “We’ll say four minutes of running. How long did you and the Priestess tussle?”
Tussle? “I have no idea. Three minutes? Thirty?”
“I’m giving us eleven minutes total.” Selena clicked the timer on. “Which tent is J.D. in? Without Gabriel—”
“I know which one.”
“We don’t have disguises!”
“No soldiers are out.” I led Selena into the ghost-town camp.
When we passed the hobbled woman, I pressed my forefinger to my lips. After a heartbeat’s hesitation, she nodded.
Selena and I continued on, picking up speed as we turned the corner.
“That’s the tent.”
She slowed. “The one heavily guarded by guys in gas masks?”
“Just keep running!” I passed her.
“This is suicide!” But she sped up.
“Do you want to save Jack or not?” I asked when we were side by side.
“Damn it, Evie!”
“Take off your sling and go all-out Arcana. Even without your bow, you can still look weird. Like you once told me: sell it, sister, or we are dead.” I acted on that advice, calling forth my body vine.
It budded from the shimmering glyph over my nape. No more delicate ivy; this time I made it into a thornless rose stalk. Recalling Matthew’s mention of a crown, I let it coil around my head, oversize leaves pointing up like arches. In lieu of a dozen stars, I fashioned twelve blooms to garnish it.
Roses were the red witch’s flower.
My flower.
Selena tore off her sling and tossed it away. Her every footfall jostled that arm, but she gritted her teeth and withstood the agony.
For Jack, Selena Lua could do anything.
She began to glow, her skin the luminous red of a hunter’s moon. Her silvery hair danced all around her head like gossamer moonbeams, an awing sight.
“Okay, Archer, how about hammering these guys with some doubt?” One of her powers as the Moon Card.
“It’s not that easy.” Her eyes darted. “I can’t laser-focus it.”
Another power secret? “Oh, that reminds me. I think the twins can teleport.”
“Son of a bitch!” She glanced at my face. “Your glyphs are dim. Can you fumigate their tent?”
“I might’ve blown my wad against the Priestess.” So much for conserving.
Selena scowled. “I’m going forward, even against teleporters.”
“Like I’m not?”
When the soldiers caught sight of us, they aimed their guns, eyes going wide at Selena’s appearance, not to mention mine.
We stopped in front of the detail. Selena had once told me that the Empress of Old was “slithery and creepy and sexy.” I took a precious instant to catch my breath. “We’re here to deliver you from the twins,” I said in a throaty voice as petals wafted down from my wild reddened hair. “Step aside, and I’ll rip their heads from their bodies. Your army will be freed.”
The men gazed from me to Selena. We both wore expressions of otherworldly malice.
“It takes creatures like us—to destroy creatures like them. Let us do our jobs, soldiers. Just walk away.”
They remained frozen in shock.
The tent behind them was large enough to house a small circus. Jack was somewhere within! So close . . .
I raised my hideous dripping claws. In a tone that might give even Death chills, I said, “If Jack Deveaux loses his eyes, I will slice your flesh to ribbons and choke your lungs with vine. Am—I—clear, Franklin?”
Finally, one man lost control of his bladder. Franklin startled when I said his name. A risk.
Then, with a swallow, he waved his handpicked men away.
We were on.
Selena checked her watch. “Nine minutes. Smash and grab, and watch for teleporting freaks. Let’s bring J.D. home.”
11
At the tent flap, Selena pulled her gun and mouthed, One . . . two . . . three. We charged in.
The stench. The air reeked of smoke—and rot.
Randomly placed gas lanterns cast fluttering light. Moving shadows cloaked most of the space. Large beams supported the canvas roof. Rare sawdust covered the floor. With wood so scarce, this extravagance might as well be silk.
Along the edges of the tent, the twins had sectioned off areas with canvas, like stable stalls. The first stall contained a cage of snarling Bagmen.
Unclothed Bagmen? All of their oozing skin was bare. I’d never encountered one completely naked.