"You're not so great at noticing shit, huh? I've been following you since you left the lift."
I backed up a step, my heart hammering. He didn't look angry—he looked amused more than anything—but both Sang and God of the Void interrogated me about my necklace, and Sang mentionedMavwanted the information. His amusement had to be a mask.
"Boo!" he shouted, spooking me—seemingly for the hell of it—and I screamed and ran, throwing open the first door I came to. His laughter followed me as I skidded into a bathroom and slammed the door behind myself, resting my back against it.
My hands shook, throwing pink light wildly around the marble, checkerboard floor, bouncing off the bubbles and water in the big tub. I scanned frantically for a window and groaned when I found only four solid walls.
"Why?" I moaned at the universe. "Why are you so cruel to me? What have I ever done wrong?"6
I jumped with a shriek when a solid limb hammered on the door, jolting my body against the solid wood.
"You can't hide, firecracker. There's nowhere to go," he taunted, as if I hadn't worked that out.
"You did exactly what I wanted you to," he went on, sounding smug. I expected anger; his amusement threw me off. At least his cruelty matched my expectations. "Didn't you wonder why the button for this floor was the only one that worked?"
I hadn't. I'd been so happy to get out of the basement. Ugh, I was an idiot.
"Leave me alone," I squeaked out, my stomach whirling and crashing like a washing machine.
Mav snorted, his voice velvety and low. "Now why would I do that? The way I see it is, you killed me, and now you're all alone in the void, trapped in a house with me and my brothers. I can do whatever I want to you."
"Oh god," I breathed to myself, my legs going weak enough that when Mav shoved on the other side of the door again, I stumbled forward, the knife knocked out of my hand.
It slid under a cabinet as the door squeaked open enough for the blue monster to force his way in, a thick tentacle lashing around my waist and squeezing as tight as any arm ever had.
Panic sharp in my chest, I scratched at the limb around my waist, surprised it was hot and muscular instead of slimy and cold. Mav laughed as I struggled against his hold, trying to throw myself across the room to dislodge his grip. Or at least to grab the other knife tucked in my waistband.
"Cute," he said, patronising. "Like a kitten trying to fight a lion."
I bared my teeth with a hiss, the darker side of me rising to the surface as I fought. Fear eclipsed all self-preservation until I was snarling instead of trying to sweet talk my way to freedom. It was stupid; Iknewfighting only got me in a worse situation. But I couldn't help it.
I clawed at the smooth skin of his tentacle, slammed myself into the wall beside the door, and didn’t care that I bruised myself. But all my efforts to knock the clingy limb free failed. Mav just laughed, a low, sensual sound that sent goosebumps all down my arms, his tentacles locking my arms to my sides.
Mav stepped closer, peering down at me from his giant height.
"Now," Mav said with a smirk on his handsome face, "be a good girl and stop fighting, yeah? I'm not the sort of guy who'll torture a girl for fun; that's Sang’s area. All I want isthis."
He flicked the end of a tentacle at my neck and I flinched, the fight draining out of me and my helplessness spiking. I waited for him to choke the life out of me despite his words. But it was worse; much, much worse.
My heart stopped when the tapered tip of his tentacle wrapped around my chain and yanked so hard that it snapped.
The back of my neck burned, but that dullened to a numb pulse when I watched victory flash in Mav's unnatural aqua eyes. He lifted my gold chain for a closer look, and at the sight of my locket—the locket Vann told me to keep safe before he was brutally murdered—something inside mesnapped.
I screamed like a possessed banshee, howling at the top of my lungs even as hot tears bubbled up and slid down my cheeks. I hoped I broke Mav’s eardrums with my screeching.
My arms were pinned at my sides, but I could wriggle my fingers, so I swallowed the knot in the back of my throat and let the blinding pain of losing that necklace take root inside me.
I gasped at the force of the pain—the power—my eyes shutting for a second as memories hit me from every direction. Vann smirking, telling me stories about what he'd done before he was captured by the keepers. Vann cuddling me close, telling me everything would be okay. Vann yelling at me to run, to get out while he held them off.
I opened my eyes, a pink glow flaring between me and Mav, and I slammed both my palms into the tentacles restraining me.
Mav released me with a guttural growl, taking a few hasty steps across the bathroom, blocking the door, either on purpose or accidentally. I hadn’t pushed enough power into him to kill him again, but it must have hurt like crazy where my hands hit his tentacles. I could see darker handprints on the deep blue limbs.
Panic burned hotter in my blood, and I tore the knife out of my pants, threatening him with the sharpened blade.
"Give me my necklace," I demanded breathily, "and I won't kill you again."
Mav snorted, but he looked uneasy as he examined his tentacles, wincing at the burns I'd left on him. "No fucking chance," he replied.