Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Gabe’s piercing gaze surveyed the area. “Did Kentarch give you any idea about his hideout’s location?”
“Non. I only know it was a penthouse, barricaded from the inside.” He’d left his wife there while he’d searched for water, yet she’d disappeared. Or so Kentarch had thought. In fact, Issa had gotten trapped in a hidden safe room.
After weeks scouring the area, he’d torn the penthouse apart and found her body. He’d lost his mind, convincing himself she was still alive, just missing—until the Queen of Cups had reminded him that he’d already found Issa and gone crazy.
“I can fly aloft and attempt to scent them.”
“Bien.” I’d just slowed the truck when electricity made my hair stand on end. The sky lit up, lightning bolts fracturing the black.
“The Tower!” Gabe’s eyes went wide. “I go anon.” He leapt from the still moving truck and bounded into the air, his wings scattering snow.
I followed him in the Beast, careening around wrecks as I sped toward the lightning. So Joules had survived. Had Kentarch?
As I neared, I finally came across Bagmen. Dozens of them loped toward those lights.
My jaw dropped when an apartment building came into view. About fifteen stories up at the top, Joules stood on a balcony, casting down javelins against a cresting wave of Baggers.
What must be a thousand of them scrambled over each other, clawing to reach the penthouse. They covered one side of the building in a roiling mass.
This uncanny scene reminded me of Joules’s Tarot card—from a high tower, lightning rained down along with flailing bodies.
Gabe landed next to him, readying his wings against the coming onslaught; why didn’t the Archangel just fly our friends to safety?
I wheeled the Beast around, preparing a getaway. Then I flashed every light the truck had and honked to attract the Baggers, but they remained fixated on their target—live bodies in a city of none.
How the hell were uncoordinated zombies climbing? I’d seen them ascending stairs but never a ladder, much less each other.
Sol must be attacking. I scanned the area for more bogeys. Would Richter and Zara join him? If the Emperor quaked this place, we’d have no escape.
The Bagger wave was about to crest when Joules stopped firing and sagged against Gabe. Like a shot, the Angel snared Joules and dove down. I leapt out of the truck cab when Gabe landed beside me. “Where’s Kentarch?”
Joules swung his elbows, fuming. “Gabe feckin’ left him!” He turned on his best friend. “Are you barmy, birdbrain? The Hanged Man still got your bollocks in his hand? I told you Tarch is up there.”
Gabe yanked open the truck door and shoved Joules in. “I am going back for him.”
“Tarch won’t come with you! Won’t leave that place or her body. I’ve tried to convince him to go for weeks, right up until the Baggers caught wind of us and surrounded the building. Been strikin’ for me life on and off for days.”
“Take me up there, Gabe.” I strapped my crossbow to my thigh, then ran around the front of the truck. “I can talk to him.” I’d never flown with the Archangel—well, not while conscious—but I would for Kentarch.
“We must make haste.” Gabe snagged me on his way up into the night.
Christ, was I really flying with an angel? This fucking game . . .
In the fierce wind and swirling snow, we soared over the mass of Bagmen. Without Joules’s bombardment, it scaled higher.
“Time is of the essence, hunter. They will reach the top in moments.”
“Got it.”
Gabe landed us on the balcony and released me. We barreled inside, found the interior in shambles, drywall debris everywhere. The air reeked. Kentarch was in a corner, rocking a shriveled body wrapped in a blanket. Issa, his beloved wife.
I knelt beside him. The man looked gaunt, like he hadn’t eaten since I’d last seen him. “Kentarch, we gotta go! Gabe’s a friendly now. So why doan you and I hitch a ride out of here?”
His lips drew back from his teeth. “Never. This is the end for me. You two leave this place.”
If I pushed too hard, he might pull that gun at his side. Silly me had convinced him to practice with his left hand after he’d lost the right. “It’s time, podna. Let’s take her and bury her.”
“This is where she died. She waited for me here. She believed I would come back and save her. This is where I will die—with her. The whisper of my hope lied!”
Gabe paced at the balcony doors. “They are at the railing.” Wings flared, he marched out to meet them, tearing through them with his talons. I heard the gory details—gurgling growls and bodies hitting the floor.
I told Kentarch, “This ain’t the way. You want to die to be with Issa? Then do it clean. Baggers could turn you.” Evie hadn’t turned, but other Arcana might. “Then you’ll live forever as one of them. At best, they’ll mute your power and eat you alive.”