Luvic nodded and then boosted himself up. In one smooth motion, he tossed Last toward the haze. There was a strange sucking noise, and then she disappeared. He grunted in surprise.
Gerald had made it to me. He scrambled up the branch, shoved past me, climbed around Luvic, and dove through the haze.
“I guess he was in a hurry.”
Luvic scoffed.
“Justice,” I called. “You coming?”
“Yeah. Just . . . there’s something . . . go on ahead.” He struggled with his hold, his shoulder muscles rippling. Then he glanced up and smiled, and feeling triumphant, I grinned back.
We were almost out. We were going to escape a Den of Depravity. We were going to do it together.
“When we get home,” I said, “you and I are having real ice cream. We deserve it. We deserve alllll the ice cream. You and me, we’ll stay up all night eating ice cream and watching the Bard funeral on TV.”
Luvic stiffened. “The what?”
Justice’s nodded. “It’s a date.”
He went to pull himself up on the branch next to me, then he grunted and made a startled noise. His knuckles turned white, and his whole body went rigid.
“Justice?”
His expression filled with fear. Justice was never afraid. Never. Except . . . except when I was in danger.
“Mari. Get back through.”
“What?”
“Get back through now!”
Luvic swore. He lunged and grabbed my arm, swinging me up.
Then I saw why Justice had gone rigid. The black clouds had broken the vortex around the tree. They were rolling up the bark and swallowing every limb and every leaf in their path.
The black clouds flickered between malevolent, hungry things to glowing golden clouds. But in both cases, they were wrapped around Justice’s legs.
“No.” I jabbed my elbow into Luvic’s side. “No!”
I lunged down, trying to break Luvic’s hold and keep my balance. I grabbed for Justice, trying to reach his hand. If I could hold onto him, we could pull him up and out.
Luvic clutched me, yanking me back, snarling.
“Justice! Grab my hand!”
He held my gaze, then he nodded, reaching up to me. I held out my hand, taking his.
“Did you think I’d just leave you? I choose you too.”
Justice grasped my hand and smiled. Then the cloud, sensing its loss, reared up. Its tentacles grabbed Justice, wrapping his chest and his arms in its black chains. It smothered and suffocated him in darkness. The tentacle raced up his arm, stretching toward me.
Luvic swore and yanked me back.
Justice’s expression changed in an instant, from a soft, surprised smile to . . .
He knew.
For as long as I live, I won’t ever forget his expression.
