27

Day 557 A.F.

“Would you look at that?” Jack murmured at our surroundings.

We’d driven miles and miles past the last of the burned-out high-rise condos into an undersea landscape that was no longer under the sea.

The going was slow, the shelf teeming with debris—anchors, traps, sunken wrecks, and even crashed planes. Enormous whale skeletons stood as big as houses. Every now and then we would pass a Bagger, emerging from the sand, scrambling to catch us.

According to Kentarch’s elevation gauge, we should’ve been well beneath the surface. I wished Aric could witness this surreal scene with me. How would I ever describe it to him?

The fog thickened the further we descended, slowing us even more. Lightning illuminated the gray cloud deck. I rotated the spotlight, picking out wrecks through the eerie mist.

From the back, Joules said, “This place makes me bollocks shrivel.”

Kentarch made a sound of agreement, his gaze alert.

Jack tapped the fuel gauge. “We just passed the point of no return.”

I swallowed. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

He pointed to the map screen. “Due east.”

We continued on in anxious silence, descending another hill, chugging around a pair of whale skeletons . . . .

Suddenly a flare lit up the sky over the horizon.

“Who could’ve shot that?” And why? Matthew had warned me to beware of lures, like a light in darkness.

“It’s coming from the direction of the trench.” Jack rolled down his window and slowed the Beast to a stop. An engine revved somewhere in the night. Another followed, and another. He killed the headlights. “Company from the northwest.” For my benefit, he added, “North of where we first hit the shelf.”

The darkened mist grew brighter. Bouncing beams of light shot into the sky. “Are those headlights?”

“No way,” Joules said. “There’s too many of ’em.”

Jack eased the Beast over a rise of sand. Stunned quiet reigned.

Finally I said, “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”

Jack nodded. “Traffic.”

Not far in the distance, dozens of trucks and dune buggies hauled ass past us on what looked like a cleared sand road. Whereas we’d spent a day inching our way around debris, they were charging across the shelf. “Why are they racing?”

“No idea, me. They’re heading toward that light.”

Joules slapped Jack’s shoulder. “Back in Oirland, me ole mam said, ‘Whenever you see a mysterious line, Patty, you best hie your arse into it.’”

“Even with what you guys are packing, that many survivors could pose a threat to Evie and Tee.” His new nickname for my kid, short for p’tee garçon. Baby boy.

“No choice but to push on,” Joules said. “We’re skint—out of grub and running on fumes.”

What else could we do? Despite the lure, my instinct told me to head toward the light. “Jack, that must be where Circe wanted us to go.” And she was our only lead to save Aric.

Jack read me so well. “So to spring Domīnija, I’m supposed to risk you and Tee? No way.”

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, peekôn. 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.