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Hoofbeats begin to echo through the canyon, what sounds like a e to increaserun Sweat pours Blood pours—

I stumble to a stop I’ve reached a dead end Trapped I spin around as the Reaper comes into view

He is alone, astride a white stallion with red eyes He wears black ar from his belt A polished scythe juts from a saddle holster “Euise the severity of my wound

“I watched you battle the others today,” he says, his voice deep and raspy “Your powers are monstrous, creature”

“And yours are not?” He can kill just by touching another’s skin Other Arcana whisper that he prefers to kill with his touch

But I want to live! I have only eighteen springs, am far from ready to leave this world

Death tilts his helmeted head “Your flesh repairs itself I wonder if the others could even kill you at all”

“They cannot,” I lie “Nor can you So leave me”

As if I haven’t spoken, he reht: his face

He isbeautiful

His masculine features are even and bold, with a proud brow and nose His tanned skin and light blond hair e to be no race As he stalks closer, I have to crane aze He ance Obviously highborn

His gaze falls on the bloody hand I use to clutch my side “So es will appear on his hand,his own Whichever Arcana has all the , wins

Lions roar in the distance Fauna with her beasts

Where are my allies? Fool, have you forsaken me?

When Death draws a sword, I spit blood at his face and run to the right; he cuts me off with unnatural speed I run to the left, the sa to furrow the metal with my indestructible thorn claws

Sparks flicker, butfor breath, I shakemy reddened hair No poison whispers from my tresses I raiseI pressthem They are numb, cracked No toxin covers the the four icons onle for air “I areat Empressthe May Queen, a killer of the first orderI will never beg”

He givesnod, as if he respects me for this “You’ve earned an honorable death, creature” He low, as if filled with stars I can’t look away “This will not hurt for long”

Without a sound, he thrusts his sword, stabbingthe blade that pins in to choke on blood

There is no sy but resolve as he secures loved hand He raises the other to his auntlet

To touch me

And it is then that I know: this boy in the entire ga for you, Eht Death was in my dreams and in my mind It was as if I could sense his presence inpossessed

That dream with him had been so vivid, I pressedto feel a sword

The details of his handsoer in the dream than he was now, and his black ar ancient Was this soahosted overaround with unease I was alone in the lab? With the ht I had—

“Get dressed, Evie,” Selena yelled as she bounded down the cellar steps, lobbing a waterproof pack to land right aton?” 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 y gel packs—an apocalyptic lunchbox

As I yanked off one for the day, but Matthew foresaw Arcana co 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 ale with them, especially when I was still so weakened froht through them?

“Not yet Think they’re still too far away We were ransacking the Alche—when Matt startedthe frequencies Does thatto you?”

I shookin fast, that we have less than an hour”

“So we can slip away?” I wondered if I would have tiift 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 laminatedto plan our exit out of this valley” Like a gazelle, she bounded back up the steps

I drew off as left of my pants, relieved to seein 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 theJackson, wondering hoould act today I wished I’d dreaht, the house looked even stranger, with Bagman slime everywhere and furniture tossed Drizzleroof Wispy clouds sped across the muted sun After ray haze was freaky

Not to mention Matthew’s prediction that we’d be weak in the rain while our eneer

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 so AF, it had dark-ringed bullet holes in it, from the previous owner’s deician being helpful to h pissed at him for his illusion, I did think the boy had a decent heart