He knew.
He knew the black cloud was going to take him.
He knew Luvic was going to throw me through the haze and leave him to die.
He knew he was never going to escape the Den of Depravity.
“Mari,” he said, although I couldn’t hear his voice over my scream.
The worst part of it was the shock and then the pain and then the acceptance. All of that crashed over his face in a single second.
“No!”
But me saying no didn’t do anything.
The cloud yanked Justice from the tree. And just like Gerald said, it wrapped him in tentacle-like strings and threw him through the air, reeling him at light speed back toward the arena, that temple of depravities.
I felt Luvic’s arms wrapping around me, pulling me toward the haze. “Let me go! Let me go!” I punched and hit, and Luvic swore as he kept precarious footing on the limb. “Let me go! I’m going after him!”
“Not a chance?—”
And then Luvic punched us through the haze, and?—
I left Justice in hell. Without me.
28
I was expelled from the Den with the force of a piece of steak Heimliched out of a choking man’s throat. I slammed into the floor and skidded across the hall, Luvic’s arms wrapped around me. My head hit the ground, and Luvic’s weight knocked the breath from me. We rolled and then skidded to a stop at the threshold of an open door.
Ahead of us were Last, Gerald, and Penrose the fox. Behind us was the hallway and the Den of Depravity. I knocked an elbow into Luvic’s ribs. His grip tightened, and he rolled us through the doorway and kicked it shut.
As soon as his grip loosened, I sprang to my feet and rushed the door. If I could get back, I could save Justice. I had seconds—minutes, maybe. My heart pounded violently, and all I could see was the expression on Justice’s face when he realized he wasn’t leaving the Den. That he was going to be the marionette—the Den’s recompense for interrupting their festival. What would they do to him? What would he suffer?
I charged the door, and Luvic knocked me aside.
“No,” he snarled.
“Move!” I jabbed at him and tried to dodge past.
Luvic was big though. Not as big as Finn or Darin, but a lot bigger than me. He blocked the door, his legs spread wide.
What did it matter? I’d go through him if I had to.
“I’m going back for him.”
“Not a chance,” Luvic snarled. “We barely made it out alive. You go back in, you die.”
I jabbed, punching Luvic in the jaw. He shook his head and knocked my next swing aside.
“Move!” I instilled my voice with all the command, all the power, I could. I waited for the bee-sting sensation, but nothing happened.
Luvic gave me a feral grin. “No. He’s already dead, and if he’s not, he’ll be as depraved as the rest of them in no time. He was practically already there.”
I kicked out, trying to knock Luvic from his feet. He twisted his hand, throwing ice-cold water on me.
“Settle down!”
I rushed him. All I had to do was knock him aside. He twisted his hand, conjuring, and I tore it out of existence. He grunted and conjured again, and every illusion he threw out to bar my path I ripped apart with mindless fury.
