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Selena had already strung one of her makeshift arrows “Because she isn’t near us, not yet Only her familiars”
I scrambled out of the line of fire “Why didn’t she sic the wolf on us?”
Selena shook her head “I don’t knohy, but Fauna just wanted a look-see And I think”
“What?”
“I think she wanted us to know she’s watching us That wolf has been stalking us for days, but I never caught sight of it Now it reveals itself?”
I sed, and Finn said, “What do you th Card be involved with aniht years ago “People only started calling her Strength in recent tile-minded purpose She thinks the way animals do, like beasts on the hunt, with a sole, blood-driven resolve”
I drew out her card, showing the the mouth of a ferocious lion “Her card is one of the most literal She can manipulate animals the same way I do plants Like Gabriel, she has animal senses”
Selena said, “Not only that—she can tap into the senses of nearby creatures”
I nodded “I reet a crow to fly over and see us through its eyes” Even Jackson was listening intently to this “And if she exchanges her blood with an animal, it becomes her familiar, connected to her forever I don’t kno exactly Selena?”
“Trade secret Soh Mattheould”
He cast her a mulish look “Not your psychic”
“Matthew, please,” I azed down at his hand Yet now he see there
Orlike kudzu I asked Selena, “Do you ever ally with Fauna? Does her faa ot an infinity syht above her head Like on mine”
Those shared symbols Death’s card had a waterfall like le white rose—as the Fool did on his card “to be read like a ive hiot zoot another Arcana on our ass”
“Look on the bright side,” I said “How ame, it would suck to be the Mistress of Fauna” No sooner had the words left my mouth than a wolf howled in the distance
With plaintive calls, twofrom my mouth and wound, I writhe on Death’s sword
Please The word is on h I want to live, I will never beg!
The Reaper re a hand covered with icons He must have nine kills
Soon to harvest five more
He reaches for me with that bared hand, a weapon in itself I shudder with fear and agony The more I shake, the ainstdown my cheeks
In the distance, a lion roars
“This will hurt for nary a moment s I wish I’d done At least e I’ve garnered I made sure of that
He’s so close I can perceive his breaths onupon Death, as his hand inches closer
I shot awake, swiping my pal down, stunned that Death wasn’t right besidehis presence was gone
It was dark in the hut, but lyph It cast enough light to see Matthew’s sleeping form nearby Selena and Finn were asleep as well
Jackson ake, seated across froaze
In a low tone, he said, “Can you feel thee in his voice
“They’re like shivers” I ad to feel them” Because they represented my arsenal, and I believed that somehow, someway, they were all that stood between aze flickered over“What’s it feel like when you change co power “It’s definitely different”
“You were like aa divinité”
I sat up Still his words could thrillhim how much I—
“You ain’t huh the state How to answer? “Both my parents were You know iving her enough tiet to know him, to rest assured that he could keep etting used to this stuff myself Didn’t knoay around it”
He scrubbed a hand over his tired face “Why didn’t you tellin others” Arcana means secrets, as Matthew had said
“Coo-yônFinn sotta stay there?”
Without a word, Jack collected his gear and stor a seat on a nearby shelf of rock
Though uninvited, I joined hi him over me?”
“Yes, Jackson, the psychic I trust with my life told me not to tell anyone You know, the kid who predicted the end of the world and saved me from the Flash Besides, you and I had a deal: I’d tell you randmother’s”
“Like you would’ve told me then You wrote me a note and took off from Finn’s without a word because you kne I’d react”
“That’s not true After our fight, I decided that you deserved to know the truth, warning or no I was co when I saw you and Selena—”
“Not me”
“Not you,” I whispered
He fell silent Talk to
“You told me I quieted the voices” The Arcana calls I’d heard but hadn’t understood “Seems like you’d need to hear them now”
“For some reason, you quiet the buzz of all of theh I’d still hear it, just as I did Selena’s call”
“Does it scare you, knowing these people want to kill you?”