The Arcana Chronicles 5: The Dark Calling

Kentarch said, "If we get into trouble, I believe I've conserved enough strength to teleport us back to the mainland."

Jack and I jerked our gazes at him.

"Eating does, in fact, fuel an Arcana's replenishment."

"Well, then, that changes things, non? I doan like to be last in line, me. What do you say, Kentarch? Want to see what this chariot can do?"

"Open it up, hunter."

Jack glanced at me. "I know how you like to go fast."

"Then kick her in the guts, Cajun."

He slid a grin over at me, and I spied the resemblance between him and Brandon, his dead half brother. For a moment, I was transported a million years back to before the Flash. A sunny morning over a Louisiana road . . .

Jack floored it, kicking up rooster-tails of sand, bouncing our way into the rush. What prize were we all chasing?

After cutting off two drivers at once, he veered aggressively toward a third, who flinched away. He swerved around a stalled-out truck nearly as big as ours, then charged straight up a narrowing slot between two vehicles. We gained on the lead car, a souped-up buggy with oversize exhaust pipes.

Jack feinted left, then gunned it to the right, maneuvering around the buggy. We'd just passed it when our headlights illuminated a hand-painted sign: JUBILEE. All good things flow to us.

Joules leaned forward. "What's that coming up?"

Through the fog, I spied a structure. I worked the spotlight higher and higher over a looming crush of shipping containers. In between them, sailboat masts jutted threateningly.

"It's a giant wall," Jack said. Torches lit a wide opening, with a pair of huge gates. "Guess we're heading inside."

With no idea what we'd find. As we neared the entrance, I muttered, "Please don't let this be a cannibal trap."

We zoomed through the gates. Ahead of us was a line of men, dressed in hazmat suits and aiming rifles at us.

"Jack!"

He slammed on the brakes. The vehicle skidded in the sand, stopping mere feet in front of the men. Yet they made no move, seemed more concerned with holding the line--against us. Each one wore a red armband. Designating a unit or something?

Another two dozen or so vehicles careened inside behind us as the gates began to swing closed. They slammed shut, blocking several other cars.

My anxiety ratcheted up. "This is some kind of trap."

Yet the other new arrivals were celebrating, yelling. "We did it!" "We're in!" "We beat the rush!"

Outside the wall, the excluded drivers honked and cursed. What would happen to them?

Everyone else began turning off their engines, so we did as well.

I squinted, trying to make out what lay beyond the cordon of guards through the drifting fog. "What do you think is back there?"

Jack rubbed his chin. "Something worth guarding. Check out those rifles. They're fitted with bayonets. Saves bullets." He gazed around, admiring the battlements. "We must be right at the trench. They built this stronghold on the edge of a drop-off, just like I built Fort Arcana."

I jumped when a PA system crackled to life. A male announcer said, "Please remain in your vehicle. Quarantine begins now."

My heart sank. "Quarantine?"

"We'll be fine." Jack said. "Any car carrying a plague victim probably would've been heading for the Sick House. Not here." He patted my knee. "This is a good sign, peekon. First place I've seen with an active containment zone. Maybe life is still possible out here. We're in an actual settlement."

Like the one we'd dreamed of building at Haven--at least, before the threat of snowmageddon. "How long will a quarantine last?"

"I'd guess a day or so."

"And you think it'll be safe and good inside this place?" What sort of leader would they have? A monster like the Lovers' father? Or a militia man along the lines of Cou Rouge? A freak like the Hierophant with his cannibal miners?

All I knew about Jubilee's leader? He likely wouldn't be a great one.

"Non. I doan necessarily think that. But what if?"

A half dozen more hazmat men passed through the line of guards, heading toward the vehicles. They carried what looked like medical gear.

I frowned at them. "Do you think they'll test for plague?"

Jack tensed in his seat. "Kentarch, nobody takes her blood, no."

The Chariot put his hand on the truck, readying to teleport. "Understood."

The men approached us, then walked right on by. I swiveled my head around to watch them stop at other vehicles, apparently at random, to take blood samples.

Joules huffed. "No one's interested in us? Careful that I don't feel slighted."

"What good would random samples do?" Kentarch wondered. "Perhaps they possess some kind of new technology."

As we waited, I tried to block out the reverberating clangs of the people outside banging on Jubilee's metal wall, their frantic calls: "Please let us in!" "We'll starve out here!" "There must be room!"

I asked, "What will happen to them?"

Jack shrugged. "They could be second string, in case some of us doan make the cut."

Not twenty minutes later, the PA announcer said, "Leave your vehicle and enter the settlement. Welcome to Jubilee!"

When the guards lowered their rifles and left their posts, folks scrambled out of their cars, hurrying to get inside.

Joules snorted. "So much for a quarantine."

I worried my bottom lip. "Maybe there's another staging place."

"I'll go in with Joules." Jack collected his crossbow, strapping it over his shoulder. "Kentarch, you stay here with Evie. Be ready to bug out."

"Look." I pointed out a woman with a kid among the newcomers. "They might know something we don't." I wasn't confident on that score, but I didn't want Jack going anywhere without me. "I'm coming with."

He scrubbed a hand over his mouth, clearly weighing the risks. "Fine. Hood on. Bag on your back. And try to keep your head down." He turned to Kentarch. "You keep ahold of her at all times. If we get separated, try to get back to the cave where we met up. That'll be our BOL." Bug-out location.

The Chariot nodded.

Once I'd covered my hair and donned my bug-out bag, Jack cast me a wary look. "Let's all stay sharp in there." He engaged the Beast's security measures, and we hopped out onto the sandy shelf.

With Jack in the lead, Kentarch and me next in line, and Joules bringing up the rear, we entered Jubilee.

28

The other newcomers chattered and jostled excitedly, acting like they'd just won the lottery. As the fog shifted and the settlement came into view, I began to see why.

Lights and music greeted us inside the walls of a sprawling, sea-floor town. Along what looked like the main thoroughfare, ships sat on rusted cradles, some connected by metal rope bridges.

Shipping containers had been stacked high, with ladders clinging to the sides like climbing ivy. Laundry hung out to dry beside makeshift doors and windows. People lived in those tin cans?

At the foot of one container building was an open-air restaurant with sails for a roof. Food scents made me salivate.

Kentarch's watchful gaze swept the area. "They've got fuel here. Lots of it."

Jack nodded. "They must be working a derelict cruise ship or something. All the boats we passed on the shelf probably had supplies just for the taking."

He'd once told me that folks often forgot to roll ships in dry dock. But these Jubileans had been savvy enough to head to this desolate place and hit all these wrecked vessels. A ballsy move.

Among the hundreds of residents we saw, many were smiling as they went about their business, and they waved when they passed each other.

I even spied a few females. I nudged Jack. "Women walk freely."

"Means they got order here."

Kentarch asked, "How are they enforcing it?"

"Good question." Something was off with the residents, something I couldn't put my finger on.

Then it hit me. Aside from the hazmat guys, no

one was armed. No machetes or rifles or pistol holsters. Jack and Kentarch looked overaccessorized.

When we followed the main street to what must be a central square, vendors swarmed us. "Hot rice! Fresh off the Queen Mary!" "Spaghetti from the Carnival Sunshine!" "Canned tuna! The chicken of the sea from the Princess of the Seas." "MREs from the USS Stryker." One merchant had nothing but peach preserves and jars of olives. Another peddled liters of liquor.

Joules spun in a circle. "I haven't seen this much grub in one place since the world went tits up."

Jack raised a brow at a half-gallon bottle of Jack Daniels. "Mercy me." Seeming to shake off his thirst, he asked a spaghetti vendor, "Who's the boss around here?"

I pictured a militia type. With a big belly, jowls, and leering eyes.

"The Ciborium rules Jubilee and all the oceans." He winked as he said, "One Ciborium in particular. You'll see."