The Serpent

by Sarah Fine

  The warmth in his eyes could have gotten her through a hundred mountain winters. He gave her a little bow and a smile that melted her. “Welcome to the Immortal Dealers, Diamondback.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Ernie and Gabe strode into the courtyard, decks in hand and spirits on their arms, ready to clean up the vicious fight and help their allies. Ernie had no idea what she could do with a full deck, but her connection to the cards—and to Legs—felt stronger than ever. This must be how the rest of the Dealers felt all the time, and she wondered whether she would ever get used to it. Possibilities swirled in her mind. The cards offered endless combinations, and she was eager to learn them all, and quickly. Duncan was finished, but there might still be fighting to do. She sent out a mental call to Legs and received a pulse in response.

  But the fighting was over. Rupert, who had obviously awakened at some point, had been cornered by Trey and Tarlae. When he saw Ernie emerge into the moonlight, he shouted, “I fold,” and disappeared.

  “Nice,” Ernie said. “I kinda like when enemies flee at the sight of me.”

  Trey and Tarlae both looked tired and bloodied, but whole. They walked slowly to Gabe and Ernie with weary smiles on their faces. “You did it, Diamondback,” said Trey. “Knew you could.” He threw a gentle elbow at his lover.

  Tarlae took the nudge with a good-natured eye roll. “I am pleased as well,” she said. “How did you do it?”

  Ernie and Gabe looked at each other and then down at their decks. The card backs had returned to their original forms—his, the kestrel carrying the world; hers, the serpent devouring it. But the memory of what they had been together, of hearing him in her mind, of seeing his soul, sent a shiver down her spine. Gabe moved a little closer to her. “We worked together,” he said simply.

  “Come and help me heal Rika,” Tarlae said to Ernie. “Please.”

  “Yeah, I’ve gotta get Terrence down from the tower,” said Trey, motioning for Gabe to follow. “Can you send Caera up to see if he’s okay up there?” He pointed up to one of the castle’s highest turrets. “One of those bastards just launched him.”

  While Gabe helped Trey retrieve his raccoon, Ernie followed Tarlae to the edge of the courtyard, near the pile of rubble that had formerly been the arched entrance to the castle. “What happened to her?”

  “They were vicious,” Tarlae said, her voice flat. “But she is fierce and smart.”

  Much like her owner, Ernie thought as they approached a small brownish-red creature that had pressed itself between two stones, leaving only the tip of one tentacle visible. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Hold her so I can heal her,” she said, kneeling in front of the animal and putting her hands out. Rika crawled forward, leaving a trail of blue blood behind her—two of her tentacles had been hacked off.

  “Oh, man,” Ernie said, grimacing.

  “It could have been worse,” Tarlae said, handing the animal to Ernie. It was limp and unprotesting, its remaining tentacles drooping over Ernie’s fingers. “We are alive.”

  “You were worried you’d lose Trey, but you didn’t.”

  “Sometimes I don’t want to have this fear.” Tarlae frowned and pulled her Healing card. “But it comes with loving him.”

  “I guess that’s the trade you have to make.” Ernie couldn’t stop herself from glancing over her shoulder at Gabe, who was calling for Caera as she soared out of the sky, amplified in size, carrying a limp raccoon in her talons.

  Tarlae pressed the card to her coconut octopus. “It’s easy to say it. Harder to live it. Maybe better sometimes to play alone.”

  Ernie sat back as Tarlae took the newly healed, newly squirmy octopus from her hands. “Do you regret being with Trey?” she asked quietly.

  Tarlae looked down as Rika crawled onto her arm and sank in. “I can’t. But I also can’t help but wonder what happens to me if I lose him.”

  Ernie didn’t know what to say. She thought of the blank card and how she didn’t know which deck it belonged in. “I guess I’d focus on not letting that happen, then.”

  “I intend to,” Tarlae said grimly, getting to her feet. “So let that be your warning, Diamondback. And remember that you owe me now. When I call for help, you will come.”

  Ah. “Message received, Coconut Octopus. I guess I’ll see you out there.”

  “Not if I see you first.”

  It took Ernie a moment to realize that Tarlae had made a joke.

  Ernie followed Tarlae’s gaze to Trey, who was approaching them, his raccoon safely inscribed on his arm.

  Holding hands, Tarlae and Trey disappeared.

  Ernie joined Gabe in the center of the courtyard. “I think Tarlae just tried to do girl talk with me. Did Trey have any relationship advice for you?”

  Gabe arched one eyebrow. “No. He was trying to get me to tell him where I hid the Marks.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I guess he wants a favor from the Forger. And now I owe Trey one—we’re meeting to talk over terms.”

  “I thought he was just repaying a favor he owed you!”

  He looked down at Ernie. “Helping me was repaying a favor. Helping you made me owe him.”

  “Why don’t I owe him?” She took in the look on his face. “Look, I don’t really know what’s going on here, between you and me. I don’t understand our decks or what really happened to them—”

  “How did you do that? I’ve never felt anything like that before. I heard your voice in my head.”

  She sighed. “The Forger. He gave me a blank card and said I’d have to figure out when to play it. So I threw it when I had nothing left, and I thought if you and I could be a team and work together . . .” She paused at the horrified look on his face. “We won, right? Yay, team?”

  “And now we are connected,” he said quietly.

  Before she could ask whether he meant that in a good way or not, Minh appeared in the courtyard, bloodied but on his feet, deck in his hand. He saw Ernie and Gabe standing there and blinked. “I came back to help,” he said, breathing hard.

  “Where did you go?” Ernie asked.

  “Virginia fled, but she still has two of Alvarez’s cards. I went with him to get them from her, but he sent me back here. He’s back on his feet, and I gave him a shot of Strength to help him.” Minh shook his head. “Really not loving the idea of a stronger Virginia.”

  “Do you think Alvarez will be able to get them back?”

  Minh shrugged. “He won’t give up until his deck is complete—or Virginia kills him.” He tilted his head. “You look a lot better,” he said to Ernie. Then he glanced at Gabe. “And you look worse.”

  Gabe looked down at his blood-soaked shirt. He’d healed himself, but he was still down one card; the blank card had been with him just long enough to temporarily join the Kestrel deck with the Diamondback deck, and now it was back in Ernie’s hands. “I’ll need to patch myself up, but then I’ll be grand,” he said, but Ernie heard the false confidence.

  Minh looked like he had, too. He gave Gabe a skeptical look before turning back to Ernie. “I’m going to bring your mom back to your home base. Do you want to meet her there?”

  Ernie nodded, holding up her cards. “I guess I can do this for myself now.”

  “Among about a million other things,” Minh said with a smile just before he vanished.

  Ernie reached out and touched Gabe’s arm. “Will you come back with me?”

  “Can’t, love,” he said, looking away. “I need a bit of time. To myself.”

  “Oh.” Of course he did. She’d pulled him in and used him to save herself, and in the process, she’d stolen his chance to set things right with the Forger. Maybe that look he’d given Duncan’s body wasn’t grief. Maybe it was the realization that she and Legs had ruined his chance at wholeness.

  She shuffled through her deck and pulled the card the Forger had given her. Its face was blank, but its back was emblazoned with the hybrid creature, the serpent-hawk
with its wings paused midflap, surrounding the globe, its mouth wide to expose its fangs.

  “Here.” She held it out to him. “Take it. It’ll make you whole, won’t it?”

  “I don’t know what it makes me,” he said.

  She moved closer to him. “It makes you not alone.”

  “It makes you part of me. And it rightly belongs to you.” His voice was quiet and thoughtful, and what Ernie hated was that she had no idea what those thoughts contained. No idea whether having a piece of her with him was something he wanted or despised or both.

  She stepped back. “Well, just think about it. The offer stands.”

  He caught her wrist and pulled her in. He lowered his mouth to hers, tipping her head back with the weight of his kiss. Ernie’s hands found his chest, her fingers balling around his torn shirt. When he finally raised his head, she was breathless. “Thank you, love,” he murmured against her skin. “I mean that.”

  “Shouldn’t I be the one thanking you? I’m sure I owe you at least a few dozen favors at this point.”

  He shook his head, his thumb caressing her cheek, making her chest ache. “There will never be any of that between us.”

  “When will I see you again?”

  “Soon.” He let her go.

  Ernie smiled, but her throat was tight. “Good.” It would have to do for now, though she already knew she wanted more. It wasn’t until he’d disappeared that she realized he’d never told her where the Marks were or what he planned to do with them. Her father had collected them—or stolen them—and sent them to her mother. Did they belong to the Terwilligers? Or did they belong to Gabe now? And what did it mean if they did?

  For the moment, she didn’t really care. She and Gabe had some things to work out—obviously—but there were other matters for her to tend to right now.

  Ernie took a shuddery breath and looked up at the moon. She had no idea where in the world she was or what time it was. All she knew was that it was time to go home. She closed her eyes, thumbed through her deck, and pulled her Transport card while thinking of Asheville, of the shop, of her mom. Legs pulsed warmly on her arm as everything went dark. Ernie’s heart swelled with the knowledge that she wasn’t alone.

  When she appeared in the driveway of the shop, her feet were steady beneath her, and her breath rushed solid and sure from her lungs. Minh stood a few feet away, and her mother was waiting on the porch, her arms folded, her expression tense.

  “Is she okay?” Ernie asked.

  “She will be.” Minh turned to Ernie. “I’m going now, but I’ll see you out there. Hopefully not in a duel, though.” He winked at Ernie. “You’re weirdly creative.”

  Ernie grinned, but she didn’t have a chance to thank him before he vanished. She silently promised herself that she’d repay him someday for the things he’d done for her, up to and including threatening to kill her.

  As Ernie approached, she saw the tears in her mom’s eyes, and she hurried up the porch steps. Her mom was trembling as Ernie pulled her in for a hug, murmuring reassuring words about how she was there, they were both there, and everything would be fine now. It took her several seconds to realize her mom was shaking her head.

  She stepped back, her hands still on her mother’s arms. “What’s wrong?”

  Tears were streaming down her mom’s face. “I lost him years ago, Ernestine, and do you know the one thing that kept me alive? Knowing I still had you—and now I’ve lost you, too!”

  “What? I’m right here!”

  “But now you’re one of them!”

  Ernie put her arm around her mom’s shoulders and guided her to the porch swing. They both sat down, and Ernie took her mother’s hand in hers. “Mom, you said all this was your fault. Why?”

  Mara sighed. “We never told you. You were so young.” She wiped a tear from her face. “When you were seven, I was diagnosed with cancer. Ovarian cancer.”

  “Oh, god,” Ernie murmured. “Is that why—”

  “Why we sent you down to Grammy’s that summer? Why I had a buzz cut when you came back?”

  “I’m an idiot.”

  “How could you know? You were just a tiny little thing. We didn’t want you to worry. But I was dying, Ernestine, and Redmond and I both knew it. He couldn’t accept it, though—refused to accept it. He wanted a miracle.”

  Ernie felt sick. “And he got one. From the devil.”

  Her mother nodded. “He wouldn’t tell me what he’d done, only that he had to go away—and that I would be fine.” She bowed her head. “Then he left, and at my next doctor’s appointment, they told me there was no sign of cancer at all.” More tears lined her face when she looked at Ernie. “So it’s my fault you grew up without your father.”

  “But if he hadn’t become a Dealer, I would have grown up without my mother,” Ernie said in a hollow voice.

  “What have I done for you?” Mara sobbed. “I’ve made you take care of me, and now you have to leave, too!” Mara let out a choked little chuckle. “But I guess you’re finally getting your wish, and you didn’t even need my travel vouchers.”

  Ernie smiled. “I’m not leaving Asheville, Mom. I’m not leaving you.”

  “I thought all you wanted to do was get out.”

  Ernie pictured the diamondback devouring the world. “I’ve been halfway around the globe in the last few days. I can go anywhere I want, whenever I want. And I will. But I’ll always come home.”

  With that, she gave her mother’s hand a squeeze and stood up. “Let’s get inside. I’m getting cold out here, and I think there might be some bourbon left in your office.”

  EPILOGUE

  Ernie pulled her jacket close and watched as her breath fogged the air. Over by the food truck, a duo with a guitar was doing a pretty decent cover of a Civil Wars song, the girl wearing fingerless gloves to keep her fingers nimble in the nippy night air. It was Saturday night, so Wedge was jumping.

  A pint of Iron Rail appeared in front of her—not via the magic of the cards but courtesy of a good friend. Dia sat down in front of her, looking beautiful but weary, a curly lock of her black hair dangling from the updo she’d worn to Jules’s memorial service. “How you doing?” Ernie asked.

  Dia slumped and sipped her beer. “Like I could sleep for a month.”

  “Sympathy.” She offered up her pint and clinked glasses with her friend. Ernie had already told Dia that she wasn’t returning to her job. As for the reasons why, Ernie had been vague. She’d told Dia that she planned to travel, which was true, and that she was definitely headed in a new direction.

  “It just feels like everything has turned upside down in the past week,” Dia said. “First Jules—and I still can’t even believe that—and now . . .” She sighed. “But this thing with you, it’s good.”

  Ernie put her hand over the cards in her pocket. “I think so.”

  “Where will you go first?”

  “Still figuring it out.”

  Dia’s eyes slid over to something behind Ernie, and her full lips curved into a smile—then drooped with sadness. She shook her head.

  “What?” Ernie asked.

  “Oh, I was about to suggest you go over and talk to that cute guy over there—he’s totally looking your way—but then . . . Last time, you know?”

  Ernie shared Dia’s sadness, but at the same time, her heart skipped. Maybe he was back already, looking for her. She looked over her shoulder, hoping he’d be there, and her stomach tensed. She turned back to Dia. “Give me a minute.” Dia’s face turned white as Ernie rose from her seat. “Trust me,” Ernie said. “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

  “Just don’t let him do any card tricks.”

  Ernie smiled. Then she turned and strode over to the table where Andy was sitting alone, nursing a beer.

  He gave her a pleasant smile as she sat down across from him. “You look a lot better than you did the last time we met.” He gestured at her outfit: black skirt, black tights, black sweater, black jacket. “The color su
its you.”

  “Can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not. I was at a funeral. For someone Duncan murdered.”

  “Ah. Yes. That was really too bad. But, given the scope of his body count, that was really—”

  “Dude. She was my best friend,” Ernie snapped. “I don’t give a crap about scope.”

  “Time for your perspective to change,” the Forger said in an amused, singsong voice. “I’m sending you to Ukraine.”

  Ernie stiffened. “To do what?”

  “I’ll tell you more once you’re there. Go to Kiev, get a nice place, and settle in for a few weeks. Watch your back, though.”

  “Is there another Dealer involved?”

  Andy smiled, his blue eyes a shade darker than they’d been a moment before. “As I said, watch your back.”

  Ernie rolled her eyes. “You really enjoy playing the cryptic power-trip guy, don’t you?”

  Her cards flashed blazing hot against her leg as Andy slowly leaned forward, his eyes black now. “I’ve had this power for a very long time. And I intend to keep it.”

  Ernie sat back. “Did you know Duncan was going to try to attack you using the Marks?”

  Andy took a few deep gulps of his beer, leaving it empty but for the creamy foam along the inside of the glass. “Duncan had become more of an aberration than an asset. Where are the Marks now?”

  Ernie laughed. “Don’t you know?”

  Andy shrugged. “No one’s called me since you, so I’m assuming they’re safe.” He gave her a knowing smirk. “Interesting how they came out in the open, wasn’t it? After being underground for so long? Same thing with some of the toys I made—the barrier runes, the antagonist rune . . .”

  The antagonist rune must have been the one that turned animals against their Dealers—and it had been yet another relic her father had sent to her mother. Ernie took a calming breath. “Let’s not waste each other’s time. I know, and you know. My father is a Dealer.”