Page 45 of Villains and Vengeance
‘Turn around.’
When I don’t do as he says fast enough, he twirls me like we’re dancing before pulling my hands behind my back and tying them together securely.
‘Let’s go find Axel,’ he says brightly.
I regard him in surprise but say nothing. I start planning my escape though because once I’m out of the Cluster, I’m gone the first chance I get.
Taking hold of my upper arm, he leads me out into the empty passage. He urges me up the stairs and along the deserted hallways slowly.
‘Where is everyone?’ I ask.
‘The fights,’ he says, then he pulls me closer to him.
‘Why’d you do it, Jules?’ he whispers in my ear.
‘Do what?’
‘Lie your way into the clan, into our home.’
‘Money.’
I keep it simple. It’s not a lie exactly, but since they came here and I’ve been around Axel, I’m starting to wonder if something else was motivating me. Their clan is a close one. Or at least it was. A family. Something about that made me want in, if only for a few days, and it was nice being in the middle of it even if I wasn’t really one of them. That’s why I told them I needed to stay with them, to get to know them. They probably think I needed to be there to do recon, or something, but the truth is getting the code off Jayce just forced my hand. I would have stayed as long as I could otherwise. But seeing those numbers made me remember why I was really there, and it scared the hell out of me that I’d almost forgotten.
‘That’s all it was?’ he growls like I just told him I took a bat to his prized Lambo.
‘What did you expect?’ I ask him.
Something I don’t understand passes across his face, almost like I’ve hurt him. He doesn’t say anything though, so I tell him the same thing I told Axel.
‘It wasn’t personal.’
‘The hell it wasn’t.’ His grip on my arm tightens painfully and when I look back at him, his eyes are practically slits in his face.
‘We’re almost at Arania Alley,’ I say, wondering how far I’m willing to go to escape Jayce and the others.
After what they’ve been doing to me, pretty far.
I lead him down the wide passage past Siggy’s tunnel to Gargantua’s.
‘He’s in here.’
He stares at me for a second, his eyes searching. Then he laughs and pushes me ahead of himonto the silk of the web.
Gargantua’s attack is instant just like it was before with those orcs. Her fangs graze the front of my shirt as Jayce whips me back with so much force that I slam hard into the opposite wall. Stunned, I slide down to the ground. Before I can even get my bearings, Jayce has a sword in his hand.
Where was he hidingthat?
All I can do is watch as he plunges it into Gargantua’s head, pinning her to the ground with it.
She screams. That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s a shrill and piercing sound that forces me to cover my ears as I curl into the side of the wall.
I didn’t know spiders could make a noise like that.
I realize my hands are free. The rotten cloth Jayce used must have ripped on the wall, I think errantly. But there are no notions of escape. All I can do is watch the scene in front of me.
It’s a few long seconds before Gargantua stops moving, her legs curling under her slowly. I look on in horror.
Jayce pulls out the sword and turns to me triumphantly. ‘What a rush! I can’t believe Axel used to getpaidto do that!’
