"Jake!" Dania yelled as she jammed her key in the lock and twisted savagely, then kicked the front door open. "Jake! Where are you?"

"I'm here."

Relief flooded through Dania Ellis's body. You never knew what would happen on Drop Night, with people hoping for magical cards from the gods. Especially in Noimoire, a city with more murders than the entire true crime section at the local Barnes and Noble.

She took a deep breath, stepped into the tiny front room of their shared apartment, and kicked the apartment door shut behind herself, then turned to throw the deadbolt and fasten the chain lock.

"I'm sorry I'm late, kiddo," she called as she toed off her shoes and nudged them under the small bench they kept for that purpose. She bent to pick up the backpack she hadn't noticed falling from her shoulder and turned around to see her biological nephew and adopted son appear in the hallway from his room. "A bunch of car accidents came in right at shift change, and I couldn't get free. It's wild out there tonight."

"It’s Drop Night," Jake said with a shrug that projected supreme indifference.

Dania wasn't fooled.

She dropped the backpack on the sagging couch and walked toward her nephew, her arms open in invitation. "Yeah, but it's also your birthday. I know it's late, but I got a cake the other day. It's in the freezer. What do you say to a little midnight celebration?"

Jake's carefully unconcerned expression wavered, and a smile curved his lips. He nodded, and stepped forward, allowing Dania to wrap her arms around his shoulders.

He's taller than me now, she thought. Wish you were here, Kaylie. You'd be so proud of him.

Dania's big sister had been the one to care for her when they were kids. They'd never known a dad, and their mom had done her best, but addiction had plagued her for her entire life. She’d overdosed when Dania was only a little older than Jake, leaving Kaylie to raise her sister. Kaylie had been there for her, no matter the cost, and Dania had vowed to do the same for her son.

Dania had been so happy for Kaylie when she met a stable IT guy named Mark. They'd gotten married, moved to a house in the suburbs, and built a beautiful life that Dania had admired very much…even as she never wanted it for herself.

She'd joined the Army, instead. When a deployment to Afghanistan left Dania with a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and recurring nightmares, Kaylie was the one who helped her put her life back together. Kaylie had convinced her to enter the Army's nursing program and go to officer training.

Dania had been almost through the course when a drunk driver smashed his rusted-out Camry into the side of Kaylie's Mini Cooper, killing Kaylie instantly, Mark a day later, and leaving twelve-year old Jake without anyone to raise him.

Without anyone but me, Dania corrected herself. He's got me and I've got him, forever. And I'm not alone, either. I'm lucky to have a relatively good job at the hospital that pays all right. Enough to afford this place, anyway. And I've got friends. Really good friends, even. Couple of the other nurses…and Berto.

Always Berto.

Berto had been her medic and battle buddy since her first deployment. He'd looked out for her, and she for him. Like Dani, Berto had struggled when they came back, but they'd leaned on each other and gotten through the adjustment period together.

Berto's not a friend. He's fucking family—

"You okay, Dani?" Jake asked. “You’re just kinda staring.”

Dania squeezed him once more before letting her arms fall. "Yeah, kid. Just a wild night, like I said."

"Car accidents?" His voice carried a little catch, and Dania cursed her thoughtlessness.

"Yeah," she said.

"Like Mom and Dad."

Dania held Jake's gaze, refusing to look away. Looking away felt too much like dishonesty, and she'd promised to always be 100% honest with him. "One of them. Yeah."

"Did they—"

"We were able to save a couple of the occupants. A mother and her three-year old. The father was dead on the scene."

Jake's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and he nodded. "But the mom's going to make it? The kid?"

"Hope so." As she spoke, Dania heard the fatigue in her voice.

Jake nodded. "Strong work. I'm glad you were there."

"Me too, kid. But now I'm glad to be home to celebrate with you. So what do you say? Want some cake?"

"What kind?" His mouth quirked up in a smile.

"Chocolate with salted caramel ice cream and chocolate chunks?" Dania raised her eyebrows in challenge.

Jake whistled lowly. "You sonofabitch, I'm in," he said, quoting one of their favorite TV shows. Dania laughed.

"Grab some bowls and spoons while I shower and change. Cake's in the freezer. If you take it out now, I might be able to cut it without breaking the knife."

"On it. Go shower. You stink." He grinned at her and ducked as she picked up a couch cushion and lobbed it in his direction.

But he was right. She smelled faintly of blood and disinfectant, like the ER. So she picked up her backpack and headed back to her room to grab clothes, and then ducked into the tiny bathroom they shared, her heart warmed by the sound of Jake humming "Happy Birthday" to himself.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A few minutes later, Dania let out a sigh as the hot water pounded down from the showerhead and eased sore, tense muscles across her neck and shoulders. She took a moment to revel in the sensation and then got busy shampooing her long, dark brown hair and sudsing up her tired body.

She didn't want to keep Jake waiting any longer than necessary.

She'd just cranked the water off and wrapped herself in the biggest, fluffiest beach towel they owned when she heard her watch beep three times, signaling that it was midnight.

"Hey, Happy Birthday, kiddo!" she shouted. "You're officially four—"

"DANI!" Jake's scream ripped through Dani's good feelings, spiking adrenaline right into her gut. Heedless of the fact that she was wrapped only in a towel, she burst through the door and ran out into the living room to see that her boy had collapsed onto the yellowed linoleum of the kitchen floor.

"Jake!" she cried. "Kiddo, what happened?"

"I don't know!" Jake gasped, his voice ragged and sounding half-strangled. "M-my chest!"

Dania fell to her knees beside his head, her eyes assessing him for twisted limbs or other signs of distress. She tucked her towel tightly so that it would stay wrapped and reached down to tear Jake's t-shirt open, exposing his chest. A gasp slipped from her lips as a strange symbol appeared in the center of his chest: a gray circle half-overlapping a slightly larger black circle, creating a design that looked a little like a crescent moon, or an eclipse.

Jake moaned and touched his chest with his fingers splayed open. The strange symbol started to fade into his skin.

"Don't!" Dania warned, grabbing his wrist. As she pulled his hand back, four black-edged, glowing rectangles appeared in the air in front of them.

Cards. From the Great Game.

"I'm a deckbearer," Jake breathed. "Dani, it's Drop Night! I've been gifted a deck!"

What the fuck? He's just a kid! What kind of idiot god gifts a magical deck to a fourteen-year-old kid?!

"Okay, kiddo," Dania said, sitting back on her heels. "Okay. This is big. Let's just… give me a minute, okay. Let me get dressed. This changes a lot of things, but it could be good for us—"

"Hell yeah it could! One of these cards goes for about fifty grand a pop!"

I don't want to know why you know that, Dania thought. But she didn't speak. Instead, she shook her head and focused on his face. "Are you all right now?" she asked. "No more pain?"

Jake shook his head, his widest, wildest grin splitting his face. "Are you kidding me? I'm a deckbearer!"

"Keep your voice down," Dania said. "And put the deck away, for the love of all that's good! We need to figure stuff out and I need to get dressed. Just… this is a lot, kid. Let me get my bearings, all right?"

Instantly, Jake sobered. "Of course," he said. "I'm sorry I scared you, it just… It hurt, you know? Like a burning, but a cold one. Like when I was little and Mom had them burn a wart off my hand with this stuff—"

"Liquid nitrogen," Dania supplied. "So cold it burns."

"Yeah, exactly. And then I felt this, like…floaty sensation. Like I was on top of a Ferris wheel and about to start down, kinda. And then something else I can't describe."

"Try," Dania urged. "Please? It might be important."

Jake shrugged and looked down at his once-more unblemished chest. "Like…like I was unstoppable. Like even if someone hurt me, they couldn't escape me…I—I don't know how else to say it."

"It's okay, kid," Dania said. "I don't know much about these things, but I've heard that whatever you feel when you get your drop is a kind of calling card from your…sponsor, I guess. The god who gave you the deck." She pushed up to her feet, ignoring the way her knees cracked and fatigue pulled at the edges of her mind. "Let me get dressed, and then we'll sit down and take a look at your deck, all right?"

"Yeah. Okay." The glowing, black-edged cards disappeared from the air in front of Jake, and he sat up. "I guess I'll… finish cutting the cake."

"Good call," Dania said, backing toward the bathroom. "Be right back."

Okay, she thought as she retreated back behind the bathroom door and began frantically pulling on the leggings and hoodie she'd laid next to the sink. This is big. He's right, those cards are worth a fortune. I wonder how many he got. He has to have ten, right? I don't remember the rules of the stupid ‘Great Game.’ But even if he can sell one, that could make a huge difference. Get us out of this shitty apartment and maybe into a little house…

For just a moment, while she dragged a comb through her long, dark hair, Dania let herself feel how much she longed to give Jake a better life than what she'd managed to provide so far. Nursing school hadn't been cheap, even with the GI Bill covering tuition and giving her a living stipend. It had been enough, barely, to cover rent, food, and clothing for Jake. But he was always growing, and sports were expensive, and…and… and…

It's always something, she thought as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Take it as it comes and handle business, girl. You got this, even with this new complication. A complication that might, in fact, help us a great deal.

With that pep talk, Dani walked back out into the living room, where Jake waited for her with two bowls of ice-cream cake and an expectant smile.

"All right," she said as she took one of the bowls and curled up next to her backpack on the couch. "Pull your deck, deckbearer. Let's see what you've got."

Jake touched his chest with the splay-fingered gesture Dania was used to seeing in hundreds of TV shows and movies, and as he lifted his hand, the four cards with glowing black edges reappeared. With a look of wonder on his face, Jake reached out and touched the one card that hovered a little bit away from the others.

The card contracted into an inky, glowing swirl that spiraled down until it touched the floor. Then a figure coalesced from the spinning shadows: a young man who looked about Jake's age, with black hair and pupil-less, glittering midnight eyes. He wore unrelieved black, and carried a black-bladed knife in either hand. The card creature flicked his gaze from Jake to Dania and back again, and a feral smile split his face, making the hairs on the back of Dania's neck rise.

"Greetings, my deckbearer. We are going to have a lot of fun together."

"Jake, who is this?" Dania demanded. Something about the way the shadows clung to and twisted around the creature—she couldn't think of him as a "kid", no matter how he looked—made her skin crawl with warning.

"Machairi is my companion," Jake said, pronouncing it like "MA kheir ee". His voice carried a thread of wonder and excitement that filled Dania with foreboding. "He's a zero-power cost card, something new for this cycle, and his stats are wild."

"The Cycle of the Lost and Lonely," Machairi said, tilting his head to stare at Dania. She swallowed against the instinctive fear that rose within her. "But with me, Jake will never be either again."

"Jake has me," Dania muttered before she could stop herself. "He doesn't need a…whatever you are."

"Everyone needs a knife in the dark. Mother taught me well. I can eliminate enemies faster than a blink—"

"No. Jake! Come on," Dania said. "This isn't…I know you want to be a deckbearer, but this isn't the right kind of deck for you. We don't just kill people without reason!"

"Mother disagrees," Machairi said, his grin twisting into a little smirk. "Perhaps you would like to argue with the goddess of night herself?"

"Nyx gifted him this deck?" Dania gasped. Inside, her stomach dropped and fear started to flood her mind. Why would the goddess of night, darkness, and hidden things take an interest in her nephew?

"Dani, it's all right," Jake said. "It's going to be all right, I promise. Let's look at the other cards—"

CRACK!

Dania jumped as the door slammed open, the useless locks dangling from the remains of the doorframe. Time seemed to slow as deep, primeval terror rose up inside her mind. From the darkness outside the apartment, a low, sinister growl preceded a guttural snarl. Inch by inch, a lean, muscled wolf the size of a lion stalked through the door, nose quivering. It took one look at Jake and let out a bark that somehow sounded both triumphant and malevolent.

Dania swallowed against the fear and tried to force her body to move as a sneering, mocking voice followed the huge wolf inside.

"Happy Drop Night, baby deckbearer! Congratulations on your deck. Now it's time for those cards to go to someone that deserves them—me!”