The Arcana Club

“What choice did you make?” I asked the crying woman. I knew her well, but I couldn’t identify her in all the shadow.

“He was going to kill her.” the woman didn’t look anywhere. She was stunned at what was happening.

“Who was going to kill her?” I knew the answer, but I wanted her to admit it to herself.

“He thought I’d just let it happen, like I can’t feel the heart I’m using.” she thumped her chest. I finally realized that she was the shadow itself. I turned to brighter flame as she expanded.

“Someone your host cares about?”

The woman nodded.

“Who?”

“I’ve arranged for my host to renounce me. I am asking you to keep me out of his hands.”

“How?” I asked, “I don’t have a say in my next host. I could just as likely wind up in his hands.”

“One other has to know. You are ancient. You can keep it within yourself.”

I nodded. I was ancient. I could hide it.

“My next host will be someone who needs to protect—”

“Summer!”

River was shaking me awake.

“What the heck?” I muttered, “It’s Saturday.”

“I have a game, loser. Get up.”

“Why do you have a game on Saturday?”

“Because that’s the day it was scheduled. Now get ready, mom isn’t going to let you stay home alone.”

“Fine.”

While getting ready, sped up by a promise of fast food breakfast, I lingered on the dream. Cindy had warned us after Van left that the bonding period with our talismans might be weird, including seeing some of their memories.

“Who was that?” I asked the sun keychain in the backseat while River and mom were talking. “Was that someone important?”

She was definitely important, otherwise she wouldn’t care about being kept a secret. She couldn’t possibly be the darkness talisman. That wouldn’t make sense.

“Who’s important?” River asked.

“None of your business. I’m writing something.”

“Isn’t the point of writing that you’re not talking?”

“What is going on, River?” Mom asked.

“Nothing.” River denied, “Summer’s the one being weird.”

“You’ve been picking on her more lately. Is something going on?”

Of course she acted like something was going wrong with River if she was being a jerk.

“Nothing’s going on, mom. Maybe Summer’s the problem. She doesn’t talk unless it’s to be a little turd.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means I can’t use stronger language in front of mom.”

“Enough! I’m sorry I brought it up.” Mom gave a glare through the rear-view mirror. “Now do you want breakfast or not?”

“Yes!”

I cheered for River. Jerk or not, she was still my sister, and I knew enough about basketball to know when she was doing well, which she usually was.

“Hey, sorry we’re late Mrs. C,” Lei said, Kei and Cindy in tow, “Cindy’s address was hard to find. Why do you live in the middle of nowhere?”

Cindy shrugged. “Witchcraft rituals.”

“Nice,” Kei said.

“Are we winning?” Cindy asked, taking the seat next to me.

“Of course she is,” I answered.

“Great.”

Cindy looked uncomfortable. Wearing all-back, most of her skin was covered, including lace gloves and tights to match her dress, in contrast to Kei and Lei’s shorts and t-shirt combos. She didn’t seem to really belong here.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I just don’t go to things like this very often. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure, the AC in this place is bad.” I’d learned the hard way that long sleeves were a terrible plan.

“I run cold.”

I touched her arm. She was surprisingly cool.

“Where can I get that?”

“I was just born into the right family.”

“It was nice of you to come, Cindy,” mom said, “I hope your parents were alright with it.”

“They were just glad for me to go outside. I don’t meet many kids my age.”

“Clearly if you call us kids,” Kei said. She had brown hair in a bob and freckles dotting her arms.

“Well, legally, we are.”

“Just wait, we’ll fix that.”

“By aging?” Cindy asked.

“Yeah!” Lei yelled as River made a basket.

“And that’s half-time.”

“Wow, we really were late,” Cindy said.

Kei and Lei ran down to say hi to River.

“I think I need to use the bathroom!” Cindy yelled over the moving crowd, squeezing my arm as she tapped my mom’s shoulder.

“I need to go too,” I said.

“I’ll save your seats.”

After using the bathroom, because it wasn’t a complete lie, Cindy finally took me to an unoccupied part of the school hall.

“Why are you here?” I asked. She had just joined the homeschool group, and River didn’t seem to like her.

“The moms made us all exchange numbers, and then I got a text asking if I wanted to come. I figured I’d use it check your theory in person. Now,” she held my shoulders, looking very intently, “Are you sure they’re talisman wielders?” she asked.

“No. Why?”

“Well you get a feel for this sort of thing after so often, and after a whole car ride with both of them, they seem normal.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. I didn’t even sense talisman energies in Kei’s car.”

“But the eyes,” I insisted. Why would River’s eyes match if it wasn’t her?

“I’m not saying we throw the idea away. I’m just saying we pursue other options.”

“Have you been drinking liquid nitrogen!?” someone yelled from the bathroom.

“Could just be an empowered discovering their abilities,” Cindy said.

People ran out of the school gym.

“Someone call the Heroes’ Guild!”

“Did you see a supervillain? That happened out of nowhere.”

“The unseen,” Cindy muttered.

Cindy put a hand on my shoulder before I could grab the Summer talisman.

“Save it for emergencies. You and Summer aren’t completely bonded.”

“I had a dream from her. She was talking to her sisters, and a memory of—”

“A few dreams doesn’t mean you’re bonded. Has she talked to you?”

“No…”

“Don’t transform. You don’t know what the consequences could be.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

Cindy ran away without an answer. She didn’t seem to be transforming. I followed at a distance.

She pulled her hand away from the handle of the door, wincing. Then pulled a layer of her skirt around her hand before pushing in. I ran after her.

“Death, I see you’re doing as well as ever.” Winter sat on a throne of ice in the middle of the court.

“I forgot to tell you not to follow me, didn’t I?” Cindy asked.

“Yeah.”

The whole place was covered in a layer of frost. I could see my own breath.

“What happened, your host losing the game?” Cindy asked.

Winter smiled, stepping forward. The ice thickened under her, giving her extra height compared to the two of us.

“Actually I saw you, child. Chiaro is interested in you.”

“Gross. Tell him as much.”

“What’s so interesting about her?” I asked.

Winter smiled at me, then at Cindy, then at me.

“You can see the unseen?”

“No…”

So she’d been ignoring me. I’d ruined that bit.

Winter put her hand under my chin and I pulled back from the cold.

“Don’t let Death convince you to sacrifice yourself. Chiaro won’t hesitate if he knows you’re a threat.”

“Who’s Chiaro?” I asked. Yes, I knew, but maybe there was something more to all of this. Why would my—Summer’s—sisters turn on me—her—without good reason.

“Chiaro is the one who will put us all in our proper places. Now leave this to the family.”

I felt very cold as I was pushed into a wall by a small glacier, still large enough to cover my whole body. I was freezing, but Cindy shook her head before I said anything.

“You’re the one who left.” Cindy was circling Winter. I noticed the ice around Winter increasing in height as she kept moving to face Cindy.

“And you’re still obsessed with a man in love with someone else.”

“One flaw in that, Winter. I’m not Death. I’m just her host.”

Winter laughed.

“You can’t be so foolish as to assume you two aren’t one and the same. Death is hiding in you the same as you are hiding in Death.”

“Then is Summer in me right now?” I muttered.

Listen, a searing voice ordered in the back of my head. The ice around me seemed to loosen a bit.

“Doesn’t mean that I’m really Death. I’m Cindy, really, and you are?”

“Winter, first sister, ruler of ice!”

The ice around Winter’s feet sprouted and wrapped around Cindy’s neck.

“No!” I screamed alongside the new voice in my head. “Summer!”

I was better prepared for it this time.

My hair changed to flame, which grew and formed around me. It still burned, but this time I welcomed it. I’d just direct it back at Winter. Starting at my feet, sandals formed, then a dress of flame, a pair of gloves, and a mask of flame as I pulled my hands across my eyes.

“Is that going to happen every time?” I asked. The glacier had already melted around us. The ice around Cindy’s neck was also starting to melt.

“A child?” Winter asked. “I expected this from the brides, with an old family, but you, Summer? Did you forget yourself?”

My gloves started to putter out.

“At least I’m willing!” I said. The sparks returned, and I felt the next line in two voices, “What of your host?”

“She took my power willingly.”

“Then we’ll feel less guilty about this.”

I threw a ball of fire in her direction. It landed a few feet away from me. Winter laughed.

“I knew you’d hold back, sister. Family can’t hurt family.”

She flew over to me, giving Cindy a chance to grab her keychain.

“Death!”

The air around her darkened a minute, and her skin gained a blue tint mostly covered by a black cloak and scythe. Her clothes underneath didn’t look very different. She moved out of the ice chokehold like nothing touched her.

“You won’t kill me,” Winter said.

Cindy’s—Death’s—eyes turned completely red.

“Fear me!”

Winter started to cower, teeth gritted. We were frozen in place. We had to help Cindy—Death—but something was rooting us to the spot.

Winter dodged as Death made a heavy landing.

“Aren’t you tired of being used when you know he’ll always reject you?” Winter asked.

“No.” The response didn’t have Cindy’s voice as an undertone, sounding much harsher.

“He made you recruit this child into his army, didn’t he?” Winter gestured at me—us.

Death jumped again, but landed much faster, face-first.

“Oh little girl, you sympathize with us much more than you know.” she lifted Cindy—just Cindy—to her feet, “What a shame we only need the brides.”

A blade of ice jutted out from Winter’s hand. Cindy fell back as she tried to get away.

“No!”

My arm burned as a blast of fire pushed Winter away. Cindy struggled to get up, I ran in front of her, blocking Winter.

“You won’t hurt me,” I said, realizing I lost Summer’s voice.

Winter smiled.

“Not this time, little one.”

The place started melting, and not just the frost around it, as Winter went for the exit. I ran to follow her.

Cindy grabbed my arm.

“We don’t have the firepower.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re not transforming again any time soon.”

I looked at the arm Cindy was grabbing. The gloves were gone. I was just me.

Cindy ran for the closer gym exit into the hall. We stood there, panting.

“I guess the game’s over,” I said.

“It’ll go back to normal in a minute, and it only did that for us.”

“Why?”

“We’ll get into it later. Let’s find your mom.”