The Serpent

by Sarah Fine

  It struck at Ernie before coiling itself again. Ernie scooted back with a squeal, her cards picking up mud and dirt as she pushed herself along with her hands.

  “Oh no,” said Duncan, sounding disappointed and amused at the same time. “Look what you’re doing to my deck! Here, let me show you a trick.” He showed Ernie one of his cards; its symbol was a spiral. She had no idea which one it was. But suddenly, her cards seemed to be trying to pull themselves out of her grip. She brought them to her chest to hold them there, but two slid free and spiraled through the air, landing neatly in Duncan’s deck. Ernie cried out as a pain sliced down her center at the loss of the cards.

  “Perfect.” He smiled, looking down at them. “Shall I play this one?”

  Ernie was barely comprehending what he was saying; she had her eye on the snake, which was agitated, hissing, rattling, ready to strike at her again. But as Duncan flipped one of the stolen cards into the air, the snake suddenly towered over her, dozens of times its normal size, looming huge and fierce in the darkness.

  Ernie knew that trick. He’d stolen her Amplify card, dammit. With a shriek, she threw herself to the side as the snake struck, its fangs colliding with soft dirt. Before she made it across the clearing, though, the thing had swiped her feet out from under her. She landed on her back, breath exploding from her mouth in a pained grunt. Duncan was laughing, but she could barely hear it, because the rattling was so loud that Ernie felt like it might shake her brains out of her skull. The sound told her one thing: the serpent had made its choice.

  She couldn’t run. The time for that was over. And she couldn’t think—her mind would only feed her terror and dread, images of those fangs stabbing through her body. As the snake, now more of a basilisk, rose up before her once more, Ernie simply stood up. She rolled up her left sleeve. And she held out her arm. “I’m better than he is,” she said. “I know he’s cruel and tries to control you. He’s forcing you to stay with him, but we can free you if we’re together. Choose me.”

  The snake’s tongue darted out. Ernie felt the gust of air it displaced, as if the diamondback were trying to sense her sincerity.

  “Finish her,” Duncan bellowed from the other side of the clearing. Then he shouted something in a foreign language—and it sounded like the same language Gabe used to speak to Caera.

  The snake jerked as if it had been struck, and it hissed again, turning its massive head first toward Duncan and then toward Ernie. Its eyes had gone crimson. It drew up slowly, about to strike. Ernie closed her eyes.

  “Ernie!” The shout came with the sound of other voices, of snapping twigs and whipping branches.

  Rattling, the snake struck, and Ernie had no time to scream or dodge or protect herself—but before its fangs could reach her, they collided with a riot shield that suddenly appeared. Ernie caught the thing instinctively and, holding it above her head, bolted for the trees just as Gabe, Trey, and Minh appeared in the clearing with their cards drawn and their animals by their sides. Ernie hunched against a tree, the shield in front of her, what was left of her deck clutched in her shaking fist.

  Minh curled his lip at Duncan and flashed three different cards, and the diamondback shrank to its normal size and slithered across the clearing to hide beneath a log. Ernie didn’t know whether the reptile was scared or embarrassed or shaken. Even though the creature had just tried to kill her, Ernie felt a pang of sorrow, seeing the serpent used and humiliated like that. She almost wanted to crawl across the clearing to offer it some comfort, but then she realized how insane that was, particularly since there was a serious fight going on in front of her.

  Duncan had his cards drawn, a fan of them in each hand. His face was alight with rage and contempt. “If you harm me, the counterfeit Dealer dies, and the old woman dies, too,” he shouted, then flipped the four cards in his left hand up in the air, where they formed a square that showed, just for a few seconds, the image of Ernie’s mother bound and gagged, her eyes wide and rolling with terror. A whimper escaped Ernie. She didn’t know whether it was yet another illusion or a projection of the here and now, but seeing her mother like that was torture. “If Ernestine gives herself up, we can all go home.”

  “Ernie,” shouted Gabe, “stay where you are. He’s trying to get to you.”

  “Already did,” said Duncan, turning to Gabe. “I’ve always enjoyed killing things you love.”

  Gabe’s expression was stone as his cards started to glow. Three rose from the rest, and Duncan disappeared. Ernie blinked, squinting at where he’d been, but just as she realized he actually was gone, he reappeared again, a grimace on his face. “Nice try,” he snapped at Gabe. “But no jail can hold me, not even now. Even with half a deck, I can destroy you.”

  “You’re not exactly in a position to be making dire threats,” said Trey. He jerked his head to the right, and his raccoon instantly skittered up a tree and could be heard loping along in the branches overhead.

  Duncan snarled and nudged three of the cards in his right hand upward as the four cards that had shown a brief picture of Mara Terwilliger zoomed back to his other hand. As the new cards escaped the deck, the branches shook, and the raccoon screeched.

  Trey took a tense step forward. He, too, was holding his cards with two hands, fanning them in preparation for the fight. “Bad idea to piss him off,” he said, his voice too light for the set of his jaw.

  “You think I care about pissing off your rodent?” Duncan asked.

  “He’s not a rodent,” thundered Trey, flinging his right hand out and sending two logs flying across the clearing toward Duncan, who dove out of the way and then used two of his own cards to send them flying back at Trey.

  At that point, all hell broke loose. Minh’s pig, Bao, charged at Duncan. Gabe’s kestrel launched itself into the air with a high-pitched cry. The diamondback slithered out from under the log and began to make its way toward Ernie. And Virginia’s chicken suddenly scampered into the clearing, nearly getting trampled by Bao. Virginia appeared between two trees, the trunks of which immediately shattered, sending branches and chunks of wood everywhere. One large piece hit Gabe, knocking him to his knees when he was midplay, forcing him to dive for a few dropped cards. Ernie, who had been focused on the snake, broke eye contact with it to run to Gabe as wood shards and other unrecognizable objects flew through the air, bouncing off the various Dealers’ defenses as they tried to take Duncan out.

  “No! Get back behind the trees,” Gabe shouted when he saw Ernie coming for him. He was bleeding from a gash over his brow, his right eye swollen shut already. He looked furious. Duncan had retreated behind a pile of rocks he’d drawn together using a card, and the various strikes from the other Dealers, who were supposedly all on the same side, kept bouncing off Duncan’s shield and hitting each other. Virginia had been lashed with ropes to one of the shattered tree trunks, and Ernie was pretty sure Trey had been the one to hurl the bonds, not Duncan, who appeared to be a whiz at redirecting attacks to others. He was using the Dealers’ best strikes against them.

  “Come on,” Ernie said, tugging on Gabe’s arm and keeping low to the ground. “You’re hurt.”

  The kestrel swooped out of nowhere and scraped its talons through Ernie’s hair, yanking several strands out as it flew away with a screech. “Ow!” Ernie shouted. “What—”

  Gabe wrenched his arm from her grasp just in time to block some kind of boiling liquid from hitting him, sending it to the ground, where it sizzled and foamed. “Stop distracting me,” he said. “Get to safety, goddammit! What he wants is you!”

  Ernie looked around as everything appeared to be happening in slow motion. Minh kept disappearing and reappearing, looking angrier each time. He was soaked to the bone, and it looked like strands of seaweed were draped over his shoulder and dangling from one of his ears, as if he’d been dunked in the ocean repeatedly.

  Trey kept getting thrown up in the air and tossed to the ground. He was shouting, “Cut it out, Virginia!”

  “So
rry! My glasses broke,” she cried, still trying to free herself from the ropes, which seemed alive, tightening by the second, as she clutched her cards and tried to play them with her hands pinned to the bark.

  Duncan was laughing as the Dealers essentially fought each other. He slashed a card through the air, which flew at Ernie as it took the shape of a boomerang. Gabe dove on top of her before it had the chance to take off her head. Her mouth filled with dirt, her nose with the scent of rotting leaves. Gabe’s fingers were wrapped over her head as he held her against his chest, his body over hers, and tried to play his cards one-handed.

  Ernie looked around frantically for the diamondback, though it was hard to move, because Gabe’s weight was crushing her. The serpent struck at Minh, who sent it flying through the clearing. Ernie cried out when she saw it hit a tree and drop to the ground again. Come to me, she thought. I need to play. I need to help.

  Her arm was burning again. Had it heard her? She clutched her cards in her hands. She had to get into this fight and help her team, and the best way to do that seemed to be to help them take down the seemingly impenetrable wall Duncan had created. With that thought firmly in her head, she grinned at the diamondback’s shadow as it took shape on her arm. It was happening. She could do this. She yanked herself out from under Gabe and reached for the cards that blazed hottest. Their symbols glowed fiercely as she pulled them from the rest—one a circle with a cross in its center, the other a slashing diagonal line. While Gabe shouted for her to get back, she charged forward and aimed the cards directly at that rock shield, imagining the stones flying apart, leaving Duncan open and vulnerable.

  To her surprise, that was exactly what happened. The other Dealers dove to the ground as basketball-sized stones exploded outward, one of them catching her in the stomach and throwing her back about ten feet, where she landed hard against a tree trunk, unable to breathe and pretty sure a few of her ribs had just cracked. Unfortunately, the stones had also caught Gabe and Trey—both of them were on the ground, bleeding and struggling to get up as Duncan stormed forward with the snake tile in one hand and his cards in the other.

  Ernie looked down at her deck in time to see yet another card fly from her hand and into Duncan’s. She pressed the rest to her stomach as they began to lurch away from her, trying to return to their master. The other Dealers took advantage of the shield’s absence to hurl more attacks, but Duncan ducked and parried every strike.

  “Hold on to your damn cards,” Gabe boomed into her ear as he tried to pull her to her feet. “Whatever you do, just—” He gasped and jerked, then cried out. As he staggered, she saw what had happened, and threw out her hands. The diamondback was writhing and rattling just a few feet away, and it struck again, leaving a small wound on Gabe’s right hand—next to two others on his wrist.

  “No, stop,” she shrieked at the snake as it bit him again, this time on his cheek, just below his eye. The kestrel came like a bullet from the treetops again, way too late, distracting the snake as Gabe collapsed in the middle of the clearing. She drew her deck and desperately tried to look for the Escape card, the one she’d accidentally played the night she’d stolen the cards in the first place.

  But it flew from her hand as soon as she found it.

  “Thanks.” Duncan caught the card midair. He ducked a sharp gust of wind and several bullets sent his way by one of the other Dealers, and grinned as Minh and Virginia both cried out, struck by some attack Trey must have intended for Duncan.

  “Bring the rest of those cards to me, along with the Marks,” Duncan said to Ernie as he stood in the center of the clearing, his eyes boring into hers as she clung to her cards with all her might. He was weaving a little, bleeding from wounds to his face, shoulder, and thigh. Ernie looked around, hoping one of the other Dealers would be ready to strike a devastating blow, but Virginia was still tied up, and Minh and Trey were both on the ground—but they were also both holding their decks. Perhaps seeing that he was about to be attacked again, Duncan quickly produced three cards from his deck and swung them through the air.

  Duncan and the diamondback disappeared. And so did Gabe.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ernie stared at the place Gabe had been, barely able to breathe. The ground was dotted with his blood, and she reached out and touched a drop, coming up with a red fingertip. She was aware of shouting around her, of commotion, but everything seemed oddly still. Once again, Gabe had shielded her, and this time, it might have cost him his life.

  Firm hands took her by the shoulders and pulled her from the ground. It was Trey, who was panting, his clothes torn, a deep bruise on his neck and jaw, and what appeared to be a bullet wound in his abdomen. The raccoon had already returned to his arm, where it sat beady-eyed and waiting to be loosed again. “I’m sorry,” he said in a strained voice as he turned Ernie around to face him.

  “We’re sorry,” said Minh, limping into the clearing, dripping wet, drops flowing pink down his face and chest as they mixed with his blood. Bao trotted over, licked eagerly at his pants and hands, then shimmered in the air and swirled himself onto Minh’s outstretched arm. Minh drew a card and slashed it in Virginia’s direction, and the ropes binding her fell away. The old woman staggered forward, and her rooster, Luigi, clucked and flew down from a tree with a wilted comb, disappearing onto her spindly forearm.

  Minh shook his head. “That was pathetic.”

  “Gabe,” Ernie managed to say. “Did Duncan take him, or did he just . . . go somewhere?”

  “Something tells me he wouldn’t just leave you,” Minh said, one eyebrow arched.

  “Yeah, this isn’t good,” said Trey. “Let’s get back to the house and figure out what the hell to do next.” He let go of Ernie, drew three cards from his deck, and disappeared. Ernie leaned against the nearest tree to keep from falling to her knees. The waves of pain in her chest made the ground seem pretty inviting.

  “See you there,” said Virginia, squinting at her cards, letting a few rise from the deck. She looked up at Ernie. “Can you get back by yourself, little impostor?”

  “Impostor?” Ernie’s lip curled. “While I was busy blowing Duncan’s shield to kingdom come, you were playing bondage games with a tree.”

  Minh guffawed, but Virginia made her lemon-pucker face. “I was offering to help you, but suit yourself.” She pulled her cards and disappeared.

  “I’d rather go it alone than get help from you,” Ernie muttered, clenching her teeth as she thought of Gabe and where he might be right now.

  “Come on,” said Minh. “It’s good to admit when you need help.” He looked sympathetic as he moved closer to her, bringing with him the smell of iron and salt. Raising his arms, he said, “I can’t swim, and that asshole knows it. He kept dropping me in the Pacific just as I was about to get him.”

  “Someone pulled a gun during the fight. Couldn’t you all combine your powers to drop some kind of bomb on him?”

  “First, it takes tremendous concentration and will to conjure weapons with complicated physics involved. The more moving parts, the more things can backfire on you. Literally, in this case. But second, Dealers don’t really combine powers well.” Minh gestured around the clearing at the splintered trees and torn-up earth. “I imagine Tarlae and Trey could do it better, but they’ve had years of intimacy and practice to build on, and even they aren’t always in sync.”

  “How come she didn’t show up to help?”

  “Ask her.”

  “That sounds fun.” Ernie closed her eyes and slid a few inches down the tree trunk, fatigue pulling her down.

  Minh poked her arm and held out a few of his cards. “You can catch a ride with me. Unless you want to walk back to the house alone.”

  Ernie didn’t know what she wanted. She barely knew what had just happened. Her most loyal protector was gone, taken down by the creature she’d hoped would be her best ally. All she could do was nod.

  Minh put his arm lightly around her shoulders and held the three cards betw
een them. The world went black and she was falling again, and this time, she almost hoped it would last. But after a second or two, she realized she was standing in the driveway to the shop, and Minh was striding toward the porch steps. “We can’t appear directly inside because of the concealing shields on the place,” he said over his shoulder.

  Wheezing, she followed him slowly, her steps heavy, her body screaming, her cards still pressed muddy and useless to her chest. Minh held the door open for her, and she entered to find an argument in progress.

  “—told you not to go in the first place,” shouted Tarlae, even as she pressed two cards to Trey’s swollen jaw.

  “You wanted to just let him get her?” Trey looked pissed at his love, even though her cards immediately healed his bruised face. “I promised Gabe.”

  “You didn’t promise him your life,” she snapped.

  “This all would have been easier if either of you could have stayed out of my way,” Minh said, waggling his finger between Trey and Virginia.

  “Oh, give me a break,” said Virginia. “I was tied to a tree and could barely deal because of your living ropes, little piggy.”

  “Call me that again and I’ll be eating Maho for dinner,” Minh shouted in a terrible, distorted voice, his deck glowing.

  “Maho is a rather delicious chicken dish,” mused Alvarez, looking immaculate as he sipped some sort of amber liquor from one of her mother’s crystal glasses.

  “Threaten Luigi and I’ll gut you all,” spat Virginia, fixing her glasses with a swipe of a card.

  “Duncan has Gabe,” Ernie said loudly.

  All the Dealers looked at her. Only Trey had the decency to look sheepish. “We did kind of screw that up,” he said.

  Virginia narrowed her eyes as she glanced at Tarlae and then Alvarez. “Could have used some extra help, too.”

  Alvarez laughed. “Four Dealers against one, and you needed more help? If so, we’re in trouble.”