Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF Page A

exit out of this valley.” Like a gazelle, she bounded back up the steps.
    I drew off what was left of my pants, relieved to see my skin had healed. After I yanked on the new jeans—too long in 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 the midst of this crisis, I realized I was nervous about seeing Jackson, wondering how he would act today. I wished I’d dreamed of him instead of Death.
    In the morning’s dim light, the house looked even stranger, with Bagman slime everywhere and furniture tossed. Drizzle misted my hairthrough the gaping roof. Wispy clouds sped across the muted sun. After months of either blue skies or brutal dust storms, this gray haze was freaky.
    Not to mention Matthew’s prediction that we’d be weak in the rain while our enemies grew stronger.
    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 something warm to wear. Like most clothing we’d been seeing A.F., it had dark-ringed bullet holes in it, from the previous owner’s demise.
    I suspected Finn had sourced it for him. Was the Magician being helpful to make up for his trick? Though pissed at him for his illusion, I did think the boy had a decent heart.
    But where was Jackson? I had a moment of panic, wondering if he’d bailed. Surely, he wouldn’t leave me without a word. Not after all we’d been through. It’s you for me, peekôn.
    Still, I was about to ask when Selena announced, “We’re in a valley with mountains on three sides. Two sides are too high to scale. The third leads to cannibal country.”
    Finn swallowed hard. He’d seen the cannibals when he’d crossed the mountains in the past.
    Sensing Finn’s distress, Matthew patted him on his head. “There, there.”
    Selena continued, “The only road out of here is a bottleneck. If we can squeeze out before the other Arcana show, I say we head south back to Finn’s cabin. Lure Death to our foxhole, fight him on our home turf. Evie’s powers work best when she can dig in and prepare.”
    Finn wiped mist from his face. “You assume I’m inviting you back to my pad, Selena? I’m not leaving this town with you. We’ll be fine on our own.”
    She shoved the map into her pack. “Listen, you deceptive little shit, Evie’s the linchpin. I go where she goes—”
    “The linchpin’s still going to find her grandmother,” I interrupted.“Like I said, I’m heading to the Outer Banks.” I gazed around. “Where’s Jackson?”
    Finn zipped Matthew’s pack closed. “Um, Jack bugged out before we woke up,” he said, his demeanor guilty. “He’s gone, Evie.”
    “Not a card,” Matthew said. He’d never felt comfortable with Jackson, a non-Arcana, around.
    “ Gone gone?” No, I refused to believe he would abandon me without so much as a look back. Like you abandoned him? my conscience whispered.
    Selena rolled her eyes. “What’d you expect? J.D. witnessed you go full-on Empress, all Little Shop of Horrors . I think he got the message: we’re—not—human. Not to mention what he heard in the cellar, about us being in Death’s crosshairs. If I were him, I’d be sprinting away from us as fast as I could.”
    That was . . . fair. “I’m surprised you didn’t chase after him.”
    “If he’d liked me back, I might’ve asked him to run with me,” Selena admitted. “Even though I’ve accepted that an alliance with you is the single thing that might keep me alive.”
    I asked Matthew, “I don’t suppose he’s coming back?”
    Matthew gazed at the cloudy sky. “He should’ve said good-bye.”
    I surveyed the yard, seeing the Bagmen bodies from the night before. Jackson had collected his arrows from those corpses—on his way out. Ever practical, Cajun.
    My eyes watered, but I forced a blank expression on my face. “It’s