He looks doubtful, which is not the vibe I need.
“We need high energy, positive thinking, maybe even a dash of delusion, if this has any chance of working.”
Rounding the next bend, I spot the woman I helped unload the camels with before. She’s kneeling in front of an open tent, quick fingers tying together bundles of dried herbs. Her gaze flicks up as we pass.
“Hi again!” I wave and veer toward her before I can talk myself out of it. “Could I ask you another question?”
“You are quite curious.” She takes a deep breath asshe winds twine around the thick branches of rosemary. “Ask if you must.”
“I can come back if you’re busy.”
“You’re here now.” She wipes her palms on her apron and settles back on her heels.
“Thank you.” I bend down, lowering my voice. “I’m wondering if you’ve seen a woman—dark robe, copper threads in her hair. And this part is going to sound strange, but one of her arms looked like it had rubies and red crystals, I don’t know,fusedinto it…”
“I do not know this woman,” she says flatly.
“Are you sure? She—”
The woman rises swiftly, bundles clutched tight. “Too many questions call forth trouble. Curiosity often marks you as other than you are.” She glances over her shoulder, then lowers her voice. “Better to be overlooked than remembered.”
Before I can press her, she ducks into her tent, the flap snapping shut behind her.
Declan rejoins me, arching a brow. “She didn’t seem too interested in being friends.”
“No,” I say, unsettled. “She didn’t.”
Something about what she said scratches an in itch in my brain, a suspicion that’s been growing since we arrived. Layers beneath the pageantry, this kingdom is hiding a truth. And I want to be far, far away before it cracks open—because things like this never stay buried. Secrets are like cards in a tarot deck—they can be shuffled to the bottom, far away from the next draw, but sooner or later they will reach the surface.
The strap of my bag bites into my palm as I tighten my grip. I’ve been chewing this theory to death, tuggingthreads from every occult book I ever dog-eared, every WitchTok video I let worm into my brain at two a.m. And the truth is, my plan isn’t just wild guessing. The wheel is the through line—the only thing that makes sense. If it brought us here, it can send us back.
If this were a story I’d devoured under the covers in my childhood bedroom, I’d scrawl a furious note in the margin about how the heroine should’ve just trusted herself, how she should’ve spoken the truth before Act Three forced her hand when her beloved’s life was dangling in the balance.
Which means I don’t get to hold back now.
“I might not know how to do actual magick, but I’ve read enough books about it to have some idea where to start,” I finally say as we resume our trek and pass a woman in full gold face paint leading a camel draped in a silk cape. The camel looks majestic. The woman looks exhausted. “I understand tarot, and this is basically tarot on steroids. In tarot, and here in Towerfall, wands is the fire suit. It’s all about willpower and drive and creative potential, which seems to be the entire foundation of this glittering desert circus we’ve landed in.
“Fire as an element equals energy, passion, volatility. A spark that becomes a blaze that becomes, apparently, mandatory community theater.” I gesture toward a shirtless man twirling a flaming hoop over his head.
“And you think that plus your bag of tricks gets us home?”
“I think I understand the concept that got us here. Although, maybe not exactlyhowit happened.”
“Ah, yes, very reassuring. Every great escape plan starts withI understand the concept.”
“It does when you’re working with elemental theory and archetypal symbolism.”
He lifts a brow.
“I’ve created a theory—no, scratch that—it’s the only logical explanation based on observable tarot phenomena and energetic principles.”
“Tarot phenomena,” he repeats.
“You don’t have to say it like that.”
“Like what?”
I stop walking and stare up at him. “You’re patronizing me.”
