The Arcana Club

The space felt more comfortable now that more of the sisters were in my court, so to speak, not that it made Winter any less intimidating.

“Please,” Autumn begged, “Just surrender. There’s three of us against you now. You can’t possibly—”

“Three?” Winter asked, “Have you committed yourself to their cause, Spring?”

“I was won over. At least this way I don’t have to be isolated. I don’t wish that fate on you either.”

Winter shook her head.

“Better isolated than caving to the whims of a child.”

I almost spoke up for myself, but held my tongue. The goal was to persuade Winter without a fight. I would inevitably start one.

“Do you seriously believe that?” Autumn asked, “That we caved? What esteem does the Light Brother actually hold us in? Better to cave to a whole soul than to him.”

“This child treats you better, is that it? Or perhaps she just lets you be around each other, your weak fondness clouding your judgment?”

“It is not weak to want to be among one’s family,” Summer said, no argument in her tone.

Winter shook her head.

“We are not family. Our brothers shared a power, a few memories, perhaps even a soul, but they weren’t the same person. There is no blood to bond us, only a man too weak to let us die in peace. Now we are forced to become these pale imitations of who we once were.”

“But we have each other!” Summer insisted.

Winter scoffed.

“You forget, I’m the eldest: I spent centuries alone!”

The air turned frigid again. I was panicking and the sisters could sense it. Summer burned as hot as possible, then grabbed Winter’s arm.

“You still tried to make me join, still follow a talisman of light and the sun, still persuaded Spring and Autumn to join you. You don’t want to be alone.”

“Nor do I want to be controlled!”

My last memory of the dream was feeling frozen.

“So now,” Mr. Roddenstein said, “You stand before Dread Queen Winter’s castle, prepared for combat, everything’s changed. You all level up, and our session ends.”

We all grabbed for the books. We had long since discussed what we wanted when we leveled up, but we still wanted the reference to write down.

“I can grab some healing spells,” Nerves proposed.

“But you wanted—” I objected.

“I want all of us to survive this.”

“I thought the campaign would be longer,” Emmy noted, having lost her battle to check her reference.

“You still have two villains to go,” Mr. Roddenstein corrected.

“No we don’t. We already handled Spring and Autumn.”

Mr. Roddenstein just watched her.

“Wait!” Emmy said as it dawned on her, “That’s in real life, not the game.”

“Our confusion strategy backfired a bit,” Cindy admitted, “No one has asked what we’re talking about.”

“The closest I got was River wanting to watch Tarot & Gamble with me.”

“What’s the status on River as our dread queen by the way?” Cindy asked.

I shrugged.

“I haven’t spotted the talisman on her at all. I wondered if it was her ponytail since she’d still be able to wear it at a basketball game, but I’m getting nothing on it.”

“Yeah,” Nerves said, “I’m guessing they don’t allow that much extra gear at a game.”

I shrugged.

“I haven’t asked. Maybe I’ll try tomorrow.”

“Do that.”

Eventually we all got through the books, just before Van’s mom appeared, also picking Nerves up. Emmy was next, and I was last.

“How’s the story coming along?” Mom asked after I’d buckled in.

“We’re about to fight Dread Queen Winter.” I told her. I’d explained the campaign in bits and pieces to her.

“Really?” she asked, “I thought you were having issues with Nerves about that.”

Nerves and I still weren’t on the best of terms, but we were talking again at least.

“Well, yeah, Blaze still doesn’t trust Minerva, even has a backup plan for if she turns on us, but we’re going in as a party.”

“Of course,” Mom said.

There was nothing for a moment, until we drove by Leora’s house. I’d noticed her scowling at us when it was light outside.

“Are you still helping that neighbor?” Mom asked.

“No,” I said, “She doesn’t like us anymore.”

“What happened?”

I gave a probably unconvincing shrug.

“We broke something and she didn’t want us anywhere near her garden after that.”

“That’s a shame,” Mom said, “I wouldn’t turn down free labor for something that small.”

Well she didn’t want freaks anywhere near her house, though luckily she kept to herself about it.

“How are you planning to take out Winter?” Mom asked.

“Well, we already took out the guards, at least on the outside. I got a fire dagger, which should hurt her. Nerves got some healing spells, though I thought she—he—was going to get some fire spells to deal more damage. Cas is building little sheets to remind us what to use. Cindy isn’t telling us anything…”

“Cas is your strategist then?”

“Yeah, xe knows the game.”

“What happens if xe can’t make it?”

I shrugged.

“Hopefully xer guides do.”

Mom turned up the AC.

“Would you be okay with a grocery run? I just remembered we’re missing some frozens.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

I pulled my legs up, trying to stay warm without complaining about the AC.

We stopped at the grocery store with the solar panels covering the parking lot.

“Do I have to go in?” I asked when mom opened my door.

“I’m not leaving you in the car alone at night.”

“It’s not like I’ll burn to death.”

Mom’s stare didn’t relent, so I unbuckled and followed her.

We started by going left toward the produce, and I quickly lost her as I watched my feet.

“Mom?” I called.

No one answered. I quickly moved in the direction of where she probably was, but I never spotted her.

I debated between searching the frozen aisles, but I remembered what I was always told: “Stay put.”

I returned to the produce area, trying not to get in the way of people with their carts. I took a minute by the lemons, trying to think through what marked a good lemon from a bad one. Spring offered some advice, but not much.

I gingerly moved toward the bakery so I could stare at the cakes kept cold. Some of them had funny messages, but most of them just had different colors and labeled flavors.

Did any of you like cake when you were alive? I asked the sisters.

We could never really afford it, Spring revealed.

I had donuts on occasion, Summer mentioned.

I loved pastries, Autumn reveled.

I rested my hand on the glass a minute, only for a blast of something to freeze my hand onto it.

“Excuse me!” I yelled, “Something weird happened!”

One of the employees ran over.

“What is it?”

I gestured at my hand, which I still couldn’t move. He looked down at the cakes.

“What did you see.”

“My hand,” I tried to gesture at it again.

The employee looked at it.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t see anything wrong with your hand. You’re welcome to go see customer service to see if they can do anything for you.” He gestured toward the other corner of the store before returning to his job.

I sputtered. Could he really not see my hand was covered in ice, and I couldn’t move it?

I grabbed Summer’s keychain, holding it gently against the ice.

“Just a little bit of heat,” I requested, “So I can get out.”

I didn’t want to think about what Unseen ice could mean. Winter already knew who I was, but if she didn’t want to cause a scene, I could just wait until Mom found me and go home. Though maybe I would avoid joining her down the frozen aisles.

After an annoying minute, I could break the ice. I breathed on my hand, rubbing it against the other to get it warm again. I looked for somewhere open without much for Winter to work with.

Produce was dangerous, as the sprays of water left me flinching. The nearby flowers were similarly avoided.

I could hide in the snack aisle, but then Mom might never find me. I kept moving, trying to keep a low but warm profile.

My luck ran out near the giftcards.

“You shouldn’t be hiding when you’ve lost your mother,” Winter said.

I couldn’t do anything but stare. I hadn’t really looked at her before, and here she was, without attacking me. Her gown seemed to be made of floating pieces of ice, with icicles as a trim. Her eyes were that same shade of blue, with ghastly pale hair and skin.

“Speechless, as you should be.”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I’ve come to offer you a chance. I don’t want to fight you, but it seems you’ll soon force my hand.”

She took my wrist, and I couldn’t do anything but follow as she pulled me to a freezer aisle.

“Summer and I have been at odds since she became one of us, but you have no quarrel with me, child.”

“You betrayed—”

“Shh,” Winter put a cold finger to my lips, “This is between me and the host, not any of you.”

And the voices turned quiet, not even buzzing in the back of my head.

“What did you just do?”

“I still have some pull as the eldest,” she explained, “Now it’s time for you to listen, child.”

“I have a name.”

“I know,” Winter said, “The source of your affinity, such a shame it had to be like this.”

“Maybe I like having Summer as a talisman.”

“Of course you do, the same way my host and I get along swimmingly.”

Right, Winter wasn’t possessing her host, it was consensual.

“Now I’ve entertained your heroism for this long, and not without purpose. Give the sisters, Summer.”

I almost did it, her tone made me think of handing something I loved to my mom because I’d done something wrong, except this time I’d done nothing wrong.

“No,” I said.

“Summer Kayla Chastfield, give me the sisters.”

Everything clicked into place, as I realized there was no way Winter would know my middle name like that.

“Mom?”